Page 60 of Fable Killer

She hadn't expected him to do that.

“Why?” she asked as tears trickled down her cheeks.

Instead of answering her, Emmanuel stepped closer, pulled his hood back so she could see his face and gave her a smile that had her blood running cold.

She turned to run, knowing she had made a mistake in showing herself, but it was too late.

Something slammed into the back of her head and the world dissolved into nothingness around her.

* * * * *

2:33 P.M.

Matthew felt like he was stuck in mud.

Thick, gloopy mud that covered every inch of his body, weighing him down, making it difficult to move. To think.

Slowly, sensations began to filter into his consciousness.

The soft beep of a machine.

The strong smell of antiseptic.

The hovering presence beside him.

And pain.

A lot of pain.

Images flipped through his mind, hovering there only long enough for him to get a glimpse before another picture took its place.

Blonde curls against his shoulder.

The alert of a cell phone.

A car.

Shattering glass.

Searing pain.

Tears.

Pain of a different kind.

This pain was loss, the deep sense of knowing you weren’t going to get to have what was most precious to you.

Grace.

The thought came screaming into his mind with an intensity that nudged his brain out of the mud and back into reality.

The second safehouse had been compromised, he’d tried to get her away, to the precinct where she would be safe. They’d been in the car when Emmanuel had shot him and he’d lost control, causing them to crash.

He’d thought he was dying, been terrified to leave Grace alone and unprotected.

Emmanuel would come for her.

The man was insane but determined.

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