Page 440 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

If he managed to take out Hank in the process—again, unlikely—maybe God would look on him with favor and for once Jacob would know he’d done good for someone else. That instead of being a force for ill in their life, he did something to their benefit.

“Where do I go?” she asked.

Jacob saw the scared girl inside the young woman in front of him. “I know it’s safer to stay together, but if you can get out, you might be able to find help. Or help will find you. Either way you must try. It’s the only way either of us has hope of being saved.”

Truth was, Jacob didn’t worry about himself surviving this.

He hadn’t seen the truth in Hank. All these years of friendship, and he’d allowed his own feelings to cloud his judgment when it came to the detective. He’d always thought Hank was hurt, and maybe jaded, because Jacob made quarterback instead of Hank. Because Addie had survived, and Becca hadn’t. Jacob had hit big with that book.

Instead, the truth was far darker.

Mona looked at his stomach, then up at his face. “I’ll go get help.” She bit her lip. “What do I do?”

“Get behind the door. Wait for Hank to?—”

The door flew open and bounced against the wall behind it. Hank stalked in and went right to Mona.

She backed up to the wall.

He put his hands on her throat, a low chuckle coming from him. “You’re going to distract me and run?”

The door was wide open. Jacob sat against the wall, unable to get up, let alone go. Mona struggled for breath.

“Hank! Don’t do this!” Jacob shifted and tried to stand. Pain tore through his abdomen. “Hank!”

Mona’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she went limp in Hank’s grasp. Jacob wasn’t sure whether she actually passed out or had decided to go ahead with the plan. But either way he was going to do this for her.

“Hank, she’s just a kid. Don’t kill her.”

Hank dropped her to the ground. Mona made no sound, though he saw her face when she landed. The expression of surprise.

Hank came to him.

Good.Mona needed to be able to get out of here.

“What happened to you?” Ivan Damen had to have killed something in him.

The cops had attributed her death to Damen, but in Jacob and Addie’s cabin, Jacob was instructed to kill Addie and then himself. He hadn’t, and for a long time, he’d believed it was because he wasn’t strong enough to do it.

He hadn’t been able to save her by letting her die. He’d selfishly made her suffer longer because he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let her go.

“Like there’s something wrong with me?” Hank lifted his brows, no remorse there.

“What did Ivan do to you?”

“Because I turned into him like he poisoned me or something?”

Jacob blinked. He’d always believedhewas the poison. Damen had done the same to Hank, but Jacob worked through it. He worked the poison out as best he could and built a life. Maybe it would always lay dormant in him, but Hank hadn’t dealt with it.

“What did you do?”

“They deserved it.”

Jacob swallowed. “Who did you hurt?”

He was worried about Mona, who hadn’t moved yet. She could be biding her time, but he didn’t even see her shifting to look, assessing the situation. Maybe Hank had genuinely hurt her.

That meant Jacob had to stall until Addie showed up with all the cops in the county. He wasn’t going to think about how she’d know where to find them.

---