Page 67 of Four-ever Single

“Todd,” I gasped, clutching my hand to my chest and dropping my keys in the process. “What are you doing here?”

I took a cautious step back, patting my pocket to find my phone, but it wasn’t there. My heart raced in my chest as I tried to figure out how to get away as he moved closer, pure evil in his dark eyes as he stepped outside.

“You and I both know the answer to that. You have something I want, and I’ve come to collect it.”

I swallowed hard, wanting to run but knowing it wouldn’t matter if I did. He was stronger. Faster. The closest neighbor wouldn’t hear if I screamed for help. I was all by myself, at the mercy of my cousin, who wanted nothing more than to see me vanish so he could have his shot at my inheritance.

“You should really be more careful, you know,” he said carelessly as if he had all the time in the world to be here. “Having your wedding photos posted all over town made it easy for me to get people to tell me where to find you. Many were surprised that you had a cousin you never talked about, but I was able to charm them all the same. They were so quick to give up the information I needed, and one older lady practically drew me a map of how to get here.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t talk about you for a reason. Why waste my precious energy telling people about what a manipulative asshole you are?” I knew I was just angering the beast, but honestly, what did I have to lose at this point? It wasn’t like he was going to change his mind if I tried to kill him with kindness. I was biding my time, keeping him talking while I tried to figure out an escape plan.

“Whatever. Why don’t we make this quick so I can get what I came for and get out of here.”

“And what’s that?” I continued to play dumb as I struggled to recall some of the basic self-defense moves I learned in that class Lia and I took a while back.

“You know exactly what I want, Bella,” he hissed, clenching his fists at his sides. “None of that belongs to you. It’s mine, always has been. Just because you sucked up to grandma in her last years doesn’t mean you’re entitled to any of it.”

“I don’t even want any of it,” I replied with a snort. “I’ve never wanted anything from grandma and grandpa other than their time and company. I didn’t ask her to leave me anything; she wanted to. And from the looks of it, she made the right decision.”

His eyes narrowed even further as he worked his jaw back and forth.

“You better stop fucking playing with me, Bella. I’m not in the mood for it. Now we can do this the hard way or the—”

“There are no options for you, Todd,” I growled, my built-up anger rising to the surface. “Everything is mine, and there’s no way in hell you’re getting any of it. I already got married before my twenty-fifth birthday. Now all I have to do is wait the six months and then collect everything.”

“Not if you’re dead.”

His voice was so icy it sent a chill straight through me.

“Don’t you get it, Bella? I’m not here to make small talk and catch up. I have one reason for being in this stupid small town. One problem to deal with. You. Now, why don’t we take a quick walk in the woods over there so we can get this over with.” He cocked his head to the side as he pulled out a gun and pointed it at my head as that nagging feeling from this morning settled in my stomach again.

Forty-Five

Bella

“Like I said, we can do this the hard way or the easy way,” Todd said, moving closer as the gun brushed against my temple as I stood frozen in place. “You can be quiet and go easily into the woods back there so I don’t have a mess to clean up, or you can be difficult and fight me on it. But we both know you’re not going to win.”

“No, mother fucker, you’re not going to win,” a deep male voice boomed from behind him, startling both of us.

Todd spun around, moving the gun with him just in time for me to see him point it at Nate.

“No!” I screamed as my instincts took over. Before I knew it, I was lunging in the air, my sole purpose to get the gun out of Todd’s hand. I jumped on his back like a monkey, latched on the best I could, and pushed his arm so the gun was no longer aimed at Nate.

He spun around, immediately trying to get me off him, but I clawed and scratched until I could gain purchase and hold on. I reached for the arm holding the gun, but he quickly pulled it out of my reach as Nate came charging at us like a bull. With his head down, he tackled Todd, head-butting him in the stomach as we all got pushed into the side of the house.

The stucco scratched at my arm for a brief second before I felt Todd push Nate off and throw his body to the side, knocking me into the wall again. I wrapped my legs tighter around his body as I yanked on his hair, inflicting as much pain as I could as he kicked Nate hard in the ribs.

My heart raced as I reached forward for the gun again, only to have Todd shove me against the wall again. My back hurt from the impact, but when I saw him lifting the gun at Nate again, I knew I had to stop him. Todd might be blood, but Nate was like family. And no one fucked with my family.

Nate looked up and locked eyes with me for a brief second. I could tell he was about to charge Todd again but stopped when he realized I had another plan. I took a deep breath and then used everything I had to life myself up enough to drive my elbow into Todd’s shoulder with enough force that he cried out and flung me off his back, dropping the gun in the process.

“You stupid fucking bitch,” he growled, diving forward for it, but Nate tackled him first, knocking him to the ground.

I sat to the side, out of the way, as I clutched my arm against my body, trying to ignore the pain that was radiating through me from coming down on the doorknob. I heard Nate curse several times and turned my head to avoid watching the blood bath happening on the other side of me as they fought each other.

A few seconds later, I heard the sound of sirens, knowing help was on the way. Nate must have called them on his way over, though I had no idea how he even knew I was there.

The seconds felt like minutes as I waited for the police, then the heavenly sound of heavy footsteps came charging up the sidewalk as loud voices yelled around me, bodies spreading out thickly to secure the scene. Nate immediately got off of Todd and stepped back, pointing to the gun and allowing the cops to do their job. It was nice living in a small town where the local law enforcement didn’t have to question who the real bad guy was.

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