Chapter 10
A very cleaned out his closet so there was room for Lydia’s things. She didn’t want to officially move in until they’d decided exactly where the relationship was going. Avery, on the other hand, had decided he’d give her an especially nice birthday in a couple of months and set about trying to find the perfect engagement ring. That was his goal―to make that tiny blond bombshell his and never let her go.
Thursday night was their favorite night of the week. They’d made a pact that they’d reserve one night every week to spend the evening talking about anything and everything going on in their individual lives and the one they were building together, and every week during those conversations there was a growing surety that they and their relationship were going in the right direction. Lydia seemed happy and secure, and Avery could honestly say it was the healthiest adult relationship he’d ever had with anyone.
They were looking forward to that particular Thursday―Avery had picked up a brochure for an upcoming livestock auction and it looked promising―and Lydia had three houses on the hook for quick sales. She was more than excited about that. It meant she could pay off her car and buy some things she’d been wanting.
And then there was a knock at the door. Avery hopped up, sauntered over, and opened it, but he sure as hell didn’t expect what he found outside that door. “Davidson? What the hell are you doing here?”
Jason stood there on the porch, a gym bag in his hands. “Hey! How’s it going?”
“Uh, good.” Avery was confused. Jason just showing up out of the blue? What the hell? “How’s it going with you?”
“Can I come in?” he said, not really answering the question.
Avery shrugged. “Uh, yeah, sure.” Lydia had wandered up behind him and put a hand on either side of his waist. “Baby, this is my friend and former roommate, JasonDavidson. Jason, my girlfriend, LydiaKinsey.”
“Hi!” Lydia gushed. “Come on in! Have you eaten? We’ve got some leftovers and―”
“No. I haven’t had anything. I’ve been driving. And I’m not picky,” Jason announced, dropping his bag just inside the door and following Lydia into the kitchen.
What the hell’s going on here? Avery was dumbfounded. Driving from Clarksville, Tennessee, to TuckerCity, Texas, was no small thing. Jason hadn’t just decided he’d come to visit or he would’ve called first. Something was up, and he wasn’t in a hurry to share. Avery just watched, speechless, as Jason sat down with leftover pizza and a soft drink and ate like he was starving. He caught Lydia’s eye and she shrugged and smiled.
He let Jason finish eating before he said, “I think we need to talk.”
“Yes. We do,” Jason announced. That took Avery by surprise.
“Okay. Spill. What’re you doing here? You didn’t just decide, ‘Oh, I’ve got a couple of days off and I think I’ll go see my old buddy Avery.’ So what’s going on?”
“I don’t have a job.”
Avery was confused. “Did my dickwad brother let you go?”
“Yes and no.” When Avery gave Jason that look that said, Spill it already! Jason swallowed the last bite of his pizza and said, “Yeah, he let me go, but then he let most everybody else go too.”
“Whaaa? What’re you talking about?”
“The company’s going belly-up, Avery. Kaput. He’s run it into the ground.”
Avery’s stomach clenched. Why hadn’t his mother told him? He talked to her at least once a week, and she’d never said a word. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Wish I were, but no, I’m not.”
“What happened?”
Jason shook his head. “I really don’t know. He just called us in and said, ‘You, you, and you, go home. I can’t pay you anymore.’ No explanation. When we tried to ask, he just holed up in his office and wouldn’t come out.”
Now Avery was really concerned. “Did you lose a lot of business or something?”
“No. Business as usual.” Nothing was making sense. Then Jason dropped the bomb. “So I was hoping I could crash with you for a while.”
Avery’s eyes went straight to Lydia’s, and she shrugged and smiled again. He couldn’t very well say no; when Shannon had kicked him out, he’d floundered until Jason had told him to just move on in. They’d gone to school together from third grade all the way through high school and even college. Their friendship had spanned decades. He couldn’t just throw Jason out, but damn, that wasn’t what he wanted for his and Lydia’s new relationship. Still, there was no question. “Sure. No problem. I can’t pay you, but are you willing to help out here while you look for a job?”
“Of course. You got things that need doing, I’ll do ’em. You just tell me what and I’m your guy.”
“I’ve got some fences that need to be put up and things like that,” Avery warned. “It’s hard work.”
