Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(107)

He took a step forward, coming out of the shade of the trees and into the light.

Depraved darkness standing in the rays.

Brown hair greasy and unkempt, the same way as it’d always been. Clothes a little ratty. Those few extra pounds prominent around his middle. None of those things mattered.

It was the evil in his eyes that made him ugly.

“Never imagined that tweeker would run straight to that asshole who was always watching you like he thought you belonged to him.”

Uncertainty moved through me, a niggle at the back of my mind that was quickly adding up.

He was talking about the Bel Air.

Ollie had bought the Bel Air.

“You know Caleb?” I asked.

Keep him talking.

Keep him talking.

“Of course, I know who Caleb is considering you do. Wasn’t sure if I should run out and protect you from him that night a couple months back when I followed you to his and that girl’s apartment. Had to stay back when the cops showed up a few minutes later.”

Dread spiraled.

He’d been following me all this time.

Since the first time Brenna had called me for help.

“About a week later, I found him downtown, all itchy and antsy, and I knew it wouldn’t take all that much to convince him to haul it away.” Todd smiled as if his thought process was genius.

“He was supposed to dump it in the river or the lake. Should have known, even with all the rust, he’d be seeing dollar signs. Didn’t want to get close to it, touch it, dirty it up more.”

“Dirty?” Fear blazed. So hot I could feel the bead of sweat slide down my spine.

I took a step back, trying to keep as much distance between us as possible. “What do you mean by that?”

His voice was nonchalant. “I was watching. Figured it wasn’t such a bad thing when they were gonna take it into that garage and fix her up. That might even be better than dumping it in the lake. But the second I saw that pig show up and the police take it away, I knew I had to speed things up. That you and I didn’t have that much more time.”

He was moving closer, rounding to the side. For every step of his, I took one in the opposite direction.

“And my apartment?” I asked, hating that I had to, but knowing my only chance of getting away from him was understanding his depravity.

“Sorry about that, but I had to get that box. Put some stuff in there for safe keeping ’fore I left. When I heard my ma was starting to sell stuff off, that she was failing, I knew it was time I came back. Been planning it for a while, needing to get back to you. It was a sign when your mama told me on the phone she’d been clearing out the attic. That was my collection, you know?”

Nausea surged and my heart hurt.

God only knew what was in that box.

“Didn’t help matters that you had to go and run those classes for women in that basement. Bunch of hens cackling and gossiping and saying things they have no business saying. Your head all filled up with that nonsense.”

“How do you know that?” I shouldn’t have said anything, shouldn’t have bitten, but the scraping words pulled free of my throat.

His chuckle could have been construed as affectionate—soft and warm—if it hadn’t skated through me like ice. “Told you, I know everything about you. Been watching you for your whole life. Knew the second I saw you that you were mine. ’Course, I had to stop watching you for a bit when things got messy, and I had to go away.”

Messy.

Sydney.

Sydney.

I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.

Bile prowled my throat, stomach twisting in sickness.

Vomit threatened at my mouth, and I struggled to keep it down. To stay strong.

But I was so close to falling to my knees and weeping.

For my sister.

For my best friend.

For me.

We’d begun to circle. Our footsteps crunched beneath us, his forward, mine back.

I was trying to figure out the best direction to run, the quickest route to help, when the wicked words strummed from his tongue.

“Didn’t mean to kill her.”

A stifled gasp jerked into my lungs.

The air stifling.

Suffocating.

“Why?” It was a plea. “Why would you hurt her? Hurt my sister?”

Why if he’d always been after me?

He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Some things you just have to test out.”

I choked.

“I had to protect us, Nikki. Everything I’ve ever done, I’ve done for you. So we can be together.”

My knees wobbled.

“They weren’t supposed to find her . . . and that damned car . . . should have burned it.” He said it all as if I should feel sorry for him.

As if the world was against him when he was the monster prowling in the midst.

“Now everyone’s gonna know. Means we don’t have much time.





36





Sydney





Sixteen Years Old





Tears stung her eyes, and her heart physically hurt. She hugged herself around her middle as she trudged along the side of the curving country road.

She should have called her mama like Ollie had suggested, but she needed to think. Clear her head before she went and said something she would regret.