Chapter 34
Dylan checked his phone. He was close. Only a few minutes, and he would be there.
Should he wait until it was later, or could he make his move now?
If they were asleep, he could sneak in and grab her.
Or he could wait until morning. If he waited, he would be able to see anything coming at him.
If he acted now or in the next hour, he could hide in the darkness.
Which would be better?
He pulled over and checked his email. There wasn’t anything important that had come in, no texts, nothing. No one was willing to invest in his new endeavor. He had to grab the bitch so he could have some seed money for his new venture.
If he had the money to open in the next few weeks, that would be great, but he wouldn't have it all without an investor, and it looked like he wasn't going to get it.
The woman had to work out. If he had her under his control, she would work off her debt.
Maybe he could get another woman, but he wanted this woman.
He wanted her to be the one to pay off his debt because she'd caused the worst of it.
Time ticked by slowly. At midnight, he’d decided it was time to act. He pulled onto the street and cut the engine, drifting to a stop about two houses down. The lights were off in all the houses around hers. Down the block, one house had the lights on, but there was no activity on the street.
He waited five, then ten minutes. No one came out of their house, no one drove up, nothing moved, and no dogs barked. All was quiet. It was time for him to move.
Silently, he opened the door, glad he’d already cut the light inside the cab of his truck. He slowly shut the door, making sure it made no noise. The area stayed silent. No one had been roused by his movement.
Success tasted great on his tongue. He felt it in his bones before he even made it up the walkway to the house where the woman lived.
He would kill the bastard she was with. The man had no right to her.
She was his to do with as he pleased. She would fuck who he said and earn him money so he could pay off his debts.
No one else would ever own her, only him, until he tired of her.
Then, he would sell her off to the highest bidder.
Thario felt Frog's nose against his cheek.
He opened his eyes, listening for the disturbance.
Frog didn't wake him in the middle of the night like this.
If he was having a flashback, Frog put weight on him.
Frog didn't boop his cheek. The only time Frog had done that was when Thario had been taking a nap, and his neighbor's ex had shown up to kill her.
Frog had woken him up but stayed silent, then led him over to the window.
This was like that. Thario sat up, reaching for the gun safe in his bag. He hadn’t wanted Lainey to have access to his piece, so he’d kept it locked up in his bag. Once he had his hand on his gun, he felt surer of himself.
With slow and steady hands, he put his legs on and stood. He hadn’t heard anything yet, but he knew Frog had heard something and was worried. Frog moved to the door and glanced back at him.
He wouldn't let Frog outside though he knew his dog wanted to go.
His pup was a great dog, but he wasn't an attack dog any longer.
He was a companion, a confidant, and a good helper.
At one point, he might have been able to lead an attack on an encroaching enemy, but he was older and hadn't trained for an attack in years.
Thario motioned for his dog to move back. Frog hesitated but then obeyed just like the good dog he was. Thario didn’t have time to focus on his good boy. He had to focus on keeping Amelia safe.
Amelia blinked open her eyes. Something felt wrong. She'd heard a noise, or had she? What was wrong?
She slipped on a pair of shorts and stood. She thought about turning on a light, but she didn’t want anyone outside to know she was awake if there was someone out there. Maybe she was making it all up in her head.
She was about to open the bedroom door when she heard a noise. Fear filled her, and she put a shaky hand on the doorknob. She pulled it open just enough to see Thario and Frog standing close to the entrance. Had they heard something?
Amelia opened the door more, and Frog turned to her. She swore the dog's eyebrows bunched before he turned back to Thario.
There was a scraping sound at the door, and then the door opened. The man had a flashlight, and the beam shined on Thario and Frog. Amelia gasped as the man pointed his gun at Thario.