by Alex Gates
“You’re blaming her? After so many years and brides and girls impregnated? You told her bearing children was her wifely duty—her promise to God and husband. And you’re surprised when fifteen years of brainwashing backfires?”
“She killed my son!”
“And how many other women have you killed?” I dug the prongs in deeper. “How many girls have you raped? How many children are buried in the far fields because they didn’t believe as Eve did?”
Jacob’s body flexed. The inhuman rasp of his voice chilled me to my core.
“I’ll put you back in that grave, and you can count every last child I gutted.”
Pure fury fueled his movements. He roared, clawing at the pitchfork. He jerked—once, twice, then reached for the handle.
The wood cracked like a toothpick in his blood soaked hands.
I fell backwards as he ripped the metal head from his shoulder. The blood poured off of his pale flesh. The wound hadn’t weakened him.
He flipped the tines.
Sneered.
And lunged.
The sharp pop of the gun froze his expression in a morbid shock.
He didn’t have time to turn. To think. To ask.
Jacob fell forward, crashing to the floor. The shot ripped through his back, shattering his spine.
He was dead before his head cracked off the cement.
The gun shook in Mariam’s tiny hands. Her eyes widened with tears as her husband’s blood stained her wedding dress.
“I told you I didn’t want to get married.”
Epilogue
Don’t ever think that you’re weak.
You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.
-James
It was the first time I left the station at five o’clock sharp.
And I had good reason.
I met James outside of my house. The keys felt heavy in my hand. I set them in his palm.
“You do it,” I said. “Your first night in our house. You should open the door.”
“I’ve opened the door before…” His eyebrows rose. “London, don’t treat this as something strange or new.”
“It is.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
He pulled me close, offering a kiss I hadn’t asked for but wanted nonetheless. “The only thing changing is how often I’ll get to hold you now.”
“I don’t mind that.”
“And how many nights we’ll spend together after work.”
A desperately needed stress reliever. “You make it sound so good.”
“And how often I’ll get to say that I love you.”
“You’re a sweet-talker, James Novak.”
“One of my many talents.”
He opened the door and waited for me to enter first. His boxes lined the walls, the stairs, most of the available space on the floor of my living room. He’d brought a damn library, for all the good it’d do him to try and read the tiny fonts. Still, the books smelled nice. Warm and smart. Kind of like him.
My phone chirped as we crossed to the kitchen. James pulled the frozen vegetarian lasagna from the fridge, but he hesitated as I read the message.
“Gotta go in?” he asked.
Adamski’s text made me smile.
Bail denied at arraignment. Gotta make some room in the jail for these sons of bitches.
“Looks like I’m done with my overtime,” I said.
“Arraignment went well then?”
I sat at my table. Our table. “It’s still going to be hell on those girls during the trial.”
“They’ll cooperate.”
“I don’t think they will. They looked to Eve for guidance. When I told them Jacob had murdered her...they shut down. They’re terrified. All they have now are their husbands, and I think that scares them more than anything.”
James set the oven to preheat and leaned against the counter. I liked having him there. It felt…
Right.
“They’ll get the help they need,” he said.
“What if it isn’t enough?”
“For them…or for you?”
I exhaled. For the first time in weeks, the breath cleared my head, my chest, my soul. “I got my help. And it worked.”
“Did it?” James took a bit too much pride in my recovery. “Who in particular helped the most?”
He wouldn’t like my answer. “Eve Goodman.”
“You mean, Anna Prescott?”
“No.” I tapped my phone on the table, letting it clink clink clink as I tried to understand my own thoughts. “Eve was who Anna wanted to be. She idolized a woman who didn’t exist.”
“And you?”
“I was jealous of her, of how easily she’d recovered from her kidnapping and captivity. I couldn’t understand why she was so self-assured. I thought something was wrong with me.” I shushed him before James gave a smart-ass retort. “I thought she was stronger than me because she’d survived for so long. I didn’t see who she really was because when I looked at her…I saw myself. Someone who needed help. A victim who didn’t even understand the horrible things that had happened to her.”
“But now?”
“Anna was no victim. Maybe at one time she was, but she groomed those little girls for the men. She worked with Jacob every step of the way. Maybe to survive. Maybe because she honestly believed it. But she wasn’t a victim anymore. She became the root of the evil.”
“It’s not your fault,” James said. “You wanted to help her.”
“But I didn’t see the truth. I should have, but I let my emotions blind me.” I held his gaze. “It won’t happen again.”
“I know.”
“I’ve been naïve, but it won’t interfere anymore.”
James snitched a piece of frozen cheese from the lasagna. “Why not?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why shouldn’t it interfere?”
“You think I should let myself get swayed by emotion?”
“Someone needs to be,” he said. “Someone’s gotta be on that force trying to help the victims regardless of how insane or wild a theory might be. You did your job, London. Not because you were a victim, but because you’ll stop at nothing to save someone from danger. And I think that’s a very admirable quality in a detective and the woman I love.”
He deserved the salt shaker thrown at his head. Instead I slipped to the counter and leaned into him. “I owe it to you.”
“You owe it to no one.” He leaned close. “I’ll take some of the credit. Only one last thing to do.”
“And what’s that?”
“Gotta let the world know.”
“Know what?”
“How much I love you.” He winked. “I learned something from the Goodmans too.”
“What’s that?”
“That I better start planning our wedding now.”
Silly man. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“You can run, but you can’t hide.”
That’s what he had said too.
But coming from James?
I liked the chase.
The End
Contact Alex Gates
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Coming 7/1/2017 From Alex Gates!
Hush Little Baby
Preorder Here!
Hush little baby…don't say a word.
An abandoned newborn baby is found in a grocery store bathroom, swaddled only in paper towels and left with a note.
I couldn’t let them take her.
Detective London McKenna takes the case, desperate to find the cold-hearted mother who willingly left her child to die. But the terrified young woman wasn’t trying to harm her baby. Leaving the infant was the only way to save them both.
As London investigates the woman's scandalous claims of abuse, the case of criminal neglect becomes a dangerous and heinous conspiracy.
A corrupt judge is trafficking women with criminal records to his rich and powerful allies.
The closer London gets to the truth, the more secrets are kept with blood. The conspiracy implicates influential and respected men who will do anything to avoid discovery.
Uncovering the truth will not only ruin her career…
It might also end her life.
Hush Little Baby will be available on July 1st, but you can reserve your copy now! Click here to pre-order and have this thrilling mystery delivered right to your Kindle on July 1st!