Page 145 of Cruel Promise


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“Kids, listen to me carefully, okay?” All three of them perk up with alertness. The girls lift their heads from my lap. “You stay in the corner of this van and be as still as possible. The moment you get the opportunity, yourun. Do you hear me?”

All three kids look terrified. Hell, I’m sure I do, too. But it’s all we’ve got.

“Run where?” Reagan asks, chewing on her bottom lip. “I won’t know where I’m going.”

“Find an adult and ask them if you can make a call to your dad,” I instruct them, thinking on my feet. “Then call Ruslan. All three of you know his number by heart, right?”

“I don’t!” Reagan says in a panicky voice. “Auntie Em, I don’t!”

Josh grabs her hand. “I know it. Repeat after me.”

He starts repeating Ruslan’s number slowly, enunciating each digit. He repeats the number three times and then has Reagan say it again after him.

Oh, God, we’re definitely slowing down.

By the time the van comes to a stop, Reagan has the number memorized. At least, I hope so. I nod to the kids and they push themselves into the corners of the van as the engine dies. I can’t hear much from the outside, but I do hear the sound of the driver’s door open and then shut. The other door does the same.

I’m hoping that we’re dealing with only two men. Somehow, I doubt we’ll be that lucky.

“Auntie Em,” Reagan says from her corner. Her voice is trembling violently. “I’m still scared.”

My heart splits. “I know, sweetheart. But I promise you, I’m gonna keep you safe.”

Josh reaches for his sister’s hand. “Me, too.”

Thud. Click.The door handle mechanism springs open. Reagan gasps and scurries backwards. Caroline slaps her hands over her face and Josh’s fists tighten as the double doors to the van are flung open. I hold my breath, ready to face our captor, ready to attack. But—

“Ben?!”

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EMMA

The shock of seeing my brother-in-law freezes me in place. So much for the fight I was planning on putting up. I’m dumbfounded.

He has the audacity to smile cheerfully at the kids. “Hey, guys. Missed me?”

He actually has the balls to say that out loud.

“You motherf—”

But before I can finish the expletive, something flies past me, knocking me off-balance. It takes a second for me to register that the little cannonball that blazed past was none other than Josh.

He hurls himself on Ben and the two of them kick up a cloud of dust as they collapse in the dirt. Reagan and Caroline scream, rushing around me in panic.

“Josh!” I cry.

But he’s not listening. He’s too busy beating the shit out of his father. He’s unloading punch after punch in his dad’s face, and despite the size difference, it’s all one-way traffic. Every punch is devastating and efficient.

“What the… Stop!… Fucking hell… J-Josh… stop!” Ben splutters from between his raised arms.

But Josh doesn’t stop. He doesn’t look like he’s anywhere close to stopping. And I’m not super inclined to stop him myself. Not until I see how terrified the girls are right now.

“Josh, honey… stop.”

I leap out of the van while the girls hover on the edge of it. The whole time, their brother keeps pummeling the shit out of Ben. Blood and sweat mingle with the dirt beneath them. The sweat is Josh’s. The blood is his father’s.

And then I notice a figure approach from my peripheral vision. I jerk backward when I look up and recognize his face.

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