When I Say Yes (Necklace Trilogy 3)

“I’m Tyler’s father. You think I don’t have the passcode for his grandmother’s house, my mother’s house?”

“Okay. Then why are you here?” I repeat, my nerves on edge, everything about me trapped in a cellar with this man is spelling trouble.

“You know why I’m here, Allie. We both know why I’m here.”

For no good reason, I think, trying to buy time for Neil to get here. “You left your clients to follow me?”

“I take the safety of those in my care seriously.” He closes the space between us and I back up, but there is nowhere to go. I hit the safe. And the next thing I know, he’s grabbing me, his hand wrapped around my hair. "Stop. Let me go.” I shove against his unmoving body.

He jerks my hair harder, pain ripping through my scalp, forcing me to still. “This isn’t your game, Allie. It was hers and neither of you should have tested me. Now someone is going to come here and take you away, just like they did her. And it didn’t have to be that way.”

Adrenaline courses through me and I no longer care about the pain. Someone is coming to get me and no one will ever see me again. I shove at him, but he catches my hands, his leg capturing my leg. And then his mouth is on my mouth. Oh no. No. No. I bite him. Hard. “Bitch. What the fuck are you doing? Ask to be saved. Give me a reason to save you.”

“Let me go. You’re the one who needs to be saved.”

He laughs and turns me, shoving me to my knees, and not gently. “Open the safe.”

“No.”

“Open the fucking safe. I want those letters.”

Now I know it was him in the house that night, looking for what she must have told him existed.

“Open it and I’ll let you go. Refuse and I won’t just end you tonight. I’ll end your mother.”

Kill. He means kill my mother. Fear quakes inside me for her, not me. Because I believe him. He killed Allison. He will kill me and my mother. I open the damn safe. He reaches around me and grabs the letters. Then to my horror, he bends me over the safe, and yanks up my skirt. I scream, I scream with all that I have in me, and suddenly he’s gone. I yank at my skirt, pull it down as I turn to find Jack on the floor, bleeding out, and an unfamiliar man holding a gun, which must have a silencer, standing on the opposite side of the body, facing me.

He’s tall, muscular, with hard features, and dark hair slashes with gray at his temples. He’s in jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket. He looks like anyone you might see on the street except that he’s not.

“Ghost,” I say and it’s not a question. I know who he is from Dash’s description of the brutal assassin.

“Yes, sweetheart.” He shoves the gun in a holster under his jacket. “At your service. I couldn’t let that dick fuck you or kill you. Dash would never write another damn word.”

“You,” I swallow hard, and try again, “you kill people, but you saved my life.” It’s a statement of fact, and a question. I’m in a twilight zone and have no idea what is going on. Not really. This cannot be my life.

He shrugs. “I kill people I want to kill. I don’t want to kill you.”

I hug myself, dampness clinging to my cheeks. “How did you know to come here?”

“I saw that interview he did where he proclaimed you his goddess and all that shit.”

“He didn’t—”

“Close enough. I came to meet you. I figured you’d fuck everything up for me and Dash and maybe you needed to die.”

"Oh,” I whisper. “You’re here to kill me?”

“Hell no. He’s so fucking into you. If you die, that’ll fuck him up even worse. I decided you need to live.”

“So, you’re not—Jack said he called someone to—”

“Kill you. He did. I’m above his paygrade. He’s rich, but not rich enough to pay me what I’m worth. He called another guy, I’ll handle him. You have nothing to worry about.”

“My God.” I press my hand to my forehead. “He really was going to have me killed.”

“Yeah, but I saved you.” He flexes. “Your hero.”

“Did he have Allison killed?” The question trembles from my mouth, and I hold my breath, afraid of the answer I already know he’ll give me. I just need confirmation.

“Yeah.” He says matter-of-factly. “She’s gone. Same guy who was coming for you. He’s nowhere near as good a killer as me, but he’s good. They’ll never find her.”

“Can you find out where she is?”

“I can’t get him to talk, but I can kill him. You want me to kill him? It’ll be a favor. On the house and all that.”