Page 180 of Secret Obsession
Pity.
I stop in front of him and grip the front of his shirt. I shake him, and he doesn’t even fight it.
“What makes you think she’s not worth ten of me?” I yell in his face. “What gives you the right to play God and trade our lives like that?”
He drags his eyes up to mine. “Miles, I—”
“It’s going to be a damn long time before I accept that you did this with any amount of kindness,” I spit. I shove him backward.
He should’ve kept her safe.
But why? He played with her heart—and fuck it, he played with mine—for ayear. Of course he would push her into the arms of the guy who wanted to hurt both of us.
Knox’s phone rings.
I hold out my hand for it automatically, but he ignores me and answers it. His expression pinches, his mouth flattening. And then he offers the phone to me. A blocked number is calling him.
I snatch it. “Where is she?”
“What were you planning on doing with my brother? Cutting him up and tossing him in the lake? Burying him? Burning him?”
I stay silent, fear rattling through my chest that he’s going to do the same thing to Willow.
“Come on, Miles,” he croons. “Play the game with me. I’m going to drive the knife into you either way. See? I’ll kill you when I’m done. I promise. You just need to suffer a little first.”
“We were going to bury him,” I choke out. “And then burn his body—”
“I’m going to enjoy watching your blood run cold,” he promises. “Return to Crown Point and keep this phone on you. Poor Willow is running out of air, and I need you close.”
The line goes dead.
Knox comes for me, but I turn away sharply.
“We need to go back to Crown Point,” I tell my friends. I pick up the bolt cutters and take them with me, heading back to the truck.
“What else did he say?” Greyson asks, catching up to me.
Steele closes up the garage, and Knox follows slower. Dragging his feet.
“He said he wants to torture me before he kills me.”
The sad part is that I’d accept it, if it means Willow lives.
57
WILLOW
I’m dying.
Maybe it’s panic, maybe it’s reality.
There’s a weight on my chest, and a tightness in my lungs. It’s harder to take a deep breath, so I settle for shallow pants. I’m using up my oxygen too fast, but holding back the terror from rushing through me is difficult. It’s a tide that surges forward and recedes, over and over.
I press against the lid again, but it doesn’t budge.
I’m starting to hallucinate. Shapes and faces in the darkness, watching over me.
Things I’ll never see again: meeting Miles’ parents, watching my sister graduate high school, falling in love.
