Page 9 of When He Fights
And Ana…
Ana was leaving him.
Ana…beautiful, sweet Ana.With a smile that had—for all too short of a time—lit up his world.Ana, who had offered him her gorgeous body.Ana, who had kissed him as if her very life depended on the task.
Ana…who had stopped him from putting a bullet into her ex’s brain.
Ana…who had seen the monster who lived and breathed inside of Kane.
There was a reason that “Heartless” was his nickname.“Heartless” Kane Harte.He didn’t love.He didn’t feel.He just didn’t care.
Except…
The ambulance carrying Ana had left.He turned around.Slowly.He could feel her absence in the very air around him.
Goodbye.Her voice, drifting through him.
Sonofabitch.
She should have been mine.
ChapterOne
Prison escape.
Ana’s heart slammed into her ribs as her gaze got trapped by the TV screen.Or, by the reporter’s words as the perky blonde stood in front of the penitentiary and looked intently, soulfully, into the camera.
“Five days ago, convicted killer Logan Catalano escaped custody during a psych transport.Authorities are still searching for the murderer, a man with long ties to the mob and believed to have been linked to as many as fifteen mob hits over the?—”
The chocolate milkshake fell from Ana’s fingers and hit the floor, sending the once delicious shake pouring across the tile.
“Authorities consider Catalano to be armed and dangerous.If you have any information on his whereabouts?—”
“Butterfingers!”A child’s excited voice.
Ana blinked.She looked down at the mess around her feet, then over at the grinning redhead with freckles on her face and an adorable gap where her front teeth had previously been.
“You have butterfingers!”the girl exclaimed again.The tiniest hint of a lisp tagged on her words as she pointed at Ana.And the milkshake.The grin faded from the girl’s features.“So sorry.”A long sigh.“That is a waste of ice cream.Are you sad now?”
Ana’s heart shoved hard into her chest.The pounding felt like a jackhammer as she grabbed for napkins and began to clean up the sopping mess.It was a hellishly hot summer day in Gulfport, Mississippi.She’d stopped by the ice cream shop for a sweet treat and, instead of enjoying her favorite shake, she’d just gotten terror shoved down her throat.
Logan is out.The authorities don’t know where he is.I am going to lose my mind.
By the time Ana tossed away the dripping napkins and the remains of her shake, the teen behind the ice cream counter had already changed the TV channel.A big, flat-screen TV filled the wall to the right.The shows typically kept customers entertained—or just distracted—while their milkshakes were being prepared.The shakes could be truly colossal affairs, with candy bars and even full cupcakes stacked on top of them.It took a while to make such cool perfection, and the little kid with the missing front teeth was correct.A total waste of ice cream.
Normally, Ana would be severely mourning that ice cream loss, but, at the moment, she was too utterly terrified to mourn.“I’m incredibly sad.”A response to the girl who stared at her with unblinking eyes.Sad, terrified, about to lose my mind.All of the above.
The kid went back to licking her triple-scoop ice cream cone while Ana beelined it for the door.The bell over the door jingled happily as she rushed outside.The killer sun momentarily blinded her even as the humidity hit her like a punch to the gut.With her breath choking in and out, Ana yanked her phone from her bag and made her way down the sidewalk at double-time speed.She dialed a number that she was only supposed to call in emergencies.
A number she’d memorized long ago.
This is totally an emergency.
The line rang once.Twice.
She paused at the edge of the sidewalk.Checked the road.Bounded into the crosswalk when she didn’t see any oncoming cars.
“Hello?”His crisp, cool voice.No identification, but then, he didn’t need to identify himself.She recognized FBI Special Agent Grayson Stone’s voice.
