Page 51 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

His eyes narrowed. “I spoke to him less than an hour ago. Why didn’t he tell me he was sending his sister?”

She willed her lower lip to stop trembling. “He needs the money he was promised.”

“How do I know you’re really his sister?”

“Check your phone,” she said. “They sent you a photo of Jesse, so you’d know what he looks like, right? Look at it. You’ll see the family resemblance.”

He continued staring at her, and for a moment, she thought he would send her packing. Or worse, strangle her and bury her in the woods behind the barn. In the last couple of days, she’d learned there were parts of New Jersey that were sparsely populated and with plenty of forested areas. Like this one.

Where no one would find her body.

Suspicion sparked in the man’s eyes. He pulled a phone from his back pocket, tapped it a few times, then waved his hand for the other man to join them.

“She says she’s the McTavish kid’s sister. The kid’s in the hospital so she came in his place.” He held out his phone to his companion. “What do you think?”

The other man’s gaze flicked to her face. “Could be.”

“Yeah, but what if she’s not?” He looked around her shoulder to the street, shielding his eyes from the rain.

“Don’t worry, boys.” A third man strode from the barn. “I’ll vouch for the lady.”

Tess’s heart began racing wildly. Drawing air into her lungs became impossible, painful, even.

She knew that voice. Knew it. Hated it.

The slow, drawn-out consonants and sharply spoken vowels of an Alabama drawl.

As the man drew nearer, every muscle in her body tightened.

It’s really him. Mark Pritchard.

Oh no. Oh hell, no.

Her mouth went bone dry. Reality was a bitch. It had been him in the parking lot the other day. She hadn’t imagined it. Now, he was here. Her past roared up like a lion, chasing her down, about to swallow her whole and eat her alive.

The years hadn’t been kind to him, but that didn’t bother her because he’d never been a kind man. Despite being only ten years her senior, his thick shock of hair was mostly gray. He’d once been lean, but now he sported a bulbous paunch. Lines bracketed his eyes and the corners of his mouth, adding a meanness she knew firsthand was there. What scared her most were his eyes. Eyes that had raked over her body with such obvious lust.

As they were doing now.

The day her mother died—her life had been irrevocably changed. Her stepfather hadn’t been a father to her at all. But this man, this vile excuse for a human being, was the reason she’d fled Alabama in the dark of night.

She reached out, resting her hand on the hood of the truck to steady herself. Bile rose in her throat. As if her situation couldn’t possibly worsen, it just had because Eric was watching and listening. He’d hear the entire conversation and realize in an instant that Mark Pritchard knew her. The time had been coming when her ugly past would be laid out for Eric to see. She’d hoped that time wouldn’t be today. Fate was not on her side.

“Well, how do, Tess,” Pritchard said, and when he reached out to stroke her hair, she twisted away. “All growed up, and”—he chuckled in that disgusting, lascivious way she’d detested since he’d first come into their lives—“well over eighteen. I’m truly thinkin’ it’s a sign from God, us bein’ reunited. This time, I don’t even have to ask your stepdaddy’s permission.”

Pull yourself together. Stay strong. Show no fear, or he’ll latch on to it like a feral hog on a bunny.

Straightening, she thrust out her chin, praying he wouldn’t detect how unbelievably petrified she really was. “You’re right. You don’t need to ask his permission. You need to ask mine, and that’s not something I’ll give. Ever.”

“You know her?” the first man asked.

Pritchard grinned, revealing teeth that had yellowed from a lifetime of smoking and chewing tobacco. “This little lady and I go way back. She was just a girl when I knew her back home. I’m sorry I missed those years. I do like ’em young.”

When he reached out to touch her again, she readied to give him a swift kick in the nuts.

The first man grabbed Pritchard by the arm. “We don’t have time for that.” A muscle ticked in Pritchard’s cheek as he glared at the other man. “Let’s finish this and get out of here.”

Pritchard’s nostrils flared. Tess had seen his violent tendencies in action many times. He was about to plow his fist into the other man’s face.