“I’m up for it. Just show me how and turn me loose. I’ll be the best fence-putter-upper you’ve ever had.”
“Good deal.” All Avery wanted to do in that exact moment was pull Lydia aside and talk to her about it all, but he had something else he had to do first. “If you two will excuse me, I think I need to make a phone call.” Lydia nodded; she knew exactly what he was about to do.
Closing the door behind him as he stepped out onto the back porch, Avery pressed his mom’s contact in his phone and it rang twice before Beverly said, “Hello, son!”
“Hi, Mom! How’s it going?”
“Good, good. You doing okay?”
“Great.”
“And that pretty girlfriend of yours?” she asked.
“Great.”
“That’s wonderful. So the two of you are getting along?”
“Very well. Mom, why didn’t you tell me?”
There was silence until Beverly finally said, “Tell you what?”
“About the company.” More silence, and Avery was getting pretty ticked off. “Mom, Jason’s here.”
“Jason? JasonDavidson?”
“Yes, JasonDavidson. He’s going to be staying with me since he doesn’t have a job.”
“Doesn’t have a job? Did he quit?”
In that instant, Avery understood: His mother knew nothing about what was going on, and he didn’t know how to tell her, so he decided he’d just lay it all out. “Yeah. Ben let most everyone go because he said he couldn’t afford to pay them.”
The quiet was deafening until Beverly said, “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Mom, Jason drove all the way here from Clarksville. Does that sound like some kind of joke to you?”
He could hear her sputtering on the other end of the phone. It got quiet again, and then she growled out, “Well, you can be sure I’m going to call your brother right now and talk to him!”
“I’d suggest you do that.”
“You may have to come back here and knock some sense into him.”
“No, Mom. I won’t be coming back. My life’s here now. There’s nothing for me there. If Ben’s ruined the company, that’s his problem, not mine.”
Beverly started to cry and, much as Avery hated it, he wasn’t going to cave, no matter what. “Oh, son! You can’t mean that! It meant so much to your dad!”
“Then he should’ve made provisions to leave the whole thing to me. Ben’s a kid, and he’s never going to be anything but a kid. He’s always gotten whatever he wanted, from the bikes to the cars to the school to the company to my wife.”
“There you go again! You can’t keep blaming Ben for…”
“Know what, Mom? I’m not. I’m blaming you for taking up for him every time he screws up. You find out what’s going on with the company, but don’t call me to tell me because I. Don’t. Care. Not kidding. Not my problem.”
“But Avery…”
“Bye, Mom.” He hit END and let out an angry sigh. Nothing had changed; nothing ever would. The best thing he’d ever done was to leave Clarksville―he’d known it all along, and the current situation just reinforced what he already knew. Now he was away from it, and he had his trust fund money. Ben couldn’t get to that. And he’d never been happier to be away from them.
He found Jason and Lydia still in the kitchen, laughing and chatting as Jason helped her clean up. She was asking him questions about Avery when they were boys, and Jason was gladly telling all kinds of stories on Avery. “I just talked to my mom.”
Jason spun around. “And?”
“I’m convinced she knew nothing about this.”
“What’re you going to do?” Lydia asked him.
“Nothing. He made this mess, he can sit in it. I’m not taking care of it for him. But do you have any idea what happened?” he asked Jason.
“I’ve heard rumors.”
“And?”
“Shannon.”
Avery scowled and nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Your ex-wife?” Lydia asked, her brow wrinkled.
“Yup. I’m guessing he gave her full access to everything and she spent every penny they had, then started on the company funds until he didn’t have money to keep the place running,” Avery explained.
Jason nodded. “That was my understanding.”
Avery didn’t even have a sigh for it. “Well, at least I’m done with that.”
* * *
Jason drove the four-wheeler with the trailer behind it and Avery rode Dixie. They got to the acreage Avery needed fenced, and he proceeded to teach Jason how to string the fencing. It took him less than an hour and he watched as Jason put up twenty feet of it without any difficulty at all. “I think I’ve got this,” Jason told him.
“I think you do. I’m going back to the house and then into town. I’ve got my eye on a brand new grill and I’m going to pick it up, then pick up some steaks and all the fixings. Tonight I’ll be grilling like a pro!” Avery laughed.
