“What…what are you doing here?” Alaina stammered.

Immediately, she cringed. She sounded like a scared little girl.

“You know exactly why I’m here,” he growled. He pushed his way past her and into her house, slamming the door behind him.

Alaina’s legs quaked. Rob Grimmer was an imposing figure, but standing in her home, his eyes bulging and sweat beading his forehead, a scowl etched on his face, he was now terrifying.

Her mind and tongue were slow after the two beers. She wasn’t herself, and she knew it.

“I didn’t invite you in,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. She’d wanted to look and sound strong, but her voice came out feeble, and even her posture felt like one of submission instead of attempted dominance.

He sneered. “Looks like I’m in here anyway.”

“Get out.”

He advanced toward her, closing the small space that existed between them, and she automatically took a step back.

“Why are you harassing my son?” he barked.

“What?”

“You and that idiot private eye.” Rob’s eyes glittered. “Sticking your damn noses where they don’t belong.”

Alaina stiffened. “What?” she repeated.

“I tried to warn you,” he muttered, scraping a hand over his face.

Alaina shook her head. Her thinking was a little fuzzy after the beers, but what Rob was saying wasn’t making any sense.

She frowned and pointed her finger at him. “Your son’s fingerprints were on my brother’s window.”

He sneered. “So?”

“So what were they doing there? Why was he in his room?”

“Your little boyfriend couldn’t figure it out?”

“His fingerprints were on my brother’s window.” Her voice shook. She knew she sounded like a broken record but she didn’t care. The wheels were spinning, putting pieces together now that Rob Grimmer was standing in her living room. “Your son went into that room and he…he killed him! He killed Noah!”

Rob’s jaw dropped. He shook his head, and Alaina knew he was going to deny it.

“You don’t know shit,” Rob growled.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” she challenged. “Go ahead. Look me in the eye and tell me the truth, dammit.”

He was quiet for a minute, but Alaina could see the tension building in him. A vein on his temple bulged and he kept swallowing and licking his lips, his eyes darting nervously around the room.

“Tell me!” she screamed.

He looked at her, startled. And then his face crumpled.

“He…he didn’t mean to,” Rob said, his voice faltering.

It took a second for his words to register. Alaina looked at him, numb with shock.

“What?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “What did you just say?”

“He didn’t mean to!” he cried, an anguished expression on his face. “Your brother bought into Lindsay’s lies and was telling her to go to the police, to go to the school administrators. Garrett…he just went over to talk some sense into him. To scare him a little.”

The roaring in Alaina’s ears made it hard to hear.

“Scare him?” she echoed.

“He just meant to scare him. He didn’t mean…he didn’t—”

Alaina gasped, dropping to her knees as the full weight of his words hit her.

“He killed him?”

“He didn’t mean to!” Rob screamed. “Something spooked him. A sound. It was an accident, dammit!”

Tears stung Alaina’s eyes and her throat constricted so tight it was hard for her to form words. But she willed herself to do so.

“He killed my brother.”

It was no longer posed as a question but a statement.

A fact.

Garrett Grimmer was responsible for Noah’s death.

Her brain buzzed, trying to put the pieces together. He’d come in through Noah’s window. He’d…he’d wanted to scare him. But how? By tying a rope around his neck? And then…

Alaina tried to swallow but couldn’t. The full horror of what had happened registered with her now. Garrett had…had strung him up. To scare him. And then…

Alaina couldn’t see through her tears.

And then something had scared Garrett and he’d run. He left the room and he left Noah, the rope still tied around his neck, his feet just far enough off the floor so that he couldn’t quite touch.

A gruesome image of his struggle for survival ran through her brain. Had he fought to reach the ground? Fought to live?

What had he gone through in those final moments?

He would’ve known he was going to die.

She couldn’t breathe.

He would’ve known.

Her eyes bulged and she gulped for air, short, shallow breaths that brought nothing to her lungs.

“Noah didn’t want to die,” she rasped. “Your son killed him!”

Rob’s face contorted. Alaina watched as if it were happening in slow motion. Fear registered in his wide eyes as he recognized the full weight of what he’d just confessed, what she’d pieced together. And then anger—no, rage—consumed him once again.

