Page 124 of Relentless Sinner

“He does. He’s probably the only person I trust, apart from my friends. And Eve.”

A thumping sound cuts into his next words. We both look back at the house. There are guards here, so we aren’t alone. But that sound was weird. Like someone falling to the ground.

I can tell from the way Jaxon looks that he thinks it’s weird, too.

“Stay here. I’m gonna check that out.” He touches my cheek. “It’s probably the guys messing around.”

“Okay.” I hope it is. The one thing I haven’t missed on this trip is the constant paranoia.

Jaxon gets up and makes his way into the house. I nibble on the chicken deciding to eat until he returns.

Jaxon heads inside, and moments later, I polish off the skewer. My hands are a little dirty from touching the food, so I get up to search for a napkin. Movement to my left catches my attention and I find myself standing face to face with a creepy-looking man I’ve never seen before.

He’s got a buzz cut and is tall, and built like a wrestler. A tattered biker jacket shows off his muscular arms while the scars on his face and skeletal neck tattoo enhance his creepo vibe.

At first, I think he must just be a passerby walking on the beach, but then I remember this isourprivate beach. There wouldn’t be and hasn’t been anyone around but us for the entire time we’ve been here. We haven’t even seen our closest neighbors, who are about a mile away. So, this guy, who’s just standing there looking at me?

He must be a threat. The sort of threat we’ve been worrying about for the last few months.

His menacing smile and sharp stare confirm my thoughts, but I’m frozen in fear so I can’t even call for Jaxon.

“Wow, your father said you were pretty,” the man says, providing further validation of the threat he is. And now I know he was sent by my father. “Me and the boys will definitely enjoy fucking you.”

Oh God, no. Not this again.

Terror snaps me out of my stupor, and I try to run. But I’m not faster than him. I didn’t even see him move. Suddenly,his arms are around me, squeezing me so tightly I fear I may explode.

I scream and I scream and I scream, kicking and thrashing, trying to get out of his grasp.

“Shut the fuck up!” he yells in my ear, the sound of his voice so harsh and abrasive it’s deafening.

He hoists me off the ground and carries me away. Then I hear gunshots coming from inside the house, then the sound is all around me. My mind goes right back to that nightmarish night in Italy years ago when my mother was killed.

This was how it sounded. Bullets ringing through the air and shouting and screaming. The sounds of death.

Panic assails me, but I’m determined not to die.

As I’m carried past the barbeque pit, I grab one of the chicken skewers and stab it into the side of the man’s neck.

He howls in pain and drops me. I take the chance to run.

“Jaxon!” I scream his name as loud as I can.

The man comes back after me and grabs me again, but a bullet lodges right in the middle of his head.

He drops to the ground and I whip around to find Jaxon and Andrieu rushing out the door.

There are still guns firing off in the house.

With his gun in hand, Jaxon rushes toward me, takes me in his arms, and holds me.

“Are you hurt?” he asks, looking me over.

“No, I’m okay.”

Jaxon looks at Andrieu, who has a nasty gash on his forehead. “Take her.”

“Yes, Pakhan.”

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