Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “Elias dropped the charges.”
Her brows furrow, and she pulls a step away. “What do you mean he dropped the charges? Why would he do that?”
I shrug. “He claimed it was nothing more than a private family matter. A miscommunication of such, and that he didn’t want you throwing your whole life away for something so trivial.”
She shakes her head again. “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand why he would do that.”
“Come on, doll. Put the pieces together,” I encourage her. “If you’re rotting in a prison cell, then how the fuck is he going to get his hands on you?”
“But what does it matter? He’s going away for a double homicide. It’s over now.”
I shake my head, my heart hurting for her. The past few hours have been more than trying, and not only because Harper has been sitting in a jail cell, but because Elias, as usual, is still playing his fucking game. “His lawyer is pushing to get the footage from the morgue thrown out. They’re claiming there were issues with the chain of custody, and if they’re successful, there’s not much to go on. He’ll walk free, and we won’t be able to try him again.”
“Wait. No,” she says, beginning to pace up and down the corridor. “No, that’s not okay. How can they let this happen? I was there. I saw the whole thing, doesn’t that count for anything?”
I let out a breath and give it to her straight. “No, doll. It doesn’t,” I tell her. “I wish I could tell you that it does, but they’ll argue that you’re not mentally sound, and with your recent psychiatric hold, they’ll get your witness statement thrown out.”
“They get to play the crazy card?”
“I’m sorry, doll.”
“But no. Without my statement, there’s nothing. He’ll walk.”
“Yes. Which is exactly why he’s dropping the charges on you. With you both out in the world, he gets another crack at you, and I’m not about to let that happen. After going there today, you’ve ramped up the game for him. He’s hungry for it. You’ve given him a taste, and now he wants to finish it. He’s never going to quit, doll. He won’t let this go, even if it means hunting you for years to come.”
Her hands start to shake at her sides, and I step into her, pulling her into my arms and holding her tight. “I’m not saying this to scare you, Harper, but I need you to understand that your actions today have consequences, and while I understand what pushed you to do it, it doesn’t change anything.”
She nods against my chest. “I fucked up.”
“Yes, doll.”
Her hands come up, and she hastily swipes her eyes. “Can you take me home now?”
I nod, and my hand falls to her lower back as I lead her away.
Twenty minutes later, Harper has officially been released from police custody, and as I drive along the highway, I can’t help the rage that continues building in my chest. It consumes me, eating me alive. Every different scenario plays out in my head. Imagining the way she slipped away from Hunter, the way she turned off the home security notifications and took the gun from my safe, the way she walked straight into the lion’s den.
What the fuck was she thinking?
I white-knuckle the steering wheel, my jaw clenched as the fury bubbles beneath the surface. I could have lost her today. Elias could have taken her from me, and I never would have seen her again. Never held her in my arms, never seen the way her eyes light up when she looked at me, never heard those three little words on her tongue first thing in the morning.
“You’re still mad,” Harper whispers beside me, her voice like a knife right through my chest.
“Still mad?” I demand, the last fragments of my control slipping and leaving me torn open. “Of course I’m still fucking mad. What the fuck did you think you were doing going there today? Do you have any idea how fucking dangerous that was? I could have lost you, Harper. FUCK!”
I pull over, my truck screeching to a stop on the side of the highway. I slam my hands down on the steering wheel, my chest heaving as I fight to find some semblance of control, but I can’t. It’s too fucking much, and instead of turning that anger on her, I push out of the truck and storm around the front, bracing my hands on the hood as I take deep breaths, trying to settle the monster within me.
I could have fucking lost her.
I stand out in the cool afternoon for a few minutes before Harper opens her door. She jumps down, her feet hitting the asphalt, and not a moment later, she appears around the front of my truck and slips straight between me and the hood, her arms snaking up around my neck and holding on as though she will never let go.