Page 63 of Romeo

“You’re going to live,” Elliot replies.“It’s a through and through.”

“I was shot!”Odie yells.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve all been shot.Well, except for me,” Tucker says.“I’m too fast.”

“Any idea who the shooter was?”Riley asks Bradyn.

“We got a look at the car, a white sedan with Washington plates,” he says.“Tucker has the plate written down, and he’ll look into it.”

Bradyn looks around the cemetery.“Since they kept shooting even after Odie was hit, I’m assuming he wasn’t the intended target.”

“That, or they both were,” Dylan replies.

“What is going on?Who would do this?Why is this happening?”I’m spiraling—I feel it.My heart rate alone is enough to put me into a full-blown panic attack.

“Stop being so weak,” Odie spits out.“You weren’t even hi—ow!”

“Oops,” Elliot replies.“Did that hurt?”

“I’d suggest watching your tone,” Riley warns.“I’m willing to let you bleed out.”

“I’m not,” his security guard replies.“You’ll keep pressure until the ambulance arrives.”

“Will I?”Elliot asks.“That sounds an awful lot like an order and not one I intend to take.”

“Not an order, merely a suggestion.Because it’s inallof our best interests that Mr.Landers survives.”

Chapter22

Riley

“The plates belong to a Carrie Wallace.She reported her car stolen yesterday.”

“Fletcher?”I ask Tucker.

Odie Landers survived and was being treated at the local hospital while we returned with Jules to her grandfather’s estate.Dylan and Tucker spent most of the morning adding additional security to the six-thousand-square-foot house while Bradyn cleaned up the area where the bullet grazed my side.

Thank God it was just a graze and no stitches were required.

“Nope.”

“How do you know that?”Bradyn questions.

“Because Ian Fletcher was found dead this morning.Two hours before the funeral.”He pulls up an image on his computer.Crime scene photos of the hired killer after he was hauled out of what appears to be a lake.

“How long has he been dead?”

“Coroner thinks at least a week.”

“Which means he was killed after he stabbed Jules in that motel room.”

“Whoever hired him was likely not happy he kept failing.”Bradyn crosses his arms.“And now we have a second killer and no ID.”

“We’re back to square one.”I run both hands over my face.There’s a knock at the front door, so I cross over to check through the peephole.The woman on the other side wears a friendly smile.

I pull open the door.“Melody?”I ask.

She nods.“Yes.You must be Mr.Hunt.”

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