My heart leaps up my throat.
“Please.” She’s pleading and I grit my teeth, tightening my fingers on the wheel as I wrench it to one side, narrowly avoiding a collision as I swing around another car.
“Shut it,” a man growls, and the call disconnects.
Shit. Shit!
All this time, I’ve tried to convince myself she’s okay, when she’s actually in very real danger.
I tell Siri to call the police. It takes forever to connect, minutes of the connection glitching.
Will this fucking trafficeverlet up?
I pound the horn with my fist, slowly muscling through the wall of cars in front of me.
“Hello… what’s the location of your emergency?” The dispatcher’s voice is still distorted when I finally connect.
“Sully Bay, Fleet Street. My girlfriend’s being assaulted,” I snarl, describing it the best way I can.
“Can you repeat that, sir? I’m sorry. Due to the weather, there’s been a high number of incidents tonight and communication issues—”
I spit the full address as calmly as I can, which is about as chill as a raging moose.
“Copy that,” he says quickly. “I’ll get someone out there soon. Please be advised all our local officers are tied up with accidents, so officers will come from the next town over.”
“Next town? Fuck.” I close my eyes, knowing that probably means Bar Harbor. “ETA?”
“Forty minutes. I’m patching through the details now.”
Far too goddamned long.
“Thanks,” I clip and disconnect, focusing on cutting through the traffic, one hand hovering over my horn.
Give me ten tickets, suspend my license, I don’t care.
As long as I get to the fucking house.
Knowing she’s in trouble glazes my blood. I never got a chance to tell her—
No.
No, you can’t afford to get emotional now.
Long dormant instincts from half a lifetime ago in uniform leap up and bite me in the ass.
You never forget.
Never, never, and not when it’s more than your life on the line.
I swear, if I make it in time—if God is that kind—if I’m angry and cruel enough to keep her safe, if I have my chance to dismember the snake threatening her, I’ll never hesitate again.
I’ll never hold back.
I’ll never let Margot Blackthorn out of my sight without her knowing she’s madly and truly loved.
It takes an eternity,but eventually I’m squealing down the road to the lake, my wipers slashing hopelessly at the rain.
Instead of rocketing up the driveway, I park by the side of the road at the end. I reach into the back seat for a loose hammer on the floor I used on the dock.
