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“Thank God. I can’t get the rope off of her.”
But Hudson isn’t paying attention to Landon; he’s staring at my sewn lips in horror as I shake my head and scream in my mind for him to run.
And he does run, but not away like he should. He runs to me, cupping my face as tears dampen his eyes. “Oh, baby, what did he do to you?”
“I kept her quiet,” Landon answers, and shoves the knife into Hudson’s back.
Hudson drops to his knees, his eyes wide with shock.
“Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?” Landon kicks him to his back and stares down at him with the bloody knife in his hand. “Do you know what it’s like growing up without a father? No, because you got to have yours. And it’s not like you died. You left because I wasn’t enough. I mean, I blame Mom too. If she’d been a better wife, you would have stayed. I told her that before I chased her down the street and ran her over. You should have heard her begging. It was so fucking delicious.”
He looks around before yanking me into his arms, using my body as a shield. “I thought if I could just get you to see me, you’d know I was just like you. I snuck out of the house and followed you around. And that’s when I realized you were so much more than just a driver for a wannabe gangster.”
Hudson turns his head to look at me, his eyes dark and filled with so much rage. But I don’t miss the promise he sends me. He’ll get me out of here, even if that means trading his life for mine.
More tears flow down my face as I realize that nothing else matters anymore. Not the lies he told me or the tricks he played to keep me. In this moment, when everything comes down to life and death, I choose him.
I choose the man who came for me. I choose the man who’ll tear his son to pieces with his bare hands for touching me.
And I can’t even tell him that. I can’t tell him that underneath my anger and fear and frustration, I was beginning to fall in love with him.
I’m not stupid. I know he’s every bit as bad as I think he is—maybe even worse. But with me, he’s so much more than that. He’s the forehead-kissing, hand-on-my-back, strap-me-in-and-carry-me-home guy.
He may have blood on his hands, but those same hands fed me chocolate-covered strawberries and wrapped a tablet full of books with a bow. He etched my name into his skin and wears it as a mark of honor.
I don’t care if he’s a monster, because that monster is mine. And I’ll be damned if I let him die here for me.
I tense and wait, tuning back into Landon’s villain monologue as I wait for the right moment to make my move. I’m so sick of being the victim. No fucking more.
“Jessica was my acknowledgment of your work. I tracked her down after you killed her husband. I helped finalize his estate, got her relocated to Vegas, before I briefly turned her into my personal slut. Women who have been cheated on always have a lot to prove,” he chuckles.
“Killing her was a hat tip, if you will. I wanted to show you I was impressed, but that anything you can do, I can do better.”
He sings the last part, the creepy motherfucker.
“The stripper meant nothing. I fucked her because you did, but it wasn’t anything special.
“The bullseye was a nice touch. Just me showing you that I knew you were a sniper. She made a good first target. A little tease of what was to come. Having her friend help me was the best part. Offer anyone enough money, and they’ll sell out their own grandmother.
“Still, she had to go. Can’t have any loose ends, so I got a friend of mine to kill her. You might remember him, Starling. Derek Rivers. Ring any bells?”
I jolt, my eyes wide with shock, making him laugh.
“Poor Starling. I thought you would have figured it out by now. I was Derek’s lawyer too. You knew that, though. I’m the one who gave you to him. I identified his body and gave a positive ID, even though it was really a dead gangbanger we’d staged to take his place. It was as easy as forging documents saying he was your biological father.” He laughs.
I don’t react. I always knew the truth. Call it instinct, but there was a reason I shielded myself from Landon. I trusted him less than Derek. At least Derek fed and clothed me and kept me off the streets.
I was happy to live the lie because that lie didn’t try to fuck me and leave me beaten on the pavement.
I just never figured out why. Derek had no interest in me, and I saw Landon only a handful of times since the day he took me from the street. Usually, when he came to visit his mom, where he thankfully ignored me the whole time, and I saw him at the hospital the day she died, once at her funeral, and again the day he helped us move into Hudson’s place. I kept my mouth shut about his involvement, not wanting to end up right back where he found me.
“Derek thought I was helping him because he took in Starling. I’m a nice fucking guy, but not that nice. I left little clues that the man was alive, all the cops need to do is follow the trail. After all, I needed someone to take the fall for all this.”
He looks down at the rope around my leg and laughs. “Now he’s just hanging around, waiting for his moment to shine.”
That’s who’s tied to me? Derek?
I feel like throwing up but manage to keep it down. With my mouth sewn shut, I’d end up choking to death.