What do I expect from her?
That one’s easy. I want her to end her relationship with Alex. If she finds out about me, she’ll leave him and he can give my father the evidence. If she’s not in the picture, the solution is much simpler. Alex can finish his job without worrying he’ll lose her for failing to protect her brother.
Every step I take quickens my pulse to the point where every heartbeat resonates inside my head. All the reasons why I shouldn’t meet a stranger in a remote location without letting anyone know where I am flood my mind.
It might be a trap. I don’t know Aalyiah. I have no idea what she’s capable of, or who she might’ve told about this meeting.Maybe the phone call spooked her and she ran straight to Rhett, confessing that she’s been seeing a cop?
Maybe she told Alex and he’s waiting for me, ready to unleash every ounce of his anger.
I shove those thoughts aside and step between two buildings, wondering which one she’s in. Old machinery litters the empty yard, five buildings circling the tarmacked space.
Glancing around the corner, I scan the factory for signs of life. I’m about ready to turn around and give up when I notice lights in the windows to my left. It looks like someone’s lighting candles.
Staying in the shadows, I circle the perimeter, moving away from the entrance and around the back. I’m not walking in there without checking Aalyiah’s alone. If it’s even her in there. Dry leaves crunch softly under my feet, the only sound in the otherwise silent night.
I pause, listening for any movement before moving closer to the wall, each step measured, my senses heightened.
When another window appears, I plaster myself to the wall and almost have a coronary when the stillness is broken by the sound of a quickly approaching car. I wonder if it’s Aalyiah until it stops abruptly and the doors bang shut.Twopairs of boots thump into the building.
Definitely male steps. Rushed, angry, heavy.
My heart leaps into my throat, every dark scenario I imagined about this situation coming true. There’s a shuffle of feet close by, right behind the wall I’m leaning against. I inch closer to the window, peering through the gaps in the broken, misty glass.
The warehouse is bathed in shadows, vast but not empty. Dust swirls in the orange glow of candles irregularly placed around the floor and on metal tables lining the far wall, but the dimmed lightning changes to clinical at the flip of a switch.
Aalyiah stands in the middle, glancing around with big, fearful eyes. She’s even prettier than her picture. Long, dark brown hair, round face, full lips. There’s a vulnerability about her I hadn’t expected. An aura of pure goodness.
She was supposed to be alone, but the heavy footsteps echoing through the warehouse betray that thisisa trap.
My blood runs cold when I recognize the man at the front. Rhett Willard in the flesh, his presence menacing even from a distance. Aalyiah turns sharply, her body stiffening as she locks eyes with her father, and it’s in this moment I realize she wasn’t expecting him.
“You dumb bitch!” Rhett bellows, his voice slicing the air like a blade. “You’re dating a cop?! You’d betray your own blood?!”
All I see is their profiles, but Aalyiah’s cowering, shaking softly, tears in her eyes as she sinks in on herself, pale and clammy.
“You’re a fucking disgrace,” he spits out, getting closer. “Are you meeting him here? You’re using my warehouse to fuck around with that scum?” He stops and backhands her so hard her head swings to the side.
Blood oozes from her split lip but she doesn’t have a chance to wipe it. Rhett grabs a fistful of her hair, yanking her closer, and she yelps as tears slide down her cheeks.
“What did you tell him?”
“Dad, please... I didn’t mean to... I—”
“He got his hands on a shitload of important documents,” he seethes, shoving her to the ground. “Did you help him?! Did you betray me for that son of a bitch?!”
“Please don’t hurt him,” she begs, choking on her tears as she clambers over the dried bloodstains that cover the concrete floor. “Please, it’s not his fault. Vaughn’s using him, he—”
“I don’t give a fuck about excuses!” Rhett snaps, pacing like a caged animal, fury igniting him from the inside out. He turnsto the man who arrived with him, sputtering through clenched teeth. “Get Babyface on it. I want Alex herealivewithin the hour!” He turns to Aalyiah, kicking her away when she tries grabbing his leg. “You can watch him die.”
“No! No, you can’t kill him!”
“I can and I will. You better pray he gives up the evidence quickly or you’ll watch him die fordays.”
“No, Dad, please...” Aalyiah wails, her sobs filling the warehouse. “I beg you! I’m so sorry! Please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t hurt him. I love him!”
There’s a moment, a split second, where Rhett’s rage spills over a far more sinister edge.
His eyes blaze with a wild, uncontrolled madness and his hand moves to the gun at his belt. It happens so fast my brain barely registers the movement before a gunshot, a single, deafening blast, freezes my blood.
