Page 80 of A Secret to Die For

“L-L-Luca? Somebody’s sh-sh-shooting.”

“Where?”

“At The Lookout. Near the pool house.”

“Are you safe? Stay inside. Is there someplace you can hide?”

“I’m in the b-b-bathroom. Garrett went outside, and now…now it’s quiet. Everything’s so quiet.”

“I’m on my way, okay? I’m on my way. Do you have a gun?”

“Of course I don’t have a freaking gun!”

“Stay on the line.”

I heard him talking to Brooke in the background, telling her to call Colt, then the slap of feet on concrete because instead of stairs or an elevator, the wide old ramp that had once been used by cars led up to his apartment on the second floor.

“Help, please help. I can’t lose him. I can’t.”

“Any further alerts from the motion detectors?”

I fumbled with the phone again. “I— No, I don’t think so. One of them has an error. What does that mean? What does that mean?”

“I’m getting into the car. Can you hear anything else?”

“No.” Yes. Oh hell, yes. “There are footsteps.”

I shrank into the shower stall and made myself as small as I could go. Suddenly, I was back in that car, hiding from the bad man, waiting for him to kill me too, waiting for a bullet to the head because I wasn’t allowed to live. I wasn’t allowed to live.

A siren sounded through the phone, but it would be too late. Luca wouldn’t be here for five minutes at least, even if he drove like a madman, and I’d be dead. Dead like my mom, dead like my dad, dead like…like…

“Saralisa?”

My heart lurched. “G-G-Garrett?”

“I’m here, princess.”

Then I was in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably because somehow I was still alive and I shouldn’t be. My prince was still alive and murmuring soothing words like it’s okay and it’s over and he’s dead, don’t worry.

Dead?

Dead?

What the hell?

28

SARA

This couldn’t be happening.

There was a dead guy on my portico. My boyfriend had just shot him. And then Parker had shown up waving a pistol and nearly shot Garrett because he thought he was an intruder. I’d had to jump between them and scream at my stupid dumb cousin to drop the gun, and honestly, they should ban those things because they were freaking dangerous.

Luca and Colt had arrived along with every single other deputy from the Coos Bay Sheriff’s Department and the sheriff himself, who didn’t know much about policing but who knew plenty about press coverage. We had lawyers, we had reporters, and we had nosy neighbours, but luckily, they were all being held beyond the cordon set up around the estate. Angela had texted me twice, and I’d ignored her both times.

The worst part was that now they’d separated us. Garrett had been taken somewhere for questioning, Parker too, and I’d been told to stay in the living room at the big house while the deputies searched the grounds, just in case there were any other psychos lurking outside. At least they’d let Brooke stay with me.

“Was it him?” she whispered.

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