The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 425

A spark lit up in Franco’s eyes as he arched an eyebrow. “How impressive?”

Petty wasn’t usually the type to show off just because she had someone backing her, but this time the reply rolled off her tongue before she could stop herself. “More impressive than you.”

There was a little proud tilt to her words, a hint of mischief that made it hard not to believe she was serious about whoever she was talking about.

Franco didn’t like that one bit. To hear her tell it, every guy she met seemed to outshine him.

He looked like he was about to argue, but a sudden rustling in the woods stopped him.

The area was bathed in fragments of light from a hovering helicopter, just enough to see the trees and the uncertainty closing in.

Franco’s expression shifted. He instantly became more alert, his eyes narrowing. The arm holding Petty loosened slightly and she slid off his back, barely having time to steady her feet before Franco’s arms locked around her, pulling her close to his chest.

Her cheek pressed against his cold shirt. All she could see was darkness and the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

A gunshot rang out, loud enough to echo through the trees. Franco shielded her, shifting their weight until her back bumped up against a rough tree trunk.

Were they hiding? She stayed as still as possible, trusting that Franco had a reason for everything. “Are there just too many people, or did the other guy get away?” She tried to whisper it, trying to sort through possibilities and startling herself with the calm in her own voice.

Franco’s tone drifted down to her, even and cool, his wide palm finding the back of her head, steadying her, almost like a silent promise. “He got away. It’s Ned.”

Petty felt her whole body freeze up.

So Franco knew about Ned too.

“He’s...?”

She was going to kill Petty.

Suddenly, she stopped short. There was a body sprawled on the ground—a man from Abbot’s group. Laura dropped to her knees and searched his pockets, hoping for a gun and coming up empty. Someone must have already taken it.

Then something clicked in her mind. She noticed Petty’s coat lying nearby, and with the corpse placed almost as a landmark, she realized how close she was to the cliff’s edge.

It was a setup. They’d wanted to make her think this was the route.

She spun around, scanning the path she’d just walked. There were only two ways to go, and she’d clearly chosen the wrong one. That meant Franco and Petty took the other trail.

All she had to do now was follow the flattened grass left behind them. If she hurried, she could still catch up.

She rifled through the dead man’s jacket, pulled out a battered switchblade, then pushed herself up and bolted in the direction Franco and Petty had gone, breath hot and furious in her chest.