I couldn’t do it, though. His death needed to be on my hands. He’d taken my heart, and I needed to take his. “No, Sam. I’ve got this. Just send in a clean-up crew.”
His eyes finally flashed with fear. Fucking finally. He’d honestly thought he could walk away. I disconnected the watch, unstrapped it from my wrist, and tossed it into the lake. “Sorry, Gentry. It’s just you and I, now. You’re right, you know. I did fall in love with Micah. I’ll love him until I die. Because of this, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I allowed you to live.” I took two steps closer to him and pressed the gun to his forehead. “If you tell me where to find his body, I’ll make it quick. If not…it’ll take a while. Your choice, Gentry—easy death or hard death?”
He licked his lips. “Do you have any idea how much money I can give you, Honeycutt? More than you’ll ever see in your life, working for Samantha. I have access to all of Jinx’s money and over ten million dollars’ worth of insurance money.” He smiled. “Let’s make a deal. It’s too late to save Jinx; you might as well walk away from this horrible experience an incredibly wealthy man. What do you say? Wanna live the rest of your life in the lap of luxury?” His bottom lip quivered with fear and it brought me some satisfaction. Not damn near enough, but I vowed to kill him for Micah. For me.
“I wanted to live the rest of my life with your son, Gentry. If I can’t have that, I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing I killed the bastard that took him away from me.”
“Landon,” a weak voice whispered from behind me. “Help…me.”
I froze.
Gentry froze and his eyes widened in shock.
Before he could make a move, I crashed the butt of my gun into the side of his head and he crumpled to the ground. I needed to cuff him, but there wasn’t time. That weak voice…I knew it…my heart knew it.
“Micah? Where are you?” I screamed. “Come on, baby! Help me find you!”
My eyes squinted in the dark and I saw him hanging onto the side of the dock next to the boat his father had just exited. I tucked my gun into the back of my pants and raced down the length of the dock. Dropping to my hands and knees, I wrapped my arms around him and easily pulled him from the dark waters.
He screamed in pain as I gently laid him onto the wooden docks. “Baby, tell me where it hurts. Oh, my God, Micah. I thought you were dead. I thought I’d lost you forever!” My hands touched him all over as I sprinkled kisses every spot I touched. “How did you survive, baby? You’re so brave. I love you, Micah. Fuck, I love you so much.”
I reached for my watch and then cursed myself for throwing it into the waters. I kept one hand on Micah as I reached for my cell and called for help. After giving them our location, I continued my inspection of Micah’s body. A dislocated shoulder and possibly a broken leg—maybe worse on his leg. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here now. Daddy’s here. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
“Hurts,” he whimpered. “I hurt all over. I didn’t think I was going to be able to hold on, Landon. I thought I was too weak.” His head turned toward the docks. “Did you catch him? It’s my father; he did it.” He laughed and spit up some water. “Wait, he’s not my father. He said my mother cheated. Thank the fuck he isn’t, huh? You got him, right?”
I glanced over my shoulder and realized Gentry’s body was not where I’d left him. The bastard had woken up. “It’ll all be all right, baby. I’m here. Nobody’s ever going to hurt you again. You’re mine.” I looked down at him. “Why, Micah? Why did you leave me? I could have kept you safe from him.”
He frowned for a second, like he couldn’t remember what had happened that left him where he currently was. I saw his eyes darkened in anger and then he slugged me with a damn good right hook, nearly knocking me out.
I was proud and confused at the same time.
“Fuck you, Landon! How could you lie to me?”
Lie to him? What. The. Fuck.Chapter EightMicahThere wasn’t a spot on my body that didn’t ache. Not. One. Spot. From the top of my head to the edge of my toes. I ached. I hurt. There was a damn good chance I was being wimpy, but it was what it was. I wasn’t used to my body hurting. Sure, I’d get hungry or suffer during a workout, but never did I actually hurt. Wherever I was and whatever had happened, I was hurting—fucking bad. I needed Landon. I needed my dirty daddy. He’d make it all better again.