Long Shot (Hoops 1)

Her eyes fix over my shoulder, and she stares unblinkingly for a few seconds before answering, “Daddy.”

Panic vacuums the breath from my chest, and before I can ask what she means, a sound behind me turns me to ice.

“Hello, princess.”

I whip my head around. Caleb leans against the doorjamb with his arms folded over his chest.

I’ve never seen him look so disheveled. His jeans and shirt are wrinkled. Shadows and bags lurk under his eyes. For once, the gold is tarnished.

I stand up and position my body in front of Sarai.

“Caleb.” I smooth my voice, kneading out the lumps of fear and anxiety. “What are you doing here?”

His grin is diabolical, mocking my attempt to protect our daughter. “You mean you weren’t expecting me?” he asks, a dark stream of laughter running through his voice.

Maybe I was. On some level, I knew that without the restraints I imposed on him, Caleb would come after me, but I didn’t think he’d find me here.

He’s proven me wrong.

“Did you think I didn’t always know where my girls were?” he asks, his voice a cloaked threat. “I had eyes on you from the time you left the hotel ’til you arrived here that first night.”

He steps deeper into the room, and every step he takes closer to Sarai’s bed, a screw turns in my spine until I’m a taut wire ready to snap. I don’t want to make sudden moves or fight in here. If I can just get him out of this room…

“Sarai, you remember me?” He reaches around me to touch her hair.

Sarai nods and says, “Daddy.”

“That’s right,” Caleb says, looking pleased. “I’m your daddy. How would you like it if you and Mommy could come live with me?”

My throat implodes, trapping a scream inside. I dig my nails painfully into my palms, but that’s good. The pain keeps me sharp and aware.

“I wanna live with Gus,” Sarai says, clear as day.

I close my eyes, my head dropping forward, because I think my daughter may have just sentenced me to die.

“Gus?” Caleb asks, a frown pinching his dark gold brows together. And then his eyes latch onto the San Diego Waves T-shirt she’s wearing to bed. “Is that right?”

The words are stones hurled at the bed, but she doesn’t realize it and answers honestly, nodding.

“Let’s go talk in the living room, Caleb,” I urge him, forcing myself to touch his arm and tug. “Sarai wa

s having a bad dream but needs to sleep.”

Their dark violet–blue eyes hold for long seconds. Sarai, perversely, looks more alert than she has all day, not like it’s time for sleep at all.

Finally, Caleb walks into the hall. I turn the lock on Sarai’s door and pray she doesn’t figure out how to get out. Whatever happens in the next few moments, I don’t want her to see it. I have to know she’s safe, or I won’t be able to fully focus on getting out of this alive.

My mind is on spin cycle, whirring with possible weapons, escape routes, distractions—anything to hold him off until August arrives. I decide on redirection—stalling him by pretending he didn’t come here to kill me.

“I didn’t release that file, Caleb.” I gesture for him to sit on the couch while I take the seat a few feet away. He cocks one brow, asking if we are really going to play this game, but shrugs like he has all the time in the world to remind me how much he likes hurting me.

“I know that.” He sits back on the ugly couch, spreading his long arms across the back. “Andrew did. Bastard.”

“What did you have on him?”

He looks surprised for a moment before shrugging. “He accidentally gave his girlfriend in college too much of some drug he was experimenting with, and she died.”

“What? Oh my God.”