Page 169 of Running to You

Eliza hadn’t said a word since Keller’d hit her.

“Unmute me,” Sam said. “Now!”

“Stay calm, bro.”

Michael’s warning tone in his ear made Sam want to hit him.

A hand settled on Sam’s shoulder, but he shook it off, barely glancing Grant’s way.

“Unmuted,” Jon said.

“Eliza, sweetheart. Let us know you’re okay.”

For a long moment, there was nothing but grunts and grumbling, those coming from Jed.

And then, finally, Eliza said, “Where are you taking me?”

Thank God. She was alive, conscious, coherent.

“Keep your mouth shut.” The rage in Keller’s voice lifted hot prickles on Sam’s skin. He’d seemed arrogant and confident before. But this was the real man, bent on control at any cost. He pushed Eliza against the wall, moving so close that all the screen showed was darkness. “You’ll do what I say, or I’ll tear your mother limb from limb. Her screams will fill your nightmares for the rest of your short, pathetic life.”

“Stay calm, sweetheart,” Sam said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

Beyond his tiny phone screen, men gathered, checking weapons.

“And then I’ll kill you.” Keller’s voice hummed with fury and something else. Something that had Sam’s blood running cold. Eagerness. The twisted desire to do just what he’d said. “If anyone tries to stop me, they’ll die too. If everyone in this building has to die for your sins, so be it.”

“I love you, Eliza.” Sam couldn’t help the emotion in his voice. “We’re going to get you out of there.”

“Levi.” She spoke the name like a prayer. No. A request.

Sam closed his eyes. “Yes. I promise.” A promise he had no idea how to keep.

“Levi’s mine,” Keller said. “You’ll never see him again.”

“Mom?”

“What happens to her now is on you,” Keller said. “Everything that happens next, it’s all on you.”

Sam got the message. Save them, not me.

But he wasn’t sacrificing anybody.

A door opened. Eliza was pushed inside a dark room, stumbled and fell. She was flipped to her back, and Sam got a glimpse of two men standing over her.

“I told you we should’ve stripped her.”

Had to be Gil, the goon who’d brought her from the bus station.

A thump.

“Oomph.” She jerked to the side.

He’d kicked her.

Sam was going to kill him. He was going to hunt him down and…

She was struggling, fighting. And then, “This must be it.”