Page 91 of Deceptive Lies

Willow’s fingers tightened around the box cutter.

Slamming the blade down, it sank into the professor’s thigh, causing him to howl as he stumbled backward, raising his weapon so it now pointed at her and the men behind her.

Still between Professor Mahmoud and Charlie Team, Willow lifted the blade again, this time plunging it down into his neck.

With a surprised gurgling sound, the professor dropped his weapon. It fell with a thud at his feet as his hands flew to the blade buried deep in his neck.

He yanked it free but that only sped up the process.

The professor sunk onto the ground.

Cooper shouted behind her.

She heard footsteps once again thundering closer.

Blackness encroached on her vision.

Overwhelmed, her mind and body had reached the end of the road.

Everything swirled around her and then disappeared altogether as unconsciousness took over.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

July 15th

11:46 A.M.

Never, no matter how long he lived, would Cooper ever forget the sight of a weapon held against the temple of the woman he was falling for.

Ever.

That image was burned into his mind’s eye for all eternity.

Now he reached Willow’s side just as her knees buckled and she dropped.

Thankfully, he was close enough to catch her before she hit the ground, and quickly swung her into his arms.

Just when he thought he couldn’t be any more impressed with his girl, she decided she had to one up herself. Willow had saved herself. She’d set up Mahmoud to be distracted for a split second and then struck when the opportunity presented itself.

She was everything.

The words she’d spoken just before she struck the professor hadn't sunk in yet, but they would. There would be time to be horrified and devastated by what his mother had gone through, there would be timeto figure out how that played into what had happened to her and who had set her up to take the fall.

But that time wasn't now.

This time was to take care of the precious bundle he cradled in his arms.

“Mahmoud is bleeding out, no way to save him,” Cole said from where he was crouched beside the dying man. There was a hint of frustration in his little brother’s voice that Cooper knew had nothing to do with Willow saving herself by killing the professor, and everything to do with the fact that they now had more questions than ever and no way to get any answers. Professor Tarek Mahmoud had held the answers they sought in the palm of his hand, but those answers were going to die along with him.

“Good riddance,” Connor snarled, glowering down at the professor, whose hands had fallen by his sides and who’s eyes were taking on the glassy, empty look of death.

“Wish we could have gotten names out of him, but that’s one hell of a woman you have there,” Jax said, shooting an appreciative smile Willow’s way.

“She hurt?” Cole asked as he straightened and came to touch his fingertips to Willow’s neck.

“There’s blood all over her, but I think most of it is Mahmoud’s. There was some blood on her fingers before she stabbed the professor,” Cooper replied. There were still scraps of duct tape wrapped around her wrists and ankles as well, and since she was naked, he could see dozens of small wounds dotted around the tape, probably caused when she cut herself free.

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