Page 25 of Slay Bells Ring

I know he’s trying to be comforting, but the current situation is anything but.

He leans forward on the recliner, resting his forearms on his knees. “We do need to discuss a few things, such as who knew you’d be here over the holiday. We won’t be able to leave the cabin until the storm subsides and the roads are clear, so it’ll be a while, but once we do, it’ll be smart to confront the one sending these men to you and end the matter for good.”

Kill. He means it’ll be smart to kill whoever’s responsible.

When I don’t say a word, he asks me, “So who knew Holly fucking Cooper was coming to this cabin in the middle of nowhere?”

I think about it. “No one.” The look he gives me tells me he doesn’t believe it, which makes me say, “I don’t have friends I tell all my plans to, and you know that I don’t have any family anymore. My grandparents are all dead and I have no siblings. It’s literally just me.”

He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, like I’m irritating him or something. “Think harder. There has to be someone. Hitmen don’t just pop up out of nowhere like daisies. We’re sent by someone every single time. Someone had to have known you were coming to this cabin specifically.”

I frown as I run my hands through my hair. “No! There’s no one—” I pause, and it’s that pause that clues Kane into the fact that a person did in fact just pop into my head. “Well, I guess there is one, but there’s no way he’d hire assassins to kill me.”

Kane’s interest is plain on his face. “Who?”

“Uh, his name is Howard Giles. He’s been my guardian for the last thirteen years, ran Cooper Enterprises until I was old enough. I told him I was going away for the holiday, but I didn’t tell him this cabin specifically.”

“Maybe he bugged your devices and knew what you were doing while you were doing it.”

Shaking my head once, I say, “No. There’s no way. We might not always see eye-to-eye, but he took good care of me. And, you know, if he wanted me dead so he could run the company again, why wouldn’t he have hired assassins five years ago when I turned eighteen? It doesn’t make sense to do it now.”

“It could be he wanted to wait until a decent amount of time passed so it wouldn’t look fishy and fingers wouldn’t automatically point at him,” Kane offers up an explanation, and as much as I hate to admit it, it makes sense.

But… no. I just can’t believe Howard is capable of something like this. I mean, if Howard is the one behind this, then…

My world spins, and I suddenly feel like throwing up the bar I just finished eating. “If it’s Howard… do you think he’s the one who hired you to kill my parents?” If this is true, then the last thirteen years of my life were all lies.

“I’m not privy to that information, but it would make sense. Cooper Enterprises is huge, and a man with ambition can be a dangerous thing. People have killed for less. I suppose if another hitman comes, we should do everything in our power to restrain him so we can ask. Not working for the Guild, he should know a lot more about his employer.”

So our plan is now to take the assassin alive so we can interrogate him. Just a normal day here in this stupid cabin.

I’m slow in swinging my legs off the bed, and I gingerly place them on the floor. My fingers curl around the metal edge of the pull-out. Nothing I do can change the uneasy feeling that nestled deep within my gut the moment I thought about Howard.

Did I live with the man who ordered my parents’ hit for thirteen years? Was my rage at Kane completely misguided? If it’s true, if it’s Howard…he’sthe one I should’ve been training to kill, not the man sitting a few feet away.

Kane is the weapon, after all, nothing more. He’s the bullet in the gun. He needs someone to point the gun and shoot.

“You all right?” Kane asks quietly. “You look like you want to be sick.”

I smile, but it’s bitter and sad, not a true smile at all. “If it’s Howard, then… then I really have nobody. I have nothing. If it’s him, I spent all this time hating you when I should’ve hated him. He was right there for thirteen years, I could’ve—”

“You didn’t know, and we still don’t know for sure, so let’s not jump to conclusions until we have proof.”

I want to believe him. I want to hope for another man or woman at the heart of this, but the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am, the more depressed I get. My heart feels tight in my chest, the possible betrayal like a knife digging into me, piercing me in a way nothing else could. It’s a heavy block in my chest, a weight that makes it hard to breathe.

I think what’s left of my heart is breaking.

Chapter Twelve – Kane

Holly spends the rest of the day sullen and morose. I think the thought of this Howard being the man responsible for all that’s gone wrong in her life weighs on her and is more than she can take. It doesn’t help that she’s pretty much confined to the sofa bed; anytime she stands, she has to be careful where she puts her weight as she walks, otherwise her feet hurt her too much.

It’s a lot. After losing her parents, I’m sure this is another blow with an almost similar weight.

The weirdest thing is, it bothers me, seeing her like this. It bugs the shit out of me knowing there’s nothing I can do right now other than wait for the next hitman to pick that lock and walk through that door.

Caring is not something I’m used to. I mean, I shouldn’t give a shit about any of it. Truly, it’s not my problem. Her issues aren’t mine, yet it fucking pains me to know she’s hurting. How messed up is that?

I try to keep myself busy throughout the day. I keep the fire going, clean the place as best I can with what Ihave, and try to occupy Holly’s mind with other things. I find a few old romance books that I deposit onto her sofa bed—old as in the ones with the cliché covers of a bare-chested man holding onto a woman who’s completely undone and clinging onto him for dear life.

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