Fatal Series 00 - Fatal Destiny

gesturing for the door.
    “Thanks, Mom. Get some sleep, ladies.”
    “Don’t be late for the hair appointment,” Tracy said. “She’ll be here at eleven.”
    “Got it. Sleep tight.”
    “Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” Angela added.
    Sam laughed and closed the bedroom door behind her. Feeling like a teenager sneaking out of her parents’ house in the middle of the night, she crept down the stairs, found her keys and headed out the door. She was halfway to their place when a shadow emerged from the darkness. All at once, Sam remembered why she never stepped foot out the door without her weapon. Figures the one time she did…
    “Going somewhere?”
    Shit . “What’re you doing here, Peter?” At the sight of her ex-husband, her heart beat fast and her breath came out in white, puffy clouds in the cold. She began to shiver.
    “I want to talk to you.”
    “I have nothing to say to you.”
    “I have something to say to you, and it’s high time you listened to me.”
    “Get out of here before I have your ass thrown back in jail for violating the no-contact order.”
    She started to push past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her tight against him.
    “Let go of me, or I swear to God I’ll cripple you.”
    He pushed something hard against her ribs. “Don’t make any fast moves, sweetheart, or your family will be attending a funeral rather than a wedding.”
    Sam cursed herself for being so stupid as to go out unarmed. She glanced up at the second floor of their house where Nick was hopefully sleeping, unaware that she was in grave danger on the eve of their wedding. “What do you want?” she asked through gritted teeth.
    “That’s more like it.” His lips brushed against her hair, and it was all Sam could do not to cringe. “You’re making a big mistake marrying that guy.”
    “Is that so?”
    “He doesn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved—the way I love you.”
    Sam swallowed hard. “Peter, please. Let me go and get out of here before someone sees you and carts you back to jail.”
    “There’s nowhere they can take me that’s worse than living without you.”
    Sam swallowed hard. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
    “Are you really?”
    “Of course I am. I never wanted you to be unhappy.”
    “Then why did you leave me?”
    Sam wanted to shove her elbow into his gut but the press of metal against her ribs kept her still. “I want you to let me go now. You need to find someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved—”
    “I don’t want anyone else,” he growled in her ear tightening his hold on her to the point of pain. “What about that don’t you get?”
    The click of a gun engaging sounded next to them.
    “Let her go, and step back.”
    “Who the hell are you?” Peter asked.
    “Doesn’t matter who I am. You need to let her go right now unless you want me to make road kill out of you.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw the lights go on in their place as she tried unsuccessfully to place the voice of her rescuer.
    “This is not over,” Peter whispered in her ear. “It’ll never be over.”
    He let her go so abruptly that Sam stumbled for a second before regaining her footing.
    She turned to find her savior holding a gun to Peter as a police cruiser rounded the corner, lights flashing. “Who the hell are you?” she asked the dark-haired man with muscles that were evident through his coat.
    Nick emerged from their house and ran down the ramp to her. “Thank God you’re all right.”
    “You want to explain to me how you knew about this and who that is hauling my ex-husband off to jail?”
    Nick had his eyes glued on the hand-off of Peter to the police officers. “I hired him to keep an eye on Gibson.”
    “You hired someone to watch him?”
    “You bet your ass I did.” Nick looked down at her, his eyes fierce and furious. “I knew he’d come after you again. It was just a matter of time, and no way was I going to sit back and let that happen.”
    “Nick—”
    He rested a finger on her lips. “We’re not fighting about this now—not the night before our wedding. We can fight about it later, but not now.”
    “I was just going to say thanks.”
    “Really? You were?”
    He looked so surprised and so adorable that she laughed. “I like to think I can take care of myself, but I have a feeling that wasn’t going to end well.”
    He held her so tightly that Sam felt the shudder that rippled through his big frame.