Page 171 of Hunt for You

Then I reminded myself that I had been setting myself up for fun, trying to get around Jeremy. I’d thought I was so clever… Yet, I was too stupid to realize Cain and Sam were the same person.

What a fucking idiot.

My heart thudded slowly, like my blood was too thick.

“He’s not what you think he is,” I said quietly.

Jeremy, who’d been discussing “forward planning” with the other two guys, went quiet and turned to look at me.

“What did you say?” he asked carefully.

“I said… he’s not what you think he is. He’s not a killer. Not like—”

“A convicted voyeur, sexual assaulton a woman,and he had a weapon, Bridget. Do not tell me you’re somehow twisting that intoinnocence?”

“He threw the knife away. I didn’t even ask him to.”

“He’d probably gotten wind that we were there and was just trying to improve his case. He could still suffocate you with his bare hands, after all. He’s a strong guy.”

I glared at him, but he just glared back.

“Do not tell me you were actually convinced by all that spluttering and—”

“He used to be dark—which was when he was convicted. But he’s changed. He’s turned his life around. He’s agood guy.”

“He’s a fucking felon with a record as long as your arm, and he was planning tokill you,Bridget. We pulled his kit—in the bag he carried into the forest, he had night vision goggles, another knife, zip ties, and some scarves I assume were to gag you. His car had duct tape, and—”

“And he had me at knifepoint and did nothing.”

“Because we showed up!” Jeremy protested.

I just stared at him, my head spinning. Now that my heart had slowed down and I wasn’t feeling nervous anymore, all I could do was thinkback. All the things Cain had said—was Sam right that he’d never actually said he would kill me? I had a strange notion that he was. And he’d bailed on me when I said I wanted to live. I’d thought it was because those were the rules of the game. But now…

“Has he been booked yet?” I asked quietly.

Jeremy shook his head. “We’ve got some questions for him before things get official.”

I wanted to laugh in his face, but I swallowed it back. “I need to talk to him.”

“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”

“You said yourself we’re going to lose this on entrapment—”

“No, I said his lawyer is going to try and say that. We’ll fight it.”

“But it’s better if we don’t have to. Let me talk to him. Let me get him to incriminate himself. He pursued me, Jeremy. Heknew.”It was all bullshit of course, but I needed Jeremy to give me a chance to talk to Sam, so I could explain. Apologize. Plead for forgiveness.

…The way Cain got soft and started issuing careful instructions when I got winded the first time he took me down…

…the rage he held for Ronald and the way he’d carried me into the bathroom and stripped me so carefully… the aftercare… no wonder he never fucked me. Not once.

…that moment tonight when he had me caught and could have slit my throat, and he tossed the blade. It flashed as it turned over and over before disappearing into the bushes…

His eyes pleading with me… “I was always going to try and convince you not to go that far. I always planned to disappear when you changed your mind—it’s what I do! And I did… when you said you wanted to live, I walked away! But I couldn’t let you go. And you didn’t either and… it wasn’t supposed to be this way, Bridget. I didn’t know you’d come to the church—I wasn’t even supposed to be there! But I can see now, it was meant to be…”

“I’M NOT LEAVING YOU!”

“Bridget!”