Page 168 of Shattered Silence Duet

I tilt my head back and sigh.The things I have to put up with.

I head towards the entrance to the alley when a man steps in front of me. When I see who it is, my eyes widen. “What are—” I don’t get to finish my sentence before he punches me across the jaw, making me stumble to the side.

He steps towards me, so I take a step back, touching my jaw with my fingers to make sure it isn’t broken. I can see the rage in his eyes as he keeps advancing. I have no idea what’s got him so upset, but I don’t like the way he’s looking at me right now. “Are you o?—”

He cuts me off again, punching me in the face. “Fuck!” I cry out. “That’s gonna leave a black eye!”

“I’ll give you more than a black eye, you sick son of a bitch!” he growls as he advances towards me, his hands clenched into fists as his sides with murder glinting in his eyes. “You hurt her!”

Shit.How did he find out? Wait—Was he the one protecting her now?

He takes advantage of my reaction to push me hard enough that I fall on my ass, looming over me as he shoves his finger in my face. “Listen to me carefully. You stay away from her, she’sminenow and I won’t let you hurt her. Come near her again and I’ll kill you,” he growls quietly.

I swallow heavily and nod, knowing he could do just that. He watches me for a moment and when he’s satisfied with what he sees, he stands up and abruptly turns on his heel and strides from the alley.

I take a deep breath of relief that he’s gone. But I quickly tense up, realizing the predicament he’s put me in. I need to finish my plan of blaming everything on Mina and taking her out of the picture. Then he’ll see the truth once and for all, that I’m the only one he needs.

Chapter 34

Ben

“Ben, come on, help us out here. You know there is nothing left at the school for us to investigate. We’re better off being here,” Max begs as he and Tucker, once again, try to persuade Dom to let them stay home.

I agree with them. Not only were we ninety-nine percent sure that Simon was the killer, but we’d never had a single good lead from their months spent at that high school. Several girls had died, and they heard nothing about them before the occurrences took place.

But I’m not about to argue against Dom’s judgement. I lift my hands in apology as I speak. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter what I think about it. I trust Dom’s decision. If he thinks there’s a chance you’ll hear something to help us with this case, and that you can’t do anything more productive here, then I think it’s worth it.”

My eyes move from Max and Tucker’s frustrated faces to Dom’s. I expect to see appreciation there, but instead he frowns at me. “What?” I ask in confusion.

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess there really isn’t any point in them going back there.”

“Yes! Awesome! Thanks Ben!” Max exclaims excitedly, high-fiving Tucker. “I’m going to tell Jasper and Mina!” He quickly runs for the stairs, but I yell after him.

“Just because you’re home doesn’t mean you get to spend the day with her. Don’t forget, she’s mine today!” I yell.

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” he yells as he disappears upstairs, making me sigh and shake my head as I look at the other four in the room.

“So, what are you two going to do with your day now?” I ask Gideon and Tucker.

“I think I should go in and formally hand in my notice,” Gideon says, looking at Tucker.

“Not me. I’m calling it in. They can find someone else to watch the kids play soccer until they find a replacement,” Tucker says, crossing his arms with a shrug. “Dom, you got something for me to do here?”

“Yeah, you can help me. Since Ben will be with Mina and we don’t need to stay here with her, you and I can drive around town and see if we can spot Helen anywhere. I’ll get the twins to take another vehicle and do the same thing. And Atlas?—”

“Is busy,” Atlas finishes for him, making me frown.

“Doing what?” I ask.

He stares at me with his arms crossed as he leans against the wall silently, making me roll my eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Atlas, you don’t need to follow us.”

“I do. Security is my job. I’m not letting her leave with one or even two of you on your own.”

“You let me take her on my own,” Tucker adds, making me snort. “What?” he asks in confusion.

“He didn’t let you go on your own, Tuck, he followed you the entire time.”

“What?!” He turns his wide eyes to Atlas. “How? We were on horseback!”