Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Paige struggled at her bonds again, trying to break free and defend me, but it didn’t get her anywhere. Richie straightened, flashed one more sickening smile, and turned to leave the room.
“One hour, ladies. One. Hour.”
The door slammed shut.
“Mother fucker,” Paige hissed. “Are you all right?”
I nodded, still working my jaw to release the sting. I’d been hit before. But not by someone twice my size with no holds barred. Damn. I blinked away the last of the fuzzies behind my eyes.
“I’m fine. But if that cretin thinks he’s getting his hands on me again…”
I didn’t finish my sentence. There was nothing I could do to fight against Dalton. For all I knew, he’d have his goons hold me down and then take a turn of their own once he was done. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the horrific thought.
“We’re gonna get out of here long before that happens,” Paige said.
“How can you be sure? What if Reed calls the cops? What do you think Dalton will do?”
Paige remained silent, and my heart slammed so hard against my chest that I feared it would do permanent damage. Tears sprang to my eyes as I thought about Bennett. We were so damned close to leaving the nightmare behind us. He was going to get me out. And we’d be together. For the first time in years, I would have a shot at happiness. Now…I’d be lucky to ever see him again.
“Reed will know what to do,” Paige finally answered. “This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with slimy snakes like Dalton.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to stop the tears from spilling down my cheeks. I nodded, trying to absorb her words into my trembling body.
“I won’t let him get to you, Avery. He’ll have to go through me first.”
A weak smile tugged at my lips at the ferocity in her voice. But I knew it was all meaningless. If Richie wanted me, he’d have me. There was no way out. I glanced over at the nail.
“Should we try for the nail again?”
Paige nodded, and we started our awkward, slow crab-walk shuffle toward the wall. The two men with Richie were likely outside the door, so we kept our voices low and moved even slower to try and make it to the wall. It was hard to tell just how long it took us, but we finally reached it.
Paige strained out of her seat to twist around and reach for our weapon, but after a few failed attempts to pull the nail from the wall, it was clear it wouldn’t budge.
“Damn it,” she sobbed, finally breaking.
“It’s okay, Paige,” I said, trying to keep from blubbering. “We’ll figure something out.
I stared up at the ceiling. Please, Bennett. Come find me.
A sick feeling twisted my insides at the thought of Bennett. The napkin was still wedged between my bra and my skin. Was Bennett somewhere inside the same warehouse? Had Richie already killed him? Was he free?
Maybe he’d gone back to the club. Paige’s friends were there. They’d know to go looking for her and would tell someone she was missing. Reed would check his messages sooner or later, especially once Paige’s friends talked to him to see if he knew where their missing friend had wandered off to.
“People know we’re gone,” I said, thinking out loud. “They’ll come looking for us and get us out of here in one piece. Richie can’t really kill us…that would jeopardize his whole plan.”
“You’re right, Avery. Someone will come for us. We just need to be ready.”
Neither of us pointed out that there were many things he could do to us that would be worse than death.
All we could do was hope it wouldn’t get that far.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Bennett
I flew across town, only stopping long enough to pick up a bouquet of flowers for Tori. They weren’t much. Not even a fraction of the gifts I wanted to buy for her. But it was a start.
My heart raced, and an uncontrollable smile took hold as I zeroed in on the club. My phone rang when I pulled into the parking garage across the street. I cursed when I saw Pax’s number on the screen.
“What?” I said, snapping up the call. “Did the asshole finally make a move?”
“No such luck,” he answered. “But he made a call on the phone you bugged.”
“Who’d he call?”
“Reed Parkston.”
A nagging suspicion was still clinging to my opinion of Reed. So far, I hadn’t been able to connect him to any of Richie’s dealings, but something was holding me back from clearing him off the persons of interest list.
“What’d they talk about?”
“Don’t know,” Pax replied.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“All we know is who the call was to and when it was placed. You got any idea where Parkston is? Maybe they’re setting up a meeting. Any chance Parkston is interested in the weapons?”