Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Something rustled in the trees to our left. We both turned to face it, guns up and at the ready.
I didn’t see anything. Fox held up a finger indicating that I should stay where I was. He moved toward the sound, not making any noise himself. I needed somebody to teach me how to do that. Of course, if I had my way, I wouldn’t be doing any more woodland stakeouts.
What was the chance I would get my way?
I watched Fox move slowly forward, and just when he’d disappeared behind a large tree, someone grabbed me from behind, clamped their hand over my mouth, and pressed a gun into my back. “Don’t make a sound or I’ll kill you, and when your friends come for you, I’ll kill them too.”
If he’d seen Blade and Fox, had he been following us all along? Surely if he had been, they would’ve heard him.
I nodded, hoping he understood that I meant I agreed to what he said. My heart pounded. I wanted to fight, but what chance did I have?
“Drop your weapon.”
“I let go of my gun, and it fell with a crunch in the leaves.”
The guy shoved his gun into my back again, forcing me to walk forward. In the distance, I heard a gunshot and a shout.
Fox? Blade? Had one of them been shot. All I could do was pray they were all right.
I had to figure a way out of this. I was not going to die tonight, not when Blade and I had finally agreed we had a future together.
When we’d been walking for a few moments, the man grabbed my shoulder, yanking me to a stop. He yanked my arms behind my back and wrapped duct tape around my wrists to secure them, then he slapped a piece of tape over my mouth.
“There. Now I don’t have to worry you’re going to get stupid and call for your friends.”
This was bad. I tried to shuffle my feet as much as possible, making noise and trying to make it clear someone was headed this way. Would Blade or Fox hear me? Were they even still alive and free?
No. I couldn’t let myself think like that. They were alive, and they would come find me. They were professionals, and if that weren’t enough, Blade loved me. Please let him be okay.
Eventually, this man would let down his guard. If they hadn’t found me by then, I would take a chance and run. With my hands tied behind me and no way to speak, how far would I get?
We stopped by a small shed. The man marched me inside and forced me to sit on the dirt floor so he could tape my ankles together as well.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said with an evil smirk.
I tried to yell at him, but of course, no words and very little sound came out. My mouth was dry, and I was terrified. If someone didn’t find me soon, then a member of Pisano family would come for me. They would kill me, and I doubted it would be quick.
The man closed the door, and I heard the click of the padlock I’d seen hanging from it when we arrived. I waited a few minutes, hoping he’d walked away. Then I fought my way to my feet and hopped over to the wall. I tried banging against it, but I had no idea how well anything could be heard outside. If only I had something that would be louder. I looked around, but the shed was completely bare except for a single chair and a table.
I couldn’t lift the table restrained as I was, but I might be able to pick up the chair. I decided to wait. It would be a little while before Blade and Fox made it this far, assuming they were looking for me. I didn’t want to attract the wrong people.
I had nothing but instinct to tell me when to try again. When I was ready, I struggled to get a grip on the chair with my bound hands. Somehow I did it, hopped to the door, and started banging on it. I tried to make the banging rhythmic so it sounded more like a signal, but I grew tired quickly so I just smashed it as hard as I could until I was too worn out and needed a break.
I fought the urge to cry. I wasn’t going to give the Pisanos that.
Why had I gone along with my mother’s plan? She wasn’t helping me now, and this was her fault, along with Roberto, who’d never liked me. He’d always wanted all her attention.
Fuck. Blade had been right. I was being used. I wanted to be loved so badly that I’d let myself justify it, but now that Blade loved me, I understood his feelings were real, not the conditional facsimile of love my mother had given me.