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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE GUNSHOT SEEMED to echo in the night. Hotel guests screamed and shouted while Violet watched the drama unfold in front of her, helpless to stop the disaster Hanson orchestrated.

Rayne cried out and fell to the ground, clutching her thigh.

Grant started toward her.

“Uh uh,” Hanson taunted. “You don’t move until Violet and I leave or I’ll shoot another innocent bystander, and this time I won’t aim for a limb.”

Violet’s gaze locked with Noah’s. His eyes blazed with fury.

“The clock’s ticking, Mann.” A huff of laughter from the lawyer holding Violet by an arm around her neck. “Literally. Better hurry or all these innocents you’re so fond of saving will die.”

Sorrow and determination filled Noah’s eyes as he stared at Violet. “I love you,” he said. Unspoken was his demand that she do what was necessary to stay alive.

Violet gave a slight nod. “I love you, too.” No way would she allow Jeff Hanson to end the future she envisioned with Noah. She wanted that life something fierce. Marriage, children, Westies, a house, the whole works. She wanted it all and would do anything necessary to make that happen.

“Aww. How touching.” Hanson tightened his hold around Violet’s neck, choking her. “Let’s go, beautiful. We have things to do before you die.”

He dragged her deeper into the tree line, then forced her into a jog as he adjusted his hold to a painful grip on her upper arm with the muzzle of his pistol jammed into her ribcage. “If you cause me one second of trouble, I swear I’ll flip the switch and set off both bombs. Not only will I take out innocents, I’ll also kill Mann and Bowen since they’ll try to be heroes and disarm my explosive gems.”

Violet scowled. “Don’t do that. Please. I won’t fight you.” Yet.

He chuckled as he propelled her faster through the trees. “I love it when they beg. We’ll have so much fun. I’ve been wanting to put my hands on you for years. Now that I have you, I intend to enjoy every second. Before I finish you, you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

Fat chance of that happening. All she needed was an opening, and Jeff Hanson was finished.

Violet intentionally stumbled and fell to the ground. She wrapped her hand around her watch and pressed the emergency button on the tactical watch connecting her to Fortress. The watch vibrated, showing one tech on duty had been alerted to trouble.

“Get up.” Hanson yanked Violet to her feet and forced her into a faster march through the woods. “Do that again and I swear you’ll regret it. I’ll drag your punishment out for days instead of hours. Trust me, you don’t want me to do that.”

Seconds later, a spot the size of a grain of rice heated near her shoulder blade. She breathed easier. Fortress had activated one of her tracking tags. No matter where Hanson took her, Noah could find her. The question was, would he arrive in time? “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere we can talk without interruption.”

Talk? Was that a new euphemism for interrogate and torture before killing her? If so, she’d endure whatever he dished out. Every minute he delayed ending her life gave Noah more time to find her and gave Violet the chance to come up with a plan to escape Jeff Hanson’s clutches.

Hanson sped up as sirens sounded in the distance. “Stupid cops,” he muttered. “Move it, honey. I’m not spending the next two decades in jail because you dragged your feet, hoping for your boyfriend to rescue you. No one will rescue you from me.”

Violet scowled. Keep telling yourself that. We’ll see who’s still standing in the end.

Hanson jerked her to a sudden stop and peered through the tree line toward a luxury SUV sitting in dark shadows mere feet away from them. Seconds later, he yanked Violet back into motion, steering her toward the vehicle’s backseat.

The lawyer unlocked the SUV, opened the back door, and motioned for Violet to get inside with the barrel of the Sig.

Although her skin crawled at the idea of having Hanson at her back, Violet passed him and got into the vehicle. He whacked her on the back of the head with his pistol and shoved her to the floor of the SUV.

Hanson yanked Violet’s hands behind her back and cinched her wrists together using zip ties. That done, he rested his knee on her back to keep her down and seconds later, Violet felt a bee sting on her neck.

Her heart rate sped up. He’d drugged her. Even as the thought formed, Violet felt her mind slowing down and her extremities going numb. “What have you done?” she whispered.

“Can’t have you attacking me while I drive. Don’t worry, sweetheart. The effects last for a short time. You’ll be wide awake for all the fun.”

The door slammed, enclosing her inside the SUV. Hanson climbed behind the wheel and cranked the engine. “Don’t fight the drug,” he said as he put the vehicle in motion. “I want you well rested.”

Weakness invaded her limbs and lethargy made them feel as though they weighed three times as much as normal. In seconds, the darkness closed in.

She woke sometime later, disoriented and nauseated. Violet slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes. Took a couple of minutes to clear most of the blurry vision. She wished the nausea would leave, too. Violet drew in a deep breath, wrinkling her nose at the musty smell of a little used space, and surveyed her surroundings.