“Sounds great! I’m looking forward to that. I’ll get as much of this done as I can, then I can come back tomorrow and finish it up,” Jason said, grabbing the big bolt cutter to work on the wire.
“That works. I’ll be free tomorrow so I’ll be out here too. We should be able to get this whole pasture done by next Tuesday and I’ll have room for more cattle. The auction’s not for another three weeks, so that’ll give me plenty of time to get a guy in here to bushhog and it’ll be ready when I bring them home.”
“It’s a plan. See you later this afternoon.” Avery watched as Jason went back to work, and he had to admit, his friend had never been afraid of hard work. It would be no time at all until he was every bit as muscled up and hard-bodied as Avery, and there was no doubt he’d get a lot done that day.
Lydia had been in the house working on hanging some curtains when he left to get Jason set up, but when he returned, there was an unfamiliar car in the drive and Lydia’s was nowhere to be seen. He unsaddled Dixie and turned her out with Buttercup, then headed to the house.
Bounding up the back steps two a time, he opened the door to a smell that sickened him, a girly, flowery scent he recognized, but he hoped he was wrong. Unfortunately, everything pointed to his guess being right. Pulling his boots off in the laundry room, he sock-footed it into the living room and saw a headful of red hair there. His chest constricted and his head started to pound.
It was Shannon.
“What the hell…” he gasped out as a surge of anger rose in his chest.
“Oh, there you are! Hey, baby!” Shannon sang out and hopped up from the sofa. “I’ve been missing you! That thing that was wandering around in here when I came in said you were out…”
“You. Out of my house. Where’s Lydia?” Avery saw stars, and not the good kind. His vision quickly turned bloodred and he could feel the veins pop out on his neck.
“I told her she needed to get lost since your wife’s back,” Shannon cooed and tried to put her hands on his chest, but Avery stepped away.
“You’re not my wife.”
“Yes, I am your wife. I’m most certainly your wife.”
Avery’s laugh was maniacal. “No. You’re my kid brother’s wife.”
“No. Our divorce was never final, baby. I’m still your wife.”
Avery shook his head. “You’re lying.”
“Ever see the divorce decree?”
Avery scanned his memory. He’d asked about it; he remembered that distinctly. But he’d been moving about, staying with first one friend and then another while he tried to find a place when Shannon kicked him out until he’d finally landed at Jason’s. In the moving around, he assumed it had shown up somewhere and he’d missed it. So no, he’d never seen it. When he’d asked, she’d told him she knew it had come and that he should be more responsible with his mail. He’d flipped her off and told her to go to hell.
Was it possible that it wasn’t final? Nausea swept over him. It just couldn’t be; she’d married Ben without even a backward glance. Would she have done that? What the hell was she thinking if she had? “Shannon, get out. If you don’t get out, I’ll call the cops.”
“You can’t just throw me out. I’m your wife .”
Now Avery was panicking. What had she said to Lydia? He had to find her, and then he had to find out if Shannon was telling the truth. If she was… well, that would be a royal mess. “I’m going out. When I come back, you’d better be gone.”
“My stuff’s already upstairs in your bedroom.”
“I don’t give a shit. You can take it out just like you put it in.”
“She’s coming back to get her crap,” Shannon announced, filing her nails and completely unconcerned. “I told her she needed to get it out.”
Avery didn’t stay to hear another word. He took off out the front door like a man possessed and jumped into his truck. As he drove, he hit the contact for the business and waited. “HolcombIndustries. How may I direct your call?”
“Ruthie? It’s Avery. I need to speak to Ben.”
“He’s in a conference…”
“I don’t give a shit if QueenElizabeth’s there, I need to speak to him. Now. Get him on the phone!” he snapped at her.
“Just a second.” The phone went silent as she put him on hold and Avery waited. He was about to hang up and call back when he heard a click.
“Avery.”
“Ben, what the fuck’s going on?”
“Hey! You can’t talk to me like…”
“Look, you little shit, JasonDavidson’s here staying with me, and your fucking wife showed up today,” Avery hissed into the phone.
“You mean your wife,” Ben snarled back.
“What the hell is that shit all about? She came in talking all crazy, something about the divorce decree…”
“Yeah. She never filed the fucking papers, Avery. She’s still married to you. Our marriage is null and void.”
Avery was shaking with rage. “You knew about this?”
