Chapter 155
Haley-
My wrints were few where the plastic the was digging in
A trade. I offered myself, and he took the deal and shen Stown anyway. Because the rules were his to break.
The quit was eating through my youts Shawn’s terrified face, the spreading stain on his shirt–it was all because of me. More than crything, I hoped he was still alive.
And my mom. The caud there on Montana. Were Anatoly’s men really there? Were they watching her right rurow,
The then
made the want to scream into the suffocating darkness, but I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted Mead. I wordt geing to give them anything done to satisfaction
Serri’s voice had given me boge
“We’ll find you. I promise
Bows & hardest heard anything from her since, and the hope was stretched to its breaking point now.
I had to do something I couldn’t just be cargo.
Lopen would be loving his mind, but he’d be looking in the wrong places. He’d think I betrayed him. The note I left would confirm every singacion I’d seen in his eyes over the last two days.
I hard to get a message out I had to know where I was
Focusing on the movement of the car became my only task. I started counting turns, trying to map it in my head.
Along, smooth right turn
Then a sharper left a few minutes later.
The car slowed, and I felt a distinct thump–thump–thump vibrate through the chassis.
Train tracks. We were crossing train tracks.
1 clung to that detail. The railyard was on the south side of the river.
Another few minutes of driving and the sound of the tires changed. It became a higher–pitched hum, and then a hollo
echo surrounded us.
A bridge. A long one. So we had to be crossing the river.
We were moving farther away from the clubhouse. From any hope of a quick rescue.
The car settled back onto solid ground, and the turns became more frequent. Left. Right. Another right.
Tout count around seven. My head was swimming. The lack of anything visual was making me nauseous, and tny desperate attempt at counting faded into a disorienting fog
Were we on a highway now? Did it even matter?
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Chapter 155
Panic started to dig its way in deeper.
I made my thoughts as loud as I could, screaming at Sam in my head. Just one word make me feel better.
But the earpiece was silent. No whispered reassurance. Not even static.
Had we driven out of range? Had something happened to her?
EX 20 vouchers
–
or even a breath from her would
–
The image of red laser dots dancing on Sam’s chest flashed behind my eyes. Anatoly hadn’t been bluffing. What if his men had stayed behind?
What if the ambulance never arrived for Shawn?
The panic was threatening to pull me under into full–blown hysteria. I focused on the feeling of Logan’s hoodie against my skin. It had been comforting when I first put it on. Now it was a reminder of everything I’d jeopardized.
I left him a note that sounded like a farewell. I made him a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep.
A tear rolled down my cheek and immediately pulled me back to reality.
Crying wouldn’t help. Panic was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
Anatoly thought he had a rabbit in a sack. A scared little thing waiting to be broken.
The anger that had made me text him started to simmer again, burning away the helplessness.
I had a sinking feeling Anatoly had only taken me alive so he could kill me in front of Logan.
So I just needed to kill him before Logan found me.
Simple.
The engine settled into a monotonous drone. It had almost lulled me to sleep when Anatoly’s voice cut through the quiet with a calm string of Russian words.
The car immediately pulled onto a gravelly shoulder and came to a stop. There was no road noise anymore, even from other cars. It was eerily silent. We were stopped somewhere isolated.
My body went rigid. Was I wrong? Were they just going to shoot me and leave my body on the side of the highway?
I heard the guard beside me move. His shoulder brushed against mine and I flinched.
I braced for a blow, but it didn’t come.
Instead, he lifted the edge of the hood just enough to expose my ear.
And then he dug into it.
He was going for the earpiece.
The realization made me audibly gasp. They’d known. The whole time. They’d known about the earpiece, they’d known Sam was listening, and they’d let me keep the pathetic little beacon of hope nestled in my ear.
He pulled it out with a tug. Then I heard the electric whir of a window rolling down. A cold gust of night air washed over the exposed slice of my neck. The window whirred shut again.
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Chapter 155
The finality of it was devastating.
That was it. The last thread, snipped.
If there was even any signal still coming from it, Sam was probably already on her way here. Maybe Logm, 100 Best I wouldn’t be here.
He was leading my rescue party on a wild goose chase. Wasting their time, their energy, their hope.
He was proving his point, again. He was always ten steps ahead.
A sob welled up in my throat. I choked it back, swallowing hard against the burn I would not cry. I would not give them the satisfaction. The guard tugged the hood back down and settled back into his seat.
The car shifted into reverse. I felt it move backward, then stop. Another shift, into drive, and we began moving forwant again, completing a slow, precise three–point turn.
We were heading back the way we came.
AD
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
