Page 71 of Text Me, Take Me

“Five seconds!”

I let myself go lax, which causes him to relax just a tiny bit… just enough for me to spring up and throw my head back. I hear the crunch of his nose. He grunts and loosens his arms a little more, letting me slide out of his grip and crawl along the ground, my fingers sinking into the cold earth.

“Get back here, you bit?—”

A gunshot rings out.

Time slows as I remember what Dom said.

Cover my ears, close my eyes, look away.

But I refuse to turn a blind eye. I did enough of that as a kid, pretending I didn’t know what Mason was doing to Mom, burying my head in my craft, in dreams of metal and beauty soI didn’t have to see the ugly cruelty that was standing right in front of me.

I look up–big mistake.

It’s… gore, so much more vivid than a horror movie.

I turn away and let out a primal scream.

CHAPTER 25

DOM

Irush across the cemetery, drawn to my woman’s scream, my rifle slung across my back. Regret twists like a knife in my gut, telling me I shouldn’t have let her do this.

She’s crawling across the earth, gasping. Her eyes are wide with terror. For a moment, it’s like she doesn’t recognize me. Civilians think they’re prepared to see true violence, but they rarely are. She should’ve listened, but I don’t blame her. She thought she needed to see her tormentor fall.

“Clean this up,” I roar at Rafe. “And delete that video from his phone. Take it to someone who can see if there are copies.”

“You got it.”

“I’m getting her someplace safe.”

“Go, Dom–we’ll handle this.”

I kneel and scoop my arms under Evie, cradling her back and tucking my other arm under her knees. Unlike the first time Icarried her, she doesn’t struggle this time. She throws her arms around me, pressing her face against my chest.

Running across the cemetery, I make for the back of the van, stunned when I find my father sitting on the other side of it, his hands clasped, looking at me with that same surprising emotion on his face.

“Is it done?” he asks.

Evie wriggles from my grasp and slumps against the edge of the van, breathing hard, shaking all over as tears slide down her cheeks. “He—he—he said that he… he kuh-killed Mom. I wuh-wanted to suh-see…”

“She’s having a panic attack, poor thing,” Father mutters.

His empathy catches me by surprise again, but I haven’t got time to analyze it. I kneel in front of Evie, taking both her hands. She was there for me when the night terror woke me, and I’m going to be here for her now.

“Evie, your first job is to breathe as slowly as you can,” I say, meeting her eye. “I’m going to count your breaths with you. Try to be slow, okay, beautiful? Try to make your breaths last to a three count, in and out. That will help slow your heartbeat. With me–one, two, three…”

It takes a few tries, but slowly, she paces her breathing. She presses firmly into my hands.

“I should’ve listened to you,” she says after a pause. She turns to my father. “How’s this for strong, Mr. Russo?”

My father’s soft smile makes him look like a different man, one I don’t remember from my childhood. “The fact you’re able tospeak after a panic attack like that means you’re strong, Evie. Don’t beat yourself up.”

Evie bites her lip and looks at me. “Mason said he was driving the car when Mom died. He bragged about it. Do you think he was telling the truth?”

“Perhaps–or maybe he was just trying to hurt you. He’s dead now, Evie. It doesn’t make any difference.”

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