Page 64 of Little Hearts

“Aggie, honey, you awake?”

Scurrying down the rest of the steps, she ducked behind the sofa to hide as her father entered the room. Maybe him turning up was actually a good thing. He had to have driven here, which meant they now had a car to escape in. All she had to do was incapacitate her dad.

Could she do that? Deliberately hurt him?

Picturing Emily’s beaten body lying at the bottom of the empty pool, Aggie knew that she could. Her father was a monster. He needed to be stopped.

He was moving toward the kitchen. She had to get to him before he got there, Emily was in no condition to defend herself.

Wrapping a hand around the closest lamp, she hoped it was strong enough to knock him out. Once he was out cold, she could tie him up, grab his keys, and drive herself and Emily to the nearest police station.

Clutching the heavy wooden stick to her chest as she crept along behind him, she prayed he wouldn’t turn around.

She was right behind him now.

She raised her arm above her head.

He heard her at the last second.

Turning just as her arm was swinging down toward his head.

But he was too late. The lamp connected with a thump that echoed in the quiet cabin, and he dropped to the floor.

“Why did you do that?”

Aggie looked up to find Emily standing in the kitchen doorway.

“What do you mean?”

“He could have helped us escape. Why did you knock him out?”

“Because he did this to you.” Aggie wondered if shock had Emily losing it.

“No, he didn’t.” Emily shook her head, her blue eyes, while dulled with pain and fatigue, were clear and lucid. “Sebastian didn’t abduct me. Andrew did.”

Andrew? Her brother had abducted Emily? That meant he had to also be the one who raped and killed Selene and Claudia. And he had brought her here. It had been his idea. He knew he had Emily stashed here, and he knew there was a good chance that she would find her. Did that mean that he intended to kill her too?

And her dad. She had just hit him over the head and knocked him unconscious. He was lying at her feet. He was so still. She wasn't used to seeing her big, strong father lying there unmoving. He looked dead. She doubted she was strong enough to hit him hard enough to kill him, but she was still scared.

What had she done?

“Aggie?”

Someone was standing in front of her, waving a hand in her face. Blinking slowly, the features morphed into something recognizable. Emily. Staring at her anxiously.

“You okay?”

“My brother brought you here? Hurt you?”

Emily nodded. “I didn’t know he was violent, but he’s the reason that I broke up with your dad.”

“Andrew? Why?”

“Because I slept with him.” Emily’s blue eyes dipped to stare at the floor, and her near translucent cheeks turned bright pink.

“With Andrew?”

“Yes. How could I stay married to Sebastian after I slept with his son?”

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