Page 111 of The Woman with the Handcuffs

Bone-fucking-chilling silence.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Caitlin

I watched the men disappear into the woods, leaving me with no one but the one man leaning against the other car.

He was young.

Then again, so was the guy at the clinic with Salvatore. I guess this was the kind of organization someone started working their way up in at a young age. He was maybe in his early twenties at most with that long, lean look guys that age always still seemed to have. Like they were always half-starved, no matter how much they ate. But in five or ten years’ time, he would be a really good-looking man with his sharp features—his cheekbones so chiseled they cast shadows beneath them—and gooey dark brown eyes.

He had a gun casually held in his hand and his gaze scanning the woods. Looking as calm as could be. Like this was an everyday occurrence.

Maybe it was.

Gav’s life seemed rather tame.

But he was a Made man. He had a rank. He didn’t need to do the dirty work anymore. Young guys like this were the ones out putting their necks on the line with the hopes that they would be recognized and rewarded for their hard work.

Maybe one day I would see that.

See this kid grow up.

See him make a name for himself.

Because Gav hadn’t pulled away from me when he knew about my father, about the trouble he’d gotten himself into. If anything, he’d just pulled me in closer, made it clear that we were in this together.

If all went the way my heart was hoping, I was going to be with him for a long time. Maybe forever. Which meant that these people—Leo, Zeno, Salvatore, the others whose names I didn’t know—would all be like a big extended family to me as well.

More people than I could count to befriend, to build bonds with, to spend time with, to shop for at Christmas, to check in on when they were sick.

I’d always had my father.

And he’d done everything he could for me.

But the idea of a family—a big, crazy, hectic, loving family—was more appealing than I expected.

Maybe one day in the future, I’d be buying this young guy a really cool gadget. Or fancy cufflinks. A nice tie—

The sound came out of nowhere.

A bang that had my whole body jolting as my head whipped to the side. To the woods across the street—not by the cabin.

Not Gav.

No.

Not Gav.

But what about my father?

The kid rushed forward, his gun raised, scanning the woods.

I saw him before he did.

It was the same red shirt he’d been wearing when he’d attacked me in the garage moving out from between trees.

I wanted to scream, to honk the horn.