“Olivia, I’m here. Wake up.”
She winced again and fluttered her eyes, fighting the fog—then jerked, her eyes wild and her breaths racing.
“I’m here. Honey. Take a breath. Inhale. Slow it down.”
Olivia shrieked.
Damn.So much for Jules’s unplanned plan where they somehow snuck out. She shushed Olivia but to no avail.
But no one came running. No more guns. No more smoke bombs. Jules waited Olivia out, until the screaming, then the sobs stopped.
At least they’d learned something. They were alone.
She didn’t know why or where they were. But that had to be something. Her gaze dropped to Olivia’s stomach. “How are you feeling?”
“Throbbing headache. Upset stomach. Heartburn like you wouldn’t believe, but that’s not new. I don’t think I’m supposed to bend this way.”
Especially not while pregnant. “Rhys will find us.”
“I didn’t even tell Mason where I was going. Just your mom.” Tears leaked down her cheeks. “Really, Jules. I don’t even know how everything happened.”
She wasn’t talking about tonight. “It’s okay.”
Olivia couldn’t catch her breath. Her hiccups came one after the other. The tears restarted, and Jules didn’t want Olivia throwing up again. Despite what had happened over the last few weeks, she’d been her friend for so long. “Honey, stop. I wasn’t in love with him. We were never going to have kids. It wasn’t real.”
Olivia’s watery eyes fluttered. “What?”
“I’m not upset. I was humiliated. Embarrassed. I felt like a fool. But…” She tapped her knee on Olivia’s, wishing her hands weren’t numb and painfully tied behind her back. They both needed a hug. “I wasn’t in love with Mason.”
“I think I am,” Olivia sobbed.
Tears pricked her eyes. “That’s actually good. You’re bringing a baby into the world with him.”
“I didn’t think I was going to get pregnant. I didn’t think about anything that was happening. I don’t think he did either. He didn’t want to hurt you. We were just stupid.”
“I was too,” Jules admitted.
“I can’t feel my hands and feet.”
“I can’t either.” If they could saw their bindings or—
A door clicked open and shut. Its echo bounced off the concrete floor and through the warehouse.
Panic surged in her lungs. “Close your eyes. Pretend you’re asleep.”
“I can’t—”
“Do it.” She wriggled and bucked to distance herself from Olivia.
Footsteps drew closer until they arrived. They weren’t the heavy boots of the men who had stormed her parents’ house. The closer they came, the faster her heart beat, until the steps stopped feet away and her heart hammered so hard it might break through her rib cage.
The click of a cell phone camera nearly made Jules jump out of her skin. Then the person kicked her shin. She winced. Damn it. If Tabitha was involved in this somehow, Jules would gladly testify against her. She’d make sure Rhys did too. Long gone was the twentysomething who had been scared of the courts, of public opinion and the press. Jules would gladly recount howstupid she’d been, how easily her cousin had deceived her, if it lengthened Tabitha’s prison sentence.
The shoe kicked Jules again. “I know you’re not still asleep.”
What. The. Fuck.Jules opened her eyes and saw Sloane.
“I’m not going to kick a pregnant lady. You can open your eyes too.” Sloane squatted and cut the bindings between Olivia’s hands and feet.
