Page 92 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

His hand holding the gun abruptly firmed. “You. You entering the scene is what caused it all. The second you came, people saw me as a screwup past saving. I kept getting called into the captain’s office. I kept getting docked pay, reprimands, and now…now I’ve lost everything. BECAUSE OF YOU!”

Shit. He was on the verge of exploding. I might have to rush that gun after all.

Sorry, Donovan. I know you don’t want me to do that. But in a second, I might not have a choice.

32

Abby’s text scared the living hell out of me. I called 911 right away, then Borrowman, telling them to get to my house ASAP. I sped out of the parking lot, forgetting about the food, just flooring it. I’d not driven this fast and recklessly in a long time, but I couldn’t care about speed limits.

The love of my life was in danger. My girls were in danger. The terror of not being fast enough to get there, to stop it, ate me upalive. I prayed harder than I ever had before. Please let me be there in time.Please. I’d give anything to make it in time to stop Solomon.

Solomon was going to be lucky if he was still breathing by the end of the day.

I saw the bastard’s car parked crooked behind Jon’s Humvee. I parked even worse behind him, throwing the truck into Park, not bothering to turn off the engine. I jumped out of the truck and ran toward the open back door. Bastard hadn’t thought to close it behind him, apparently.

His stupidity was to my benefit. It was hard to open that door without making a noise. And I needed to be stealthy like I never had before.

I eased up to the door, hand on my gun—then paused.

Shit.

Jon was in the line of fire.

I didn’t think he saw me—his attention was solely on Solomon—but he stood almost directly in my line of fire, which meant putting another gun into this equation was not the right call.

Okay, breathe. Breathe. You’ve got this. You’ve done tougher things than sneak up on a rotten, crazy bastard who’s threatening your lover.

This pep talk didn’t exactly work because I couldn’t think of a damn thing worse than this moment, but I was determined Solomon wasn’t winning this fight.

“No one’s on my side right now! No one’s willing to help me! They all say I deserve this after all I’ve done. What have I done, huh? What have I done?! I put bad guys behind bars—”

What the hell was this bastard saying? Sounded like he was properly wound up and trying to pin all the blame on Jon. Scapegoating never worked. I didn’t know why he hadn’t learned his lesson by now.

I did know he was being so loud he was covering any sound I might accidentally make. I eased up, boots going heel to toe in a rolling motion to erase any whisper of sound. My adrenaline was pumping so hard it felt like a heartbeat in my ears. Easy does it. Getting the drop on Solomon was the only way to get my family out of this safely.

“—and for that I’m ridiculed? I’m shunned?”

Where were the girls? I had no line of sight on them. I hoped they’d somehow taken cover. They must have, if Abby had managed to text me. I’d hug her for being so composed in a stressful situation later. And buy her ice cream.

Solomon’s hand holding the gun suddenly tightened. “You. You entering the scene is what caused it all. The second you came, people saw me as a screwup past saving. I kept getting called into the captain’s office. I kept getting docked pay, reprimands, and now…now I’ve lost everything. BECAUSE OF YOU!”

My spidey sense told me he was seconds away from pulling the trigger. Terrifying, truly, and I felt sharp terror resurge like an acid wash down my throat.

I sped up a little, crossing the last few feet between us. In that second, Jon spied me. I could see it in the widening of his eyes, but my very smart fiancé didn’t flinch or give me away. He instead snapped back at Solomon, keeping the focus there.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Jon stabbed a finger at him. “The only reason you even kept this job for so long was because your mayor daddy kept cleaning up after your useless ass!”

Solomon actually flinched back. “You know who my father is?!”

“Yeah, dumbass, we do. It’ll all come out in trial.”

“You can’t do this! I promised him—”

I struck. One hand went for his throat, putting him in a stranglehold. He stank of alcohol, the smell assaulting my nose,but I didn’t let up. He beat at my hand, the gun hand coming up and around. I latched on, able to grab his wrist, but not far enough to reach the gun itself to disarm him. Shit, why did this bastard have such long arms?

Jon pounced in the next second. He grabbed the gun and twisted, using the momentum against Solomon’s fingers. The move was so perfectly executed Solomon instinctively let go of the gun rather than break his fingers, and in an instant, Jon had the gun.

I let go of Solomon’s wrist, using my other hand to bear down harder on his neck. Solomon scrambled, but it was hard to think when your oxygen was cut off, and aside from beating uselessly at my hands and kicking my shins, he couldn’t seem to focus enough to do any real damage. I winced at the kicks, but I held my ground.

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