My phone buzzes in my hand. I pull it away from my ear and tap on the messaging app. A video appears in a new text thread, and hand shaking, I click on it.
The image is dark and a little grainy, the sun almost fully set, but the line of cop cars in the frame gives away the location. The South Bay PD parking lot. The person recording advances a little, the camera shaky, but as they approach one of the cruisers, Decker comes into focus.
My stomach flips.
His back is to the camera as he leans into the trunk of the car, oblivious to the threat.
As the camera turns and steadies on a fully masked man, gun in hand, bile creeps up my throat. He raises the weapon. Points it towards Decker. Finger on the trigger.
Panic clutches my chest, and I close out of the video and navigate to the phone icon. I have to hang up. I have to warn him. Tell him to run. To get inside.
The voice coming from my phone stops me cold.
“Shame if something were to happen to your precious little boy toy, wouldn’t you say, Gracie?”
“Don’t you dare fucking hurt him,” I snarl.
“Killin’ cops isn’t exactly my favourite pastime. Too much heat. But don’t think for a fuckin’ minute that I won’t do it. Twenty minutes. Every minute you’re late, I’ll add an extra minute to the extremely painful death I got planned for him. And then we’ll come for you anyway. It’s over, little Sinner.”
I swallow, tears springing from my eyes. “Okay. Okay, just… only if you keep him out of this.”
He hums. “That’s a good girl. And Gracie? You bring anyone with you or even think about warning those Sinner fucks, they will all be gutted and killed. See you soon, bitch.”
The line goes dead.
I steady a hand on the counter to stop myself from collapsing. I let myself get too comfortable, let myself feel too safe. Coming to South Bay put the people I care about, my family, in the same line of fire I was running from. If I don’t surrender, they’ll all burn with me. I can’t have that. I can’t let Linc pay for what I did. My brothers. Kat and Triss. No one.
A long, shaky breath huffs from my lungs as I tilt my head back, willing my heart to slow, willing the panic flooding my veins to dissipate.
Cut and run. It’s what my body’s telling me to do.
Leave this town in the dust.
Decker, the Sinners, my family. None of it matters. New town, new life.
But that’s the thing. They’re all that matter.
I steady my focus on the ceiling above me, racking my brain. Time ticks by, getting closer to that deadline, to when my life ends.
That’s when I see it. The vent above me, askew. The screws loose. I hoist myself onto the counter and yank it from the drywall, then reach inside, feeling for?—
“Jackpot,” I say as my hand lands on a brick of cocaine. I fish out the money, and to my luck, I also find a gun. I check the magazine. Loaded.
My chest is heavy as I write a quick note to Linc. Then, with another deep breath, I grab the product and cash, stash the gun at my back, and snag Decker’s keys.
Moments later, I’ve mounted his bike, ready to speed towards what might be the last thing I ever do.
Or the last thingtheyever do.
Maybe I die tonight. Or maybe these assholes find out what really happens when you back a snake into a corner.
27
Out of uniform,I hunch over my desk, shoving what’s left of my sandwich into my mouth. I’m tired and pissed off, and my OT was definitely not approved, so all the paperwork I’ve just caught up on was on donated time. But I can’t leave. Not with Allen still here and Kat sitting in a cell. I don’t trust him not to pull some shady shit. Though he’s been pretty by-the-book since we got back here. It makes sense. One misstep—excessive force, mishandling of evidence, abuse of process—and any charges against Kat could be easily dropped.
He’s got to play this right and within the law. Aswithin the lawas possible given how he came to lay these charges in the first place.
“You ever sleep, Decker?”
