I froze solid at Grace’s screech of outrage.
When I jerked my gaze to her, I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun that was pointed directly at my chest.
I’d never seen the barrel of a gun before. At least, not straight down it. I’d never been brave enough to look, not even when it was completely unloaded.
I’d grown up around guns. My dad had always had them. He’d taught me how to safely handle them.
But…
“Grace,” my dad said, wary as fuck now. “What are you doing? Put that away!”
At least he was rational about this.
“I can’t!” she sobbed. “That man stole my baby!”
Dad moved toward her, and she twisted the gun to aim at him. “Stay back! And find that son of a bitch!”
“What’s going on here?” Creed asked quietly, sounding wary.
I looked up to find him standing off to the side of the porch, his forgotten cell phone in his hand halfway to his head.
He’d been here, but on the phone to the side of the house.
Grace whirled, putting her sights on Creed.
That sent a wave of chills directly down my spine.
Two headlights turned down our drive, and I had the irrational thought that whoever it was shouldn’t be driving.
We’d sent Creed’s friend Courtland after Charleigh again because she’d been worried about me, and he was on the way here anyway.
Apparently, Creed’s place had become the hub for the winter storm that was about to blow in, and no one had been concerned in the least about the possibility of being stuck here unable to leave.
“Put the gun down,” my dad tried again. “This is ridiculous, Grace. Cody’s dead, but your life isn’t over, too.”
“Oh, that’s fine for you to say. Your daughter is still alive!” Grace cried out, leaving the gun pointed at Creed, but staring at my dad like he’d just personally offended her with his words.
Cody was dead.
What?
How?
When she’d been taken by the ambulance to the hospital, she’d only been suspected of having a concussion and broken bones!
The car paused halfway up the drive, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Courtland started to back out instead of pulling farther in.
“Grace,” Dad pushed gently. “Honey, listen to me, please. Put the gun down. This hasn’t gone too far yet…”
That’s when Grace yanked the gun toward my dad and pulled the trigger.
She shot him in the leg.
“Hasn’t gone too far?” Grace hissed as Dad fell to the ground, blood gushing from the bullet wound in his leg. “Hasn’t gone too far? My child is dead! And that man…” She pulled the gun up to aim at Creed but he wasn’t standing where he’d been earlier any longer. He was steps away from her, and heading toward her as fast as he could, head tucked down and sprinting.
Grace tried to redirect the gun in his direction, but Grace didn’t have enough time before Creed hit her so hard that she all but cracked as he landed on her and slammed her to the hard packed brick beneath them.
The gun skittered into the snow, disappearing somewhere deep into the depths just off of Creed’s porch.
