Vicious Valentine by Patti Benning (best ereader for comics .txt) 📕

around Shayne’s neck. He kicked and struggled, but Ben was much stronger than him, his muscles honed by the hours spent working on cars. Hannah hurried forward to grab the knife, holding it in front of her with a shaking hand.

“Stop struggling,” she said. “We outnumber you, and we’re armed and you’re not. Ben, can you hold him until the police get here?”

Ben nodded, tightening his grip. “Don’t worry. He’s not going anywhere.”

Epilogue

“I think that takes the cake for the worst Valentine’s Day ever,” Vanessa said, kicking her feet up on the coffee table in Hannah’s living room. “My date got killed by my stalker, then two days later, my stalker kidnapped me. Oh, and don’t forget, he also landed my ex in the hospital.”

“Your ex, who you mistakenly broke up with because you thought he was the one stalking you,” Caroline pointed out helpfully.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Yes, thanks for the reminder. I really do owe him some apologies.”

“Do you know what I just realized?” Hannah asked, leaning back against the couch. It was the first night they’d all been able to get together since the fiasco, and they had taken advantage of it by loading the table full of snacks and gossiping. “I never fired Shayne. I was going to do it as soon as the police showed up — I had a whole thing planned out in my head. It would have been a great way to get the last word in. But I completely forgot when they arrived.”

“You did take him off the books, didn’t you?” Caroline asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t tell him. And normally, I’d assume that kidnapping your boss’s friend and threatening both of your bosses with a knife would make it obvious that you’re fired, but Shayne is delusional. What if he shows up here in five or ten years, or whenever he gets out, and tries to pick up a shift?”

Caroline snorted, then started giggling, and soon even Vanessa started laughing.

“You’ll have to write him in prison,” Vanessa said. “Just one letter. Two words. You’re fired.”

“But then he might write me back,” Hannah said, shuddering. “I don’t want to have anything else to do with him. It’s bad enough that we even hired him in the first place. I’m really sorry about that, Vanessa.”

“You had no way of knowing how off the rails he was,” Vanessa said. “Besides, the two of you came to rescue me in the end. You’re good friends. The best.”

“We’re worriers,” Caroline said, taking the last cookie from the plate on the table. “That’s all. We worry too much to let you vanish like that without looking for you.”

Vanessa smiled and swiped the cookie from her friend’s hand. “Like I said, you’re the best friends.”

Also by Patti Benning

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