Page 111 of Safe With Me

Her laugh made my skin crawl.

“So, what are you planning to do? Slit my throat so Mike will find me?”

Her lips curled up. “He’ll be sad for a while, but he’ll have me, just like always. He’d never suspect me, just your stalker ex coming to finish the job. Works out perfectly,” she said, throwing me a wink.

“No matter what you do to me, you know you’ll never have him, right? Not the way you want.”

“Shut up,” she yelled, the knife at my throat shaking with rage.

I’d hit a nerve, and at this point, I had nothing to lose.

Mike would be here soon. I just needed to keep her talking until then.

“You said it yourself. You’ve known him all your life, and he never made one move. He even told me he thought of you like his sister.”

Her eyes bulged as her nostrils flared.

“All this trouble for a man who will never, ever love you.”

“I saidshut up.”

Amber wrapped her other hand over my throat so tightly, I sputtered a cough trying to get air.

“Lila, it’s me. Open up.”

Amber’s eyes went wide as her head snapped to Mike’s voice on the other side of my door.

“Don’t say a fucking word, or I’ll cut your throat open.”

Mike knocked harder, rattling the doorknob before he stopped.

We both jumped at the crash of shattering glass. I lifted my head and found Mike over Amber’s shoulder as he climbed through my living room window.

“I know, Amber. It’s all on video. Get away from Lila.”

“No,youget away from Lila,” she spat out, glaring at Mike while keeping the knife to my throat.

Mike took slow steps toward us, both hands on his gun as he pointed it at Amber.

“Don’t make me do this, Amber.”

“You would shoot me for her? Really? Your oldest friend?”

“A friend wouldn’t do this. To me, to my sister, to the woman I love. I don’t know who you really are, but right now, I can’t care. It’s over. There are two police cars outside. If you walk out with me, you have options. But if you hurt Lila, you have nothing.”

I squinted at the figure climbing through my window and realized it was Jude, but Amber didn’t seem to notice as she kept her focus on Mike.

“I already have nothing. How long was I supposed to wait for you, Mike?” Her jaw trembled as she pushed the knife into my neck. “It’s not fair.”

Mike’s gaze didn’t waver as he focused on Amber. I’d seen him in uniform plenty of times, but this was the first time I’d seen him in true cop mode.

I knew how afraid he was for me and most likely devastated over what Amber had done to him and all of us, but he was a stoic wall of blue as he approached.

He really was meant to be a cop.

“Amber, I’m giving you one last chance. Let her go. Now.”

Her chin quivered in my periphery as she focused on Mike. I kicked her in the stomach, taking advantage of her distraction. She stumbled and landed on the kitchen floor next to me as the knife in her hand skidded across the tiles.

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