Wooden walls and a bare floor covered by a blue tarp. If she didn’t know what was ahead, the tarp gave her a good sign that Hanson planned to kill her in a messy fashion. No furniture aside from the chair to which she was tied. The room had one window with bars over the glass. So, no slipping out of the room through the window. Of course, escaping wouldn’t be that easy. The only way out was through the single door.

Footsteps approached the room.

Violet stared at the closed door and waited.

Someone shoved a key in the lock, twisted the knob, and opened the door. Jeff stood in the doorway, dressed as he had been when he’d abducted her at gunpoint. He wore a black and green flannel shirt, black jeans, and hiking boots. At his waist was a holstered pistol. In his hand, Jeff held a bottle of water.

He crossed the threshold and twisted the bottle top, breaking the seal. “Good. You’re awake.” Jeff grasped Violet’s chin, tipped her face toward his, and said, “Drink.”

She pressed her lips together and stared at him.

Jeff growled, tightening his grasp on her chin. “I just broke the seal in your presence. I didn’t drug the water. You need to drink, Violet. The water will flush the drug from your system.”

She glared at him. He could have drugged the water with a hypodermic needle through the plastic.

“Really? We’re doing this the hard way?” When she didn’t respond, the lawyer slapped her hard enough to whip her head to the right.

The movement caught her by surprise. She gasped.

Jeff shoved the mouth of the bottle past her lips and tipped the water into her mouth.

Violet drank. It was drink or choke on the liquid. Although she wouldn’t admit as much to Jeff, the water tasted so good. He forced her to drink half of the liquid before he pulled the bottle away.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jeff set the bottle of water against the wall and turned back to face her. “Is this how it’s going to be for the next few hours?”

The knot in her stomach loosened. Hours were better than minutes. More time for Noah to arrive. “Did you expect otherwise?”

His smile sent a shudder through her body. Pure delight filled his gaze. “I had high hopes you would be more of a challenge than your sister.”

She froze. “You murdered Camilla?”

“No.”

Violet stared. “Your father.”

He inclined his head. “I’m impressed. I thought you’d go with the default answer of Fitz.”

If she didn’t know for sure that Jeff planned to kill her, this conversation ripped away any false hope for the lawyer’s inclination to let her live. No way would he let her go free after this confession. “Does my aunt know her boyfriend killed Cami and several other women?”

Jeff laughed. “Rosalie thinks my father can do no wrong. She’s head over heels in love with him and has been for more than a decade.”

Violet’s blood ran cold. “Are you saying what I think you are?”

“Dad told Rosalie that sweet Camilla came on to him, then threatened to destroy him when he refused to take her to bed. According to Dad’s story, your sister became violent, and he had no choice but to defend himself.”

Her face burned. “That’s a lie! You know it is.”

His head tilted. “How do you know? You’ve been gone a long time, Violet, my sweet. You don’t know what your sister could do.”

“I didn’t come back to Morrison, but my sister and I met every few weeks away from here.”

He shrugged. “Pretty story that no one will believe. After all, he’s the police chief with a stellar record. No one will believe a mercenary for hire who abandoned her aunt and sister as soon as she graduated from high school.”

Jeff Hanson was crazy. No one in their right minds would believe this concocted story. For goodness’ sake, Violet had proof of her weekends with Camilla.

She twisted her wrists gently, testing the bonds keeping her wrists secured behind the thick slats of the chair. The bonds flexed but didn’t give. The lawyer must have used zip ties. Good. She could work with that. The trick was to keep him talking while she freed one of her knives and worked on the plastic. “That’s not true, Jeff.”

He snorted. “It’s what the good citizens of Morrison will believe when your body is found. Dad will spread the word that you approached the wrong man for sex and got exactly what you deserved.” He shook his head, amusement dancing in his eyes. “You should have paid attention to those stranger danger lectures, baby.”

“Why would I do that? I’m in love with Noah. I don’t need to approach a stranger for sex.”

“Hmm. You’re right. Maybe Dad can spin the story that you and your boyfriend had a fight and broke up, then you went to a stranger for consolation. You just picked the wrong man.”

“It won’t work.”

Another shrug. “We’ll make it work.” Jeff shoved his pistol into the waistband at the back of his jeans and grabbed a knife from his boot. The steel blade glimmered in the overhead light’s beam. “You should feel honored. We saved the knife we used on Camilla for you.”

She twisted her right wrist, trying to position her arm to release the blade strapped to the underside of her forearm without puncturing her hand.

Jeff stalked closer. “Time for a preview of things to come, Violet.” He raised the knife and plunged the blade into her left shoulder.