Chapter 47

Trevor shiftedhis body weight and raised his knees.

He kicked the man off him.

The attacker fell to the floor, and Trevor was instantly on top of him, pinning his arms to his side.

As he looked at the man’s face, he confirmed he’d never seen the guy before. So who was he?

He expected the man to fight back, but his efforts were futile. Trevor easily had him pinned.

“Who are you?” Trevor demanded.

“Who are you?”

“I’m someone who’s protecting Sadie. But I think you already know that.”

“I think we both know there’s more to your story.”

Trevor didn’t react to his statement. “Are you the one who’s been trying to kill her?”

The man’s eyes widened. “Kill her? No. I’m not trying to kill her. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then you need to start talking before the FBI comes running. They’re stationed all around this house.”

“The feds? There’s no need to bring the feds into this. I’m Larry, Frank’s cousin.”

“Are you the one behind whatever’s going on at the company?”

“Frank asked me to keep an eye on things so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m trying to figure out if someone is using his company as a front for something illegal.”

Trevor didn’t hear any deceit in his voice.

He loosened his grip just slightly on the man and leaned back. “Keep talking.”

“Frank suspects that someone at his company is using the shipments to transport drugs. Possibly fentanyl. I used to be a corrections officer at the jail, so I have a little background in law enforcement. He asked me to see if I can figure out who’s behind this.”

“Did you think it was Sadie?”

“I questioned if it could be her for a while,” Larry said. “Because she was definitely acting like she was up to something. Snooping around and asking strange questions. Plus, there is a matter of her not truly having a past. That always sends up red flags.”

“Sadie isn’t behind this,” Trevor said.

“I know that now. So I’m trying to figure out who else it might be. I was supposed to simply linger in the background tonight and see what I could find out. But when I heard the commotion downstairs, I peeked my head out. That’s when you saw me.”

Trevor thought his story made sense.

“Are you the one who shot at me?”

“Shot at you?” Larry made a face. “No, I only watched everything from a distance. I swear.”

Trevor rose to his feet, his hands on his hips. “Is there anything else you can tell me? Because whoever is behind this has set their sights on Sadie. I need to keep her alive.”

As soon as he said the words, he heard a noise below.

When he glanced down at the bay, he saw two people standing dangerously close to the cliff.

One of them was Sadie.

* * *

Sadie shook her head back and forth, determined to get the man’s hand from her mouth.

She still felt the pill on her tongue. The tablet was dissolving.

Her head was spinning. Her heart racing even faster than before. Her lungs constricted as if unable to take on any air.

“Just stop fighting it,” the man said. “It will be easier that way.”

Something about his words ignited something in her.

In two seconds flat, she opened her mouth and her teeth dug into the man’s skin.

He yelped and jerked his hand away.

As soon as he did, she spit the remainder of the pill onto the grass.

She started to run.

Before she could, he grabbed her arm and jerked her toward him.

She hit the ground, her forehead colliding with a rock at the edge of the lawn.

At once, flashes of memory began to appear in her mind again.

Memories of struggling. Arguing.

With this man.

In the woods.

Then another man had appeared.

The man who died.

But she hadn’t killed him. In fact, she’d tried to help him.

The man in front of her had killed him. Stabbed him.

Her gun had been out of bullets, so she’d had to run.

She’d managed to get away. To throw a shirt on over her bloody hands. To jump in her car. Thankfully, nothing had gotten on her swimsuit or coverup.

She’d gone to the beach to meet Trevor until she and Richard could speak that evening.

As her thoughts cleared, Sadie glanced up.

Her breath caught when she recognized the face staring back at her.

Bart Tatum.

The delivery driver.

The one who was only in the office a couple of times a week.

The jovial brother she’d never had. That was how they’d always joked.

Everyone in the office thought of him as a brother.

He was the one behind this the whole time?

“I know what you’re thinking,” he muttered. “You’re surprised I could do something like this.”

“You were in the perfect position, weren’t you? You had access to all the shipments. But you stayed below the radar the whole time.”

He nodded, a smug expression on his face. “That’s right, but you were about to blow it all. I hit you with the car, hoping that would do you in. Then you got amnesia. It was perfect timing. Until I realized your memories might return. That’s when I knew I had to protect this operation at all costs. The little fire stunt I pulled didn’t work, so I had to resort to other measures.”

He raised his gun at her.

“You don’t have to do this,” she murmured.

“I’m not going to do this. Because you’re going to jump.”

She looked over the cliff, and the breath left her lungs when she saw just how far below the rocky shore was.

“No,” she muttered.

He cocked the weapon. “Yes.”

“You’re not going to shoot me. If you do it will be obvious that you’re involved. Everyone will know.”

He snarled. “If I can’t shoot you, then I’ll shoot your friend. You can fight this all you want, but I’m going to get what I want, one way or another.”

She heard the conviction in his voice.

He meant the words.

Even though she knew Trevor could protect himself, the thought of something happening to him made a heaviness press into her chest.

That was the last thing that she wanted.

“Jump,” Bart said.

She glanced down again, and her head began to swirl.

The drug . . . it was beginning to take effect. Beginning to play with her logic and reasoning.

If Sadie didn’t get a grip quickly, she didn’t know what was going to happen.