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“I do whatever I want. I wanted in. I got in.” His vile grin pierced her very core.
She backed farther into the hall and glanced toward the front door.
“I wouldn’t make a mad dash. I know that’s what you’re thinking.” He lazily swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ve come to get to you. That’s why I’m here. It’s time.”
Bexley clutched her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“See, Bex,” he said as he stalked toward her, “that’s where you’re wrong.”
She needed a weapon, but her bat was by her bedside. He followed her gaze and chuckled. “You don’t need that. Besides, you’re a swing and a miss.”
She turned to dart down the hall when his words froze her into place. “I have Josiah, Bexley. If you want him, you’ll come with me willingly. Obediently.” She pivoted as he stood in the hall by her room. She peered into his eyes, dark, cold and wicked.
“He’s with the FBI in their beach house,” she said. “I know you couldn’t have breached it.” He was bluffing and she now regretted assuming Josiah would be okay alone for a few hours. Once again, she might have made a costly choice.
He laid a hand on his chest. “Bex, I didn’t have to breach it. He came to me willingly. He trusts me. And why shouldn’t he? I’ve built quite the rapport with him.”
She wanted to shout liar! But he wasn’t lying. Things clicked into place. He’d pretended to be Abe, and built a friendship with her son. He was the source fueling Josiah’s recent hatefulness and rebellion. He’d been filling his impressionable mind with carefully crafted lies. “I don’t understand why you’re doing any of this.”
“You will.”
“Do you have Ahnah?”
“Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?” He held out his hand. “Put your hand in mine and come of your own accord.”
If she ran, he’d catch her. If he didn’t, he’d kill Josiah and Ahnah. But if she went with him, she was as good as dead too.
Why couldn’t any of her choices be easy or clear?
She stared at his perfectly manicured hands, shock thrumming along her nerves, and placed her trembling hand into his.
Blue Harbor
SCU beach house
Friday, September 7
12:01 p.m.
“Look, I know the situation’s grim and no one wants to stop the investigation,” Asa said, “but it’s dangerous. As soon as it passes, we’ll fly back and pick up where we left off. But I’m saying it’s time to go. Period. End of story.”
Ty threw his head back and silently screamed at the direct order. His gaze bounced from Vi to Owen, both wearing sympathetic expressions.
“Why’s it so quiet on that end?” Asa asked.
“Asa,” Ty said, through a half groan, half sigh. “I can’t leave, and it’s not because I’m bent on finding this killer.”
Violet twirled her index finger for him to get on with it and reveal the truth he’d been keeping from his SAC.
“Then what is it?”
“Bexley’s son...”
“He’s yours?” Asa asked reverently.
“Yes. I can’t leave without him. Bexley won’t go, but she is allowing me to take him. However, he’s not making it easy, and if she doesn’t change her mind, I can’t leave her.”
Asa blew out a long breath. “Team can’t stay. Anyone going with us needs to be ready within the hour. Do what you gotta do. But don’t do anything stupid, Tiberius. I mean it.”
