The Plan (The Hillers of Barratt County #4)

Chapter 29

29

Holland’s grip on the gun shifted, the metal slick in his hand. Hell, he didn’t even remember getting it out of his desk.

He’d never been in Hiller’s office. It was sleek, modern. The scent of fresh paint still lingered. There were plants. And the women—girls, really. Both of them. He didn’t think Hiller’s clerk was much older than his teenage sister was.

Pervert. Hiller was too old to put his hands on that blonde. But what was done was done.

She was definitely pregnant. He remembered those days. When his own wife had been carrying their first.

He…was going to destroy his wife. Break her heart. It wasn’t the first time he’d stepped out on her. But with a hooker—that was going to stab right at her. She’d always been a bit insecure about his love for her.

But he loved her. He truly did. Maybe he had forgotten that as they’d gotten older. It became less fire and passion and more…old comfortable hat. And that hadn’t exactly helped his ego.

He’d done something stupid. Then the stupid had just kept compounding.

He paced around the lobby of Hiller’s practice.

The weight of Hiller’s stare pressed against him, steady, unrelenting. Hiller stood near the desk, not moving, his expression locked down tight. His eyes stayed on the gun, following every twitch of Holland’s fingers. Veronica angled her body slightly, blocking more of the girl behind her.

Holland’s eyes met that child’s, for just a moment. She was a very beautiful young woman, eighteen or nineteen, he thought. She favored her brother. And she was terrified.

So was Hiller’s precious blonde clerk. Her hand was over her stomach now. Protecting her baby.

He felt like a damned monster.

What was he going to do now? “I just want it all to end, Hiller. That’s all. I just want all of it to end. To make things right. This wasn’t why I got into this job in the first place. I don’t want to hurt people. I never did. I just didn’t want to hurt her.”

“Who is her?” Hiller asked, so softly Holland almost didn’t hear him.

“My wife. If she knew what I’d done…it’ll break her heart. Hurt her. That is the last thing I have ever wanted to do.”

He knew what would happen next. He was going to go to jail. Maybe he’d cut a deal. If he was lucky. But every case he’d presided over would be back up on the block. Everything he’d done would be dissected and belittled.

And it would never end.

His career was destroyed. His marriage…he had ruined that the moment he’d lowered that zipper one night when he was too drunk to care.

Now…he would add charges for this. For holding two young women by force of a gun.

He had destroyed everything.

It hadn’t been Ward who had done it. No matter how much he wanted to blame the other man.

Holland brought the gun up. He…just… He couldn’t keep going on living this way.

His fingers twitched. On the trigger.

Just as a large body slammed into him.

The gun discharged.

As the girls screamed Hiller’s name.