Page 74 of Fatal Attraction

He stumbled back, dazed, then dizzily raised the gun and fired off another shot that had me screaming in excruciating pain. The bullet whizzed right past Peter had lodged itself deep into my left shoulder.

“CHARLOTTE!”

Peter stopped fighting and raced toward me, distracted by the blood now pooling down my borrowed clothing and wild wails.

It was agony, so much that all I could do was scream. My whole arm felt like it’d been lit on fire and smashed with a sledgehammer all at once.

“You stupid fuck,” Peter snarled, panicking as he pressed his palms against the wound, which did nothing but make me screech louder. “You fucking shot her!”

“Back the fuck away from her,” Perry growled, charging forward and pressing the barrel against Peter’s head. “Get the FUCK away from her before I blow your fucking brains out!”

I cried harder as Peter backed away, his blood-soaked hands raised high. Eyeing Peter carefully, Perry kicked my food tray off the chair and then instructed him to sit down. With tears rolling down his cheeks, Peter obliged.

Then I watched in fear as Perry flipped the gun and bashed it hard against Peter’s face.

He was out cold.

Thirty

Spike

“Felix!” Phoenix hollered, rapping against his apartment door three hard times with his curled fist, growing angrier the longer he was forced to wait. “FELIX!”

“Come on,” I demanded as I grabbed ahold of his shoulder and urged him back. “We’re kicking it in.”

“But we don’t have a warrant—”

“Fuck the goddamn warrant!”

Phoenix didn’t give me any shit over it. On the count of three, we charged, stomping our shoes against the heart of the door. It flew open in a loudcrunch, and Phoenix and I shared a curse when the wood broke clean off its hinges.

Phoenix fell back, pointing out blood droplets on the floor as he immediately whipped out his phone to dial Captain Burgess. “We need the team,” he said as I moved, stepping over the mess. His voice faded as I searched through the apartment, finding every other room clean and empty aside from the living room and kitchen.

“They’re on their way,” Phoenix called out to me.

“We can’t wait for them,” I said, my heart sinking as I took in the damage. I’d never stepped foot inside Felix’s apartment until now, but whatever happened here, it was evident Felix had gone through hell. There were expensive antiques smashed into shards on the hardwood floor. The center table in the living room was still standing on its wooden legs except for the glass centerpiece which was shattered with sharp glass underneath it. Therewas more—a lot more—but I didn’t have time to describe everything. Something horrible happened here and if my gut feeling was right, then our perp thought ahead and decided to take out the trash before it could expose him.

“We need to split up.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t,” I told him, sighing as I lifted my shoulders and dropped them in defeat. “But we don’t have a choice now. Stay here and wait for the team while I go to the sanctum and search for him there.”

“And if he isn’t there?”

“Then I’ll check the graveyard. Call Kendall just in case I can’t find her obituary information on my phone. If that fails, then I’ll go to speak with Captain Keeton in Narcotics.”

“Spike.” Phoenix grabbed my arm as I made to leave and then yanked me close, wrapping his arms around me and holding on for dear life. “Please be careful.”

I pulled back, grasping the back of his head and pressing his forehead against mine. “I will. I promise I will.”

Thirty One

Charlotte

“Peter,” I rasped, my voice insanely weak and my breathing ragged. “Please wake up.” He was tied down in the chair beside me, still KO’d thanks to Perry hitting him with my gun. “Peter!”

He jumped then, swearing loudly as he shook his head, groaning. He tried moving his arms, but they were pinned against the back of the chair, same with his legs.

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