Ruthless Regret (Ruthless Games Duology #2)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

ASHLEY

What just happened?

I left Zain in the living room, and found my way to the small bathroom off the kitchen in a post-sex haze. I wasn’t paying any attention at all to anything around me on that walk. I just wanted to get to the bathroom and clean up.

Was someone already in the kitchen when I walked through it? Did they see me? Watch me as I hurried through? Surely I’d have noticed? The kitchen isn’t that big. It’s more likely that they arrived after I locked myself in the bathroom … right?

In my state of panic, I don’t really remember much beyond the terror coursing through me when the intruder came at me. Their body slammed into mine before I got out of the room. They wrapped a hand into my hair, slapped their palm over my mouth, and dragged me backward toward the door. In my frantic struggle to break free, I think their elbow hit the glass in the door.

Voices reach me, dragging me out of my thoughts, and I hurriedly close the door, and lean back against it.

There’s a nauseous lump in the pit of my stomach, fear crawling its way through my veins. It makes me want to find a dark corner and hide.

I take a deep breath. I can’t afford to let fear take over now. I need to keep my head clear.

Zain said the police are here. I need to get dressed. They’re going to want to question me about what happened.

I frown, fragments of his conversation on the phone coming back to me.

He’d been angry, his voice sharp and biting. He said he’d been talking to the sheriff … but was it, really? Why did he tell them that he’d expected them to have people here already?

My mind spins, throwing memories at me.

He got a phone call back at his parents’ house, too. That’s when he’d hustled me out of the door and drove back here.

Who had that been?

Oh my god. Did he hire someone to grab me? To kill me?

I think back to the look on his face when he came outside.

No, that had been a genuine look of shock … hadn’t it?

What if sleeping with you was a distraction? Another part of his plan to make you pay?

I dismiss that thought as soon as it forms. I’ve had meaningless sex. A string of one night stands solely to wipe away the memory of the past back when I first moved away from Whitstone.

What happened between us wasn’t that … was it? It didn’t feel like it was meaningless.

I push away from the door. I need to get dressed before he comes back. I can’t be half-naked when the police come in.

I can’t afford to fall apart right now. I have to keep focused, stay in control. I can think about what happened later. Once the police have left.

It takes a minute or two to find my underwear, and my face is hot by the time I fish out my panties from beneath the couch. I drag them on, then my jeans, straighten my T-shirt, then dig a hair-tie out of my pocket and use my fingers to comb my hair back into a low pony-tail.

I’m sitting down, lacing up my sneakers, when the door opens.

“Ashley?” Zain’s voice breaks the silence, and I twist to look over the back of the couch. “Are you in here?”

He steps into the room, another older man behind him. The stranger is dressed in a khaki shirt, his sheriff’s badge prominently visible on the left side of his chest. For a split second, I think Zain has brought him here to arrest me for something. Then common sense returns.

I haven’t done anything wrong.

I stand up.

“Ms. Trumont.” He walks toward me, one hand outstretched. “Sheriff McFadden. I’m sorry we weren’t here to stop what happened.”

“Mrs. Ryder,” Zain corrects him before I can say a word. “Ashley is my wife.”

“Of course. My apologies.” He doesn’t miss a beat.

My hand is engulfed by his, and he gives it a firm shake before letting go.

“Are you okay? Were you hurt at all?”

My gaze shifts from him to Zain, who hasn’t moved from the doorway. He’s standing there, one shoulder propped against the doorframe, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his sweats. He’s still shirtless. I’m not even sure he’s realized that. His expression is shuttered, impossible to read.

The sheriff takes a seat on the couch, and looks at me. “Talk me through what happened.”

“What happened is no one was here to stop it.” Once again, Zain speaks before I can.

“My men were on their way. There’s no way we could have foreseen someone attempting anything today.”

“Attempting anything today? What ? You knew someone was going to try something … just not today?” He’s not serious, surely?

“We knew there was a possibility that Zain’s interview would not go unnoticed. He’s just been released from prison. There are a lot of people out there obsessed with him and his trial. Some of them don’t think he should be out, and are just crazy enough to try and do something about it. We knew the interview might have the potential to bring some of them out of the woodwork, so we planned to have some deputies here just in case.” He takes a notebook and pen out of his breast pocket, and flips it open. “Now, can you tell me what happened?”

But my mind is too focused on what he said to answer that question. “Wait, during the interview, Zain said someone was arrested. Who ?” My eyes go back to Zain.

He stares back at me. I have absolutely no idea what he’s thinking.

“It wasn’t an arrest, but we did bring someone in for questioning. We believe they kept information back that would have been important during the original investigation. We can talk about that after we’ve gone through what just happened. Why don’t you sit down? If you can walk me through what happened, maybe we can get to the bottom of it.”

“Someone grabbed me. They had a knife … and from what I’m hearing, you aren’t surprised by it.”

Zain’s expression doesn’t change, but a muscle pops in his jaw. And slowly a thought forms in my head.

“Oh my god … you used me as bait .” The words come out as a whisper. “That’s why you made sure I was on camera. You knew someone would try something . Were they supposed to kill me, Zain? Attack me? What? What was the plan?” My voice rises with each word.

“Please, Mrs. Ryder, calm down. I doubt you were in any danger.”

I swing to face the sheriff. “Not in any danger? Are you for real? They had a knife ! They dragged me outside. I don’t think they were inviting me to a fucking barbeque!”

“Ashley—” Zain takes a step forward.

“No!” My hand lifts, palm outward. “Don’t say another word. I was right about you. You are a monster.” I walk across the room and stop in front of him. “Get out of my way.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out of here. Away from you.”

“Ash—”

“There’s no one here to pretend in front of, Zain. I doubt the sheriff believes we’re madly in love.”

“No, I’m aware that your marriage is one of convenience.”

“Convenience.” The laugh that bursts from me holds a hint of hysteria. “Is that what he calls it? Well, it’s no longer convenient for me. I’m going home, and you’re not going to stop me.”

“Let me explain.” Zain takes a step toward me.

“No! You have nothing to say that I want to hear.”

I push past him, and walk along the hallway to the front door. There are two of the sheriff’s deputies standing outside. They straighten when they see me.

“Could one of you give me a ride home, please?”

They look at each other.

“Daniel, take Mrs. Ryder to her mom’s house,” the sheriff says from behind me. “I’ll come to the house later for your statement. Go home, get some rest, while we finish looking around here.”

One of the deputies nods, and walks down the steps to a car. I follow him. He opens the back passenger door for me to get inside, then walks around to the driver’s side. Once I’ve given him my mom’s address, he starts the car.

I don’t speak to him the entire drive, other than to thank him when he pulls up and lets me out. I don’t look back as I run up the steps to my mom’s door, and knock.

It swings open, and I’m hit on both sides, two sets of arms wrapping around me.

“Ashley! What the fuck is going on?”