Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“Tanner,” she breathes, heartache strong in her voice.
“We broke into the house, which is when they pulled their guns and started ransacking the place. I just stood in the doorway dumbfounded until one of them shoved a bag into my hand and told me to start picking up shit, anything that looked expensive, and I fucking did it. I thought we’d just get what they wanted and leave, but then I heard a woman screaming, and the next thing I know, one of the brothers was dragging her out of her room by her hair. He threw her down in the kitchen and held a gun to her head while the other two were trashing her home.
“She was weeping the whole time, trying to keep as quiet as possible, but she was fucking terrified. Then out of nowhere, this kid, maybe nine or ten, only a few years younger than I was, screamed for his mom and came running from his room with a baseball bat. All he wanted to do was protect his mother, but the brothers weren’t having it. It happened so fucking fast. One second he was there, the next—BANG.”
I shake my head, needing to take a breath as the images rush through my mind, the blood splatter across the room, the mother’s horrified screams, the broken sobbing.
“The bullet went straight through his skull, killing him instantly. I’ll never forget it. I see it every time I close my eyes. The blood … It was the first time I’d seen anything like it, and I just froze, watching as the mother reached out to hold his hand. She just sobbed. She was so numb, she barely even fought him off when he tore her night dress up and raped her.”
Brielle gasps, and I drop my head, so fucking ashamed of everything I was involved in that night. “The second they heard the sirens, they got out of there, but I took off on foot before then. I didn’t want anything to do with them.”
“Did you report it?” Bri whispers, her voice broken and almost sounding like a plea, hoping for at least some good news to come out of this story, but she won’t find any here.
I shake my head. “I ran all the way back to Bradford, but the brothers were already here waiting for me. They warned me to keep my mouth shut, otherwise, my family would be next, and I fucking believed them. Then instead of just fucking off, they beat the shit out of me and left me for dead in the gutter. I called Riley and stayed at his place for a few weeks, making up some bullshit story about going away with his family. I couldn’t let my mom know what happened. It’d break her. It fucking broke me.”
Bri leans even further back, looking at me as though I’m some kind of stranger, and the heartbreak in her eyes kills me. “That was the last of it. The case went cold, and the Hardin brothers walked free, just like Colby did. I never uttered a word until now.”
“And Orlando has images of you in that house, being involved in … the cold-blooded murder of a child and the rape of his grieving mother?”
I nod, sick to my fucking stomach as Bri tries to keep her hands from shaking. A tear falls from her gorgeous blue eye, trailing down her cheek and dropping to her collar. I try to reach up and wipe it away, but she flinches from my touch, fear brimming in her eyes.
“Do you hate me?” I ask in a small voice.
She just gives me a blank stare, still trying to process everything I told her, but I see it there just as I knew I would. Things will never be the same. How could it? I was involved in a home invasion where a child was murdered, and his mother was raped as she clung to his lifeless hand.
I truly am a monster. No better than Colby Jacobs.
Brielle deserves better. So much better. Hell, I should have fucking told her why Channing is blackmailing me with the photographs. I know she’s probably going to think it has something to do with guaranteeing my silence when it comes to fighting for Addison, but in reality, it’s much more sinister than that.
Without a word, she reaches for the door, pulls the lever, and pushes it wide before climbing off my lap. I watch as she stands at my open door, her face marred with pain. “I, umm … I just need a few days. You know, to process.”
I nod, and with that, she walks back to Channing’s home, opens the door, and slips inside.
Chapter 11
BRIELLE
The afternoon sun beams down over Bradford as I lay out by the pool with my textbooks surrounding me and my wobbling laptop balanced on my knees. I have so much schoolwork to catch up on, but concentrating over the past few days has been harder than I ever thought possible.