Heartbreak Bay (Stillhouse Lake) by Rachel Caine (books to read in your 20s female TXT) 📕

head. “I’m fine,” she says, probably because of the look on my face. “Did he contact you?”

“Yes,” I say. “He sent me a map. I’m supposed to be there tomorrow.” I take the burner phone out and show it to her, and she studies it intently. “Kez. Please stay here. I’m begging you, please.”

“Can’t,” she says. It sounds utterly certain. “And don’t tell me about why it’s smarter. I know I can’t stay here. For one thing, he’s afraid of me. He came after me, Gwen. And whether he killed Prester or not—or had him killed—he used Prester’s death to beat me with, again. He wants me here. So here is where I can’t stay.”

“What about Javier? Are you going to tell him?”

“I’m sending him on an errand,” Kez says. “We’ll be gone when he gets back.” She looks absolutely sure about this. And she nails me with a look that sears me like a laser. “Don’t you even think about leaving me behind. You just showed me the map. You think I can’t remember it? You think I won’t follow you? It’d be a whole lot easier if you’d just accept that I’m going to use you to get to him, Gwen. Because he’s going to be after you.”

“I’m your bait,” I say. She nods. Oddly, that feels . . . better. Cleaner. “Then you should come separately.”

“No point in that,” Kez says, and closes her laptop. She puts it away. “He’ll be tracking that phone you have. He’ll know you came here, and he’ll know by now that I can’t let this go. He can’t afford me as a loose end. If I stay here, he’ll clean up after himself, just like he did that couple up on the road who had video of his car. This bastard’s been doing this a long time, that’s my guess. He knows how to dead-end a trail.”

It was Sam’s guess too. MalusNavis, a shark gliding under the surface, coming up only to take his prey. Sheryl was his prey. Now I am. Only I won’t vanish without a trace. I’ll leave a hell of a mess.

Maybe he’s getting sloppy at last.

“We should go if we’re going,” I say. “Last chance, Kez. Stay.”

She just shakes her head, says, “Let me take care of this first.”

I stand in that room as she walks out and tells Javier that she’s got a bad headache, and the doctor’s called in a prescription for her at the pharmacy in Norton; she sounds normal, calm, exactly as I’d expect. She tells him I’m going to stay with her, just in case. I hear them kiss. I hear her tell him she loves him.

And Javier grabs his keys and leaves. I left my husband and kids while they were sleeping, and that was incredibly hard. But at least I didn’t have to lie to the ones I love.

When I hear the front door close, I step out. Kez is standing silently, staring at the door, and the expression on her face is so wounded. So raw. Fragile and strong and fierce all at once.

She drags in a breath, and it looks like it hurts. “We need to get moving,” she says, and heads for the gun case. She takes out two shotguns and hands them to me, grabs a duffel bag, and fills it with shells. I watch in silence as she packs what we’ll need—food, water, more weapons.

“Kez—” I finally say.

She doesn’t pause as she puts two hunting knives in the bag. “Let’s go kill this son of a bitch before anybody else has to die.”

21

SAM

When I wake up that morning at nearly ten, everything feels normal. Peaceful. The house is quiet, and I’m a little hungover from the sleep medication. Gwen’s side of the bed is empty, but that isn’t unusual.

I yawn, head for the shower, get myself ready for the day.

The first hint I have that something isn’t right is that the coffeepot isn’t full. Gwen is a creature of habit; she always puts on coffee, but the machine is cold, the pot is empty. I stare at that for a few seconds, then start it up and head straight for the office.

I fully expect to find her there sitting behind her desk, immersed in work.

The office is dark and empty. I turn on the lights, and I go around to look at her laptop. It’s closed, and when I put a hand on it, it’s ice cold. She hasn’t been working here.

I find the phone lying on the living room coffee table on my way to the garage. It’s just sitting there, exactly in the middle, as if she wanted me to notice.

That’s when I start being afraid. Really afraid.

I know her passcode, and I enter it. I get it wrong twice, force myself to calm the fuck down and do it right one last time.

She’s left it open to a video file. I don’t want to play it. I don’t.

But I press the screen, and Gwen’s face fills it. “Sam,” she says. “I know you’re worried right now. I know you’re wondering where I am and what I’m doing, and I wish to God I could tell you. But I’m doing this for you, and for the kids. I have to. It’s MalusNavis, the one from the boards. He’s going to keep coming after our kids if I don’t do this, and . . . Sam, I can’t let that happen. He hurt Kez already. I can’t let him get to you, or Lanny, or Connor.”

I pause it, because I can’t get my breath against the fury that’s igniting in me. Don’t you dare, Gwen. Don’t you goddamn dare. I’m shaking all over, and I know the anger’s just a cover for what I’m really feeling.

Fear.

I listen to the rest.

“I love you so much, Sam. You—you’ve made me whole, after all this time. You’ve made me realize that I don’t have to be afraid, because you’re here. Because you care. That’s your