Chapter 9 - MY HUSBAND
“Hello, Rosie.”
Garrett smiled.
The same soft smile he used every morning across our breakfast table.
I hated him more for that smile than for the gun.
Tobias aimed back.
Garrett glanced at him.
“Well, look who found his legs.”
“You knew,” Tobias said.
“Not until today.”
Penelope stepped between us.
“Garrett, stop.”
“Move.”
“No.”
His face changed.
Just slightly.
The charming husband vanished.
“Move, Penny.”
She didn’t.
Garrett fired.
The bullet struck the concrete beside her head.
She screamed.
I lunged.
Tobias fired once.
Garrett dove behind a pillar.
Chaos exploded.
I grabbed Penelope.
“Go!”
We ran toward the ramp.
Garrett fired again.
A bullet hit a parked car.
Alarm lights flashed.
Tobias shouted, “Rosalind!”
I turned.
Garrett had circled behind him.
They collided.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Garrett punched Tobias hard.
Tobias went down.
For fifteen years, everyone had thought my brother was helpless.
Garrett learned differently.
Tobias swept his legs.
Garrett slammed onto his back.
I grabbed Tobias’s gun.
Garrett froze.
I pointed it at him.
“You know what’s funny?” I said.
He breathed hard.
“What?”
“You used to tell me I was too soft to run Mercer Shipworks.”
“Rosalind—”
“I’m not feeling very soft tonight.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Garrett smiled again.
“You won’t shoot me.”
“Try me.”
He looked past me.
I followed his eyes.
Mistake.
He grabbed my wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
We struggled.
He slammed me against a car.
“You should have died in that river.”
I drove my knee into him.
He doubled over.
Penelope kicked him in the face.
He fell.
Tobias jumped on him.
Then headlights flooded the garage.
A black SUV.
Victor.
The vehicle accelerated straight toward us.
“MOVE!”
We scattered.
The SUV clipped Tobias.
He spun across the concrete.
I screamed.
Victor stopped long enough for Garrett to climb in.
Before the door closed, Garrett looked at me.
“No matter what you think you have, Rosie…”
He held up his phone.
“…I still have the company.”
The SUV disappeared down the ramp.
I ran to Tobias.
Blood spread beneath his head.
His eyes fluttered.
Then Penelope looked at the flash drive in my hand.
Her face went white.
“That’s not the real one.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
May you like
“Garrett switched it.”
And the evidence that could save us had just driven away.
