Page 6 of Hold Me Before You Go

Chapter Two

Carrie

“You stupid bitch,” he snarled, fisting my hair and yanking me up. He dragged me into the next aisle and threw me back against the shelf. Head pounding, I looked up at him, shaking with fear. My vision was blurred, but I could see he was pointed his finger as he towered over me. “You need to fucking listen to me, or you’ll be dead before I can get my fucking payday.”

Payday? Confusion washed over me.

“Who are you?”

The man ripped off his hat, revealing brown hair, a straight nose, and a mildly handsome face—a face that seemed all too familiar.

Fear coiled around my neck as ice slid down my spine. I was seeing a ghost. “R-Robert?” I whispered, blinking as my vision began to clear.

I was seeing a ghost, right? That’s what this was.

This had to be a dream, some horrible nightmare, my demons crawling their way back to the surface just to torture me. Robert, my dead husband, was standing before me with a snarl on his face.

He was going to kill me.

I shifted, fisting my hands so my nails could dig into my palms.

The man slowly tilted his head to the side, giving me a sinister smile that had goosebumps skating across my skin. “Do I look familiar to you, Carrie?” he hissed, dropping down to his haunches in front of me as he pulled a syringe from his coat.

My eyes dropped to his hand, recognizing the needle. Leo had something similar. My voice was shaking when I spoke next. “Robert? What the—”

“Damn, I must’ve kicked you a little too hard, huh?” He chuckled. “I’m Brandon, you stupid whore.”

Brandon?

Brandon?

Brandon?

You don’t remember Brandon? My fucking brother, Carrie.

Robert’s voice sounded in my now-throbbing head, causing me to jump. Robert didn’t have any siblings. It was just him and his parents. At least, that’s what I remembered…

I shook my head at the stranger, answering both him and my ghost of a husband. “I don’t—who?”

The cocky smile fell from his face then, anger taking over. He scoffed. “So big bro didn’t tell his fat little wife about me? Figures.”

“Robert didn’t have siblings,” I said in disbelief, trying to wrap my head around this information.

Did Grayson know this?

Grayson—

My body warmed at the thought of him, and suddenly, I knew I had to fight. For him. For us.

Brandon shot me a look. “He didn’t tell you a lot of things.” He sighed and shrugged, putting on a show. “No matter. I’ll tell you what—before I let you leave this Earth, I’ll tell you all the things Robert forgot to mention.”

“No!”

“No!” I screamed, jolting awake and gasping for air.

There was a metal ceiling above me and windows all around me. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t. I was bound to something—chained.

Goosebumps skated across my skin, blanketing my body in a cold, deadly fear.

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