Jace stepped around the tree in Jarrad’s sights, pistol raised. “You’re surrounded, man. Drop your weapon.”
Several seconds passed, all drenched in a heavy silence, as everyone waited to see what he would do.
Suddenly, Jarrad growled and spun toward Eastern.
Before Jarrad could fire, three gunshots exploded through the air—one from Eastern, and one from each of his brothers, every one a kill shot.
Jarrad dropped, blood seeping from his chest, back and head.
Then Sadie appeared from behind a tree, and she was all he could focus on. All he could see. He took off toward her and wrapped her in his arms.
She groaned, and he immediately pulled back.
He scanned her body. “You’re hurt.”
“Ribs,” she gasped. “But I’m okay.”
He looked down and noticed the rope around her hands.Motherfuckers.
He grabbed a small knife from his holster and sliced the rope off before gently tugging her back into his hold. “Never again, Sadie. I can’t let you out of my sight ever again.”
He knew the absurdity of that statement. At some point, he’d have to. But right now, all he could do was hold her, and thank whoever was looking out for her tonight that she was alive.
CHAPTER 31
Eastern kept his arm wrapped around Sadie’s waist as the paramedic cleaned and covered the cut on her forehead.
Fury filled him, but he pushed it down. She didn’t need his anger right now. This week had been hell for her after two attacks…two. He needed to be calm for her, even though calm was the last thing he felt.
When the paramedic was finally finished, the guy tugged off his gloves. “All done, Miss Sandler. The graze on the head is cleaned up, and I think you have one, possibly two fractured ribs, so I’d recommend you go to the hospital and get an X-ray.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” she asked. “I’m so tired.”
Eastern inched that bit closer. She was coming down from the adrenaline high, which would no doubt make her exhausted.
The paramedic paused. “As long as you’re breathing okay, pushing the X-ray to tomorrow should be okay.”
When the paramedic walked away, Paxley headed over. The deputy had been waiting for a chance to speak to Sadie. He couldn’t interview her himself because it was a conflict of interest.
He lowered his head to Sadie’s ear. “Are you okay to speak to some officers tonight? If not, I can get them to wait until tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll get it over with while we’re here so I don’t have to do it tomorrow.”
So damn strong.
Paxley stopped in front of them. She looked at Eastern, and he gave her a small nod before she faced Sadie. “Miss Sandler, I’m Deputy Paxley. Can you talk to me about what happened tonight?”
Sadie nodded. “I went to Sugar and Spice to close up the shop. I told the other worker, Anna, to go home, but before I left, I took out the trash.” She frowned. “I heard Mr. Anderson and Jarrad arguing from inside the liquor store. The screen door was closed, but the back door was open. They were talking about a problem Mr. Anderson was supposed to fix but hadn’t. Jarrad said he’d told his dad to take thebad shitoff the shelves.”
She paused, and Eastern gave a gentle rub to her shoulder before she continued.
“Jarrad said he’d paid off the coroner to label a death as a brain aneurysm. I assumed he was talking about Denny.”
Eastern shared a glance with Paxley. So the coroner had falsified a report and a death certificate for money. Looks like his job had just gotten busier.
“He also said something about another person being in the hospital and what had happened to her could be linked back to them,” she finished.
“Jamie,” Eastern and Paxley said at the same time.