He charged toward Alaina, his face apoplectic. “He did not. He. Did. Not!”

All she could do was nod, but inside she was screaming, Yes! Yes he did! He killed Noah!

She was still on her knees, still gasping for breath, trying to pull air into her lungs, the sadness and shock still bearing down on her like hundred-pound weights sitting on her chest. She moved to stand up but Rob positioned himself in front of her, lodging a knee against her chest.

“You’re lying!” He was almost hysterical, his eyes wild, his mouth twisted. “You’re a lying bitch. No one will believe you. You hear me? No one!”

Alaina pushed against his knee, trying to dislodge it, but he was as solid as an oak and she was as thin and wispy as a reed blowing in the breeze. She dropped her hands to the floor, determined to crawl away from him. To get to the phone. To get to safety.

The wood floor was hard under her knees, and grains of dirt and sand dug into her palms as she tried to scurry across the floor.

But Rob wouldn’t let her. With rough hands, he yanked her hair like the reins on a horse. She shrieked in pain.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled. He leaned down, his breath hot on her ear. “You’re not ruining my son’s life. Do you hear me?”

She turned quickly and bit him, sinking her teeth into his fleshy jowls. He screamed and let go of her hair, his hands flying to his face and the wound she’d just inflicted. She scrambled away, diving for the coffee table, her hands raking across it and making contact with her phone. Her hands shook and her mind was numb, but she forced her fingers to press down on the keypad.

9.

1.

1.

A hand slammed down on her wrist and the phone flew through the air, smashing against the wall and then falling to the floor.

Rob was over her and then on top of her, his full weight crushing her spine into the wood floor. Alaina squirmed, trying to find leverage on something so she could get away, but he had her arms pinned to her sides.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His words didn’t match his tone: his voice now deadly soft.

“Get off me.” She could barely speak, could barely breathe, his weight was crushing her tiny frame.

He grinned. “And if I don’t?” He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek.

She flinched at his touch.

“This is how you touch someone,” he whispered. His fingers were like feathers dusting her skin. “You don’t sink your teeth into them.” His nails dug into her cheek and she gasped.

His grin widened, his mouth twisting like some comic villain’s. “Doesn’t feel too good, does it?”

“Stop,” she managed to gasp.

He barked out a vicious laugh. “You think this is bad? Just wait and see what I’m gonna do next.” He lowered his mouth so it was a fraction away from hers. His breath was foul, and she gagged as spittle dripped from his mouth onto her lips. “You’ve been a pain in my fucking side for far too long. You know that? You think you’re such hot shit. Always walking around like you’re so high and mighty, thinking you know everything. So smart. Looks like you’re not so smart after all, huh? Letting a man into your house, all alone? What kind of woman does that?”

She bucked, trying to bring her knees, her feet, anything into contact with him so she could try to shift him off her. But she knew as she was doing it that it was futile. She was too small and he was too big, too strong. His anger, his rage, only providing more fuel, more power.

He crushed his lips to hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth.

“You like that, huh?” he said, his tongue leaving a wet trail on her lips and then her cheek before he plunged it into her mouth again.

She gagged, twisting and turning to try to avoid the assault. With one hand he held her in place and with the other he groped her body, his hand covering her breast, squeezing it too hard, too tight.

Tears flooded her eyes and she twisted from side to side, desperate to get away.

“Stop,” she rasped against his mouth. “Stop!” She bucked once more and this time, she managed to shift him off her, enough so she could draw her knee up and smash it into his groin.

He groaned and automatically lifted off her to cup his crotch. She scrambled on her hands and knees, dragging herself across the floor.

He roared from behind her and his hand plunged into her hair. He yanked her head up and then smashed it into the floor. Stars exploded behind her eyes and her nose cracked. Liquid pooled in her mouth, a rusty, iron taste on her tongue.

Blood.

She tried to move but her vision tunneled. She thought she saw Harry approach, his ears up, his teeth bared, but she knew this was impossible. He was kenneled. Everything was shifting, fading, blurring.

She heard a crash, something that sounded like wood splintering. She lifted her head, tried to focus. Cold air rushed in from somewhere, sending shivers down her spine. A shadowy figure appeared, tall, looming. Angry.

And then everything went black.