Page 101 of Tempt

A moment later I heard, “Just fucking end it already.” And then the sound of two silenced bullets, followed by the thud of two bodies hitting the floor.

Everything was a blur after that, but the one thing I remembered most of all was the sound of Nicki screaming. Screaming that never seemed to stop.

Chapter 36

The only thing worse than Nicki’s screams was the silence that followed it. She was in shock, as I would expect. But as much as her screams tore me apart, all the way down to the depths of my soul, the silence was worse.

It was in that empty void that everything was put into sharp focus. No detail could be ignored no matter how hard I tried. Donald was dead. So were Dan and Toni. And Theo had pulled the trigger.

He stood exactly where he’d shot them for a long time. So long that Higgins had time to remove Nicki with the help of Tad. Martin and Joe began rearranging bodies…why I had no idea.

And I was just as rooted to the spot where I stood. Seth waited quietly beside me, waiting for me to fall apart, I’m sure.

But that wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t for two reasons. One was Theo. If I lost it, so would he. But the other reason was more potent: I’d chosen this. I stayed even after I knew Theo was a criminal. I pushed him to end things—even if it involved murder. Things had happened precisely as I always knew they would.

That meant I didn’t get to fall apart. Not now, anyway.

“Are you all right?” Seth finally asked.

I nodded slowly. “Is he?”

Seth looked across the room for several long beats. “He will be. He was ready for this.”

“Then, yeah. I’m all right.”

Seth didn’t reply because, really, what do you say to that?

And then I finally forced myself to move. Every step was work. My feet were lead and I was moving through water. My heart thudded so loud it actually pushed back the silence. I paused a few inches from his elbow because I didn’t want to startle him even though Martin had taken the gun and placed it beside one of the dead bodyguards.

He turned the moment I stopped beside him and reached out his hand, wrapping it around my waist and pulling me into his side. He smelled all wrong and his muscles were stiff, but the need and tenderness coming off of him were as familiar as my own skin.

“I’m so sorry you were here for this,” he whispered into my hair before planting a kiss on the top of my head.

“I’ll be fine, Theo. I’m worried about you.”

That seemed to shake him out of whatever stupor he was in. He suddenly stood up straighter and led me away from all the dead bodies and into a dark corner. He let me hold him and I buried my face in his chest, wishing I could crawl inside him and make everything better.

I didn’t know how I’d ever make this better.

“Please don’t worry about me. I’m…” he sighed heavily and I looked up so I could see his eyes.

He looked happy. And while I know that is some seriously fucked up shit to be happy about, I totally understood it, too.

“I’m free,” he finally said.

I nodded.

“We’re not done, though.” He rested his forehead against mine for several seconds before explaining. “Aside from you and Nicki being here, this went exactly as I hoped it would, which means everything should go smoothly.” He tilted his head toward his father’s body. “Martin is doing a little staging and we’ll rearrange a couple of guns before we call this in.”

“You’re calling this in?” Was he insane? He was intentionally bringing the cops into this? We were on a construction site and no one had a clue what had happened down here. He could bury the bodies and no one would ever know what happened.

A clean sweep.

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.” He turned and pointed, explaining the scene. “Dan strangled Donald. Toni bludgeoned the bodyguard. The second bodyguard killed Dan and Toni, and then I walked in, found everything, and killed the second bodyguard. The forensics should matchup for the most part.” I could see the wheels turning in his head as he went back over every angle one more time.

Martin had shot the second bodyguard and Theo had shot Dan and Toni, but in this scenario the guns were switched around. Instead the bodyguard shot Dan and Toni and Theo was the one who shot the second bodyguard…eliminating everyone from the equation except him.

“And how on earth do you explain why all of this is here in your building?”

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