Page 123 of Ruthless Love

‘Okay.’

‘Tell me what I just told you.’

I repeat Gregory’s explanation verbatim.

‘Pearson ran into another room but we knew he had a gun. You tended to Jackson and I ran to get a gun from my safe. It was the only way we could frighten him because he had a gun. Yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘I went to find him. I found him in the bathroom and he came straight at me with glass. He managed to dig the glass into my side. That’s how I have this.’

He moves his hand from a wound just below his ribcage. I wince at the sight of blood, congealed and dark. ‘When he attacked me, I dropped my gun. I managed to kick the gun from his hand. We were tussling and ended up in the gym. He threw a chain around my neck. We struggled and I thought he was going to kill me. We were on the floor and that’s when I saw the gun. I had no choice. It was self-defence. I picked up the gun and shot him in the head.’

‘But—’

‘Scarlett!’ he shouts, pulling a hand roughly through his hair. ‘That’s what happened. Say it!’

‘But—’

‘Scarlett! Say it!’

He’s trying to protect you. I stare at the thick, angry burn mark around his neck.

‘Scarlett!’ he yells, rattling my body with two hands on my shoulders.

Silent tears fall down my cheeks. ‘That’s what happened,’ I croak.

Gregory wipes away my tears with his thumbs. ‘Now tell me what happened,’ he says.

I tell him three times in his words what happened before the police arrive.