Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
“We don’t carry nightsticks anymore, ma’am,” said Officer Mulvaney, Davis’s partner, “and we must now ask that you step back from the door and explain what’s going on.”
“It’s simple.” Rhodes grasped my shoulders, gently drawing me to his side. “While going through my mother-in-law’s documents, we found some medical invoices submitted by Mr. Agassi that don’t add up. The short of it is that he was medically torturing Omma by denying her the meds she did need, and stealing from the estate by charging services and treatments that she didn’t. And before you ask,” Rhodes said to their shocked faces, “we have proof.”
“Theft, fraud, elder abuse,” I cried. “You can’t let that shitbag get away with this!”
“He’s not getting away with anything.” Mulvaney unstrapped her gun. Taking my place, she tried the knob, then started banging just as hard on the door as me. “Mr. Agassi? Mr. Agassi, we are officers with the Lantana Police Department and we need you to open this door immediately.”
“Do you have a key?” Davis asked, herding us farther back.
“No,” Micah chimed in. “Reynard put the lock in himself. He had the only key.”
“Don’t you have a battering ram?” I demanded.
“It doesn’t ride shotgun,” Davis shot back. “Are you certain he’s in there?”
“I’m sure. His car is in the driveway.”
“Wait— We have an axe in the wine cellar,” Rhodes spoke up, taking off down the hall. “Tell him to open the door or we’ll break it down.”
Mulvaney did just that. “Open this door, or we’ll break it down, Mr. Agassi.”
That’s how Rhodes, Micah, Alex, Lily, and I ended up watching from the end of the hall as Davis took an axe to his door, reducing the beautiful carved oak to splinters while his partner trained her gun—ready and willing to take the abusive bastard down.
“Why’s he doing that, Mommy?”
“Because Reynard was very naughty, so now Santa’s undercover elves are taking him away to the North Pole, where he’ll spend the rest of his days mining coal—”
With Lily riding on his shoulders, Alex mumbled under his breath, “Thank you for giving her the G-rated version—”
“—like the raggedy-ass bitch he is,” I finished, earning a giggle from Lily and a gusty sigh from Alex.
“Mr. Agassi!” Davis sunk his final whack, finally splitting a hole beside the lock that was big enough for his hand to fit through. “We are coming in. Do not move from your current spot. Remain calm and put your hands on—” The door swung open. “Fuck!”
Davis rushed in, dropping the axe on the carpet. “Sabrina, call it in! Get an ambulance here now!”
“What?” I cried, breaking free. “What’s going on!”
“Mrs. Kim, stay back. Stay back!”
I ignored Mulvaney. Sprinting down the hall, I skidded to a stop beside her, and fell on my ass—hands clapping over my mouth.
I now knew why Reynard refused to answer us. It wasn’t because he was a cowardly bitch.
Wide, unseeing eyes peered into my soul, sending a silent plea for forgiveness as Davis felt his neck, waiting for the lack of pulse to confirm what his foaming blue lips already did.
He’s dead.
Chapter Twenty-One
“This isn’t so bad.” Courtney stuck her head in the en suite—oohing and aahing to lift my spirits. “You can think of it like a staycation.”
“Argh,” I groaned, flinging myself down on the couch. “The only one thinking of this like a vacation is Lily. Four people have died in our home or outside of it within the last three weeks. None of us can relax anymore.”
I looked around the plush hotel room. Two sectionals claimed most of the space in the sunken living room. Beside it was the mini-kitchen—already loaded with prepared food from room service. In the bedrooms, foam-topped mattresses waited to welcome us with downy arms, and don’t get me started on the Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.
The Lantana Royal Suites delivered on the luxury, but not on the number of bedrooms. It wasn’t often they needed a suite for four adults and their daughter, so Lily had her own room, I had the main bedroom, and the guys were sleeping on the pullout couches while alternating every night who slept in the bedroom with me.
It was fine, and it was safer, but it wasn’t home. We hadn’t been in our actual home for over a week. We moved out and into the hotel the morning after Reynard died.
“Are you okay?” Courtney dropped next to me and rested my head on her shoulder. “This whole thing has got to be wrecking your head.”
“That’s an understatement,” I muttered, cuddling into her side like a baby. It was just me in the hotel room again. Rhodes and Micah were at work, and Alex was with Lily at Taekwondo. We signed her up the week before. When you lived in a town that was going to shit, it was never too early to start learning how to defend yourself.