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When the binds on my wrists snapped apart, my whole body jerked slightly with the shock of it, and I glanced up, my heart in my throat.
They hadn’t seen. Hadn’t noticed.
I was still bound to the chair by the tape wrapped around my torso, and my hands shook so hard I could barely use my fingers as I bent my elbow awkwardly behind me, peeling the thick band of tape away from the chair and inching it slowly upward, leaving it wrapped around me but not the metal chair.
My shoulder burned, and my head ached from trying to keep the lingering fuzziness at bay. My lungs felt constricted and too small, like they had shrunk inside my body, no longer able to hold all the air I needed.
I wanted to cry, wanted it to be over, wanted more time, wanted—
The last section of tape slid above the back of the chair, and I was free.
My gaze shot to the three men, and before I could hesitate, before I could let fear or doubt slow me down, I surged to my feet and ran.
I didn’t look back, didn’t take my eyes off the door at the far end of the room, but my ears tracked every sound behind me.
“Motherfucker!”
“Goddammit. Grab her!”
Pounding footsteps rang against the hard concrete floor, heavier than mine.
Faster than mine.
My healing ankle screamed with pain as I sprinted flat out, mouth locked open in a silent, terrified cry.
I was close, so close, even though my gait was uneven and my breath was coming in short gasps.
The door might be locked.
It might not lead anywhere.
But it was the best hope I had.
I was four yards away, my hand already reaching out toward the shiny metal knob, when a body hit me from behind. The floor rushed up to meet me, and I hit the cement hard, two hundred pounds of muscle landing on top of me. My wrists bore the brunt of the impact, but my chin hit the floor a second later, and the coppery taste of blood exploded in my mouth.
My lungs seized from the impact, and even though my mind kept yelling at me to get to the door, get to the goddamn door, I could barely move.
The weight on top of me lifted, and rough hands grabbed my ankle, dragging me backward as I screamed in pain. My fingernails scrabbled against the hard, rough surface, but there was no traction, nothing to grab onto.
Then shiny black shoes appeared in front of me, and the man behind me dropped my leg.
“Enough.”
Mr. Mercer’s voice was hard. Unyielding. I spat out blood and craned my neck to see more of him, my gaze catching on the gun he had aimed at my head.
The barrel was dark and shiny, the hole at the end so small it was hard to believe it held death inside.
“This is enough. No loose ends.”
“No loose ends.”
I didn’t know which of the men behind me murmured the words back to him, or if they both spoke at once, but it was all the permission the dark-haired man seemed to need.
He adjusted his grip on the weapon, raising it just slightly, and I knew I should look away, but I couldn’t.
When the loud bang came, I expected to feel pain—or maybe nothingness.
It took me a heartbeat to realize that the sound had come from the door bursting open, and by the time I registered that fact, Cole was already launching himself at his father.