“Not until I told her she couldn’t have another penny of the company’s money.” Aha! I was right! Avery thought. “Then she told me we’d never been legally married. She’s still legally married to you. Aren’t you the lucky guy?”
“She needs to be charged with bigamy,” Avery told him forcefully.
“Then you take care of it. I’m finished with her,” Ben said, leaving no room for negotiation. “I told her to get out and take her shit with her. So she showed up there, huh?” he said with a laugh.
“I don’t know what she said to my girlfriend, but if she’s caused trouble between me and Lydia, so help me god, I’ll kill her, and then I’m coming for you,” Avery spat out, his rage spilling over.
“You need to stay the fuck away from me,” Ben barked.
“You… I’m done with you. Go fuck yourself,” Avery shot at him and hung up the phone. The little asshole wasn’t good for anything except pissing him off, and he’d had enough of that.
He drove straight to Lydia’s apartment, but she wasn’t there, so he turned and headed to her parents’ house. Sure enough, the BMW was there, but when he knocked on the door, her mother opened it a crack. “Avery, she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Belinda, please. I really, really need to talk to her.”
“No. You need to leave her alone, at least for a while. Just give her a bit to get her legs under her and I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you.”
“But, Belinda, I need to talk to her right now. She needs to know what’s going on. Please?”
“No. I’m sorry. Please leave her alone. Please?” She closed the door in his face and left him standing there, his heart in his hands.
Avery didn’t know what to do. He sat in his truck for a few minutes, then fired it up and headed to the one place he knew he could find someone who’d talk to him.
The doors were propped open at GoheenEquipment when he strode in and looked around. It took him all of two seconds to find Rodney and when their eyes met, the older man motioned Avery in the direction of the conference room they’d used before and headed that direction. Not a word was spoken until the door closed, and Rodney turned to Avery, fire in his eyes. “This had better be good.”
“It’s not. It’s not at all. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it, but so far, no luck,” Avery said, and Rodney pointed for him to take a seat. “I can’t believe she turned up here, but I just talked to my brother and he says the divorce was never final.”
“How could you not know that?” Rodney snapped.
“Because I was moving around. She’d kicked me out. I was staying with first one friend and then another. I asked about the final paperwork and she told me I probably missed it and that I should be more responsible with my mail. But I swear to you, Rodney, I knew nothing about this. And Lydia was there when the bitch showed up. God only knows what Shannon said to her.”
“I can tell you. She told Lydia she was moving back in.”
“Yeah, well, nothing of the sort’s going to happen. When I leave here, I’m going to the sheriff’s department to swear out a warrant and have her arrested. I’ve still got the property posted and she’s got no business there. Plus I’ve got to go see my attorney. But I want to talk to Lydia. Please, talk to her? Tell her I love her and nothing’s changed? I’ll get this straightened out; I would’ve already done it if I’d known.”
“I know. I figured it was something unusual, but I didn’t know what. You’ve always struck me as an honest guy. I knew you wouldn’t do something like this on purpose. But I really don’t understand this.”
Avery spent ten minutes telling Rodney everything he knew about the situation, the company, his brother, Shannon, and the fact that his mother knew nothing. Lydia had already told her parents about Jason, and he explained that detail to Rodney too. “Boy, this is a mess,” Rodney said, shaking his head.
“Not really. I have nothing to do with any of that anymore, and once I get rid of her, that’s it.” He stood and extended a hand to Rodney, and Lydia’s father stood and shook it. “I need to get on this, but please, ask her to call me. I love your daughter, Rodney. I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“I know, son. I know,” Rodney said and patted Avery’s shoulder. “I can’t imagine you would.”
“Thanks. I’m headed to Frank’s office. Talk to you soon, I hope.”
“Yep. Be careful,” Rodney called after Avery as the younger man pounded up the hallway and back out to his truck.
He had to get himself a divorce, and quick. He wanted nothing to do with that redhead. She’d caused him enough trouble in his life. Another minute more of her was the last thing on earth he’d willingly endure.
* * *
Frank started working on everything the minute Avery walked in the door and told him what was going on. He confirmed in minutes that the divorce papers Avery had signed had never been filed, and Shannon had married Ben knowing full well she was still legally married to Avery. A couple of phone calls later, Frank assured Avery that Shannon was going to be prosecuted for bigamy by the state of Tennessee, but first, she’d have to be arrested and extradited.
