Page 56 of Virtue & Vengeance

I’d reached a new low.

It was nearly five when the doorbell rang, making me jerk. My heart jumped into my throat, and I went still. I listened, remaining quiet and hoping that whoever was at the door would just go away. But I wasn’t that lucky. Instead, the doorbell chimed once again, echoing throughout Kennedy’s condo.

I stood from the couch, and just as I stepped onto the marble floor, the doorbell rang out again. My bare feet smacked across the floor as I went to the front door with my stomach full of knots.

What if it was Zander?

What if he had returned?

What would I say to him?

I wasn’t sure what I would do if I swung the door open to find him staring back at me, but I couldn’t lie to myself. A tiny part of me did hope it was him. I wanted him to come back and declare his undying love for me. I wanted him to need me the same way I needed him.

But if I knew anything about Zander, it was that he wasn’t the kind to make grand gestures.

Whether he was right or wrong, I was never going to get the closure I felt I deserved.

Pausing in front of the door, I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I unlocked the door, the clicking noise filling the space around me with a strange, unsettling feeling. The knob was cold against my sweaty palm, and when I turned it, it clicked as if it were somehow warning me not to open the door.

I did anyway.

I tugged the door open, but the person on the other side wasn’t who I’d hoped. Instead, the raunchy scent of cigarettes and body odor flooded my nostrils, and my eyes landed on Allen’s rotting smile.

“Hello, Eden.”

I backed away, pushing the door closed with my palms, but I wasn’t fast enough.

He kicked it in, the heavy door slamming into the wall beside me, and then he stepped into the condo. His large, dirty boots slammed into the marble somehow making the room feel as if it were shaking.

“Did you think you could steal from me and get away with it? You’re going to get exactly what you deserve, you little bitch,” he spat.

I turned to run from him, but before I could turn away, he lifted his hand, showing me the gun in his in grasp. I paused, fear settling deep in the pit of my stomach.

What would he do?

I asked myself the question, but I knew the answer, and the answer was bad.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get any words out, he brought the butt of the gun down against the side of my head.

I stumbled back a bit losing my balance entirely. Pain radiated through my brain, shaking me until my teeth chattered as I collapsed to the hard marble floor.

Rolling onto my side, I looked up just in time to see Allen’s satisfied smile. Then the world around me began to flicker and fade as darkness crept into the corners of my vision. I fought against it, blinking away the dizziness, but it was too late. Everything was going black.

And just as I dangled on the cusp of oblivion, a frightening thought occurred to me. Allen wasn’t the forgiving kind. He was the killing kind.

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