Chapter 32

She felt her stomach twist into knots and a sense of dread began to grow within her stomach. How could he laugh? Her heart nearly broke at the sense of betrayal that began to fill it. She felt nauseated as she remembered the horrified look on the poor woman’s face. Disgust welled within her even as Cole’s laughter suddenly ceased.

She could hear him moving around in the other room and she dressed more quickly, tugging her shoes on and working to tie the laces. She wanted to be gone before he could get to her. She did not succeed.  Just as she made it to the door Cole’s fingers wrapped around her left bicep. Hurt and angry, she turned and glared up at him.

“It isn’t what you—“Cole’s words were cut short as Amanda’s flat palm connected with his cheek in a sound slap.

The tears spilled over before she could turn away and she wrenched her arm free and hurried out the door. “I hope I never see you again.” She tried to make the words sound strong and angry but instead, they came out shaky and uneven.

Amanda made her way back to her apartment. She doubted the men would expect her back any time soon. She quickly put the place back in order and made sure that it looked as nice as she could with what little time she had available. She’d have to pay for the doors the men had broken, but she didn’t care. She had to get back to living the way she always had. She’d saved up enough money to get her through for several months if she was careful.

She called up her boss and lied about the death of a family member that was taking her out of time indefinitely. He wasn’t happy, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. She was upset enough by the whole incident with Cole that it sounded authentic at least.

She shoved the last of her clothes in her bag, put the money for the doors along with her key in an envelope and dropped it into the manager’s dropbox and made her way toward the woods. She still had the men to deal with, but this time she would be the one taking them by surprise.

Tears filled her eyes as she walked toward the rundown building she’d tracked the murderers to. Angrily she lifted one hand and swiped it across her face. She would not allow what had happened with Cole to ruin her plans. She’d worked for far too long to find these killers and it was time for them to pay.

Amanda stood in the shadows and watched as a car and an old pickup truck pulled up to the building. Two men climbed out of the pickup truck. All four doors opened on the car and three of the men she’d seen coming toward her house climbed out and moved toward the ones coming from the pickup. They all looked like a bunch of stupid hicks in camouflage pants, shirts with the sleeves torn off, and tobacco-stained mouths and teeth.

The driver of the car was a man she’d never seen before. He didn’t look like the sort to be found hanging out with the men from the apartment. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit with a nice powder blue dress shirt and what was surely a silk tie with diagonal stripes in various shades of blue. His haircut alone probably cost more than the thugs’ entire wardrobe and their rusty old bucket of a truck combined. He looked like a big city lawyer.

The last two thugs came out of the building to meet their friends and when they saw the suit, they quickly squared off their shoulders and stood a little bit taller. Whoever the man was, he was important and they treated him like it.