Shannon’s Lexus was gone when Avery got back, and he took the stairs two at a time to see if her things were still in the closet. No―thankfully, they were gone. From there he headed straight to the front pasture, grabbed Dixie and saddled her, and tore out at a full gallop across the pastures to the area where Jason was working. Jason looked up and waved as he neared. Dixie had barely come to a stop when Avery dismounted and marched up to Jason. “Did you know Shannon was at the house?”
Jason’s jaw dropped. “Are you shitting me?”
“Nope. Confronted Lydia and sent her packing. I went to her parents’ house and tried to talk to her, but she won’t talk to me, so I talked to her dad. Then I went by to see my attorney.”
“To get rid of her? Have her arrested,” Jason said.
“No. To divorce her.”
“What?” Jason yelled. “What do you mean, divorce her? You’re divorced!”
“Seems we’re not―legally.” He told Jason the whole story and his friend’s jaw just kept dropping until it was almost on the ground. “So the state’s going to charge her with bigamy once she’s been arrested and extradited. I don’t know what her fucking game is, but…”
“Get Ben’s money and when it was gone, come back after yours,” Jason said, his brow dropping and eyes glowing with rage. “Of all the dirty, filthy, no-count, low down, back-stabbing, fucked-up deals, this takes the cake. Man, I’d beat the shit out of that bitch and throw her ass out in the yard.”
“You have no idea how tempted I am, but I’d wind up in jail and I don’t need that. I just don’t understand how she found me.”
“I’m probably to blame for that,” Jason said, his cheeks reddening. “I bet she followed me. She probably guessed that I’d come to see you.”
“Yeah. You’re probably right. But don’t feel bad about it. How could you have known anything like this would happen? You couldn’t.” His phone rang and he looked at the screen. “Oh, shit, it’s Lydia.” He turned away from Jason and answered softly, “Hey, babe.”
“Avery?” He knew she’d been crying; she was hoarse and still sniffling. “Avery, I don’t understand. Daddy just called and talked to me, but I really don’t understand.”
“I don’t either, precious, not completely, but you need to know that I didn’t know anything about this. I never had any reason to believe the divorce wasn’t final, no reason at all. Neither did my brother. I think he’s feeling kinda nuts right now too. FrankMartin is working on a divorce decree as we speak. If they can find the original papers and I can sign them, they’ll be filed and it’ll be as good as done. May take awhile, but it’ll happen. But I swear to you, Lydia, I knew nothing about this. I wouldn’t hurt you like this.”
The sobbing on the other end of the phone broke his heart. “I couldn’t believe you’d do something like that to me. I’ve always been honest with you, and I thought you’d always been honest with me. Oh, Avery, please, don’t lie to me!” she cried, and he felt tears welling in his own eyes.
“I’m not lying to you, baby. I’ve been standing here talking to Jason about it, and he’s as blown away as I am. He knows what I went through when she kicked me out, and he said he can’t believe she’d pull something like this. But I signed the papers in front of her and left them for her to file, and apparently she decided she’d just hang onto them, take Ben’s money, and then come after mine if his ran out or he kicked her out. And his ran out. So she’s back for mine.”
“Is she still there?”
“No. Her car’s gone and so is her stuff, so I just saddled Dixie and came straight out here into the pasture with Jason. Frank says Tennessee will prosecute her for bigamy, but they’ve got to arrest her and extradite her first. That’ll take a good while to get the paperwork all sorted out. Until the state can take her away, I don’t know what to do.”
Lydia started to cry again. “She told me to get my stuff out of the house because she was moving back in with her… husband !” she cried, and Avery wanted to die, but more than that, he wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. “Avery, please, do something!”
“I’m trying to figure out what to do.” The only thing he really could do was to try to find her and appeal to any sense of decency she might possibly have, though it was unlikely she had any. It could be days before the paperwork came through for the sheriff to arrest her, and he couldn’t wait that long. He wanted her gone, and yesterday was too soon. “I’ll talk to you when you come in later. I’ve gotta go.” He leaped onto Dixie’s back and pounded the dirt toward the house so he could once again head toward town.
