Page 54 of Lone Star Witness

She was still babbling. God, her nerves were zinging and out of control, but part of her was so damn happy that Slade hadn’t been shot. And that he was here.

With her.

That’s when something else occurred to her in what had to be the worst timing in the history of worst timings.

She was indeed in love with Slade.

Thankfully, she didn’t blurt that out, too, but that was partly because she heard the gunshots over her own heartbeat. No panic came, though. Only the fear that these bullets were being fired at Jericho.

“Stop it,” someone shouted.

Stephanie.

“I hired you, you sonofabitch,” Stephanie yelled. “So, stop firing now because you could hit me.”

Well, that was an unexpected confession, but Marise wasn’t sure if the woman was referring to Hutton’s murder, the attempts to kill Slade and her, or was Stephanie talking specifically about this attack?

Maybe they’d soon find out.

Slade must have decided it was time for those rules to kick in because he maneuvered Caroline and her behind a tree. Slade and Nash ducked behind, too, but they were in the open enough that they could still be shot.

“I quit. Consider this my resignation,” Sonny snarled back. He was behind a tree and peering out in Stephanie’s direction. “You’re no longer my boss, bitch.”

And he fired again.

Stephanie made a feral sound, and Marise watched as the woman bolted from behind the tree. Jericho grabbed for her, but she broke free, ready to make a run at Sonny. She looked enraged, ready to rip him limb from limb despite her hands still being duct taped together.

The moment she reached him, she lifted her arms as if to punch him, but Sonny bashed his gun against her head, knocking her out. In the same motion, he caught Stephanie and held her in front of him. An unconscious human shield. Then, Sonny aimed his gun not at Stephanie. Not at them either.

But at the rope that was still holding Rosa.

“How many shots will it take for the rope to break and for your precious Colonel Rosa to fall to his death?” Sonny asked, grinning. “Let’s just see.”

And he pulled the trigger.

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Chapter Nineteen

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Slade cursed when Sonny’s bullet tore through a part of the rope. One more shot like that, and the colonel could fall straight into the creek. The fall might not kill him, but with his hands tied, he wouldn’t be able to swim his way to the banks. He could drown before someone could get to him.

“Why punish Rosa?” Slade called out. “Nash, Jericho, and I are the ones you really want.”

“And Caroline and Marise,” Sonny snapped. “Let’s not forget them. Bitches, I’m surrounded by bitches.” He threw a glance down at Stephanie, whose head had lolled to the side. “This one here at least paid me for putting up with her bitch ways.”

“She hired you to kill Hutton?” Slade asked.

He saw Jericho inch out from the tree and knew he needed to keep Sonny’s attention on him. Jericho was going to try for that rope.

“Actually, Julian did,” Sonny admitted. “We had some mutual acquaintances in common.”

Drug supplying friends, no doubt. Slade recalled the background check on Julian and those associates.

“Then, when Julian got himself killed, the bitch here asked me to clean up her mess,” Sonny concluded. “That included drugging her old man so he wouldn’t know the shit he’d seen go down in her office.”

So, that was one thing confirmed. Rosa had been drugged, and Stephanie had been the one to put Sonny up to it.

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