The Debt 12 (Club Alpha) (11 page)

His eyes stared blindly into nothing as
he listened intently to what the person on the other end of the phone was
saying.
 
“And you’re sure it’s him,”
Chase said.
 
“He’s…you have him in
custody?”

There was another long pause that felt
like it went on forever.

“Okay,” Chase said.
 
“Thank you for letting me
know
, officer.”
 
He hung up the phone and stood there, as if in a daze.

“Chase,” she said, swallowing, her
mouth suddenly dry
.
 
“What happened?
 
Who was
that?”

He turned and looked at her, finally
coming out of his trance.
 
He
blinked as if seeing her for the first time.
 
“That was the Detroit police.
 
They finally solved my mother’s murder.
 
After all these years, they used DNA
evidence to arrest her murderer.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” she asked.

He nodded slowly.
 
“Yeah.
 
I guess it is.”

“But you don’t look relieved.”
 
She had a growing premonition that this
was not such a relief after all.
 
“Who did they arrest, Chase?”

“Boogie killed my mother,” Chase said,
his jaw flexing.
 
“The man I
considered a father.
 
The guy who I
have thousands of dollars to, who I hung out with, partied with, laughed and
joked with.
 
He fucking killed her
and then spent time with me like it was nothing.”

She was stunned.
 
“Are they sure?”

“The cop said it’s almost one hundred
percent.
 
They have DNA evidence and
other circumstantial evidence that
corroborate
it was
him.
 
He’s in jail right now, as we
speak.”

“You can’t blame yourself,” she
said.
 
“There was no way you could
know.”

He nodded.
 
“Maybe not.
 
But I won’t let it happen again.
 
So now I have to fix things,” he told
her.

“Fix what?”

His jaw set.
 
“Life is about to get very
exciting.”
 
His dark eyes blazed.
 
“I’m going to put things right, just
like you wanted me to.
 
Can I trust
you to stand by me when I do it?”

“Of course,” she said, instantly, even
though she didn’t know what he intended to do.
 
“I love you,” she said.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets
better.
 
But I need to know I can
count on you,” Chase said.
 
“When
everyone turns against me, I need you by my side.”

She felt a thrill of fear.
 
“Always,” she said.

His words repeated over and in her mind.

When
everyone turns against me…when everyone turns against me…

Chase Winters was about to turn his whole
world upside down, and hers right along with it.

Maybe he was right, and she’d never truly
taken a risk before now.
 
But she
was suddenly going to take the biggest risk of her life on his behalf.

She just hoped and prayed it wouldn’t
turn out to be the biggest mistake she’d ever make.

THE END OF BOOK TWELVE OF THE DEBT

Stay tuned for
the FINAL BOOK of The Debt, coming soon!!!!!