Dark Legacy by Jen Talty (best non fiction books to read .TXT) 📕

“Sure thing.” He carried her onto Sweet Freedom, tossing her onto the back bench. He turned and untied the sailboat from the dock. “This is just like old times.”

She jumped to her feet, only to fall to her knees. “I’ll kill you before I ever let you touch me again.”

“Good luck trying, you little bitch.”

“What the hell did I ever do to you?” She crawled to the corner of the boat and glanced at the bottom of her foot. At least five pieces of glass stuck out. Carefully, she pulled the ones she could find.

She didn’t have her cell, which meant she only had two options.

Jump.

Or kill.

Jackson glanced over his shoulder and waved before stepping into his house. He reached for his cell, which he’d left on the table by the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement.

Shit.

“We meet again,” Ned said as he emerged from the kitchen.

“What the fuck are you doing in my home?” And where the hell was Katie? But he’d deal with that question in a second.

“Getting my revenge.” He waved a gun in the air.

“For what?” Jackson fingered his cell, calling 9-1-1 before putting it into his back pocket and laying his hand on his weapon. Thank God he never stepped outside without it.

“A few things.”

“Explain it to me. Because I’m confused about what Shannon ever did to you.”

“When my brother died, I was in charge of my own club. I had people, and I was back.”

“I thought you lost your wife and your job when you were arrested and turned over a new leaf.” All Jackson had to do was buy some time. Only he knew he didn’t have it because he suspected that Ned wasn’t alone.

“I had to act as if I did. But I also had to prove to my brother I had what it took, and he was about to let me back in. Until he up and died.”

“Shannon didn’t kill him.”

“No, she didn’t. But she’s the one thing that Annette loves, and she might as well have put the final nail in my brother’s coffin.”

“Why not go after Annette?”

“I have different plans for Annette. But I promised Alex I’d help him first.”

“Why?”

“Shannon stole everything from Alex. He was in love with her, and she wouldn’t give him the time of day after Dwight died.”

“That’s not love.” Jackson had heard enough. He didn’t need to know any more about these sick, twisted, demented minds. There was no understanding their logic. But he did need to find out one thing. “I had someone following you. What happened to them?” He was very careful not to mention whether it was a male or a female, just in case Katie was hiding in the shadows somewhere.

“Spunky little redhead?”

Jackson drew his lips into a tight line.

“Seems she had a car accident.”

“You’re going to regret that.” In one swift motion, Jackson pulled his weapon and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

He nailed Ned in the gut.

Ned dropped his handgun and doubled over.

“Stupid fucking idiot.” Jackson raced across the room and snagged the Glock. He took off his shirt and handed it to Ned. “Put pressure on the wound. The cops are on the way.” He pulled out his cell and spoke quickly with the operator before racing toward the waterfront.

Only his boat was about two hundred feet from shore, with the engine running.

Fuck.

“Jackson,” Katie yelled from the top of the driveway.

“Thank God, you’re okay.”

Katie jogged down the path with a slight limp. “My car’s totaled, but I’m fine. What the hell is going on here?”

“Ned is in my house, bleeding out, and Shannon is on my boat with Alex. The cops are on the way.”

“We found Lilly and her mom. They were hiding out in some motel. Lilly’s mom was terrified of Alex and what he’d do to her little girl. She knows she was wrong, but Lilly was reunited with her father and stepmother, and her mom wants to go back to rehab.”

“That’s good news.”

Katie pointed to Jacob’s SUV sitting in the driveway. “We can leave Jacob here. Let’s take his boat and go save your girlfriend.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“You’re not yelling at me, saying she’s not your girl.”

“That’s because I’m officially off the market,” Jackson said. “And I don’t like it when assholes kidnap the chick I’m falling in love with.”

“You’re not going to get away with this,” Shannon said.

“Get away with what?” Alex stood behind the steering wheel with a proud smile, just like he’d done when he was a nineteen-year-old boy and trying to impress and please her father.

“Killing my patients.”

“I didn’t kill them. They killed themselves. Even Belinda and her boyfriend. It was a murder-suicide. I mean, I might have helped that along a little bit, but I didn’t actually pull the trigger.”

“What about Gretchen?”

He shrugged. “I just gave her the drugs she wanted.”

“You were fucking her mother.”

“I fuck a lot of people,” he said as if the world should be impressed by that.

“What about Lilly?” Shannon’s heart skipped a beat. There had been no word about her yet.

“I wish I knew. I helped her mom get out of rehab, and that bitch paid me back by taking off.”

Shannon let out a long breath. She prayed that was true and that Lilly was safe. “Where are we going?”

“Well, first, we’re going to float and reacquaint ourselves.”

“Like hell we are.” She gripped the side of the bench, glancing around for something hard she could use to beat him over the head. No way would she let him touch her.

Ever.

“It always bothered me that I wasn’t first when it came to you. That I had to go in second or third. Sometimes, even last. Your father would often tease—”

“I’m not listening to this bullshit. My father was a sick man, and so are you. What you did to me was criminal, and I’m not going to let you do it to me again.”

“No. You’re not. You’re going to give yourself freely to me like you used to.”