The last thing she wanted was for Grant to get home only to find that she’d failed to protect his daughter and both of them were lying dead in his family room.
She tried to get up, failed, sank back down, and the next kick got her in the head, and it was lights out.
Chapter
Twenty
December 13th
12:40 P.M.
Rage clouded his vision as he stepped into his family room.
Grant had never felt fury like this before.
Anger, sure. When Lara had died, he’d been angry at the universe for taking her from him far too soon. As a kid, there had been plenty of times when he’d been mad at his parents and bickered with his siblings. As an adult, he’d been annoyed with his kids and irritated with his co-workers. There had even been times when a criminal he was investigating committed a crime so heinous that it filled him with anger.
But none of it compared to the fury flooding his veins as he took in the sight of his sobbing, hysterical daughter screaming at her boyfriend to stop, while Everett delivered another kick to a non-moving Ashlyn.
Was he too late?
Was Ashlyn already dead?
Had the universe taken a second woman he loved from him?
Since the kid looked unarmed, Grant didn't fire his weapon at the teenager, just launched himself across the room and tackled Everett to the ground.
The boy yelped in surprise, then turned angry brown eyes on him. That anger quickly melted into fear when he saw who had taken him down. Likely Everett had thought it was Lindsay, and that he’d be easily able to overpower her. But there was no way in hell that Everett could take on him and win.
While the need to pummel the kid was strong, Grant didn't want to waste time on the boy when Ashlyn was lying there, possibly dead or dying, at the very least unconscious and in need of medical assistance. Nor did he want his daughter to watch him beat up her boyfriend, even if the kid had turned out to be a violent psychopath.
Almost all of his anger was directed at the teenager he pinned to the ground, but a tiny bit of it was reserved for his daughter.
He’d heard what Everett had been saying when he burst into his house.
We can make her go away now, can't we, Linds. A few more kicks and we might be able to get her ribs to just snap into pieces, pierce her heart or her lungs, and then bye-bye, new step mommy.
There was no way he was ready to assess the possibility that his own daughter might have been complicit in Ashlyn’s assault, even if that’s what Everett’s words implied. Grant had also heard his daughter’s sobbed pleas for him to stop, that this wasn't what she wanted.
“You are under arrest,” he snarled at the kid whose face had now lost all color.
Flipping the boy onto his stomach, Grant pulled out handcuffs and secured Everett’s hands behind his back before shoving him to his feet. Ashlyn hadn't moved, she still lay about three feet away in a heap on the ground. Lindsay likewise hadn'tmoved, she was still standing, watching, tears streaming down her cheeks, her entire body trembling.
Torn between who to go to first, Grant decided on Ashlyn since she was unconscious. There was a darkening mark on Lindsay’s face, but other than that she was okay. He had no idea if Ashlyn was as well.
“It’s okay now, Linds,” he called out, forcing his voice to come out calm when it was the last thing he felt. When he dropped to his knees beside Ashlyn, his fingers immediately touched her neck, praying for a pulse.
He couldn’t lose her.
It would destroy him.
A second chance at love after losing what he’d always believed would be the love of his life was such a precious gift, and he wanted to treasure it until he was old and gray.
“Daddy.” Lindsay sobbed, flinging her arms around his neck. “I didn't want this to happen. I swear. I didn't ask Everett to do this. I hated Ashlyn, but I didn't really hate her. I just needed her to be gone so I didn't hate myself. I don’t want her to be dead. I never wanted her to be dead. I never asked Everett to hurt her. I just told him how I would do anything to make her go away. But I didn't mean kill her, Daddy, I swear I didn't.”
Unfortunately, his daughter’s carelessly spoken words were the flame that ignited Everett’s violent rage.
Whether she wanted Ashlyn physically removed from their lives or not, the fact was her boyfriend had interpreted her words as permission to try to do just that.
