Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
We can live in peace.
Was it me, or that was weird?
I nodded, still looking around the kitchen, hoping I looked more carefree than I felt.
He was using very coupled-up language for someone who said he wasn’t living here. Almost as if he was assuming he’d be able to now.
Shane didn’t say anything else as he made the drinks, and I forced a smile as he brought it over and set one cup of coffee in front of me. “There you go,” he said.
“Thanks. I’ll drink this, and if she’s not back, I’ll have to leave. It really was just a flying visit.”
He nodded, but there was a glimmer in his eye—something that made a chill run down my spine.
“So,” I said brightly, cradling the mug in my hands. “How are you?”
Lame.
“Why are you really here, Charlotte?” Shane asked, leaning on the other side of the counter. His dark gaze bore into mine unnervingly, and that chill that had run down my spine just seconds ago took up permanent residence there, snaking across my skin uncomfortably.
“What do you mean?” I asked, pausing to blow on my coffee. “I’m here to see Steph.”
“So you said. You’re clearly lying. It’s a long way out of your way just to check up on her when you could send a text message.”
“I like to do things in person.”
“You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“I told her not to trust you.” He gritted his jaw. “I warned her you were only using her. What do you want from her? Her money to fix up that shit pit you’ve inherited? I’ve been trying to protect her for years, and I won’t let anyone else take advantage of her the way that fucking arsehole did!”
All the alarm bells in my head went off at the same time.
Bit fucking late.
“It was you,” I said quietly, looking at him. “You killed Declan.”
Panic flashed in his eyes. “You didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t know! What, you think I’m the habit of running to confront murderers?”
All right, so that’s exactly what I thought I was doing here, but he didn’t know that.
“This is a problem,” Shane said, pushing off the island to pace. “Fuck.”
Why was he so worried?
I was the one in the kitchen with a murderer.
“Does Steph know?” I asked.
Yeah, that was good.
Keep him talking. Preferably until Steph got back. Which would hopefully be soon.
Really soon.
“Does Steph know I killed her husband?” He laughed hollowly; a sound so cold that it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I hoped I’d never hear anything like it ever again.
“Of course, she doesn’t know,” he said, still pacing. “I had no choice. There was no other way out for her. He wasn’t letting her go. He said he loved her. Can you believe that? Like he fucking knew what love was.”
Oh, Christ.
How was I going to get out here?
I was stuck with a crazed madman.
“It was the only way!” He slammed his fist on the counter, leaning over it, and his chest heaved.
“You’re in love with her,” I said quietly. “That’s why you moved here.”
“Ever since college,” he ground out, looking coldly at me. “We lost contact when he convinced her to marry him. I told her back then not to do it. She was eighteen when they met, and he was forty. He was a creep.”
I couldn’t believe I agreed with a murderer.
“She cut me off after she married him, and I didn’t know where she was. I tried tracking her down but couldn’t. Why the fuck do you think I got these qualifications? I hate my job.” Shane stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. “It was to find her, then my mother books a fucking holiday and I run into her here, of all places.”
I was afraid to say anything.
What were my chances of grabbing my shit and running? I wasn’t the fastest, but I definitely had the stamina from my morning runs.
I had a good chance, didn’t I?
Yeah. I could totally outrun this angry, murderous man.
File that under Things Idiots Tell Themselves.
“She told me I was right about him, and I couldn’t leave her again. I had to get her out. I gave her the idea for the money thing one day when we met in secret, and she started it a few months later. She stayed with me because I was all she had. I was the only person who cared about her!” He slammed his fist on the countertop again, and for the first time, I felt real fear.
His anger was palpable. It crawled over my skin, and goosebumps popped up on my arms when he looked at me.
“Until she met you. And you became friends—brought her into your group. I was going to suggest we both go back to Wrexham, back to our families and away from this shithole of a town.”