Page 67 of Master Cole

He yanked her away from the door with such force on her arm she went flying across the room. Her hip connected with the wall. Well, that was going to leave a bruise. She slid down the wall and crouched down on the floor.

Wait for the right moment. The words of her self-defense teacher echoed in her head. Yes, she had to wait for the right moment, because she wasn’t going down without a fight. She wasn’t going to give this bully the satisfaction of fear.

Cole half-assed parkedhis SUV at the edge of the parking lot and sprinted toward the building.

“Sir, stay right there.” A police officer stopped him.

“My ... ” Cole swallowed when he saw Alicia waving to him. A woman standing next to Alicia was crying, and it wasn’t Janie. “Alicia.”

“It’s okay, officer,” Alicia said, “This is the man I told Sergeant Collins about.” She waved her hand for Cole to come forward. “He’s needed.”

The officer nodded and moved out of Cole’s way. Cole made his way to Alicia’s side. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s my fault,” the woman said.

“Liz, it is not,” Alicia said firmly. “It’s that ass of a husband.”

“Mr. Daniels?” Another officer walked up to them.

“Yes.”

“I’m Sergeant Collins. I understand Ms. Murphy is your fiancée.”

Cole glanced at Alicia, who was nodding her head. “Janie is my fiancée. What is going on?” He was trying to hold onto his temper.

“Your fiancée was taken hostage by Harold Miller, Liz’s husband.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think he’d do anything so stupid. If you’d just let me go in there, I’ll get Janie out. Harold can hurt me instead.”

“No one is hurting anyone,” the sergeant said.

In an instant, the words Janie had written in her journal made more sense. “How do we get her out of there?”

“There is no ’we’, Mr. Daniels. The police department will handle it.”

Just then the front door opened. “Stay back or I’ll gut the bitch.” The man held a knife to Janie’s throat as he marched her out the door.

Cole’s gaze zeroed in on Janie being held by a brute of a man. Her eyes were wide, there was a bruise forming on her cheek, and she was limping. Red-hot lightning flashed through his body.

He took a step forward, but Janie shook her head. Liz cried harder.

“Mr. Miller, let Ms. Murphy go, and we can talk about this,” the sergeant said.

Miller laughed. “This bitch is trying to take my wife away from me.”

“She’s not a bitch,” Liz’s voice was strong and clear. Cole glanced over at her. She’d stopped crying. “You’re the bastard, Harold.”

“Oh, really, cunt, get over here and say that to my face.”

“No, Liz.” Janie stopped talking as Harold pressed the knife harder against her throat.

“I am saying it to your face.” Liz took a step and then stopped. “You’ve tormented me, beat me, raped me, but I won’t allow you to hurt Janie. She’s my friend.”

“She’s a bitch that needs to be taken care of.”

“Buddy, you need to learn a new vocabulary,” Cole said, voice calm as his heart pounded in his chest.

Harold’s gaze turned to him. The man’s eyes were glazed with anger, and Cole was very aware he was dangerous.

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