Page 74 of Clear Blue Sky

Chuck laughed. “Make yourself at home. Oh wait, this is your home.” He gave Nelson a little shove with the wrong end of the rifle. “Marcus is waiting for you in the kitchen.”

Nelson made his way to the front door, where he curled his fingers around the handle and sucked in a deep breath and counted to ten.

“What are you waiting for?” Chuck called.

Nelson pushed open the door and slowly made his way through the family room and headed toward the kitchen. He stopped dead in his tracks when he locked gazes with Brandi.

Her beautiful green-blue eyes were wide with fear. Her mouth was taped shut, hands tied behind her back, and her feet were duct-taped to the chair legs.

“You fucking bastard,” Nelson muttered. He made two tight fists.

“That’s no way to greet an old friend.” Marcus sat at the table with a gun in his lap and pointed it at Brandi. “Join us.”

“Untie her.”

“Not going to happen just yet.”

“At least take the tape off her mouth.” Nelson pulled up a chair.

“Before we do that, I need to make sure there are no wires.”

Nelson lifted his shirt.

Marcus nodded. “Now hand over your cell.”

This was exactly what they anticipated. Nelson reached into his back pocket and set his phone on the table.

Marcus snagged it and shut it down.

Hopefully, it had been long enough for Boomer to work his magic. If they could get into Nelson’s security system, they could listen inside the house. Now all he had to do was keep Marcus talking.

“Now can I take the tape off Brandi’s mouth?”

“Sure, why not, but it’s going to hurt.” Marcus waved his weapon.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Nelson inched closer, gripping the side of the adhesive. He tugged gently.

She flinched.

“Are you ready?” Nelson asked.

She nodded.

Like a Band-Aid, he ripped it off in one quick motion.

“Ouch. Jesus, that hurt.” Brandi opened and closed her mouth.

Nelson leaned over and kissed her tenderly. “Sorry I had to do that.”

“Aw. Aren’t the two of you cute.” Marcus rested his gun on the table. “I never expected that Brandi would believe your side of the story.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Nelson asked.

“I thought once she read the book and put it all together, she would have backed away slowly, realizing what a snake you were for sleeping with a married woman.” Marcus tapped the weapon against his chest. “I didn’t consider the fact she’d fallen in love with you. I had only wanted to use this as a way to mess with you. To toss you off your game so Roxy could come into the restaurant and mess up the premiere party, make you look bad, and eventually, you would have wound up dead.” Marcus shook his head. “Now I have to kill both of you.”

That right there should be enough to bring in the cavalry. That was if they’d been able to take out Chuck, Josh, and Tyler.

Patience.

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