Page 128 of Between Regrets and Promises

“Aww, are you sad for her?” he taunts. “Boo-fuckin’-hoo.”

I squeeze my eyes tight as he continues to ramble, giving me details I don’t want to hear.

“I waited outside her house, knowing she’d be leaving for work soon. When she walked to her car, I snuck up behind her. She put up a good fight, but she was too weak for me. Overpowering her was easy. Almost as easy as my wife, though Dacia didn’t beg me to stop like my wife did.”

“You…” I swallow, shocked that the part of him being married was true. “Killedyour wife?”

“Threats, Sophie darling.No onethreatens me.” He emphasizes his words. “She threatened to leave me after she found out she was pregnant with another man’s baby, and after the whore cheated on me, I wasn’t gonna allow her to do that. She was mine. Now she’ll alwaysonlybe mine.”

His sentiments echo Weston’s. More tears well in my eyes, and he cracks his knuckles. He’s killed two women with those hands. I’ll be his third.

The phone vibrates, and he laughs when he reads the message, loving every minute of this. “Oh, your sister Maddie is texting you now. What should we tell her?” He taps the knife against his lips. “I should’ve taken her too, but I don’t know if I could’ve dealt with two of you cunts at once. Maybe after I’ve killed you and Mason, I’ll go after her too. Seems like a good fuck. Bet she’d give good head with her arms and legs tied up.”

The thought of him being anywhere near Maddie makes my heart race, and I’m internally panicking because he knows where she lives now. All I’ve ever wanted was to protect my sisters and not bring people like Dalton into their lives. I become more frantic and uneasy, knowing he could’ve easilytaken her too. Take me, hurt me, even kill me, but leave my sisters out of it.

“What do you want from me?”

“I’ve got what I want for now—you. You’re what’s gonna bring Mason to me, and then I’ll be able to make him feel the same way I felt when I learned my brother was shot. After I knock out his teeth and tie him up, I’m gonna make him watch me strangle the life from you. Maybe I’ll fuck your ass first. He can witness it all before he takes his last breath.”

His words are terrifying, and what’s worse is that he’s convinced he’s capable of doing this. Mason won’t go down without a fight, and most likely, he won’t come alone. I twist my arms, seeing if I can loosen the tape enough to wiggle free.

“Ooh, speaking of the motherfucking devil.” He turns the phone around to show me that Mason’s calling. “Should I answer?”

He presses the button before I reply, then puts the phone up to my ear.

“I’m looking for you, Dalton, and when I find you…”

“Mason,” I breathe out, tears falling.

His tone instantly changes, and he speaks softly. “Sophie. Oh my God. Are you okay?”

Before I can respond, he rips the phone away and laughs.

“Hurt her? Nah, she’s fine. She’s tough. Can take a kick to the gut like a man. Right?” He winks, which has me swallowing bile.

My heart races as he nonchalantly walks around the kitchen listening to Mason. “You don’t want to threaten me. You’ll be sorry if you do. Trust me. Just ask your littlesweetSophie.” He chuckles darkly.

To anyone else, it would seem he’s chatting with an old friend. Dalton is hot one minute and cold the next. Laughing,then shouting. He’s unstable and the most frightening part of it all—unpredictable.

“Touch her, you say?” His eyes bore into me. “Actually, I was thinking of fucking her first. I’d like to know what my brother had and find out what’s so special about her that made you kill him.” He pauses to listen to Mason, then laughs again. “Oh, foul language, Mason. No, no. Don’t worry…I saw the way she looked at me the first day we met…” He continues talking shit, but I tune him out, unable to hear any more as Mason yells on the other end.

I remember the day we met like yesterday because I thought he was hitting on me. Instead of listening to my gut, I chalked it up to being jaded because of Weston. He invaded my personal space and acted too friendly. However, thinking about it now, I should’ve recognized the signs.

Dalton ends the call and lets out a cackle as he comes toward me. Placing his hand tightly around my throat, he digs his fingers into my skin. I gasp, struggling to breathe as he closes my airway. I try shifting my body, fighting against the duct tape and his strength, but it’s no use. I’m in so much pain that I’m weak and exhausted. His smile never leaves his face as everything else fades away.

“Sophie.” I hear Weston’s voice.No. Not possible. “I warned you. I meant it when I said you weremineforever.”

I shake my head, looking at him standing in front of me wearing the clothes he had on the first time we met for brunch. “You’re dead.”

He grins and cocks an eyebrow. “No,you’redead.”

I’m unable to focus on anything. Insufferable pain creeps over me, and my stomach starts to hurt. None of this is real. I know it’s not, but it seems real. In a blink, Weston is in front of me with both of his hands around my throat, choking the life out of my body.

“Weston,” I barely get out the word before fighting against him. “Weston, stop.”

It’s as if someone turns on the lights, and I’m brought back to my reality as Dalton towers over me. I’m so damn disoriented that Weston is haunting me from the grave. My hallucinations are merging memories of the past with my present.

“You called me Weston, you little bitch.” The back of his hand smacks across my cheek. My head pounds so hard, and I wonder why he doesn’t just finish the damn job and end me. Why continue with this charade? I have no more tears. They’ve dried up. My broken body won’t be able to take much more before it shuts down and the darkness returns.

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