Icouldn’t move. I was rooted to the ground with invisible strings while my brain started spinning. My stomach plummeted to the ground.
The Black Bandit had a limp. Aleft hiplimp.
Briana Morgan’s words echoed in my ear.
“The Black Bandit… Who picked that name, anyway? … Look closer, Jagg…”
I zeroed in on Sunny’s long,blackcurly hair.
The Black Bandit.
Sunny Harper was the Black Bandit.
Briana had named her partner in crime, her informant, after her pitch black hair.
And I hadfuckingmissed it. The Bandit had been right there in front of me the entire time.
I’dmissedit.
I can’t explain the emotions that pummeled through my body at that moment. Shock, anger, gut-wrenchingembarrassment. All this quickly replaced with a racing heart and a rage like fire over my skin. I’d been lied to. Played like a fucking fiddle.
Sunny Harper was theBlack Bandit and I hadn’t even seen it.
“Sunny.”The name spat out like fire.
She stopped instantly at the tone in my voice, and even through the growing darkness, I could see her entire body tense. She knew. At that moment, she knew she’d let it slip.
She didn’t turn.
A second went by with us standing ten feet apart on the trail that led through the woods to the bungalow.
Max whimpered.
And then?—
She was gone.
Like a flash of lightning, Sunny took off into the woods.
The cooler and bags tumbled to the ground as I spun on my heel and sprinted after her, laser focused on the black hair zipping through the trees like a deer. The woman was freakishly fast. Beams of moonlight shot through the canopy above, silver spotlights dappling the forest floor below. It was like a dizzying light show, flashes and swaying shadows in the breeze.
Twigs slapped my face, a few slicing the skin on my bare chest. The pain like gasoline to the fire that was raging through me.
I’d been played.
Played.
A flash of black and brown emerged from the side, Max, chasing after her, sensing something in the air.
The trees enclosed around us, stealing most of the light. I had a feeling Sunny would fade away as soon as darkness fully engulfed us.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Gritting my teeth, I surged forward, pressing into a fast sprint, ignoring the pain shooting up my back, the branchesslicing my skin, the rocks, the gangly roots threatening to trip me with every step.
I took a risk and switched paths, running around the boulders she was struggling to maneuver through.
Almost…
