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“You braked!” Nicole said, her voice accusing.
“Well, yeah! I braked to avoid rear-ending a car that slowed down in front of me, and the engine stalled,” I explained, slowing to a stop at the red light.
“So why the fuck are you stopping again now?’’ she demanded shrilly.
“The light’s red, Nicole!”
“Just run the fucking light, you dumb cow! You need to get to the conference center right now! It’s not like you’ll ever have to pay the traffic ticket!”
Huh. Whatever. I accelerated, right out into the stream of ongoing traffic, weaving back and forth. Brakes screeching, cars skidding, horns blaring. I heard the crunch of at least one accident behind me. They’d be cursing my name back there, if only they knew it, and I was sorry, but hey. Extenuating circumstances and all.
When I reached a straight stretch and edged my way back into my lane, I floored it and drove like a bat out of hell, leaving the noisy mess far behind me.
The shiny new conference center loomed in the distance. I had a bad moment at the entrance to the parking garage. Everything depended on whether the most recent theft committed by Jed and Mick of theOrgoglio & Delizia Fine Cateringvan had been noticed and remarked upon yet. But the guy just looked at me, the van, glanced at the security badge I held up, and waved me through.
“I’m inside,” I said to Nicole.
“I can see that,” Nicole snapped. “Listen carefully. Park in the E Section. Next to the inner wall.”
I followed the signs, found a parking spot in the area Nicole had directed me to, and pulled the van to a halt. My heart raced, my head spun, and I wanted to vomit.
On the screen, Nicole had flung her arm around Holly. She was smiling triumphantly. The moment of truth was fast approaching. My own personal version of hell. Any second now, my ability to play for time would end. Everything was completely outside of my control now. Then again, it probably always had been.
Tears ran down my face. Ugly-crying on camera for Nicole’s entertainment was the last thing I wanted, but I couldn’t stop. I wanted to stay strong for Holly, but I couldn’t nail down my feelings anymore. I’d lost the ability. I was just one big naked beating heart, now, shrinking away from all the fresh pain that was about to be inflicted.
Vincent appeared on the screen. He also looked excited, bright red spots on his cheeks. “Nicole, show Kat her lover one last time, so she can say goodbye,” he said, his voice affable, as if doing me a favor. “It’s the least we can do!”
The camera image swirled and spun in a dizzying arc, and then centered on Ethan. I gazed at him hungrily. He was harnessed, chained, wearing some kind of diabolical collar. It stretched a tiny wire across his throat that had already sliced into his skin. His neck and chest were red with blood, but he was alive. And he didn’t look frightened or defeated.
He looked pissed.
Ethan’s eyes burned into mine. No tender goodbyes from that quarter. He was looking at nothing but pain, slavery, torture in his future, but he hadn’t given in.
The rage in his eyes heartened me. After all, this guy was wicked smart. Smarter than those pinheaded assholes could even imagine. Ethan Masters’ engine ran on pure rocket fuel. Theirs ran on pond scum and festering shit. If he could just stay alive somehow, he would eventually outsmart them, and save Holly. I was dead sure of it.
“Well, Kat?” Nicole prompted sweetly. “Say goodbye, Kat. It’s time!”
I looked straight into his eyes. “I love you,” I told him. “Holly, too.”
Ethan didn’t respond. I couldn’t look away from him. The eye contact was like an electrical connection, and it was all rushing through my brain, the brilliant aliveness I’d felt these past few days since I met the guy. Since my life blew up.
No regrets. Even if he thought I was a demented terrorist, I was glad I knew how it felt to feel again. To love again. It was all worth it. “Goodbye,” I whispered.
Vincent held out a flip phone. “He’s started the keynote speech,” he said to Nicole. “And he sounds very pleased with himself. Want to do the honors?”
“I’d be delighted,” Nicole purred. She started punching in numbers, sparing me a triumphant grin. “Bye-bye, Payback Bitch! Let’s get this party started!”
CHAPTER43
Jed
Holy fuck. What have we done?A panicked voice in his mind kept asking that burning question, over and over again with increasing intensity.
The right thing. So don’t whine.Only response he could offer. Cold comfort.
Goddamn. Yes, he would do his duty, no matter the cost. But something inside him screamed out loud for what he was sacrificing. This precious thing he’d found with Freya. The shining miracle of it. The adventures, the laughter, the fights. Passionate nights and lazy mornings. Long years, to pass with her. Winters and summers, growing old together. Kids, maybe. And Holly. Already, she was like his own child.
His friends, too. They had been his salvation, back when he was young and dumb and monumentally fucked up. Ethan, Shane, all of the Unredeemables. Even Mick, for fuck’s sake. Mick hadn’t redeemed himself for what he’d done, not by a long shot, but here he was, voluntarily driving the car bomb from hell, so he was definitely making an effort. Call it a down payment on redemption. A guy had to start somewhere.
