Rory pulled out his phone. “Mind if I take some pictures?”
“Go ahead.”
Rory snapped a few, then quickly dropped a pin to Gale. At least she’d know where he was. She had Ford with her. That gave him some small relief if he was being paranoid. Hard not to be considering the last week he’d had.
Beside him, Rocco grunted, grabbed at his thigh and then grimaced.
“Everything okay?” Rory asked, suspicion pricking up his spine.
“Old injury,” Rocco said. “Been there since I was a kid. My knees lock and muscles cramp up. Shit like that. Nothing to worry about.”
Rocco squatted, his knee popping loudly, then shifted closer. Too close. Rory’s hand inched toward his ankle.
But before he could reach it, Rocco’s hands were suddenly at his throat—massive, crushing and unyielding. The force slammed him back, cutting off his breath, thought, andeverything but panic. Rocco stood slowly, almost menacing, showing a completely different person.
“What—”
“You should’ve taken the hint,” Rocco growled, eyes dark, his voice edged with something final. “You should’ve left.”
Rory clawed at Rocco’s arms desperate to get his lungs to stop screaming. Rocco was stronger, much stronger. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? A good five inches on his six foot, his arms thicker, and longer, holding him out with his elbows locked.
“Stop,” he tried to shout, but it came out in a whisper.
“You don’t fight as hard as your sister did,” Rocco hissed, his grip tightening, Rory feeling the icy fingers digging into his flesh. He wasn’t a hundred percent or he’d be able to think faster, react quicker. “She was small, but fierce. Now you know what she saw… right before the air was torn from her.”
A choked sound escaped Rory’s throat. His sister.His sister.
“No.” It was all he could think to say. He was scratching Rocco’s forearms and drawing blood. His feet were trying to kick out, but Rocco only shifted to have him hitting air.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Rocco went on, his voice breaking into something twisted between regret and pride. “But she caught me. She had photos. She saw me pushing John to sell the land. I had to prove myself, and she… she left me no choice.”
Rory’s vision was narrowing, black closing in. He fought, desperate to leave evidence. Anything.Please, don’t let it end like this. Don’t let my mother bury another child.
“Warren County Sheriff, back away and put your hands up!”
Ford’s voice shattered the air. He stood in the doorway, gun leveled, fury in his eyes.
Rocco didn’t flinch. His grip only tightened.
“I can’t,” Rocco said, low and final. “He has to die… just like his sister.”
A gun went off, Rocco stumbled back grabbing his thigh and Rory was dropped to the ground where he landed on his ass. He hadn’t realized he’d been lifted that high, but it’d made sense why he couldn’t get traction to fight back. It wasn’t as if he was small or weak.
When he turned, he saw Gale was rushing toward him with her gun in her hand. Then she dropped it and got to his side. “Come on, Rory, breathe. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice raspy. “Did you shoot him?”
Ford was cuffing Rocco face down on the dirt floor of the shed and calling an ambulance in with backup.
“It was the only way to get him to let go,” she said. “I thought he was going to kill you.”
“I thought so too.” His hand came up to his throat, but it hurt like hell to touch. “What the fuck? How did?—”
“Just rest and don’t talk. Rocco is Daniel’s son. Ford got the DNA results of a genetic match to Daniel when we were on the way. We stopped to talk to Kane.”
“Talk?” he asked. He would have done more than talk.
“Ford wanted to give him a chance to come in voluntarily. He broke down in tears.” He listened to Gale recap what had happened, about Daniel’s wife revealing he had an illegitimate son, then Gale realizing it was Rocco.
