Page 101 of Shea's Hero

The voice is loud. Deep. Angry.

Penny yelps, stumbling back from the door.

My heart turns to ice.

“WHERE IS IT?”

Ari jumps up, her eyes wide in alarm.

A man storms inside, slamming the door behind him.

He doesn’t just look angry; he looks furious.

Red-faced, nostrils flaring, his lips draw back in a snarl. “Where thefuckis it?”

Penny cringes, hunching into herself.

Who is this?

I don’t recognize him.

Then again, I didn’t recognize the men who attacked me before.

Thea’s sitting perfectly still, her eyes glued to the man towering over Penny. Her hand slowly snakes towards her phone on the table beside her.

“Don’t fucking move!” he barks.

And then.

He pulls out a gun.

Oh, crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

This can’t be happening.

Brandishing the gun, he waves it in a semicircle. “If any of you move, I’ll shoot you. Don’t think I won’t!”

Who is this?It’s hard to think past the fear. Is he here for me? Is this my fault?

Ari glances at me, terror clear in her gaze. Then her gaze skitters back to the man, watching him carefully. The second his attention shifts away from her, her hand twitches towards her ear.

Oh.

Theearrings.

“Mark,” Penny whispers. Her arms are wrapped around her body, and she’s shaking so hard I can see it from here. “What are you doing?”

Mark?

A second later, I realize.

Penny’s ex.

I never met him, but I’ve heard plenty about him. How he would yell at Penny, berate her, calling her stupid and flighty and useless. How he gaslit her into thinking she didn’t deserve better until one day she finally got the courage to break up with him.

Not my fault.

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