Page 20 of Perfect Liar
“I failed you. I should have known. Should have saved her.”
The gruesome image of Isabel filled my head, and I winced in pain. He went on.
“I swear, Ellie. I won’t let that happen to you.”
I shook my head while holding it between my hands.
“This can’t be real.”
He put his arm around my shoulder, waiting a minute before taking me into his arms.
“I’ll never leave here without you again.”
I didn’t understand what that meant. I didn’t care. Because I desperately wanted to stay inside the protection of his strong arms. Nothing I could do would stop the pain or the fear from gripping me, so I shut my eyes and let it burst out from my heart.
She is dead. They are dead.
My body trembled.
They’re gone.
Tears streamed down my face.
I’m alone.
“It’s all right. I’m here,” he said.
Then he pressed me hard against his chest, burying his face in my hair.
“And I’m going to kill every one of those motherfuckers.”
CHAPTER 6
My throbbing head tortured me, allowing thoughts and images from the day before to collide into one another as they whirled around inside my mind.
I padded across the wood floor and slid open the curtains. Golden beams of sunlight radiated through the east-facing panes on the French doors.
Ben stood guard on the veranda. His hands were on an impressive-looking rifle strapped to his shoulder. He raised one hand in greeting and gave me a nod.
I stared stupidly before opening the door and stepping outside with him.
“Where is Will? I need to see him.”
Ben seemed to tense up.
“He’ll be back soon. Please stay inside until he returns.”
When I nodded my agreement, his face and his shoulders relaxed.
“Why don’t you sit? There’s no need to stand,” I said.
He shook his head, pulled out his phone, and took off his dark sunglasses to read something. His eyes scrunched, and a smile lifted his entire face, causing the scar on his forehead to pucker.
I turned to go back inside, but he stopped me.
“Hold on, Ellie.”
He extended his phone to show me a picture of a little girl.