Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
His shoulders sagged, and it was easy to see the weight he’d been carrying. “You have to.”
She didn’t, but she wouldn’t waste her breath telling him. They’d gotten off the topic. “How did you move the target from me to Sawyer? Is this why he tried to tell his brother the two of you are dating?”
Sawyer’s lips kicked up. “He’s still betting his brother will believe it. We’re lovers, Wyatt and I. You’re our cover, the girlfriend we pretend to date so no one ever learns about our illicit love affair.”
It had been foolish then, and the idea hadn’t grown more appealing. “No one is going to believe it.”
“Make fun of it all you like,” Wyatt argued, “but it will work. You don’t know my brother.”
“It won’t work,” Sawyer shot back.
“Only because you’re not doing what needs to be done.” Wyatt stared at him as though he could work his will through his eyes.
Sawyer’s hands came up. “Hey, I told everyone in town how hot you are for me.”
“Asshole,” Wyatt said with a sigh.
She wasn’t sure how Wyatt had thought it was going to work.
Sawyer sobered. “I told everyone what the plan was. I even discussed it at the meeting. The sheriff wanted us to know they’ll do everything they can to protect all of us. They’ll say what we want them to say, but I don’t know if Wayne will believe it. And honestly, it doesn’t matter.”
“He won’t play fair.” Wyatt wasn’t giving up.
She wasn’t either. “My sister won’t play fair. Not when it comes to me. I think the sheriff knows how to handle things. Wyatt, you have to understand. We’re in more danger if you leave us than we are if you stay.”
He squared off with her. “That’s bullshit.”
“She’s right.” Sawyer set his beer down and put a hand on Bella’s head. The poor baby could feel the emotions amping up, and she didn’t like it. She calmed a bit when Sawyer petted her. “Have you thought this through? You walk away, go off the grid. Hide. You think your brother will look for you?”
“He will,” Wyatt insisted.
“But according to you, he doesn’t play fair.” Sabrina knew exactly where Sawyer was going. “Why look for you when it would be so easy to kidnap me or Sawyer in order to draw you out?”
Sawyer winked her way. “Way easier. So in this very reasonable and likely scenario, they would dial you up and offer a trade. You for us. Except you’re off the grid and in hiding, so you can’t take the call. I wonder how long he keeps us alive in that case. Hopefully long enough for you to see the story on the news. But more likely you won’t know until one day you come back because you won’t be able to stop yourself. You’ll come back because you were happy here. You’ll stand in the shadows, hoping to get a glimpse of her, and maybe she’ll be with me, holding hands as we take our five kids out to dinner.”
“Five?” Sabrina was intimidated at the thought. Five? Five was a big number.
Sawyer’s smirk told her everything she needed to know. “I’ll try to hold it to five. My line is good at baby making, as you’re about to discover. But back to my point, you won’t find us because we’ll have been dead all this time. Because you weren’t around to save us.”
They needed to talk about the baby-making stuff, but she had to be impressed with Sawyer’s logic. “When your brother realizes it didn’t work, he’ll have to get rid of the evidence. Also, there’s no way he goes after Sawyer first when I’m a far easier target and he knows you care about me. It doesn’t matter if he thinks we’re sleeping together or if I’m a platonic friend. It wouldn’t matter if you broke up with me on live television and he saw it. He would know you would protect me. No matter what.”
“Then I’ll kill Wayne before he can do it,” Wyatt vowed. “I’m not going to run away, Sawyer. I’m going to stalk my brother. I’m going to figure out what he knows, what he’s doing, and then I’ll take him out and anyone who stands in my way.”
The thought made Sabrina sick. “You’ll get killed is what you’ll do.”
Sawyer had gone grim. “Even if you manage to kill Wayne, the Horde won’t stop until they’ve avenged him. We both knew this could happen. We knew the minute you left he could walk back in at any time. He got what he wanted. He got the accounts. There’s zero reason for him to fuck with you now. Unless there’s something you’re not telling us.”
Wyatt stilled, and Sabrina knew Sawyer was right.
There was something neither of them knew. What else had Wyatt been put through? What horrors had he been forced to endure?