Page 185 of Shattered Silence Duet

“Okay, the deal’s yours—whatever you want, just please stop!! Ahhh!” I scream as his fingers find another sensitive spot.

“Okay—deal,” he says, sitting up with Max basically hanging off his back. Atlas gives me his hand, and we shake. I tilt my head to look at Max, who smiles at me, then jumps off Atlas and rubs his hands together.

“Alright, Sweetheart, I think I’ll take my reward now.”

“Uh—the deal was you save me. You didn’t save me.”

“The deal was Itry.”

“No. Nowhere did we saytry. We saidsave.”

He opens his mouth, then closes it again, frowning as he realizes I’m right. His bottom lip sticks out in a pout, and he crosses his arms over his chest. He tilts his head at me and asks expectantly, “consolation prize?”

“Deal,” I say immediately, wanting to make my happy man smile again. It works as he beams at me.

“What prize do you want, Atlas?” I ask, turning to my giant teddy bear.

We’re interrupted by a phone ringing, grabbing all of our attention as we watch Ben answer.

“Hello?” Ben answers.

“We’ve got eyes on Simon,” Jasper says through the phone. I gasp and cover my mouth. I can’t believe they found him already.

“Okay, let me patch in Dom.”

“Ben?”

“Yep, I got Jasper on the call. He’s got eyes on Simon.”

“Fuck yes! Good job. We’re on our way, no sense in staying here. Jasper, you and Tuck stay there. See if you can spot Helen too, and watch what Simon does. If he leaves, follow him discreetly, but by no means are you to confront him. Remember, we don’t arrest the bad guys—we just find them. I’m gonna hang up now and call the chief. With any luck, he’ll be arrested by the end of the night.”

Everyone hangs up, and Max cheers, scooping me up and spinning me around, before kissing me.

“I can’t believe this is happening so fast!” I tell him.

“I know! Let’s go start making dinner, okay? We need a good meal to celebrate tonight.”

I look at Ben in question.

“I’m gonna stay here and keep the lines open in case something happens,” he tells us, and I nod. Max leads me downstairs, holding my hand in his with Atlas ahead of us.

The three of us pull out ingredients and start chopping and prepping a lasagna with a Caesar salad and garlic bread for everyone.

A little while later, I hear a single beep and look around, wondering what it is. “That’s the security system by the garage door. Not sure why it’s doing that, it’s not the alarm going off. I’ll go check,” Atlas tells us, drying his hands on a towel on the way out.

Max and I continue preparing the meal until we hear a knock at the door. “Who would that be?” I ask.

“I don’t know, I’ll check. You stay here and mix this,” Max tells me, pointing at the salad stuff.

I hear him open the door, and then a muffled noise that sounds like something dropped on the ground.

“Max?” I ask tentatively as a shiver runs up my spine. I quietly move around the counter, straining my neck to see the front door. But the sight makes me gasp with fear. Max is lying on the ground unconscious, with my m—Helenstanding over him, holding a gun aimed at me.

I inhale to scream, but she cuts me off. “Make one noise and I will shoot you, then I’ll shoot him. Or come with me right now, and I’ll leave him alone. I didn’t shoot him, just hit him in the head. He’ll be fineifyou leave with me right now.”

My body shakes, and my eyes are wide with fear, but I march my ass right up to her because there is no way I’ll let Max get shot by my psychopathic mother.

“Glad to see you actually do as you’re told for once,” she says sharply, grabbing my arm and pressing the gun to my temple as she pushes me to jog with her to her car that’s idling in the drive.