AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Told you she would run.”
Sean wanted to punch Dante to wipe the smug expression off his face, but they didn't have time for that fight. How long ago had she left? Where the hell would she have gone? Jeremey would have already run a preliminary background check on her. So they had her address.
Would she go back there? No, not with Luis after her. Hacking into and pulling the security feeds from the nearest train stations and bus stops would take time. They weren’t in the heart of the city but there were several nearby options. Hell, she could have called an Uber for all he knew.
He would need to get the techs back at the office working on it immediately. Dante leaned like a man without worries against the hallway wall. The small smile tipping up his lips pissed him off.
“You find this funny?”
He raised his hand making a small gesture. “Little bit.”
“Won't find it so funny when you're spending the whole night looking for her with me.” Friend or not he would take his frustration out on the man if he kept pushing him.
Dante pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. “Guess it's a good thing I slipped a tracker on her.”
“When did you do that?” And why hadn’t he told him?
“When she bumped into me earlier on her way to her nap.”
Annoyance and relief fought for top position in his emotions. They teased Dante about what a paranoid fuck he was but damn if it wasn’t a lucky thing he was, for Sean’s sake. Hopefully his friend’s sneaky move would be enough to let them find Liv before Luis did. And, once he got the frustrating woman somewhere safe, he was going to show her what a mistake it was to run away from him.
Chapter10
Liv
The first clue that she was dreaming was that she was standing alone in the middle of the street of her neighborhood naked. The second was the complete silence of the night. In the city things were never completely quiet. She could always hear someone's radio playing too loud or the traffic on nearby streets.
Vivid dreams were not uncommon for her. Whenever she was under stress it was her body's way of helping her come to terms with the chaos. Unfortunately, over the last few years they were a weekly occurrence. Usually, they consisted of scenes from work or tracking Luis that could help her come up with a better path forward. She would use the time to try out different ideas while safe in her own little imaginary landscape.
What was this dream supposed to help her with? Was being alone the new reality of her life or some sort of symbol? Maybe she was just so screwed up that even her dreams couldn’t help. She snorted. There was a reason she had never bothered talking to a therapist.
The place was an apt depiction of her life. For the first time she was completely without any purpose except to survive. When she had told Tepes that she didn’t have any dreams she hadn’t been lying. What she did have was goals. Not that she had been successful with those in the past either.
You failed me.
Her sister’s accusation seemed to echo down the empty street. Liv’s throat tightened as she fought back her tears of frustration. She’d been so close then fear and her own stupid pride had sent her running into the night. A part of her had expected and almost hoped to get caught climbing out the window.
But he hadn’t come for her. The whole time she had been running she had expected him to be around every corner. Heading back into the heart of the city had been a risk but it had been the only way to catch a bus that would take her far away. The bus to the Poconos had been leaving right as she got to the station so that was where she had gone.
It had been four hours later when she had checked into the motel that all of her bad decisions had come crashing down on her. She was alone with only a couple hundred dollars to her name. Even if she wanted to contact Tepes and ask him for help she didn’t know how to.
His scent surrounded her as if her thoughts had conjured him.
“Liv”
His voice growled her name and her knees buckled. It was probably best that he hadn’t learned the truth about her life. That she worked two jobs and still barely managed to keep up with the bills on her crappy studio apartment. How her quest to bring down Luis had consumed every aspect of her life until there was nothing else left. No friends. No family. She had nothing. She was nothing.
“Liv!”
She lay down on the concrete and curled in on herself. What was the point of moving? He wanted her to have dreams. Impossible as it was all she wanted was for him to find her and forgive her for running away. She’d swallow the reckless pride that had made her run and for once let someone else help shoulder her burdens.
His scent intensified and she felt herself floating away from the ground. She felt safe as if his arms wrapped around her. Not caring if this was a dream she closed her eyes and let herself drift in that false sense of security.
* * *
Liv’s stomach cramped with an all too familiar sense of hunger. When had she last eaten? She couldn’t remember but it had been before going to the courthouse. Even through her closed eyelids she could tell the sun was up. It was probably time to face the day and figure out her next steps.
Why was the sun so bright? She remembered closing all the drapes before going to bed afraid someone would look inside the small ground floor room and see her sleeping. Guess the cheap material wasn’t up to the task of letting someone sleep in.
