“Where is Greg?” I ask, shocked that my voice sounds strong and sure.
“Don’t you worry about him, Isabelle.” He takes a step forward. There are only a few more steps before he will have rounded the island. “Come here, bitch.” he spits out.
“No.” My voice sounds powerful in the stillness of the house.
“You’re going to be sorry for that.”
He lunges forward but doesn’t make it far before I swing wide and crash the frying pan against his skull. He looks into my eyes in confusion before crumpling to the floor. I throw the frying pan to the side and jump over his fallen body.
I run into the living room and almost fall to the floor when I see Greg’s still form and the pool of blood forming under his chest. Choking on the sob that escapes my mouth, I begin to frantically look for the gun. I get on my knees and search under all the furniture before finding it in the far corner of the room tucked under the couch.
I try a few times to reach it before I finally succeed. Right when my hands wrap around the handle, I hear him. Before I can straighten from the floor, my hair is gripped in his strong hands and he throws me towards the far wall. My body collides with Greg, who doesn’t move even with the force of my weight slamming into him. His warm blood soaks through my side.
I look up into Brandon’s disturbing face and smile when I feel the cold medal of the gun still in my hands. He takes a step forward but stops when I raise the gun level with his chest.
“Fuck you!” I scream and pull the trigger, empting every bullet into his chest.
I can hear Dee screaming from the other room, but before my arm falls back down, I overcome with the overwhelming fear running through my veins and let the numbness take over my body. I vaguely hear the gun hit the floor before I slump back against Greg’s body and the darkness rolls back in.
Axel
“IZZY!” I scream again into the phone. I run down the stairs and jump into my truck. When I heard her ex-husband’s voice coming through the line instead of Izzy’s, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. For days we have been searching for him. Not one goddamn clue to where he has been, and the second she is out of my sight . . . the worst possible situation is playing out and I am helpless. There is no way I can get there quick enough.
I grab my phone while I tear out of the driveway and call Greg, the only one I can think of who will be close enough to save my girl.
“What’s up, Reid? Just talked to—”
“Shut up. Where the fuck are you?” I interrupt.
“Damn. On my way to Dee’s house. Izzy ca—”
“Brandon is there,” I interrupt again. I don’t have time. Izzy doesn’t have time.
“What?” All teasing has left his voice now.
“Just got a call from Izzy but it was him I heard over the line. I didn’t hear her once, Greg.” I take a second to calm down before I’m able to continue. The fact that I don’t know if she is okay is not lost on me. “I’m too far out. Get there. God, please get there and save my girl.” I don’t even realize that tears are rolling down my face until I hear the anguish that colors my words.
“Be there in five. I’ll get her.”
“Don’t let him take them from me,” I plead.
“Got it.” He takes a deep breath, and I know . . . I know how much he is holding back right there.
Greg loves Izzy, and for the first time, I realize just how powerful their bond is. He was her family and support when I couldn’t be. If anyone else can understand what my panic feels like at this moment, it is Greg.
I have to trust that he can make it in time. There is no way she can be taken from me twice.
I break every speed limit and every traffic law to make it to Dee’s in half the time it normally takes, pulling my truck right into the grass in front of her place and throwing it in park before jumping out and sprinting towards the door. I notice Greg’s truck off to the side parked at an odd angle. I check but don’t see him outside. The front door is wide open and there is no movement inside.
Silence.
Silence and sobbing.
Pulling the gun out of my ankle holster, I slowly walk through the threshold and down the long hallway. The sobbing is getting louder, and for the first time since arriving, I breathe. That is a female sob.
Hope flares to life and I rush around the corner but stop dead at the scene before me. The first thing I see is Brandon’s lifeless body in the opening to the kitchen. I don’t need to check to know he isn’t breathing. No way would he survive with that many holes in his chest. Dee is on the floor next to the tangled mess of Izzy’s and Greg’s bodies.
“NO!” I roar, running towards them, slipping on the blood that covers the floor around them. “Oh God, Izzy!”