Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

her tactics. What evidence do you have to support the thought she might die? She is with a killer who has tried to murder her already. What’s the worst that could happen? She could die! Can you live with that?

Emphatically no!

He raced the SUV toward the only place Gerald might go. Once he’d seen the SD card, a deputy had hauled in Alice. While that was going down, he’d noticed the two vehicles from Wilcox’s dealership parked next to one another in the images, and the dots then connected.

When Alice was brought in, she’d admitted to an affair with Gerald and to Jared discovering it. She also came clean about the print. That night at Rascal’s she caught him coming out of the restroom and grabbed him to plead for him to stay quiet. It was over. It would never happen again. She immediately quit when Gerald told her Jared knew. They’d never ever seen one another romantically again. She’d gotten things right with the Lord and sought forgiveness.

She had no clue Wade had been doing drugs or that there was a photo, only that Jared had seen her and Gerald at the motel. She never once thought Gerald had killed Jared—but the circumstantial evidence pointed to him—but that had been a tragedy and an opportunity for her to get things right in her marriage and with God.

The Florida police spoke with Wade, who admitted to buying weed, but he had no idea Jared had taken photos and was mortified. He’d been a dumb kid rebelling because his parents were fighting a lot at that time, but after Jared’s death things turned around in their family, and when he went to college, he stopped all the partying.

Neither Terry nor Coach admitted to cutting Colt’s brake lines and releasing steering fluid. Georgia didn’t end up at the station. Amber had said Gerald had given her a ride on his way to the church—in his big-engine Denali truck. A phone call to the church had let him know that Gerald had never arrived, and Georgia wasn’t answering her phone. The only place he knew to look was the dealership.

He hadn’t thought, just ran out of the station to find her.

Weaving through vehicles on the road, he spotted Gerald’s truck up ahead in the parking lot. He whipped into the lot and bounded out of the car in time to see Gerald grab Georgia around the throat and put the gun to her head.

“Whoa,” Colt said, keeping his distance and slowly raising his hands to show he was unarmed. “Let’s keep calm, Gerald. You don’t want to hurt Georgia. You’ve known her most of her life. She’s Amber’s closest friend. Let’s just talk—you and me.” His pulse pounded in his throat, and he could barely swallow.

“What’s there to say? You know what I did.”

“I don’t. I don’t know. All I’ve been told is you and Alice had an affair and Jared found out. He confronted you.”

Gerald broke into sobs, but he didn’t lower his weapon. His emotional state made him careless, and all Colt could think about was him pulling that trigger and ending everything good that had ever been a part of Colt’s life. The only woman he’d loved who had made him feel special.

And yes, brought him considerable pain, but it didn’t matter. Not in this moment; he’d risk her rejection a hundred times over.

“We can work it out.”

“How?” Gerald bellowed. “I killed Jared and Karen will never forgive me. Never love me. Amber will hate me. I can’t go to prison. My only chance is getting out of here, and she’s going with me to make sure I get out unharmed.”

Colt took one step closer. “Gerald,” he said softly, “I want to help you. Yes, you’ve made a big mess. Yes, you’ve hurt your family—but it’s possible in time they’ll forgive you. You have to be a man now and accept the consequences for your actions. You. Alice. Everyone who’s kept secrets. The love of my life once told me—” he looked at Georgia—right into her wide-with-fright eyes “—told me forgiveness is a thing, and she’s right.”

Gerald squeezed tighter around Georgia’s neck. “Not this. This can never be forgiven.”

“Everything can be forgiven—in time. But I’m gonna be real honest here with ya, Gerald. If you don’t let her go, I’m gonna have to take drastic measures.” He wasn’t even close to playing the hostage-negotiator angle well, but Gerald wasn’t a bad man. He’d done a lot of bad things to cover up other bad things. “Do you understand? What if someone had a gun to Karen or Amber? Would you let him take them?”

Gerald’s hand shook, and he looked at Georgia. She trembled and her tears had streaked her face, but she was breathing deep and keeping control.

“No—no, I wouldn’t.”

“Right. Drop the gun. Be reasonable. It’s over, Gerald. There’s nowhere to go. They’ll find you at the state line, at the airport. All you’re going to do is hurt more people. Drop the gun.”

Gerald slowly removed his grip from Georgia and dropped the weapon. She raced toward Colt and into his arms, but he didn’t have time to hold her or kiss her or anything. He cuffed Gerald, retrieved the weapon and called in backup and his team.

Then he grabbed Georgia into his arms, and she hung on like he might let her go. That was one thing he didn’t want to do. Not ever.

She looked up into his eyes as the sirens sounded in the distance. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Twice. But I won’t make it again.”

Did she mean what he thought she did? “What about your trigger?”

“Susan also hit me upside the head with a metaphorical volleyball today.”

He grinned. “Hurts, don’t it?”

“Not as much as saying goodbye to you did today. But then... I hear you have a love of your life. Who is this woman? You never mentioned her.”

The woman had the nerve to tease him at a moment like this. “Real funny.”

“I’ve learned to