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When she looked up at me, the hate was back, amplified.
Fuck, I didn’t want her believing the charade.
Sweat slicked my back as I attempted to formulate a plan.
Every single one seemed to end in disaster.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
MAEVE
My brothers were my last hope.
Dirt engrained into my bloody knees as Harold levelled another sharp kick into my side, my sob catching in my throat as I looked up at Cam.
Not a flicker of worry crossed his face. The ice king was back. Maybe it had only been an infatuation for him, a desire to fuck while I was available. How could I have been so dumb?
‘We’ll make the trade for the kids when they guys get here, and then we’ll figure out what to do with her,’ Harold said, pushing me with a heel so that I tipped over to my side, every muscle in my body aching from the cold and pain. ‘Tie her up next to the kids. There’s rope on the side.’
Harold tossed Cam a flick knife. ‘For the rope, and in case she get’s any ideas. He still clenched his gun, now lowered by his side. Even if I could get the knife, he’d shoot me before I could use it.
I flinched as Cameron lifted me roughly to my feet; the betrayal cutting deep. My arm ached where his fingers dug hard into my flesh. Every step brought another wince as I bore weight on my battered knee. We neared the terrified teenagers, their eyes huge as they took in my cuts and bruises up close.
The noise of the knife cutting through rope made me stiffen next to Cam as he readied a piece for me. He pushed me roughly to my ass, seating me immediately between the children, crouching in front of me and gripping my arms. Instead of the pressure of the rope I expected to feel, his thumbs grazed down my palm.
With brusque actions looking every bit like he was securing me, he bent over me, his lips grazing my ear. Something hard slipped into my hand behind my back, the knife. He’d been bluffing his dad the entire time.
Relief flooded me as I choked down a sob.
‘Cut the kids free,’ his words were but a whisper in my hair as he still mock-tied me to the pipe. ‘Don’t run until I attack him.’
‘But your gun--‘
‘Don’t worry about me. Just get yourself and the kids out. Go through the pallets, there will be a door near the back. Get in Katie’s car and disappear. I’ll find you when I can.’
‘You can’t do it alone. He’ll kill you.’
‘Just go when you can. Promise me?’
I nodded, knowing I had no intention of leaving without him.
With a last stroke of his thumb against my cheek, he stood and walked back toward his father, leaving my heart breaking behind him. Where the fuck were my brothers? I needed them more than ever.
Cam looked toward the stack of pallets his gun had slid under. If I could get away, maybe I could reach it in time.
Minutes ticked by as Cam and Harold spoke in hushed tones across the room. Eventually Harold relaxed enough to slip his gun back in its holster, patting Cam on the back and letting out a raucous laugh.
Sweat beaded on my forehead as I worked the knife against the kids’ tied wrists.
‘What are your names?’ I whispered beneath my breath as the rope securing the boy finally loosened.
‘Elias, and she’s Grace.’
I stilled as Harold glanced back at us for a moment before going back to his conversation. My wrists ached as I started work on Grace’s binding, my fingers frozen from the chilled air and the cold floor. It was hard to make steady strokes while holding the knife behind me to make it seem like I was secured. Eventually Grace’s shoulders tensed as the rope dropped.
‘Not yet,’ I said. ‘Not until they’re distracted.’
The urge to flee rolled off of the girl in waves of terror. Please, not yet. It would ruin everything.
