Harlon
Chapter 19
He couldn’t eat. Not after seeing the picture of Suzie. Whoever she was running from was going to catch up to her. The drugs caught him off guard, but that picture…that picture made him ready to kill.
Harlon’s gaze went to the closed sketchbook sitting on Nina’s lap beneath the table. He was an idiot to think Suzie might be hiding and laying in wait.
The drugs didn’t make sense. Neither did Manny’s mauling. None of it did, not even Nina.
“Just because I drew it doesn’t mean that it’s happened yet. I can hear the wheels turning in your head.” Nina leaned in to whisper, her breath tickling his ear as she placed her palm on his thigh as if to make sure she had his attention. She did. “We’ll find her.”
She was right. He would find his sister. The outcome had been seen. “How long before that happens?”
Nina shrugged. “The pictures I draw don’t come with a countdown clock.”
“The boy in the woods?”
“The search date was already set. I only knew I’d find him before it got dark and before the bear showed up. Otherwise I would have drawn the moon in the sky instead of the sun.”
He kissed her temple and frowned. There was nothing in her sketch to tell him when. Only that if he didn’t find his sister first, Suzie would be looking down the barrel of the gun.
Harlon rested his hand on the back of Nina’s chair and lifted his gaze to the others as they returned at the table. Their mood was carefree. Quinton, was the lone holdout. He was sipping his bourbon and staring toward the entry.
Harlon had built this life surrounded by these people, and he’d never felt more alone. How could they not care that his sister was missing and alone? How could they know things were ever going to be all right again?
“We’ve got incoming,” Quinton said and nudged his brother.
Riley Wilcox was crossing the room. Harlon didn’t need this today. Not now.
Riley rested his hand on Ruby’s chair.
“The ostentatious three.” His voice dripped with disdain. There was no love lost between Riley and his group.
“Why don’t you crawl back into the hole you emerged from,” Milton said.
Riley’s family had been cut out of Watch Guard Industries. He’d been caught selling dogs to the mob, who then used the trained animals as weapons. Manny and Mr. Fields had a hand in destroying the Wilcox name.
“Riley, now’s not the time for this,” Quinton said, moving his napkin from his lap to the table.
The air around the table filled with tension. Even Milton had quit flirting with the woman at the next table. They all knew how volatile this situation would get.
All eyes were on the threat, just like they’d been trained.
Riley’s gaze landed on Harlon’s arm, resting on Nina’s chair, before he even lifted his gaze to her face.
One wrong word, one wrong move, and Riley would regret coming over to this table. Harlon stared back at him. There was no running commentary in his head. Nothing short of that Nina was too beautiful for Harlon. He already knew that.
Riley’s eye twitched as his mind shifted. A black mist settled over his thoughts, clouding them.
“I heard what happened to Manny. It’s a shame he’s lost his touch on controlling those dogs.”
Harlon shoved out of his chair, and Nina rose with him. She rested her hand on his arm.
“Introduce me,” Nina said, using the sweet tone he’d come to notice she only used on those she was about to toy with. She’d used it on him in the woods and again in the cabin.
“No. There’s no reason to taint you,” Harlon said.
Riley chuckled before meeting Nina’s gaze. “I’m Riley Wilcox. My father helped establish the company that Manny and the Fields stole away.”
