Page 79 of Mountain Defender

“OfcourseI want money!”

I try to flinch away as another spray of hot spittle hits me, but there’s nowhere to go. “I’ll give you money. How much?—”

“All of it.” Wade’s lips pull back, baring his teeth in a rictus of a grin. “And you’re not going to give it to me. That would never work. Not now.”

Cold realization sends ice through my veins. “What are you going to do?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re dead.”

But I do. If Gage is coming—oh, please, let him be on his way—I need to give him time. I need to do what those people in the movies do, make the killer talk, delay them until help gets there.

“Please,” I whisper, my voice quivering from panic and fear. “Maybe we can work this out. I’ll give you whatever you want. Just help me understand.”

Wade stares at me, indecision working in his gaze. The barrel of the gun presses harder into my stomach. Time seems to stop. My lungs cease to work.

Will he tell me?

Or kill me?

Then he chuckles. Air fills my lungs again.

“I guess I can tell you. But fast. I’ve got to get out of here before anyone spots the accident and gets the police involved.”

In the pause before he speaks again, I spot a flash of something in the woods behind him. But before I can try to identify it, it’s gone.

Gage? Could it be?

Please.

“I’m in trouble,” Wade says. “At work. No one knows yet, but I’ve been stealing from the company for months. It was supposed to just be a one-time thing. Just to cover the yearly dues at the club. It was so easy, being in charge of the finances. Move some money around, create some dummy accounts… The plan was to put it all back before the yearly audit. But?—”

Another flash of movement appears off to the left. An animal? A branch moving in the wind? Or the help I so desperately need?

“But then Emily wanted to go to Cabo,” he continues. “And I needed a new car. A penthouse opened up in the building and we’d been on the waiting list for years. I couldn’t turn it down when they offered it to us. So I had to keep taking money from the company.”

“But you have money,” I whisper. “You and Emily have good jobs. And the trust from our parents…”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Wade barks out another harsh laugh. “The money Emily got from your parents is gone. It’s been gone for years. Unlike you, she doesn’t get free money every year. She’s not a millionaire like you.”

“It’snotfree money!” I know I shouldn’t argue. But the very idea of that money—the blood money—being free of any burden is utterly ridiculous.

“Do you work for it? No!” His hand tightens around my neck again. “I know how much money you have. Emily told me. Millions banked for your fucking dogs. And nothing for your sister. Nothing for me.”

“I would have helped,” I start.

“Really? You would have handed over a million dollars without question? Without talking to Emily about it? I don’t think so.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“Of course not. Do you think I’m crazy?”

Well. Yes. But I don’t say that. I just give him a tiny shake of my head.

“She doesn’t know. But if I don’t figure out a way to get the money put back by the end of the year, I’ll get caught. The company auditor will discover the missing funds. Then I’ll lose everything. My job. The apartment. My car. The club. Emily will leave me. I might even go to jail.”

In the trees just behind Wade, maybe thirty feet back, a branch moves. Not from wind, but something bigger.

A person?