CHAPTER 14
Carl
They’re here. I have to protect Belle.
“I’m going out to them,” I snap peering out the window at the two familiar men standing in front of a battered truck. It is undeniably full of gas cans, and I know what they have planned if I don’t see them.
“That’s too dangerous!” Belle protests, because of course it is.
“I don’t understand!” Alice twitters behind us. “Who are these men, and what do they want with you?”
“Personal grudge from way back. The smaller one’s crazy.” I declare unapologetically. “Don’t talk to them.”
Eight years ago, I would have punched anyone in the face who called Everett crazy. Up to the moment he shot my wife, I believed he could reason.
Now I know better.
“I’m not going near them,” Alice declares, and I roll my eyes.
“Carl, don’t go out there,
