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Cash’s tone is carefully controlled. “And how is that going to work?”
He takes another step and Brett jams the gun into my temple. His voice goes shrill. “Don’t move any closer. I’ll shoot her. I will.”
“But then you wouldn’t have any leverage over me, would you?”
Brett hesitates, and his gun swings toward Cash.
The band of fear wrapped around my chest yanks tight; I can barely breathe from it. Air whistles through my nose too fast, sending gray dots floating across my vision.God.
Is thirty-two too young for a heart attack?
Cash glances at me, his jaw tightening. But his tone is gentle as he says, “It’s going to be okay, hun. I promise.”
“Ha!” Brett barks out a laugh. “You’re in no position to make promises.” His eyes narrow. “So Cash, what you’re going to do is sign everything over to me, and then I won’t kill your girlfriend. How does that sound?”
Cash regards him calmly, though I can see his fists clenching. “If I sign everything over to you, how do I know you won’t kill Ari after? Or me?”
“I won’t.”
“Really?” Cash moves closer to Brett. There’s still at least ten feet between them, but it’s too close—I don’t want Cash anywhere nearhim. “So you’re going to just let us go after I sign everything over to you? After you kidnapped Ari? Hit her? Threatened both of us with a gun?”
Uncertainty flickers across Brett’s face, and he just stares at Cash in silence for a few seconds. His gun dips again, and suddenly I have the tiniest sliver of an idea.
“I’ll make you both sign a non-disclosure agreement,” he finally replies. “I have all the other paperwork all drawn up, right over there.” He gestures at the round wooden table on the other side of the room. “When you sign those, we’ll add an NDA. Then you can’t talk about what happens here.”
Cash casts Brett a skeptical look, and I’m right there with him. Brett is just going to let us walk out of here after signing a hastily drawn up NDA?
“If I sign everything, I want you to let Ari go first.” Cash holds Brett’s gaze. “That’s the only way I’ll do it.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?!” Brett screams at Cash, and I let out a muffled yelp of fright. “Then you won’t sign! You’ve always thought you were so much smarter than me. You’re wrong! You’ll do this my way or she’s dead!”
Fury flares hot in Cash’s eyes, and he grits out, “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”
Chapter 22
CASH
I’ve never been this furious.
Or this afraid.
Mybrother. How did I never know he was capable of this?
Capable of pointing a gun at Ari, jabbing the metal into her soft skin, hurting her. Threatening to kill her.
Capable of kidnapping her, hittingher—I can see the lump on the side of her head, the blood trickling from her nose—tying her up, putting tape over her mouth…
Fuck.
Did he do anything else I can’t see? Where else did he touch her?
This rage. It’s like nothing I’ve felt in my life.
And the fear. One wrong step, and I could lose the woman I love. Not only love, Ari’s been a part of me for more than half my life. I can’t exist without her.
It’s not just my fear, but hers. She’s trembling with it, her eyes so big and frightened, the tape over her mouth—damn it—sucking in and out with her rapid breaths. I’m worried she’s going to hyperventilate, and I wish there was some way I could reassure her.
She’s not supposed to be going through this again. I was supposed to be protectingher.
