Page 9 of My Retribution Too

My body jolted from his tone, and I closed my eyes tight, wishing I had listened to my gut and… shit, there was nothing I could say that would have made this situation better. Ansley would have done this on her own without me. The only difference was that she would have died alone.

Tears gathered in my eyes, despite them being closed. I could feel my body shaking, the harsh reality that I had witnessed someone get murdered becoming clearer in my head.

Oh God…

My hand immediately went to my mouth to cover the sob that wanted to escape as the weight of what happened, of what I witnessed, dropped on me like a ton of bricks.

“Hey…” Lock cupped my face with both his hands. “Look at me… look at me, Phoebe…”

I did and saw that the coldness in his dark eyes was replaced with concern; with a tenderness I wasn’t ready to receive.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now. Nothing’s going to happen to you, okay? Trust me.”

I gave him a nod, reached up, and clasped his wrists with shaky hands.

“I promise you,” he said. “I’ve got you. It’s just you and me here. Trust me, Baby. You do trust me, right?”

I gave him more nodding, unable to find my voice trapped behind the big ass boulder stuck in my throat.

Lock brushed his thumbs along my cheeks, catching the tears that fell freely. I took more deep breaths, tried to calm the trembling fear from overtaking my body, and focused on the solid rock before me.

He dropped his hands from my face, and I met his eyes with my red ones, desperately trying not to let the loss of his touch affect me. Resound to my fate, I told him what happened.

“A friend of mine named Ansley called me for help. She wanted to get something of value from her boyfriend’s home.” Lock’s expression changed to one of confusion, so I added quickly, “She had left him months ago. He was, umm…abusive.”

His features settled with understanding. And I continued.

“She had called me to ask if I would help her—”

“Break into her boyfriend’s house?” Lock cut in, frowning at me again.

I shook my head vehemently.

“No, she had her key still. It wasn’t breaking and entering.” He gave me this look that said bullshit, and I relented. “Okay semantics. Anyway, I told her no at first, but she was adamant. She said she was going to do it with or without me and I couldn’t let her do this without support.”

“You didn’t think about how wrong it was to enter someone’s house without their permission?”

“Of course. I argued with her over the phone, and I had planned to tell her again when I got here. Unfortunately, she was already inside when I arrived. She assured me she had a key, and she knew how to disable the security system. I figured we would be okay to get in and get out quickly.”

“But you weren’t?”

I shook my head, tears filling my eyes.

I pulled up and parked a few houses up from my destination. I turned off my car and rolled down my window so I could listen for anything that sounded out of place, raised voices, gun shots, stuff like that. But all was quiet. My eyes settled to the darkness, and I looked around the shadowy neighborhood. Nothing looked out of place either. No one was lingering outside of their homes, which was good. There weren’t any cars parked at Ansley’s house, which was also good.Okay, Phoebe, here goes nothing.I took a few deep breaths and got out, but not before grabbing my gun that was tucked underneath my seat.

I placed my gun in the waistband of my jean shorts and bolted to the house in question. Ansley had texted that she opened the gate on the side of the house for me so I could enter that way instead of through the front door. I moved in that direction, opened the cracked gate and slid past, closing the gate behind me.

My pulse was racing out of control as I inched closer to the back door, praying that Ansley was the only person in this house and that her ex wasn’t there just waiting for me. God, that would truly suck on so many levels.

I made it to the back door that was sitting ajar. A noise of something heavy crashing to the floor caused me to jump clear out of my skin. I was just about to high-tail it out of there when I saw Ansley step into the kitchen, a huge trophy tight in her grip. She held it above her head and slammed it down on the tiled floor.

My eyes grew wide.

“What are you doing? I thought you came to get your mother’s things.” I chastised her as I stepped up to the back door.

Ansley smiled at me.

“I did. I just figured I’d smash a few things before I left. Leave him a big fuck you.”

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