Page 1 of Ruthless Regret

CHAPTER ONE

ZAIN

Fuck.Fuck. Fuck.

“I don’t think it was him.” My voice is a lot steadier than it should be, because inside my mind is screaming at me.

“How do you know?”

How do I know? Because there’s blood on my fucking floor.

“Because I think someone has just taken Ashley from my house.”

How long has passed since I heard the glass smash?

It can’t have been more than a minute or two. If the sound was because someone broke in and grabbed her, then there’s no way they could have gotten far.

Unless she’s unconscious, or the intruder incapacitated her somehow.

There’s no way she wouldn’t put up a fight, or struggle to escape, if she was able to.

Did her scream sound cut off?

I’m not sure. Maybe?

What Iamsure of is that she hasn’t run. The scream, the smashed window, the blood on the floor. All of that points to someone surprising her.

Unless she set it up, and wants you to think that …

I cut off that negative thought before it fully forms.

Why would she do something like that?

She ran from you before.

That was different. She thought her mom was in danger from me, and I’d just forced her to sleep in the room where Jason and Louisa were killed.

But not now, not after what we just did.

Why not? Wouldn’t now be the best time to do it? While you’re conflicted about how you feel?

I shake my head, but that little voice persists.

What if I’m wrong about this? About her?

No, I’m not. When would she have had a chance to arrange it? She didn’t even know we were coming here.

My senses are on high alert when I step outside.

“Zain, what’s going on?” Sheriff McFadden’s voice is a buzzing in my ear that I ignore while I scan the enclosed grounds at the back of the house.

I call her name. My voice echoes around the garden, but she doesn’t reply.

Visions of the night I walked into the house and found Louisa and Jason dead bombard me, and I shake my head again.

No. She isn’t dead. She’s out here somewhere.

“Zain? Zain, are you listening to me?” The sheriff’s voice pierces through my thoughts.

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