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Back Blood in the Water Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“I didn’t have anything to care about after that. At least here, I feel like I’m helping to make sure no one else ever has to go through what I went through. It’s the only point to my existence. And every time I put one of these assholes away, I think to myself, Maybe this is one of the bastards who killed Ollie and Dillon. It’s not much, but it’s all I have.”

“How’s that working for you?”

She shrugged. “Keeps me off the streets. Keeps me from putting a gun in my mouth.”

“It’s the brutality that’s brought it all back,” Cormack said. “Carpio’s brutality—that’s what you can’t let go of.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. All I’m sure of is that I will not let him escape. I can’t. He’s never going to do what he’s done to anyone else. I’ll deal with the devil if I have to, but he’s never going to taste freedom again.”

Cormack stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “Even if you keep Carpio locked up, it won’t bring them back,” he said.

She leaned against him, and he took her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his back. “I want to feel something again,” she said into his chest. Her voice was hoarse and muffled, but he could hear the pain in it.

He leaned his head down and found her cheek, kissed it softly. He could taste the saline in her tears. It was a new experience. She lifted her head and her lips met his, and the feeling was exquisite. He had work to do, and he should leave to get to it, he knew. And yet he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her so lost and empty.

He kissed her harder and knew that the work would have to wait just a bit.

THIRTY-THREE

“Does your father suspect anything?”

“About us?” Diamond held her phone tight to her ear, glancing furtively into the other room where her new bodyguard was sitting. She’d needed to talk to Buddy after her encounter with her father. Her decision was made now, and she knew there was no going back. The only thing left was to tell Buddy and see how he would react. “He’s got other things on his mind,” she said. That was another reason she’d needed to talk to Buddy. She’d always viewed her father as an indestructible force of nature. He was always in control of everything around him, and she’d never seem him nervous or concerned. It was clear, though, that he was now. The thought that anything could genuinely threaten Cormack made her question so much about her world. Talking to Buddy helped to restore some normalcy to her reality.

“That’s good,” Buddy said. “If he ever found out about me, he’d kill me.”