Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Rosie left this land to Cecil because she didn’t want to see it mined. If you sell this place, you’ll be denying your grandmother her final wish. Is that what you want, Roderick?” His smirk belongs to an extremely dangerous man. He’s not ashamed I’ve worked out who he is. He’s proud. “Walk away before JR fixes the error he made seven years ago.”
“And how’s he going to do that?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer him. “You’re here, with us.” The woman behind me shivers in fear when he locks his eyes with her. She is not his friend. She is his enemy. “And he’s all the way on the other side of the mountain, surrounded by law enforcement officers who want him dead just as much as I do.” He shrugs like his next words aren’t direct stabs to my heart. “They’re thirsty for blood since he killed one of their own last night while trying to escape.”
“JR didn’t kill anyone. He was with me the whole night.”
He steps even closer, forcing me to point the gun at his head instead of his heart. “That isn’t what the DNA will say. It’s all over the deceased officer’s corpse.”
My heart launches into my throat when he holds up a baggie full of hair. Even with the early morning sun bouncing off the plastic material, I know whose hair is inside. It’s the strands JR clipped off in a hurry two days ago.
“He will still find a way to protect me.”
There’s so much confidence in my tone, Roderick’s headshake makes him look like a fool. “Not possible. He failed seven years ago to reach Cecil in time, and it will be the same for you this time around as well.”
His arrogance brings out my bitchy side. “I got out without a second look, didn’t I?”
It’s slapped into a black void when he discloses, “Because I wanted you to.” He fans his arms across the landscape. “Because by forcing you to come to me, it forced her out of hiding.” He bares teeth while snarling, “You should have let him die.”
“You killed Cecil!” the female screams, her voice broken up with huskiness. It’s clear she adored Cecil as much as JR did.
“And I’d do it again if it fixed that whore’s mistake!” He bangs his chest. “I was her blood. Her family. Yet she left everything of value to him.”
“Because you killed your grandfather,” retaliates the woman as her strength rises from the murkiness bombarding her. “Your fingerprints were on the spikes stuck under Memphis’s car. You tried to suffocate him before first responders could arrive. If it weren’t for my brother, you would have killed them that night.”
“Those are lies. Hearsay. They’ll never hold up in court.”
“Because you threatened my family so much, my brother had no choice but to hide the evidence.” She locks her watering eyes with mine. “I was searching for it. I was determined to take him down.” Salty blobs glide down her cheeks when she confesses, “But when he killed my mother and tortured my sister for hours on end, I wanted to die.”
“But Cecil found you before you could.”
Dirty strands of blonde hair fall into her face when she shakes her head. “No. Rosie did.” She shifts her eyes back to Roderick. “When I woke up in the cabin, I told her everything you had done, and even though you were her grandson, she believed me because she knew you were evil. That’s why she left you nothing but the plot of your parents’ gravesite.” She hands me a hessian lap-sack bag brimming with old electronic equipment. “It’s all in here. All of it. And for what it misses, I’m sure this will more than make up for it.”
She points an old-style remote at the branch Cecil’s noose is dangling from. A video camera is mounted where the branch comes off the trunk. It’s pointed right at Roderick, meaning one thing—she got Roderick’s confession on tape. It’s no longer hearsay.
“You conniving little bitch!” Roderick roars when reality dawns on him that he just convicted himself. He charges our way, his face as red as his balled-up hands. “You will rot in hell before I’ll ever let that evidence see the light of day.”
Not thinking, I cock back the hammer of the gun and fire one time. As predicted by Roderick, the barrel seizes with the bullet still in the chamber. I’m about to use its butt as protection, but before it can skim halfway across Roderick’s temple, a blur of muscle and testosterone comes out of nowhere and side-tackles him to the ground.
JR is still wearing the sleeping pants he went to bed in. His hair is damp with sweat, and every one of his muscles contracts as he beats the living shit out of Roderick. He belts into him with everything he has, his strength so mesmerizing it takes me several long seconds to remember that this is the opportunity I’ve been seeking. I have the chance to save JR as he did me multiple times.