“That’s bullshit. This isn’t kindness. You’re scared, and you think this is the easy way out.”
“That’s quite enough, son,” said Philip. But Thomas wasn’t through.
“I made you a promise, remember?” She could hear him fighting to keep his voice controlled. “What’d I tell you? I’ll always come for you.”
His echo rebounded off the faraway trees. It split her open.
“Go ahead and run back to Greenwich,” he called. “I’ll be there.”
“You will do no such thing,” said Philip. “I’ve already made it clear that we have no further need of your services. If you come within a mile of my home, I’ll have you shot.”
It was a bluff. A poor one. It knocked the air from Vivienne’s lungs all the same. She ignored everything in her that told her to turn back, loading the dogs into the car and climbing in after them. The door slammed shut. The car’s interior was refrigerator cold and stung with cigar smoke. Through the tinted glass, she could just see the dark wall of Thomas, unyielding as ever.
Philip climbed into the front seat, pulling his door closed with a slam that spoke volumes. The engine turned over. The car pulled out of the lot. She rose up onto her knees and watched out the rear window as Thomas shrank slowly out of sight.
It felt like she was leaving her heart behind.
And maybe that was the key. Maybe that was what it would take to survive this.
Maybe, from this day forward, she’d be heartless.
Thomas stood on the crest of the hill and watched the car disappear around a far-off bend. He stared until his eyes blurred. Until the trees lost their shape.
Let me do this, she’d said.As one last kindness.
What a fucking joke. He’d wanted to laugh right in her face. To call her a coward. To push at her, until she snapped and pushed back. Instead, he’d let her go. What kind of idiot was he?
The sound of a footfall brought his head snapping up.
“Thomas?” Delaney’s hand landed, feather light, on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
He wrenched away from her, anger annihilating every last thought in his head. “Don’t touch me.”
“He looks like he’s going to pass out,” said the female pledge, from somewhere behind him.
He ignored them both and began walking down the lane, heading for the grassy culvert where they’d parked the car. The sound of jogging feet thudded behind him, and then Colton and Eric fell in at either side.
“Hey,” said Eric. “You’ve got a real scary vibe going on.”
Thomas ignored him, fishing in his back pocket for his keys.
“Where are we going?” asked Colton, with infuriating calm.
“Greenwich,” gritted out Thomas.
“Thought so,” said Colton. “Do you really think that’s the best idea?”
Thomas kept going, his speed full tilt, his blood rising to a boil. A hand landed in the middle of his chest and he swung out blindly, seeing red. The feel of a spine cracking against the car’s passenger door jarred him into awareness. Colton stood pinned beneath his palms, his hands thrown up in an open gesture of goodwill. Thomas wrenched back, too furious to cobble together an apology.
“Maybe you should cool off for a bit,” said Colton, sounding nonplussed.
“You look like you’re about to kill someone,” added Eric.
Thomas fumbled for his key fob. “Iamabout to kill someone.”
“Premeditated murder is a felony,” said Colton evenly. “So is kidnapping, for that matter, since I assume you’re not planning on sticking around in Connecticut after you get her back, and crossing state lines puts you firmly in federal crime territory.”
“Stop spouting facts at me,” snapped Thomas, whose head was beginning to throb.
