Page 115 of The Guy Next Door

I whirl around and grab the doorknob when I hear behind me, “You walk out that door, and your boyfriend’s dead.”

I freeze in place; the strained cry from upstairs is even louder.

I spin around, looking up the stairs.

It’s him: the dark-haired man from the photo Zane showed me.

Isaac Tolle.

He has a gun in his hand, aimed at Zane, who has his arms behind his back and a gag in his mouth. The way Isaac’s gripping the back of his shirt, it’s clear he dragged him to the top of the stairs.

The text was a trick to lure me here, and now he’s got us both right where he wants us.

“Hello, Leif.” Isaac’s voice is a whisper. There’s something unsettling to how calm he seems in a situation that has my adrenaline spiking. His lips curl into a smile, something wicked in his gaze.

Zane continues crying out behind his gag, his eyes wide, as though he’s trying to plant a message in my head. I’m sure it’s something simple like, “Get the fuck out of here!” He’d want me to leave so at least one of us could turn Isaac in.

Or maybe a part of me knows that’s more reasonable than taking on an armed man.

Heartbeat racing, breaths hastening, my thoughts are running through scenarios, like shit out of aFast and Furiousmovie, where I’m able to use quick thinking and strategy to disarm him and save the day. Like the night Zane dragged me into the closet, I figure I could have taken some goddamn self-defense classes to be prepared for this.

If only…

“Get your phone out,” Isaac says. “Throw it up here.”

My gaze meets Zane’s; I can tell with every fiber of my being he wants me to get the hell out of here, but knowing what will happen if I leave, I can’t risk that. I obey Isaac’s instruction, aiming for his head, but he moves aside so the phone goes flying down the upstairs hall.

He chuckles. “Like the fight. Now come on up. We have things to discuss. I don’t think I need to tell you that if you leave, I have no reason to keep Zane alive.” He drags Zane toward his bedroom.

Zane continues pleading with me from behind his gag.

I’m running through my options. How easy it would be to spare myself right now.

I could get help.

But the thought of leaving Zane here to meet his end is too unbearable to consider, and before I know it, I find myselfmounting the stairs, heading toward my fate, whatever that may be.

I consider my mom’s pepper spray, which I have in my jeans pocket. I think about reaching in for it now, but Isaac will be suspicious if I get to the top of the stairs with my hand in my pocket. No, I need to wait for the right moment.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I turn toward Zane’s room. Isaac stands inside, aiming the gun at Zane.

“In here,” Isaac says.

“I’m fine out here.”

“I could shoot Zane right now. Is that what you want?”

But he could have shot him already.

If he wanted to kill us both, he could aim and have a chance of offing me before I got away.

That’s not what he wants. He has other plans for us…

“You killed Jason Kilbourne,” I say. “And you took Mike. If I come in there, you’ll just kill us both.”

He snickers. It’s a disturbing reaction.

“Leif,” he says. I cringe at him speaking my name. “I hope you don’t assume I want this. That I’m some kind of monster. I’m not.”

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