Page 86 of Our Lips Are Sealed
Toby brought the gun around to rest right above Annabeth’s ear for a dead shot. “Ah, yes, but that won’t stop dear Annabeth from dying, How about I pull the trigger like they do at a race? Her exploding head can be the signal to start whatever it is you and Agent Cohen think you’re about to do.”
With what little strength she had, Annabeth tried to break free, knocking Toby to the side. He deflected her meager attempt at escape, hushing her with a kiss on the cheek. “Better yet, I can finish what my mom started. Shooting Jamison back there will be just as easy but much more satisfying.”
Samuel’s grip tightened on the iron railing, his knuckles going white. “What about Evie?”
When Toby didn’t answer, Samuel’s eyes darkened. “What did you think would happen?” he asked. “That she would ride off into the sunset with you?”
Even at this distance, Liam could see the tension squeezing Toby’s muscles. “She would have if you hadn’t—“
“What?” Samuel grinned with malice, looking almost as terrifying as Toby. “Taken what was mine? Because that’s what Evangeline is. Mine.”
“If she were truly yours, you would’ve taken her sooner.” Toby snorted, rolling his eyes. “You only want her now because she’s with me.”
Samuel drew a deep, audible breath, working out something in his head. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to kill you. Instead, I’m going to let them lock you away in a place where you can live a long life, suffering in the knowledge that I’ll be here withmywoman. The two of us existing happily without you.”
“She would have loved me if not for you.”
“And now, she’ll forget you,” Samuel promised with such certainty that even Liam believed him. “I’ll make sure of it.”
A gust of blasting wind barreled down from the tops of the trees and through the clearing, sending pine straw and debris scattering in the air. It blew through the graveyard strong enough to send Jamison’s hair flying from her face.
The last thing they needed was for the storm in the distance to make an entrance. Liam spared a glance at the inlet waters, expecting to see the rain heading their way. To his surprise, it was moving in the opposite direction.
“She’ll never forget me,” Toby howled over the gale. “I’m a part of her.”
“I’ma part of her,“ Samuel corrected him with that signature condescending smirk of his. “You’ll be rotting away in a cage, and she’ll never think of you.”
“That’s not true.”
Something in Samuel clicked, as if the leash on his anger had been suddenly snapped. His eyes blazed with a sinister glow that had Liam preparing to leap over the fence.
“When she’s in my bed every night, she’ll never think of you. When I get down on my knees and beg her to be my wife, or when we hold our first child, she’ll never think of you,” Samuel roared, the full shockwave of his anger etched in every word. “You will always be nothing to her. While I will be everything.”
That awful laugh rolled out of Toby again, and he ripped Annabeth’s head back. “But when she remembers how you let her friend die, she’ll think of me.”
Annabeth screamed, lurching into Toby unexpectedly. He stumbled to the side, attempting to regain his footing while she fought him.
But then another scream broke through the madness, echoing in the forest.
It was Evie, charging forward with something shining in her hand. She shoved the object into Toby’s lower back, and he released Annabeth, who fell to the ground to crawl away.
In the same heartbeat, Jamison dove into the melee, striking her fist into Toby’s throat. The blindingly fast move silenced his shout of pain, shocking him long enough for Liam to vault over the fence just as Samuel did, both aimed at securing the gun.
Coming up behind him, Samuel wound his arm around Toby’s neck, choking him while Liam pried the weapon loose.
Once the gun was in his possession, Liam gave the all clear, and Samuel flung Toby to the ground as if he weighed nothing.
Lost in his rage, Samuel fell upon his cousin, and at the first thundering slam of his fist, Annabeth and Evie fled to the trail.
Grabbing Jamison by the arm, Liam yanked her through the arch to follow the girls. The guilt over what was about to happen would weigh on both men for the rest of their lives, and if he could save her from that regret, he would.
She shoved at his grip on her arm, wanting to return to her brother.
“He might need help.”
The sound of Samuel emptying his fury on Toby rang high in the trees, and Liam continued to drag her away.
“He doesn’t.”
