“You cheated on Monica,” I called out as they shoved us into the house.
“She doesn’t need to know, and she’s not going to find out, once I kill you both.”
The back of John’s fist met my cheek. An explosion of pain stole my breath and sent me to the ground. I was unable to stop the impact. I struggled to breathe as I cupped my hurt face. My fingers came away bloody as I winced.
Nathan reached for me, but froze as John pressed a gun hard against my temple.
“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch.” Nathan growled.
“You sound like your mother,” Dan said as he crossed the room and poured himself a bourbon. “She didn’t know how to keep her nose out of my business.”
“Which one of you killed her?” Nathan growled as I slowly rose to my feet.
“You might not remember, but your mother and my wife, Tina, were best friends. It was inevitable when our families spent so much time around each other. Your mom was the first to notice the bruises I’d left on Tina. We’d fight, and she’d get me so damn angry.” Dan’s eyes glazed over as if he were remembering.
“You killed her too, didn’t you?” Nathan asked, snapping Dan back into the present. He poured two more drinks and handed one to John and the other to Pete. Without the gun holding me in place, I scooted closer to Nathan’s side.
“Your mother killed her when she offered Tina a way out. A way to get away from me. She’d almost made it too, but I caught her just in time. That car accident wasn’t difficult to stage.”
“Jenna wanted to help Tina hide?” I asked, standing next to Nathan. I rested my palm on his arm, signaling that I was all right.
“That was her thing,” Dan said, draining the liquid in the glass. “She has a book of names of others she helped hide. Tina told me about it when I was beating the plan out of her.” Dan turned and threw the glass into the fireplace. The shattering sound of glass made me still.
Dan lifted the gun and pointed it at Nathan. “I’d planned the entire bank robbery down to the second. When your mother walked in, that threw everything off. I knew instantly that this was my chance to make her pay.”
“You killed her, you son of a bitch.” Nathan growled and I held his arm firm.
“I had everything. My plan was already in motion to kill the guys who robbed the bank. The money was all mine. Your mother was just a bonus. I had an air tight alibi. I was a victim just like your mom.” He gave Nathan a sadistic grin. “As she lay dying on the floor of the bank, I promised that I’d find her book and contact every one of those men to tell the women’s locations.”
“You’re a sadistic bastard,” I said, unable to stop myself.
“Her being at the bank that particular day was kismet. Two birds, wouldn’t you say?” Dan let out an evil chuckle as he cocked the trigger again and grinned. “Tell your mom I said hi.”
Before he could pull the trigger, Pete shoved the gun to the ground to stop him from shooting. “Don’t kill him yet. We could use him.”
“I’m not going to help you,” Nathan spat.
“How?” John asked.
Pete pistol-whipped Nathan with the butt of the gun. He dropped to his knees, and I went with him, my hands on his face.
“Are you okay?”
“She’s how you’re going to help us,” Pete announced. “Cassie is a freak of nature. She knew where to find oil for William. We’re going to use her to find the oil for us, on Michael and Janet’s land. You won’t have to sell it to the developer to pay off your gambling debts. The oil will be enough to set us up for life,” Pete said.
“Then we’ll kill Nathan and Monica. The town won’t think twice about Cassie leaving town when they find Nathan and Monica dead together in a bed,” John said, swiping at his nose. “Pete can kill them both while I establish an unbreakable alibi.”
“You won’t get away that,” I said, helping Nathan to stand. “His family will come looking for us.” Not to mention mine when Gwen figured out that I went missing. The entire FDG group would converge on this town. Hopefully, one of my sisters would have a premonition before I died.
Fear skirted my spine. These guys had a plan, and they could probably make it work. I wouldn’t let them hurt Nathan, and they knew it. Just like I did. I was falling head over heels for the agent, and that was going to get us both killed.
“Touch him again, and you’ll never find a drop,” I said, gritting my teeth.
John raised his gun and neared me. He rested his palm on the back of my neck. “You’re going to be fun to break.”
He leaned over and pressed a hard and punishing kiss to my lips before he pulled away.
I turned my head. “Stronger men than you have tried.”
“Oil first, son, then you and Pete can share her like you do with your wife. Let’s tie them up in the storm shelter while we devise our plan. After you’re finished judging the competition, John, we’ll come up with a reason Nathan left town for a few days without saying goodbye. That should give us enough time to set the stage for killing him and Monica in bed. His family will believe me, and then we can get to work. Get Nathan’s keys. I need to hide his truck.”
They bound our hands behind our backs with zip ties before leading us out back and down into the storm shelter. This storm shelter was being used for storage and was smaller than the one at the library where Michael and Janet were still hiding.
They shoved us down the stairs. I lost my footing, and I landed on my side on the dusty floor seconds before we were plunged into darkness.
