Page 50 of A Damaged Soul
Blood trickled down my chin from where my lip split from the slap. I knew in that moment if I didn't find a way to get out of here, I was going to die.
"I'm so sorry you had to see that, Grandma."
I looked around the room while he was distracted and tried to see what I could use to defend myself.
The room was exactly what I would expect an older person's house to look like with the old floral couches that wouldn’t be the least bit comfortable. Each piece of furniture looked to be about five decades old and knickknacks filled just about every empty space.
One of those said knickknacks sat on the end table just a few feet away from me.
Doing my best not to bring attention to myself, I shimmied on the couch as Bernard continued to be distracted by his dead grandmother.
"I promise it won't happen again, but she needs to understand that I brought her here to meet you, and she can't disrespect me like that by forgetting my name."
I cringed when he reached out and ran his hand down his grandmother's hair. I couldn't fathom how he could be that closeand not smell her. I wanted to barf, and I was a a good five feet behind him.
When I was close enough that I could reach out and grab the heavy statue, I started to spread my arm, but of course, Bernard chose that moment to turn back around. "What are you doing?" he asked when I quickly snatched my arm back.
"Nothing." My voice shook. "Just admiring your grandmother's pretty furniture." I lied through my teeth.
Bernard didn't seem to notice though. A huge smile spread across his face as he moved closer to me. "Isn't it nice? My mother wanted to replace everything after my grandfather died, but I convinced her that Grandma wouldn't want that."
The way he hissed out the namemothermade me think something bad had happened to her. I wanted so badly to ask but, instead, kept my mouth shut. This was definitely one of those times where curiosity wouldn't be appreciated.
"It's good you kept it." I played into his fantasy and kept very still. I needed him to put down the knife and turn around so I could have a shot at getting away.
My chance would come soon enough when Bernard was once again distracted by his grandmother. "Do you want to watch some TV?" I didn't have the slightest idea what hethoughtshe said, but suddenly he was smiling and laughing at only a joke he could hear.
"Isn't Grandma the best?" Bernard shook his head as he placed the knife down on the table and grabbed the remote.
I waited until he was distracted by changing the channel to strike.
Wielding the statue like a baseball bat, I quickly stood up and lifted it over my head. With as much force as I could, I slammed it down on Bernard's head and watched as he crumbled to the floor.
I didn't bother to wait and see if he stayed down before taking off toward the front of the house at a dead run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rhett
We pulled up in front of Bernard's grandmother's house just as Elle came running out the door, screaming like a banshee.
"Help!!!!!"
I jumped out of the SUV before it even came to a complete stop and ran straight for her. "Elle!" I hollered to get her attention, but she was too busy frantically looking back over her shoulder that she ran straight into me.
"Whoa, beautiful. I got you. I got you." I tried to calm her down, but it didn't work.
"There's a dead body in there."
I looked over Elle's shoulder at my team leader and gave him a silent nod that I got her while he and the rest of my team entered the house.
"Who's dead?" I hoped like hell it was the guy who kidnapped her, but I had a feeling the freakout was because of something else.
My question seemed to bring her back to the present moment as Elle took a deep breath and answered in a bit of a calmer tone, "His grandmother."
"Where's Bernard?"
"I hit him over the head with a statue, then got the hell out of there. He was talking to her like she was still alive, but it was obvious she's been dead for days."
