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“Who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Layla, you know who. I sent Carter on a wild goose chase. I’m sure he went running out of wherever he has you. Not only could I blow up the building I have him headed to, but I also have your little friend Justin here. And let’s not forget dear old Mom.”
“What do you want?” I ask knowing now that I’ll do anything he asks me. I can’t let my father take lives because of me.
“You.”
“Where?”
“Outside the library in twenty minutes. I’ll take one of Justin’s fingers for every minute you’re late.” The line goes dead.
I bolt out of the kitchen, through the living room and up the stairs with Jeanette on my heels. I make my way to the safe, pop it open and get what I need.
“What’s going on, Lays? What the fuck?”
“He says he’ll kill them. Carter, Justin, my mom.” Turning, I look at her. “Saint.” Her face goes pale at his name.
Ripping my sweater off I grab a bra, put it on, throw on a hoodie, and slide on some jeans. I dig through my bag and I’m happy to find Carter packed the only pair of sneakers I have. Putting them on, I pick up the phone and press call.
“Baby?”
“Don’t go in wherever you’re headed. They know you’re coming.”
“How the fuck do you know this, Layla?”
I don’t answer him. “I love you so much, Carter. More than you’ll ever know but I can’t let him hurt people anymore.”
“Cherry, knock that shit off. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. You wait, baby, I’ll be right there and we’ll talk.”
“I love you,” I say again, but I can’t keep it from sounding like a sob.
“Goddamn it, Cherry, I love you too, don’t do this.”
“Goodbye, Carter,” I say, ending the call and flipping the phone on silent. I shove it into my bra and race down the stairs and out into the bay area to find a car.
“Where are we going?” Jeanette asks.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I say, my eyes desperately scanning the wall for the right keys to the Jeep.
“You’re fucking crazy if you think I’m not going with you,” she snaps back at me.
Finding them, I snatch them off the wall and push the button to open the loading door. When I make it to the driver’s door I hop in and press the lock button fast before she can jump in the other side. I mouth to her that I love her. She beats on the window but I just reverse out and take off.
It doesn’t take me long to get to the library. As I drive, all I can think about is Carter. He’s probably losing it right now. I see my father when I pull in. He looks so much older. It looks like he’s aged way more than four years, but I’m guessing being hunted would do that to a man. I slowly step out of the Jeep and walk towards him. He’s standing next to a black sedan and the driver’s door opens. A man I remember steps out. It’s the man who tried to kill me. The man my father let beat me. I stop in my tracks. He is one of the first things I remembered when I finally started to get pieces of that night back. It’s his eyes. I’m not sure how I ever forgot them. They are so dark they almost look black.
“So good to see you, my lovely daughter,” my father says, walking towards me. When he reaches me, I can smell the vodka on him. It’s seeping from his pores. I go to take a step back, but he grabs me by the hair.
“Is that any way to greet your father?” he says, leaning into me. I take the opportunity to spit in his face. I immediately regret it when he backhands me. I can taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth as I fall to the ground.
“Put her in the car,” he snarls and turns to head towards the sedan.
The driver pulls me to my feet by my hair and I feel the sting in my eyes. I grit my teeth in an effort to stop myself from crying out. I won’t give them the pleasure.
“We got interrupted the last time we were together. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen this time,” the driver says, and licks the side of my face. I feel the vomit rise in my throat.
“Carter is going to gut you!” I growl at the man.
“Well I’m going to fuck you. Let’s see who gets what they want first,” he sneers, grinding his hard-on into my ass, then pushes me towards the car.
When I hear the squeal of brakes, I turn to see if Carter has found me. No. He can’t find me yet. I have to find out where Justin and my mom are. I may not be close to my mother, but she’s my mom. Who knows what my father has done to her.
Then I see Jeanette come flying out of the car. I can see on her face that she notices the mess she’s in a fraction too late.
“Take her too!” my father barks.
The driver pulls a gun out of his jacket and points it at her. Jeanette raises her hands and looks at me.
“I’m going to kick your ass,” she says, talking to me and not the man pointing a gun at her.
“Move it,” he says, motioning for us to head towards the car. The trunk pops.
“Get in.”
I crawl in and Jeanette squeezes in next to me.
“We do everything together,” I hear her whisper. I can’t believe I’ve pulled another person into this. I brought her to the warehouse to keep her safe but it looks like I just brought her into the lion’s den.
The trunks slams shut, and everything goes dark.
Part Three
Prologue
Carter
“Fuck!” I scream.
“What just happened?” Saint asks in a panic. He knows if I’m losing my shit, that something just went wrong.
“Something happened. Layla is leaving the house. Check the tracker on her phone,” I growl as I turn the car around and head back in the direction of the warehouse.
“Jeanette,” Saint whispers, and I know he’s thinking the same thing. She wouldn’t have let Layla go alone. “Step on it.”
I’ve gotta get to my girl. My heart is in a panic, and I don’t know what to do other than drive as fast as this car will go. My Layla.
It takes Saint five minutes to pull up the info I need, but it feels like years. “She’s at the library? What the fuck? That doesn’t make sense.”
I turn the car in that direction, screeching tires towards the exit. It’s been too long. I can feel it. The time has gone by too fast. “We aren’t going to make it,” I say.
“Shut your fucking mouth and drive, Carter,” Sa
int bellows.
I fly around the corner, hoping I don’t flip the car and I jump out with my gun drawn. I see two of the cars from the warehouse sitting in the parking lot with no one else in sight.
I fall to my knees, throw my head back, and let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. “Layla!”
A moment later, Saint runs over and grabs me.
“I think I’ve got movement on her tracker. It’s fading in and out, but wherever she is, she’s moving.”
I check the tracking and see they’re headed to the desert. “O’Leary’s got her, I know it. And he won’t kill her. Not until he gets what he wants. If you want out, now is the time to speak up. I’m going in prepared to not walk out.”
“You gonna drive or you want me to?”
Chapter Six
Layla
I close my eyes to the light that floods the inside of my cramped compartment when the trunk pops open.
“Move your asses,” a gruff voice barks. I try to shield my eyes from the blinding light to see where we’re at.
Jeanette climbs out first, and I watch the man run his hungry eyes over her. I hadn’t noticed what she was wearing before, but it’s clear she didn’t have time to change out of her pajamas before she went running after me. She’s wearing a white tank top and really tight red cheer shorts, which show off her extremely long legs. She probably put it on earlier to piss off Saint, but now she clearly has someone else’s attention.
