Page 69 of Love Over Time

I released him. “Paradise Creek.”

“Yeah. That’s it.” He scrambled to his feet, his eyes darting from me to Dom and back. “I swear that’s all I know. Can I go?”

Dom met my gaze and shrugged. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

When I turned to face the bartender, he was already running back toward the restaurant. Dom frowned as he watched the coward take the steps up the cliff. “You think your mom is back in Paradise Creek?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Francesca had sent Scott. I thought of that asshole and his hands all over Nikki. I should’ve beaten him to a pulp when I had the chance and showed him that it wasn’t wise to mess with me or the people I love. I should’ve known he’d run back to Jonathan and Francesca. Crooks like him, they always needed someone with a brain to pull the strings.

My life was real fucked up if a lowlife like Scott was the least of my worries. Nikki’s murder board flashed in my mind, the blood, Dad’s body. I paced the parking lot. Mom wasn’t on Jonathan’s side. I was sure of it. And if he still had her, he had everything he needed to get away with this again. I was the last loose end. But I wasn’t going to stick around and wait for him to send someone to finish me off.

If they’d gone back to Paradise Creek, there was only one place where they could hide. They would never risk anyone from town seeing them do anything illegal, like keeping a woman against her will. They’d gone back to Cavalier Manor. I’d bet my family’s fortune on it.

I faced Dom. He’d already gone over and above what a lawyer was required to do. And he wasn’t even my lawyer. “Need one more favor.”

“Fire away.”

“Make sure my uncle returns every penny he stole from me. Everyone in Paradise Creek needs to know what he is. If he doesn’t rot in jail, I don’t want him to ever have the chance to go home.”

“Done.” Dom placed his hands on his hips, a half smile pulling at his lips.

“And if I don’t make it tonight, make sure Nikki and Lisa get everything.”

“Let me come with you.”

“No. I need to know that someone will bring them justice.”

He nodded. “You got it, man. But I thought Nikki left you. Does this mean you trust her after all?”

I swallowed. What Nikki had done cut me deep, and it hurt like all fucking hell. But what she and I had was separate from this. “They lost everything because of my family. They deserve to have their lives back, their home.”

“You got it.”

I walked back to the valet on the other side of the parking lot and handed him my ticket. He looked me up and down as he took the stub. “Things got rough at the bar,” I said to him. He gave me a nervous smile before he took off to get my truck.

“Take care,” Dom said when I climbed in.

“Thanks for everything.” I put the car in gear and drove off.

I had no idea what was waiting for me in Paradise Creek, but I was done running. Dad would have his vengeance tonight. And I would finally be free from all this. One way or another.

Drumming my fingers on the stirring wheel, I sped up to take the exit ramp onto the 101. The speedometer needle tottered as it crept past the nine and zero and kept going toward one hundred. I wanted all of this behind me as soon as possible. Between the lack of traffic because of the late hour and my foot glued to the gas pedal, I made it back to Paradise Creek in under an hour.

My stomach knotted the minute I crossed the hotel’s threshold. Memories of Nikki came rushing back, like a kick to the stomach. Taking a deep breath, I headed upstairs to my room. Everything was exactly how I’d left it earlier tonight—the pieces of Nikki’s letter and broken glass scattered on the floor. Rain poured through the broken window pane and pooled in the corner of the room.

I trudged to the closet and fished out a handgun. I checked the empty barrel first and then released the cartridge to make sure it had ammo. After I replaced the magazine, I stuffed the weapon in the back of my jeans and pulled my T-shirt over it.

Maybe Nikki had been right to run away from all this again. This thing with Jonathan and Francesca wasn’t her fight. Nikki had come back to clear her sister’s name, and she’d done exactly that. In a few days’ time, Lisa would be out of jail and she’d be able to return home. Nikki had no reason to stay and risk her life. Certainly not for me. The tightening in my chest let up a bit, and I took a lungful of air. For the first time since I read her letter, I was glad she was gone, safe, and away from this fucked-up version of the life we should’ve had.

I descended the stairs. My heart pumped so hard I had to swallow several times to keep my lunch down. Not the fucking time to lose my shit. I left the hotel without a second glance back and climbed down the manhole in the middle of Main Street, not botheringwith the lights.

The minute my feet touched the concrete at the bottom of the steps, I took off running toward Cavalier Manor.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A Thief Like Me

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