Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(111)

Fear and hope.

As silently as I could, I edged up the path, terrified of what I was going to find.

If I was too late, I wasn’t sure I would survive it this time.

My guts clenched in both relief and misery when I heard the whimper. The rumble of a low voice came out behind it, but the words were indistinguishable.

The threat of night hugged the earth, the day slipping away and stealing the light. Twilight swam through the trees in a dreamlike haze.

Footsteps quieted, I inched all the way up to the spot where we used to jump from the cliffs.

I pressed against a tree, trying not to shout out when they came into view.

In pain.

In vengeance.

In the violence that twisted through me like the blackest storm.

Ravaging.

Annihilating.

Destroying.

Nikki was on her knees, arms twisted behind her back as he stood behind her and shackled her wrists and ankles with a thin twine.

The sick fuck had her gagged, the same twine running across the rag he’d stuffed into her mouth and tied behind her head to keep it in place.

But the hardest part was the terror that blazed in her eyes.

I nearly dropped to my knees when I was slammed with the gutting relief that overwhelmed her when she saw me at the line of trees.

Tears spilled out, and she released a gurgled cry as she sagged forward.

And that energy.

It surged.

So intense.

The greatest thing I’d ever felt.

Wave after wave.

Blast after blast.

This girl was everything.

All of me.

“None of that,” the vile piece of shit seethed, yanking her back up, and I had no reservations left.

My feet were moving, the gun lifted in the air, boots crunched beneath me.

His head whipped up. “You little fuck. Always hanging around her. Thinking she belonged to you. I never should have waited so long. It needed to be perfect. It needed to be perfect.”

The last spiraled in derangement.

I almost laughed, an unhinged sound I felt bubble at the back of my throat. “Let her go. Let her go. Don’t think I will hesitate to kill you.”

He killed my sister.

He killed my sister.

Oh God.

Bile swam, and every muscle in my body bristled. Flexed with aggression.

With this possessive protection that seethed from the depths of me.

I took another powerful step forward, promising him I wasn’t playing games.

He yanked Nikki to standing, and her gaze was on me, mine on her.

Trust me.

Trust me.

It was a silent plea, praying she would feel me. That I wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen to her.

That I was there.

I wouldn’t ever leave her again.

I choked, stumbling to a stop when I saw the glint of the knife he had pressed to her side.

“I’d rethink that.” His voice was all sneer as he dragged her back against his chest.

They were teetering right at the edge of the cliff. The asshole had backed himself right into a corner, nowhere for him to run.

“Let her go,” I demanded, trying to keep the tremble from my voice.

I wasn’t backing down.

Like I’d let him take her.

“There’s nowhere for you to go. Nothing left. The police are already on their way, and they know what you did to my sister. The game is up. Let her go.”

He cracked a demented grin. “She and I have a little time, don’t we, Nikki?” he whispered in her ear.

She cried out.

Disgust and revulsion rolled through me. Sickness and that hate.

Hate. So much hate.

For so long, I’d pinned it on myself. No more. This was all on him.

He’d hurt my sister. Sammie. Nikki. God knew who else.

No more.

No more.

My head shook, and the bitterness quivered my lips, but my hand was steady. “Wrong, asshole. Time’s up.”

Somewhere in the distance, sirens blared, riding on the encroaching night. Coming closer and closer.

As soon as he heard it, deranged panic lit in the sick fuck’s eyes. Like he actually thought he was going to make it out of there with Nikki.

Saw it the second he let desperation take him over. He jerked Nikki closer and started to run to the side.

Nikki flailed, swinging her shoulders, kicking her feet.

She broke free, stumbling back and away from him.

He whirled back to look at her. Stunned. Like he couldn’t believe she would fight him.

Like he was witnessing his own kind of horror.

That was my chance.

I was taking it.

I rushed that way, intent on tackling the fucker to the ground.

His eyes met mine, and I saw the shift. When he realized he had no choice left.

Madness filled his eyes, his vile gaze darting all over, searching for escape.

The piece of shit started running my direction, charging me with the knife drawn.

Thinking I was going to let him get through me.

Disappear in to the forest.

“Stop,” I shouted.

He just kept coming, the knife raised above his head.

“Stop,” I roared.

He made a sound to match as he rushed me.

Insane.

Crazed.

Unwilling to stop.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I pulled the trigger.