Page 38 of Vendetta

Where was my phone? It was in the pocket of my sweats when I’d been at the spa, but they’d taken those when we’d changed for the massages. With that option long gone, I couldn’t call anyone for help. No phone, but I had an idea.

Weren’t trunks supposed to have some sort of internal release lever? It had to be around here somewhere. All I had to do was find it. After contorting myself into all sorts of pretzel-like shapes, it was nowhere to be found. Maybe being a psycho kidnapper meant removing that sort of thing.

That would’ve certainly made this all a lot easier, but there was another option.

I spun around, bracing my back against the carpeted wheel well, and with both legs, kicked as hard as I could against the seats. They didn’t budge. I had to believe they’d give eventually. With the music turned up as loud as it was, I might even break through before they noticed what I was doing.

After a few tries with no luck, the music cut off, and I heard Cruz.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” the other voice asked with a bored growl.

That voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Was it one of the other guards hired at the same time as Cruz? None of this made any sense.

I kicked the seats again. If I couldn’t break through it, I could use it to get their attention.

“That. Didn’t you hear that?” Cruz sounded annoyed.

I squirmed, so my head was closer to the carpeted wall. “Hey! I need to pee. Let me out,” I shouted loudly against the divider.

“She better not piss in my new car,” the unknown voice grumbled.

“Rosa, don’t fuck around. We aren’t stopping for bathroom breaks,” Cruz called out. His words were muffled but clear enough.

“I’m not fucking around, Cruz. I’m going to pee my pants if you don’t take me to a bathroom.” My bladder was protesting a bit, but I could hold it a while longer without any issue. They didn’t need to know that, though.

The silence was taking too long. “I’m serious! I’m gonna pee all over everything back here.”

The other someone growled, and the car slowed. “There’s no rest stops for the next fifty miles.”

It felt like we were getting off the highway, on to an exit ramp or something. The tires crunched over uneven pavement and rolled to a stop. I considered kicking whoever opened the trunk, but that wouldn’t do me much good. I was going to need a hefty head start and a lot of luck if I was going to make a run for it.

When the lid opened, harsh fluorescent lights blinded me for an instant. In that moment, rough hands fished me out of the trunk and stood me on my feet. Cruz’s dark eyes took in my disheveled state as he unlocked the cuffs around my wrists. Without a moment’s hesitation, he wrapped his jacket around me.

“Hurry up, hellcat. The boss isn’t a patient man.”

Cocooned in his warm sandalwood and amber scent, I could almost laugh this off as a dream. Or a nightmare. Definitely more like a nightmare.

The gas station was a bright beacon in a blanket of night. Other than the lights from passing cars on the highway, there was nothing as far as the eye could see. We must be in the middle of nowhere.

I tried to get a look at the stranger in the driver’s seat, but the tint was too dark to make out any features, so I shuffled into the gas station with Cruz following behind me.

I kept my head down and ducked through the grimy door. Cruz stayed outside with a scowl plastered on his face. Clearly unhappy, but unwilling to draw any more attention by following me into the women’s bathroom.

This tiny bit of privacy was a small win, but might’ve been just enough, because when I stepped in, a nicely dressed older lady walked out of one of the stalls. Thank god. Maybe she could help me.

The woman gave me a suspicious look before heading to the sink to wash her hands.

Keeping my voice low, I approached her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but my abusive boyfriend is right outside. I really need to get away from him. Is there any way you can help me get to the next town?” My wild hair and rapidly growing bruise from where Lorenzo had struck me helped sell the story.

The woman’s eyes softened. “Oh, my dear. You poor thing. Is that where this is from?” She motioned to my mottled jaw.

I nodded. “There’s not much time. He won’t leave me alone here much longer.”

“Of course, darling. Can you make it out the window there, and I’ll meet you in the back with my minivan.”

There was a small window above the furthest sink that I could probably shimmy through.