Page 61 of Silk and Steel

Emory plays with the buttons on my shirt.

“Oh, I’m sure we can find something to do while you sober up. We can leave this afternoon and it won’t make much difference, right?”

“I guess not, but I can’t leave you alone.”

She cocks an eyebrow. “We took four trips around the neighborhood, and you checked and rechecked the surveillance footage. You know that Julian and his goons aren’t here. They aren’t even in the neighborhood. I’ll be fine for the next five minutes while you run to the store.”

This is really important to her, for some reason. After the day she’s had, I can’t bear to say no. But I keep getting this feeling that I’m making a mistake, even if Lovejoy is nowhere to be found.

“All right,” I say at last. “But keep the door locked, security engaged, and do not leave until I get back.”

“I will.”

“And here.”

I pull the pistol out of the holster behind my back, and set it on the kitchen counter.

“You ever use one of these?”

“A couple times, at a practice range. Julian…used to drag me along with him when he went there.”

I nod. “Then something good came of him. Not that you’ll need it. But if you were to use it, you should aim for the center mass. Don’t bother going for headshots, or anything non-lethal like a leg shot. Putting a bunch of holes in Lovejoy’s chest would make him go down. Believe me.”

She nods, staring at the gun on the counter.

“All right.”

Reluctantly, I leave her house. I make sure she turns the security system back on before I even step off the porch.

The corner store is more like two blocks away. And they’re insanely busy. By the time I check out with the bottle of whiskey, it’s already been fifteen minutes.

I rush back to Emory, breathing a sigh of relief when I see that everything looks placid outside of her place.

“I’m back.”

I try the door. It’s unlocked. My face twists in annoyance.

“I thought we were going to keep the door locked?”

No answer. Now I’ve got a really bad feeling. I rush through the house, calling Emory’s name, but it soon becomes clear she’s not home.

Emory is gone, vanished into thin air. And I have no idea how to find her.

15

EMORY

The sun baked wood of the fence scrapes my shoulder as I sidle through my neighbor’s yard. The ride I ordered should be on the side street in about a minute. I have to hurry.

My gut twists up in knots. I hated having to lie to Cole, but I had no choice. He would never have let me do this. Never let me make this sacrifice.

Because he cares about me. I know that now. His judgment can’t be trusted when it comes to me. I have no doubt he would do anything to keep me safe.

Those protestors were right. It is my fault that Julian is hurting people. I should have given in to Julian from the start.

Well, I’m not going to wait and see what awful thing Julian will do next. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me. Not one more.

Julian has completely lost his mind. I have no doubt he’ll try and carry out his threat and kill someone that I love by sundown if I don’t agree to his demands. Maybe the police and Platinum Security can protect my family…and maybe they can’t.

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