Page 56 of Countdown

He took a long sip of water. “My sister’s name was Eden. She was four years older than I and I adored her. She was one of my best friends when we were younger. One of our favorite things to do was build a blanket fort in the middle of the den, move the TV inside, and watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. It was kind of our weekend thing—at least until she got older. Then those times got fewer and fewer, but every once in a while she’d come over and we’d have our fort time. I miss that. I missher.” He shot her a sad smile. “She was great. But ... she also liked attention. She’d do outrageous things sometimes just for kicks. I loved her, but she embarrassed me sometimes too.”

“What happened?”

“She got involved in a relationship with a guy. A guy who treated me like a brother and—on the surface—treated her very well.”

“On the surface?”

He frowned. “When no one was around, if something triggered him, he’d go off and take it out on her.”

Raina nodded, her eyes sad and knowing. “Like how?”

He lifted a shoulder and looked away from her. “One day, I asked her about the bruise on her cheek and she said Matt had hit her. I asked her if it had been by accident, and she said no, he’d punched her.” Vince shook his head and rubbed a hand down the side of his face. “There’s more to the story than what I told you earlier. She did refuse to let me help her, but it was because of how I responded when she told me that. Something I’m very ashamed of and is my biggest life regret.”

“What do you mean?” She couldn’t imagine him being anything but supportive in that kind of situation.

“Let me just give you some background. I’d always wanted a brother, and Matt, her husband, had stepped into that role. We did a lot together. Pickup basketball games, fishing, hiking, just hanging out watching sports. So for her to say something like that ... it just floored me. Completely stunned me.” He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I called her a liar.”

Raina’s heart dipped. “Oh, Vince...”

“I know. Told her that if she wanted attention, she needed to find another way to get it, but saying Matt was an abuser was a lousy thing to do.”

“Oh no...”

He pressed fingers to his eyelids, then dropped his hand and looked at her. “It wasn’t until she landed in the hospital withbroken ribs and a concussion that I believed her. She’d been asking for help without asking. When I approached the hospital room, I could hear arguing. When I rushed in, Matt had a grip on her hair with one hand and was in a downswing with his other. He landed the blow and I saw red. I went after him and punched him so hard, it knocked him out. He dropped to the floor, and it was only the sound of Eden’s sobs that kept me from ... doing more damage to him.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Raina whispered. She truly didn’t.

“The police were called. It was a mess, but thankfully one of the nurses had followed me in and saw the whole thing. Matt was arrested.”

Raina swallowed and took a sip of her drink. “So, he went to jail?”

“For a few days, then was released. I tried to convince Eden to file a restraining order, but she refused. Said there was no point, he’d just ignore it. I demanded to know why she didn’t get help, and she just looked at me and said she didn’t think anyone would believe her.” Tears filled his eyes and he rubbed them away. “It was because I didn’t believe her. Anyway, she told me to back off, that I’d done enough damage.”

“Oh, Vince...”

Her soft words seemed to bounce off him. “I asked her why she didn’t insist that she was telling the truth. I mean, if she hadn’t just let it go when I accused her of lying, she would have convinced me. She knew it and I knew it. But she didn’t bother.”

“She was afraid for you,” Raina said.

He frowned at her. “Afraid for me? I was the one with the gun.”

“But I bet he had one too and wasn’t restricted to the confines of the law when it came to using it.”

Vince fell silent, the anguish on his features reaching right through her chest to wrap itself around her heart and squeeze until she thought it might rupture. But he was nodding. “Yes.All true. I went over to her house the night he was released, knowing he was going to show up and she was going to let him in.”

“And she did.”

“I tried to stop him before he got to the door and she came outside, told me to leave them alone, that she’d never ask me for help again. Told me to get off her property or she’d call the cops and have me removed. Finally, I left and he shot her in the face approximately thirty minutes later.” Tears tracked his cheeks and Raina brushed them away, feeling the roughness of the stubble on his face. “I shouldn’t have left,” he whispered. His agonized eyes met hers. “Why did I leave?”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

He pulled her into a hug the same moment a bullet whipped through the plastic cover and out the other side.

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

Vince threw himself backward, arms still locked around Raina, emotions scattering while he went into defense mode. They fell to the deck of the pontoon as more bullets peppered the cover. She might be small, but her full weight landing on top of him stunned him for a brief second.

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