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30
Mercy
As soon asthe realization hit me, I spun away from Gia and took off across the parking lot. I couldn’t waste precious time trying to reason with her or haul her back to Wylder. Any second I delayed could mean Anthea’s death.
Maybe she’d been an ass to me, maybe there’d been times when I’d wanted to punch her face in, but I knew behind it all she’d only been looking out for the guys the best way she knew how. If I stood around and let Gia murder her, her blood would be on my hands too. Nothing about that possibility sat right with me.
Gia’s voice rang out behind me, pitched to carry all the way down the block. “She’s here! Mercy Katz is here!”
Fuck. I didn’t risk looking back, but a sharp exclamation somewhere down the street told me that at least one of Colt’s men had heard her announcement. As I pushed myself faster, Gia let out another holler, sounding almost gleeful. “That’s her! That’s Mercy Katz. Don’t let her get away!”
I gritted my teeth and ran faster for both my sake and Anthea’s, pumping my arms to keep my momentum. I couldn’t let Colt haul my ass in again. Lord only knew what he’d do to me now that I’d defied him to his face.
I bolted down an alley and across the street on the other side. Veering left to mix up my path, I sprinted on. Kaige’s dog tags bit into my palm where I was still clutching them. I didn’t dare stop even long enough to safely stuff them in my hoodie’s pocket.
Tires screeched around a corner way too close for comfort. I swerved down another narrow alley and burst out by a street that still had a decent amount of traffic at this hour. Jogging against the flow, I spotted a cab heading my way. I waved my arm, bouncing on my feet to catch the driver’s attention as I hustled to meet it.
The cab had barely rolled to a halt when I yanked the door open and dove into the back seat. The driver stared back at me.
“Paradise City, top of the hill,” I said, panting. “Please. Just step on it.”
The engine revved as the cabbie hit the gas. Requests that tested the speed limit probably weren’t unusual in this part of town. I jolted back in the seat and scrambled for my phone.
Even driving fast through the dwindling night traffic, it would take at least half an hour to make it back to the mansion. I skimmed through the profiles I’d saved in my Contacts. The Nobles kept a handy list of all the important numbers on the fridge, since I supposed they changed burners regularly and it was easier to spread the word that way. I’d entered all four of the guys on a whim I now thanked God for.
After a moment’s hesitation as I debated who I’d hate speaking to the least, I tapped Rowan’s name. He’d offered me some kind of help—he was the most likely to listen to me, right?
The call went through to voicemail. With a groan, I dialed Gideon, but he didn’t pick up either. No way in hell was I counting on anything from Wylder after the way he’d laid into me this morning, so I jabbed the entry for Kaige instead.
Relief flooded me at the click of him answering. “Hello?”
“Kaige, it’s me. Mercy.” I dragged in a breath to steady my voice, but Kaige broke in before I could go on.
“Mercy? Where the fuck are you?” The angry growl in his voice chilled me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You just need to—”
He interrupted me again, his tone even harsher. “I think it matters. Gia just called Wylder—she’s saying you followed her into the Bend andattackedher? She was sobbing her heart out on the phone. Is this why you were asking all those questions about her?”
Fucking hell. I wanted to wring that bitch’s neck. “Of course not,” I snapped. “She’s lying again, just like she was about Colt. You have to listen. I—”
“I don’t want to hear a word out of your mouth until you’re back here and you can explain to all of us where the hell you ran off to. And you’d better get here fast, because Wylder’s getting more pissed off by the second.”
“Kaige!”
He’d already hung up. Dead air filled my ear. Swearing, I bit the bullet and tried calling Wylder, then each of the other guys again, but if they were seeing the calls, they were ignoring me.
They had no idea this was anything other than a spat between two supposed groupies—and who knew what other lies Gia had spun to antagonize them against me.
“Can you go any faster?” I said to the cabbie as I frantically tapped out a text message.Anthea’s in danger. Don’t let her get in her car.
I sent it and stared at the screen. The message remained unread. Why did they have to be such blockheads?
I pushed both the phone and the dog tags into my pockets and spent the rest of the drive tipped forward in my seat as if I could urge the car faster that way. Buildings whipped by outside the window. Every time we had to stop for a light, my pulse thudded at the base of my throat.
I was probably worrying over nothing, right? Why would Anthea be driving anywhere in the middle of the night? She might already be in bed, for fuck’s sake.
But was Gia unstable enough to have revealed her plan to me if she hadn’t been pretty sure it’d be in motion before I could get back to the mansion?
