Sins & Needles(93)

He stopped right in front of us. I could see the grains in the leather of his brown shoes, see a speck of grey lint on his black cashmere socks. His feet turned as if he was looking around. Now his heels were facing us, inches away. I didn’t dare breathe and I couldn’t if I wanted to.

“Do you still want the money?” Javier asked delicately.

“Of course I do,” Uncle Jim said. “But I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why they left. I’ll try better next time. I need the money, you know I do.”

“You say they believed your story?”

“Ellie believes everything I tell her,” he said with a hint of sadness. Another kick to my gut.

“You know you’re not a very good uncle, leading her on like this,” Javier mused softly. “The poor girl put all her trust in you and you’re breaking it. Believe me, I’ve done it to her before. She can’t seem to catch a break.”

I could hear my uncle swallow hard. “Ellie made my life very difficult.”

“Oh, she made my life difficult too,” he agreed. “But I enjoyed every minute of it.”

I knew he was smiling. I could feel it.

“You promised me you wouldn’t hurt her,” Uncle Jim said. “When I bring her to you, you’ll promise, right?”

Javier chuckled. “I don’t break my promises.” He slowly started walking toward the door. With each step my heart rate slowed. He stopped and turned slightly. “Unfortunately, I once promised to kill any man who’d hurt her. You’re here, aren’t you? The damage is done.”

Javier moved. A gun with a silencer went off. There was a wealth of tension as my world slowed down. My eyes were glued to the legs in front of the bed. Uncle Jim’s staggered to the right a step.

Then he fell down to the floor hard, right in front of us. A bullet wound in his head.

I opened my mouth to scream but Camden’s hand was suddenly over my mouth, holding it in. I bit down on his fingers, I couldn’t help it. I had to bite or I’d reveal us in seconds. He kept his fingers there, letting me, until the scream was swallowed up inside.

“Such a shame,” Javier said to Raul and Alex. They left the room and closed the door behind them. I remained frozen in place, unable to look away from my uncle’s dead face, the tiny droplet of blood that was slowly making its way down his forehead, the way his eyes stayed open, caught in utter remorse. They stared at me, burning their way into my brain, an image that promised to never go away.

After we heard the car start and drive off, Camden got out from under the bed. He tore the bedspread off and quickly covered my uncle up with it. It didn’t matter. I could still feel his dead eyes on me.

Camden’s legs went over to the window. “Ellie, we have to go now. They’ll be back. Ellie?”

He came down beside the bed in a push-up position. “Please? We have to leave now.”

I’d never been in medical shock before but I knew this was it. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything.

Suddenly Camden reached in and grabbed me by my arm and the belt loop of my jeans. He pulled, dragging me on the stiff, hard carpet until I found enough sense to get out from under the bed with my own strength.

He brought me up to my feet and wrapped me in a tight hug, his hand at the back of my head, cradling me. “I’m sorry. We have to go. I can’t lose you now.”

I tried to nod but nothing came out. Camden brought out his gun and kept a firm grip around my arm as he led me across the room. I kept staring at the blanket on the ground, knowing what it was hiding.

He opened the door and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. When it was, we hurried down the corridor and back the way we came in. I don’t know how I got over the fence but I did. I don’t know how I walked over to the car but I did. I don’t know how we got in the car and drove away down the country lane with our headlights off, searching for a hidden way out of town, but we did.

I don’t know how we got onto the side roads that took us to Temecula.

All I did know was that my uncle had betrayed me for fifty thousand dollars. And now my uncle was dead.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO





When I woke up the next morning I had that beautiful split second of peace and warmth where your brain hasn’t caught up yet to the events from the night before. You think everything is fine, everything is normal, until that realization hits you like a sledgehammer, shattering your insides, shattering your world. Nothing is normal. Everything is forever changed. It wasn’t a dream. You’re alive and awake and now you have to deal with putting the pieces back together.