“You’re not going to kill me, are you?”
I listen for any sign of where they might be. Slowly, I turn the knob on the door, I push it shut quietly. Reaching for the gun, I press my back against the wall.
“I haven’t decided just yet.”
His sinister voice causes the knot in the pit of my stomach to tighten.
I want so badly to wrap my hands around his throat, cutting off his airway as I watch the life drain out of him. The pain I want to inflict on him after what he’s done to my family has me thinking the most sinister thoughts.
“Why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying to come after me? Whatever this is between you and Graham, I don’t have anything to do with it.”
“Stop asking questions!” he shouts at her, followed by a loud smack.
I hear Halle cry out, as she whimpers in pain. Motherfucker.
The demons living inside me welcome the chance to dance with the devil. I’ll look him in the eye, forcing him to pay for the pain he’s inflicted on the people I love.
25
Halle
* * *
He rears back, smacking me across my cheek with the side of his gun. The pain is so severe it radiates up my jaw causing my ears to ring.
My eyes squeeze shut, wincing and whimpering from the pain. Tears fill my eyes, threatening to fall. Remembering what Graham shared with me, I let the realization sink in that it may have been the last time I will ever see him.
The thought of never touching him or holding him again washes over me like a cold shower. My heart aches, more painful than any pain he could inflict on me.
I don’t want to live in a world without Graham Shaw.
Adjusting my position in the chair, the ties around my wrist cut into my skin. It’s a welcome distraction away from the reality around me.
I replay the look on Graham’s face this morning when he told me he loved me, over and over. Graham deserves justice for Gage. He deserves to move on with his life knowing what happened to him, to put the past to rest once and for all.
My eye starts to swell as the taste of blood seeps into my mouth where my lip split. The coppery taste gives me a renewed sense of anger over everything he’s put me and the people I care about through. Not only has Graham suffered, but Sandy and her sister, Gage’s mom, Samantha.
They deserve justice too.
“Why did you do it?”
Glancing up under the puffiness of my eye, I see him stop from where he paces the floor and turns to me, sneering.
“What’s that?”
“Gage. We know it’s you who ran him off the road that night. Why’d you do it?”
The sinister smile returns to his face. Holding the gun against his side, he walks over toward me, skidding his heels along the tile floor as he does. There’s a cocky arrogance in his strut and it only infuriates me more as he bends closer to me.
“I thought I told you to stop asking fucking questions!” he shouts, spit shooting from his mouth as each word is punctuated with a stomp of his leather boot.
He stares at me straight in the eyes, as if daring me to utter another word. When he’s satisfied I’ve got the point, he stands up straight and turns to walk away.
“Where the hell is he?” he mutters, pulling back the edge of the blinds to look out the window.
I see a flash of movement from the stockroom across from me. My eyes widen with fear, before I see Graham appear. He holds a finger up to his mouth, telling me to stay quiet. My eyes dart back over to Krate, standing a few feet away with his back to Graham, before looking back to Graham.
He mouths to me it will be okay and I nod, feeling for the first time since Krate got here it will be.
I had a feeling it was Graham who called me earlier. When my phone rang repeatedly, Krate took it from me smashing it on the ground in front of me before stomping on it.
My hands tug on the confines again, wishing with everything in me I could loosen them and run to Graham, wrapping my arms around him.
Krate pulls out his phone, checking the screen. Taking his attention off me opens the perfect opportunity for Graham to catch him off guard, and he does.
“If I were you, I’d put the gun down right now,” Graham says, pointing a gun at Krate.
The sound of Graham’s voice catching him off guard, causes him to drop his phone, as he readjusts the aim back at me.
Krate smiles broadly, the light cackling sound of his laughter filling the room. It’s evil, sending a chill down my spine.
“I was waiting on you. It was only a matter of time till you’d swoop in to save the day. You’re never far behind this one.”
Graham’s jaw ticks, my eyes flash back and forth between the two of them. I want to beg Graham to be careful, but the anger simmering below the surface is evident by the wild look in his eyes.
“You just couldn’t listen, could ya? Just had to keep sticking your nose where it don’t fuckin’ belong. Your cousin had the same problem, ya know. It’s a shame you’ll have to lose someone you love again.”
“If you hurt her, I promise you as God as my witness, I’ll kill you. I won’t even think twice about it either. This is your only warning. So, think long and hard over the next move you make.”
There’s no threat in Graham’s words. It’s a promise, spoken with such conviction. It’s one he fully intends to keep if he’s pushed to that point.
Krate chuckles, the sound grating like nails on a chalkboard.
“You should never threaten a man who has nothing to lose.”
The sound of sirens in the distance grows closer as Krate adjusts his aim at me. Anger transforms his face.
“Hate to say it,” Graham says. “It looks like it’s you this won’t be ending well for.”
Graham shouts for me to duck, just as the sound of shots fire around the room. The mirror on the salon station behind me breaks, sending glass shattering around me, as Graham rushes Krate.
The weight of Graham’s heavy frame and the blast from his gun sends Krate stumbling, falling back against the wall. I fold my body in half, pressing my chest to my knees, protecting myself.
“Why’d you do it?” Graham grunts, forcing his elbow against Krate’s neck, cutting off his airway. Graham’s eyebrow is cut deep, leaving blood trickling down his forehead.
“Fuck you,” Krate spits.
“You had your chance,” Graham growls, rearing back elbowing him in the face. Blood splatters from his nose just before Graham hits him with a heavy fist against his jaw. I watch as life leaves Krate’s body with every blow.
“Graham!” I shout, pulling him out of it. He pushes off his body, holding his hands up as he kicks Krate’s gun away from him.
The front door slams open as several men rush in, shouting “police.” Graham falls to the floor before me, holding his hands in the air.
He looks dazed, lost. His body shaking, a mixture of fear and adrenaline coursing through him. His eyes look me over, checking for any sign I could be hurt.
“I’m okay, I promise. I’m okay.”
I say it over and over, never taking my eyes off him. After the fourth or fifth time, he lets out a deep sigh finally accepting it as the truth.
I hear someone say “all clear” as another person identifies Graham. As soon as the all clear is given, Graham slides across the floor on his knees until his forehead is pressed against mine.