Page 34 of Broken Promises
There wasn’t anyone outside to help me, and I had no doubt he would be able to stop anyone who tried. As he got closer, I felt nauseated, and just as he approached, he seemed to notice the worry written on my face.
Holding his hand up, he calmly explained, “I work with your brother, Lucian, and he asked me to keep an eye on you. I swear, I’m not threat.”
“Prove it,” I returned and kept glancing around him, hoping someone would intervene.
He unclipped a cell phone from his waist and dialed a number. Listening for a moment, he spoke to whoever was on the other line. “I’m with Hannah, and I need you to reassure her I’m not a threat.” He placed the phone on the ground and took four giant steps back as he nodded to it. “Please speak to your brother.”
Keeping my eyes on him, I walked to the phone and squatted to pick it up. “Hello,” I said into the phone, and when I heard his voice, I calmed down instantly.
“Hannah, it’s Lucian. That’s Johnson and he works with me. He’s keeping an eye on you while Rhys is out on business. I swear you’re okay.” I lifted my eyes to the big man as Lucian asked, “Can you give him the phone back?”
“Okay,” I replied and carefully walked up to the man. “Here, and I’m sorry.”
“Safety first, Hannah,” he replied with a smile as he took the phone and placed it to his ear. “Okay, got it.” Looking at me, he asked, “Is there any place else you’d like to go?”
“No,” I managed to answer, and he nodded.
“I’ll follow you home and will stay until Rhys returns. Lucian asked for you to call him when you get back to your phone.”
Without answering, I walked to my car, got inside, and cranked it before resting my head on the steering wheel. The fear was still coursing through me, and I realized at that moment thatuntil they figured out who was pulling the strings, the real threat of danger was around every corner. As much as I hated it, I was going to start carrying a gun for protection.
I drove back home, occasionally looking in the rear-view mirror to see Johnson behind me. When I got to my driveway, I pulled in and noticed he’d parked on the curb in front of my house. Glancing at him, I walked up the steps and unlocked the door before entering the house and closing and locking the door behind me.
Granny’s guns were hidden all over the house. I found the one she taught me to shoot with and tucked it into my purse. If I had to protect myself, I would do it without thinking. After securing the firearm, I grabbed my phone from the dining room table and sent a quick message to Lucian.
Me:I’m home. Sorry your friend had to watch me.
Walking into the bedroom, I quickly changed into something more comfortable before I heard my phone chime. Opening the message, I read Lucian’s response.
Lucian:I just want you safe.
Me:Thanks.
There were still no calls or texts from Rhys, and I shook my head, silently reprimanding myself for falling too far, too fast. Until he proved otherwise, Rhys had showed his true colors. And according to Granny, I was to believe his actions over his sweet words. He said he would call or contact me before dinner, but he was still radio silent. Was he with another woman? Was he in danger? Was he helping someone who was in trouble? Or was he having second thoughts about getting tied up with someone like me?
Too many negative thoughts started to float through my mind, and I was powerless to stop them. I felt the tears start to build in my eyes, so I went into the bedroom and closed the door behind me. This was the one room I had no monitoring in, and atthat moment, I was glad. No one needed to see my ugly cry over my heart breaking.
Even though we were still basically nothing, I’d been falling for Rhys for months. But his promised words of love were bullshit.
Yet another reason not to trust anyone’s word. If I had taken Granny’s advice, I wouldn’t have been alone in my bed, with tears flowing and my heart shattering.
Damn, I really was pathetic.
Chapter 15
Rhys
Two days later
Ihad no idea how much time had passed since I left Hannah until I finally hiked back to my truck. My phone was dead, and when I plugged it in, I saw I’d been gone for close to two full days and my heart sank. I’d promised Hannah I would be back in a few hours, but I had no idea how complicated this hunt would become.
There was a message from Hannah asking me to call her for something important, and I punched the ceiling and yelled into the car as I realized I had no cell signal where I was. “Fuck!” I cranked the truck and pulled away from the remote campsite in the North Carolina. I was at least twenty minutes from an actual road, and as I bumped down the abandoned logging road, I chastised myself for being so careless.
I never took anything on a hunt that could potentially give away my location, so I left my watch and cell phone in the truck as I hiked far into the mountains for the two worthless fuckers I was hunting. They’d taken advantage of a teenage girl by manipulating her into thinking she was chatting online with a boy her age, only for them to convince her to send them photos of herself undressed.
She’d found out the truth, and when she tried to get them to delete the photos, they mocked her and uploaded them to a revenge site that exploited women who trusted the wrong men. The two assholes sent a link to the site to her school message board, and by the time she discovered it, everyone had alreadyseen the photos. She was sure her life was over, so she made the final choice to end it herself.
Her parents tried to have the men arrested, but through a technicality, they couldn’t be charged, and that’s what landed them on my radar. When my source let me know the men had arrived in Atlanta on their way to their mountain cabin, I made my move.