Driving back and forth in the little place, he spotted her Lexus in the parking lot of the diner. Oh, no , his brain groaned.
Inside, just as he’d feared, she was holding court, telling stories about the two of them when they were married. Well, when they were originally married. Avery was so confused that he wasn’t sure how to explain it all to anyone, even to himself. He stepped up right behind her and all the women gathered around her looked up at him and smiled. As soon as they did, Shannon wheeled on her stool at the counter. “Hey, baby!”
“I need to have a word with you out front.”
Shannon frowned. “What’s wrong? Miss me already?”
“Now,” Avery growled.
“Okay, okay! Guess you really did miss me, huh?” she asked, laughing and standing. She reached a hand toward him. “Hold my hand?” He just glared at her. “Back in a bit, girls,” she called back toward the women sitting around where she’d been entertaining anyone who’d listen.
The door closed behind the two of them. “What do you want?” Shannon spat toward Avery.
“I want to know what your game is.”
“I don’t have a game ,” Shannon told him, staring up into his eyes, challenging him. “I just came here to find my husband. You need to come back to Clarksville, Avery. We need you.”
“I’m not going back to Clarksville, and I’m most certainly not going back to Clarksville with you. You get yourself out of TuckerCity and do it quick,” he warned her.
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” Shannon told him. “I was hoping we could reconcile.”
“Ben told you about my money, I assume,” Avery said.
“Money? I don’t know about any money,” she answered, batting her eyelashes at him. God, she was a terrible liar.
Avery stooped down to stare into her eyes, anger rolling off his body. “Listen to me. I want nothing to do with you. Nothing.”
“You’ll change your mind. You remember how good it was between us, Avery. I know you do,” Shannon purred.
He shook his head. “All I remember is finding you in bed with my brother. That’s it. And I’ll never get that image out of my mind.”
She shrugged. “Ben was a mistake.”
That made Avery snort. “Yeah―when he ran out of money.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he snarled out, “I know you followed Jason here. And I’ve talked to Ben. I know exactly what’s going on. Oh, and I talked to Mom,” he added and watched her face fall. “She knows everything now. That means your biggest cheerleader is now gunning for you. You’re finished with the Holcomb family. Finished.”
“No. I’m just getting started. And you can’t just dismiss me that way. I won’t have it,” she snipped at him.
“And what exactly do you think you’re going to do about it?”
“Whatever I have to.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed back into the diner.
Avery stomped to his truck and slammed the door when he was in the driver’s seat. His first stop was back at Lydia’s, and her BMW was sitting out front. When he knocked on the door, she asked, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, baby.”
Lydia opened the door a crack. It broke Avery’s heart to see her nose red and eyes swollen from crying. All she said was, “What?”
Avery couldn’t believe she’d greet him that way. “Aren’t you going to let me in?”
Lydia shook her head. “I don’t date married men.”
“I’m not married,” Avery said, then added, “well, not as far as I’m concerned.”
Lydia’s face was passive, her eyes dull and tired. “Let me ask you something. If we wanted to get married tomorrow, could we?”
Avery’s eyes dropped to the concrete of the porch. “Legally, no.”
“Then we have nothing to talk about now. Get this straightened out and we can talk.” She tried to close the door, but Avery shoved his foot in it. “What do you want, Avery? I can’t do this.”
“Lydia, nothing’s changed. I love you.” He could feel the tears welling up in his lower lids and he didn’t know what to do. “Please, let me in?”
“I love you too. But no. This has to be resolved. It’s bad enough that word is traveling all over town, but now it includes me messing around with a married man. I can’t have that,” she said, then sighed.
“I talked to your dad.”
“I’m aware of that. But he understands where I’m coming from, not to mention that your wife threatened me.”
“She’s not my wife!” Avery shouted in frustration, then blew out a harsh breath, his hands on his hips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. But damn, Lydia, don’t you see what’s going on here? She thinks if she can drive a wedge between us, she has a chance.”
“Does she?”
Avery shook his head. “Hell no! No chance at all. None.”
“Then get rid of her. I can’t take this. I’ve got to go.” She tried to close the door again, then said, “Please let me close the door. Please?”
Avery moved his foot and the door slammed. That sound drove a stake through his heart. He had to figure out how to get rid of Shannon.
Even if it was illegal.