Page 8 of Broken Promise
This thing with my libido was getting out of hand. There was something about his swagger that was ultimately appealing. Hell, I was a woman after all. Something at the base level of my nature found him fascinating. Which was a hell of a problem, because how was I going to get revenge when my body kept thinking about ways to get under him?
Okay, on top of him, too. I did like to be thorough.
When Rafe kept staring, I slid down further in my seat. From this distance, I couldn’t make out the expression on his face, but I got a quick impression of impatience and suspicion.
There was no way he could see me from so far away, right? Despite all the reports I’d read to the contrary, Rafael DeMarco wasn’t superhuman. He was fallible just like all of us. Blood and bone. He would bleed red just like anyone else.
And just like any other man, he couldn’t resist a damsel in distress.
I smiled to myself as I raised the camera. When Rafe’s face was centered in the frame, I snapped one last picture to commemorate the moment. The last time that Rafe DeMarco had peace.
“One damsel, coming right up.”
* * *
I started down over the edge of the ravine and swallowed hard as saliva filled my mouth. I hated heights. Heights meant I could fall to my death.
But hey, details, right?
Besides, the whole plan was for it tolooklike I’d nearly tumbled to my death. It was times like this that I needed a rational friend to tell me that my plan was crazy.
Note to self, make more rational friends. Funny how there wasn’t much time for friends when you had revenge on the brain. Or I could just listen to the one I had. Charisse was going to kill me when she found out about this.
Ovary up, bitch. This is the plan.
If I wanted my plan to work, it was going to require sacrifice, which meant getting this car down the fucking ravine and then climbing down myself. Time to put on my big-girl thong.
I gathered up my long blond hair and secured it with a ponytail holder. Time to get to work. I only had a couple of hours. I’d been following Rafe DeMarco every Tuesday for months. This was the path he’d take. It was too late for another plan. Besides I’d been setting this up for months.
I had selected the perfect spot for this. Right before the guardrail began. As an added bonus, there was a path I could use to initially climb down and a rock outcropping I could stand on to wait for him.
I’d scattered broken glass to make it look like an accident. Once the car was in neutral, I jogged around to the trunk and started to push.
My ribs throbbed. That asshole in krav maga class had forgotten we were training and had gotten in a brutal hit. I’d have bruises for days. But it wasn’t like I could wait to heal up.
Even as the sweat popped on my brow and my body screamed, inch by inch I pushed until I finally started to get some momentum. With one more deep breath, I rolled the car over the edge.
The crash, boom, thud sounds echoed all through the ravine as the car tumbled front-over-end down the jagged edges of rocks. A quick glance at my watch told me I needed to haul ass. DeMarco was likely turning on to the road by now, so I didn’t have time to waste.
It was a stupid thing, but I felt a pang of hurt looking at the shiny blue paint I’d picked out, all crumpled and cracked. That was the first car I’d ever bought for myself.
I’d never had my own car before. My father had preferred for me to be chauffeured, and my brothers had felt the same way. So I’d been excited to pick out a car on my own. And look at it now… a martyr for the cause.
“Your sacrifice will not be for nothing, young Toyota.”
The back of the car was now completely smashed and bent, so it looked like the car had skidded off the road and plunged down the embankment. I shivered. Under my coat, I only wore a thin dress, one that clung to my curves. But it was part of the plan, so I’d pushed past the mortification. It would all be worth it soon.
I clasped my forehead, rubbing at the stress ball of tension that had settled behind my eyes.Now or never.
The entire scene had been meticulously planned. With a deep breath, I scooted around the guardrail and held my breath as I started down the nearly nonexistent trail. Sand and razor-sharp rocks were more than happy to mingle with my toes and cut up my feet, but I kept moving.
The son of a bitch had better take the bait.He will. This whole plan banked on Rafe DeMarco being a decent enough human being to care about someone else potentially being hurt. Either that or curious enough to stop and see what the hell was going on.
The glass was hard to ignore. I just prayed some other stray motorist didn’t decide to be a Good Samaritan. But this was an access road, rarely ever traveled.
I shoved aside the lingering feelings of doubt and concern and guilt. This man had taken everything away from me, deliberately and systematically. I was going to return the favor. And I was going to get my life back. It didn’t matter how long it took.
I shivered again when I remembered his dark eyes peering at me from behind a mask. He’d just killed my father. Two bullets in the skull. Cold. Efficient. His lips had been set in a firm, grim line.
