Page 67 of Until I Found You
Twenty-Five
Halle
He rears back, smacking me across my cheek with the side of his gun. The pain is so severe it radiates up my jaw causing my ears to ring.
My eyes squeeze shut, wincing and whimpering from the pain. Tears fill my eyes, threatening to fall. Remembering what Graham shared with me, I let the realization sink in that it may have been the last time I will ever see him.
The thought of never touching him or holding him again washes over me like a cold shower. My heart aches, more painful than any pain he could inflict on me.
I don’t want to live in a world without Graham Shaw.
Adjusting my position in the chair, the ties around my wrist cut into my skin. It’s a welcome distraction away from the reality around me.
I replay the look on Graham’s face this morning when he told me he loved me, over and over. Graham deserves justice for Gage. He deserves to move on with his life knowing what happened to him, to put the past to rest once and for all.
My eye starts to swell as the taste of blood seeps into my mouth where my lip split. The coppery taste gives me a renewed sense of anger over everything he’s put me and the people I care about through. Not only has Graham suffered, but Sandy and her sister, Gage’s mom, Samantha.
They deserve justice too.
“Why did you do it?”
Glancing up under the puffiness of my eye, I see him stop from where he paces the floor and turns to me, sneering.
“What’s that?”
“Gage. We know it’s you who ran him off the road that night. Why’d you do it?”
The sinister smile returns to his face. Holding the gun against his side, he walks over toward me, skidding his heels along the tile floor as he does. There’s a cocky arrogance in his strut and it only infuriates me more as he bends closer to me.
“I thought I told you to stop asking fucking questions!” he shouts, spit shooting from his mouth as each word is punctuated with a stomp of his leather boot.
He stares at me straight in the eyes, as if daring me to utter another word. When he’s satisfied I’ve got the point, he stands up straight and turns to walk away.
“Where the hell is he?” he mutters, pulling back the edge of the blinds to look out the window.
I see a flash of movement from the stockroom across from me. My eyes widen with fear, before I see Graham appear. He holds a finger up to his mouth, telling me to stay quiet. My eyes dart back over to Krate, standing a few feet away with his back to Graham, before looking back to Graham.
He mouths to me it will be okay and I nod, feeling for the first time since Krate got here it will be.
I had a feeling it was Graham who called me earlier. When my phone rang repeatedly, Krate took it from me smashing it on the ground in front of me before stomping on it.
My hands tug on the confines again, wishing with everything in me I could loosen them and run to Graham, wrapping my arms around him.
Krate pulls out his phone, checking the screen. Taking his attention off me opens the perfect opportunity for Graham to catch him off guard, and he does.
“If I were you, I’d put the gun down right now,” Graham says, pointing a gun at Krate.
The sound of Graham’s voice catching him off guard, causes him to drop his phone, as he readjusts the aim back at me.
Krate smiles broadly, the light cackling sound of his laughter filling the room. It’s evil, sending a chill down my spine.
“I was waiting on you. It was only a matter of time till you’d swoop in to save the day. You’re never far behind this one.”
Graham’s jaw ticks, my eyes flash back and forth between the two of them. I want to beg Graham to be careful, but the anger simmering below the surface is evident by the wild look in his eyes.
“You just couldn’t listen, could ya? Just had to keep sticking your nose where it don’t fuckin’ belong. Your cousin had the same problem, ya know. It’s a shame you’ll have to lose someone you love again.”
“If you hurt her, I promise you as God as my witness, I’ll kill you. I won’t even think twice about it either. This is your only warning. So, think long and hard over the next move you make.”
