‘Oh my God, he’s actually making you light-headed with his swoony gesture.’
I smile, though it’s tight. ‘Whose phone is this?’
‘Mrs Heaven’s. Mine’s at the cottage. I just wanted to check up on you.’
She’s a good friend, and best of all, I now get to keep her. ‘I’ll come back to help you clear up.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got an army of children to help. Crap, gotta go. Father Fitzroy has started country dancing.’ She hangs up, and I laugh, tossing my phone on the bed. ‘So stupid.’ I turn to go join Ryan – he’s had enough time – but I make it only one pace before I jerk to a stop. I stare at the doorway in front of me, my heart thumping its way up to my throat. Ice glides across my skin. Blood pumps in my veins with such force I can hear it.
You’re seeing things, Hannah!
I slowly turn on the spot until I’m looking at Ryan’s bed, and I take fairy steps forward until I’m standing at the foot, staring at his pillow.
And my wedding rings.
‘No,’ I breathe, grabbing my phone and backing up, banging into the wardrobe.
‘How have you been, Katrina?’ His voice cuts through my flesh, and I swing around, my scream building.
But his hand is over my mouth before I can release it.Chapter 31RYAN
Hannah!’ I yell, flying through the door. I stop, listening, my eyes taking in every inch of my cabin. It’s eerily silent. I sweep up one of my axes from beside the door and stalk on, my insides an inferno of anger and fear. When I reach my bedroom, I stop, staring at the closed door. I can’t hear the shower. I can’t hear movement at all. I push the door open with the head of my axe and scan the space. Empty. Except for her mobile phone lying in the middle of the floor.
My nostrils flare, my head set to explode with the pressure building, as I swing my axe in a rage, sinking it into the plaster. Soon that’ll be Knight’s head.
I turn and stride out, anger pumping through my veins. When I find him – and I will find him – I’m going to fucking kill him. I just get to the bottom step of the veranda when I hear something, and I still, lowering my foot gently on the brittle leaves, making them crack. My neck cricks as I look to my left into the trees, listening. I hear screeching tyres in the distance.
Adrenaline pumping, I run to my truck, throw my axe into the cab and jump in. My phone rings, and I answer. ‘He’s found her.’ I race toward the main road, my eyes scanning high and low.
‘Fucking hell,’ Lucinda all but whispers. ‘Ryan, don’t you do anything stupid, do you hear me? I know you. I know what idiotic shit you’ll pull.’
‘What, like kill him?’ I ask frankly. ‘Because that is what I’m going to do, Luce. Slowly. Painfully.’ I’m planning each and every torture tactic I’m going to adopt.
‘Ryan—’
‘Can you cover it up?’
‘What?’
‘If I kill him, can you cover it up?’
She inhales, falling silent. She knows as well as I do that no matter what road I take here, Hannah will be exposed to the media and world, and could possibly even go to prison for faking her death. And even if she came out the other side a free woman, the trauma would set her back years. I refuse to do that to her. Not only that, I can’t put myself at risk of being sent down and leaving her alone.
‘Fucking hell, Ryan,’ Lucinda eventually says.
‘Answer the question, Luce.’ I need her to think quickly with me. Time is of the fucking essence. I get to the end of the track and turn right onto the main road out of town. The road that’ll take me north.
‘Only if you don’t leave marks.’
I laugh. ‘Are you joking me?’
‘No, I mean it, Ryan. No marks on him whatsoever. He’s taken a leave of absence. He’s got connections with dealers to the rich and famous. His wife died tragically over five years ago, and his current wife is pregnant and currently taking refuge in another country. Things aren’t looking too rosy for Jarrad Knight, catch my drift?’
It slams into me, so obvious, it’s almost beautiful. No marks. How the fuck I’m going to manage that, I have no idea. I look at the axe on the seat next to me, imagining it sunk into Knight’s head. ‘No marks,’ I assure her, returning my focus to the road. ‘He’s in a Mitsubishi.’ The fucker. He was the one who ran me and Alex off the road. It was him earlier today on the high street watching Hannah. Jesus, how long has he been playing with her, playing with me? ‘I need to go.’ I hang up and call Darcy immediately, not giving her the chance to talk before I hit her with my order. ‘I need you to get Alex, get some things, and leave town.’