Page 119 of Killer Confections

I stop in the doorway, taking in the clean floors and countertops.

It’s like it never happened…

“Are you okay?” Riley asks.

I blink my surprise away. “Yeah, what did you need help with?”

We go over a few different changes that can be implemented with the online store to make ordering easier for customers. I also show Riley my design updates and get her opinion. I must lose track of time, because I jump when Ross pokes his head through the swing door.

“Time to go,” he informs me. “We’ll bring the car around to the alley. Leave out the back door.”

I nod. “Okay.”

Riley watches him leave before turning to me. “They seem more like police escorts than cousins.”

I shrug. “They’re overprotective.”

She buys it for now, giving me a quick hug goodbye. “I’ll see you soon?”

I squeeze her back. “Yeah. Soon.”

I grab my things before following Micah’s instructions and leave out of the back entrance. The car idles only a few feet away, but something tingles along my neck. I whip around, only to see nothing behind me. My body feels hyper aware of something, but there’s nothing there.

My cheeks heat and I’m sure Ross and Micah probably just watched my mini freak out through the car’s overly tinted glass. I speed walk over to the vehicle, ripping the door open as I toss my bag onto the floorboard. I settled into the passenger seat, pulling my seatbelt over me.

“I could have sworn I felt someone behind me—”

The sound of a gun clicks beside my head before a cold barrel is pressed into my temple. My stomach drops as my lips part on a quiet breath.

“Hey, there, sugar,” a rich feminine voice drawls lazily in a Southern accent.

My eyes slowly scan over to her, everything moving in slow motion as I see the blonde customer from earlier seated in the driver’s seat of Atlas’s car. Her siren eyes look deadly as she points a gun at my head.

I swallow, finding the courage to speak. “Fuck.”

Her lips tip up slightly. “Yeah, this isn’t your lucky day.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt her,” a familiar voice barks from the back seat.

I tense. “Blair? What are you doing here?”

There’s shuffling from the backseat before the girl pushes between the driver and passenger seat. She has a wire in her ear and she’s dressed down in all black. She sports two new piercings, snake bites that jut from her lips. “It’s a long story, but we aren’t going to hurt you—”

“Sit back, Blair.” Blondie commands, her tone stern. “Keep your eyes on the fucking cameras.”

The teen mutters profanities under her breath before complying.

I eye the woman across from me. “Where are—”

“The Midwestern fuckers that were keeping tabs?” Blondie asks. “They’re still alive.”

“Where are they?”

She shrugs. “Unconscious in a dumpster.”

This woman…

She knocked them out.By herself.