I try to claw at his face as he climbs on top of me, try to use my knees to unbalance him. He tears at my top and shoves a hand down the front of my sweats. The foul heat of his breath on my face, the painful pinch of his fingers on my bare skin, the sheer weight and pressure of him…it’s too much. I’m back there again. Back in my childhood room, wishing I could die. Staring over his shoulder and pleading for it to stop.
He leans down to kiss me, and I bite his lips as hard as I can, shoving at his chest with ineffective hands. I am losing this battle, but I will go down fighting. I will not let him do this to me again without giving my all.
He bangs my head once, twice, against the floor, and the pain explodes all around my skull. His hands creep around my neck. He starts to squeeze. He calls me terrible names, telling me I’m a worthless slut, that I ruined his life.
I close my eyes. I think of Maddox, my happy place. My home. If I’m going to die here at the hands of this man, his evil face will not be the last thing I see. Please Goddess, I pray, keep my sisters and my brother safe. Let Keres know I tried to be a warrior. Let Maddox know how much I love him.
The breath is being choked out of me, and I start to black out.
Chapter 41
Maddox
King is with me, and we’re running through the docks, winding our way between stacks of containers. He stops, looks at his phone, then points west. “That way,” he says.
I race past him, too fast for him to keep up.
We figured out not long ago that there was another phone in play. The tracking system showed Fallon heading through the Holland Tunnel, from Jersey to the city. To Red Hook, which was confirmed by the photo guy. He found a minuscule scrap of a serial number in a magnified corner of the picture, giving us the proof we needed.
While he was on the move, though, Fallon used his new burner—the one he didn’t think we had access to—to call one more number. That one was situated at the park where the drop-off was scheduled to take place. The main priority is to get Ellie back, but if we can catch Fallon and anybody else involved in this fucked up plan as well, so much the better.
Nathan is handling the Jersey end of it. He looks enough like me to make it work. He’s heading there with a bag full of cash and enough rage on my behalf to take down an army. But just in case, he also has back-up from the Ryans. Now, King and I are here, just the two of us because we didn’t want to risk alertingFallon to our presence. If he realizes he’s been rumbled, who knows what he’ll do? He could run. He could hurt her.He could kill her.
No, I tell myself, that will not happen. King is way behind me now. The man is fit as fuck, but he doesn’t have my motivation. I will do anything to get to Ellie. He waves me forward and gestures to the right.
We know from some toll booth camera footage that Fallon is driving a piece-of-shit Honda, and as I round the corner, I see it. A total rustbucket, parked in an open space at the end of a row of containers. I make myself stop and breathe. I won’t do Ellie any favors if I fuck this up now. I pause and look around. Lots of space. Lots more containers. No people. No cameras.No witnesses.
King will catch me up any second, but he doesn’t count. He won’t be sharing this story with anybody outside the family, no matter what he sees.
Satisfied, I stalk towards the container. The door is open a crack, and I freeze as I hear noise coming from inside.
“You little bitch,” he snarls. “I’ll show you who’s in charge here.”
I eat up the last two hundred meters faster than an Olympic sprinter and crash land right through that fucking door. It opens, slamming backwards with a shrieking bang. Even if it was locked, I swear I’d have gone right through it.
Fallon is on the ground, straddling my sweet Ellie. Her sweats are tugged down and her T-shirt is ripped. His filthy hands are around her precious neck, and he’s squeezing the life out of her.
I let out a roar that comes from the monster deep inside me, and he freezes, looking up in terror as I barrel towards him. I hit him full force. We roll together over and over. He’s not a small man, and he’s jail hard, but that means fuck-all to me. Iignore his kicks and punches and slam my fist into his face. My knuckles impact hard, and his teeth scatter.
I’m bleeding too, but that doesn’t slow me down.
I pin him to the floor and rain down blows with all my strength. With every fiber of my being, I want to kill this fucker. But as soon as he’s unconscious, I sling him off to one side like the piece of trash he is. I’ll deal with him later. Right now, there is only one person who matters.Her. She’s lying still and silent on the floor of the container. Too still, too silent. I scoot over to her side, gently cradling her face in my hands. “Ellie? Baby, I’m here. Come back to me”
King skids into the place and crouches down next to me. He gets out his phone, makes a call, then starts to check her over.
He’s a lot calmer than me, and he does all the stuff you’re supposed to do—checks her pulse, lifts her eyelids, makes sure she’s breathing. “I think she’s just unconscious, Mad. Give her a moment. Fuck, it’s boiling in here.”
I hadn’t even noticed, but now that he says it, I realize he’s right. The temperature is insane, and the place reeks like a zoo. My girl has been locked in here. That evil fuck didn’t even leave her anything to eat or drink.
I slide her head onto my lap and gently kiss her eyelids, her forehead, her poor scabbed lips. “Come back to us, El. You’re safe. I’m here, and it’s all going to be okay. Come on, baby. You know I can’t do life without you.”
She murmurs, the quietest and sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard. Her eyes flutter open, but it takes her a while to focus. “Maddox?” she mumbles. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me, baby. It’s really me.” Her fingers are weak in mine, but she manages a slight squeeze.
King looks relieved and gets to his feet. “I’ve called a nurse I know and trust. She needs fluids, urgently, and we shouldget her to hospital for a scan. But for now, I’ll give you guys a moment.”
Ellie gazes up at me with those amazing blue eyes, and manages a small, fragile smile. “You’re crying,” she whispers, her voice a hoarse rasp.
