“Money?” Maddox hedges, but when he glimpses how tormented I am, he amends that conclusion. “Or it’s wrong, baby. Liam was only speculating. Maybe they were just along for the vacation.”
“That’s possible.” I stare at our clasped hands, comforted by his effort to assuage my anxiety. “I went to the Bahamas with Hunter. We all have. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“Let me handle it,” he insists with a tender brush of his thumb.
I’ve never felt comfortable with anyone handling anything for me, but Maddox is different. He’s always safe. I lift my head to tell him I trust him, only to be blinded by two bright lights. Amonster truck rams into his door, launching us airborne into a roll that is both slow motion and far too fast.
Trees and blue and asphalt and sky.
Metal on metal. Pelting bullets. Screeching sounds of death and searing pain.
Stars and grass and crimson showers.
It was almost over. We were nearly home.
Another crash. Some echoed words. Music and wintry eyes.
MADDOX
The roll rocks us to a jolting stop, and I cut the engine and give it a half second to settle. Tessa instinctively tucked her body, so hopefully, she doesn’t have any broken limbs.
We flew into the wooded area. A quick assessment of our surroundings reveals mass pandemonium. There’s a fucking army boxing us in, but one of the vehicles caught on fire. Maybe the one that hit my security team. And there’s gunfire. Our vehicle is smashed and upside down, so they likely assume we’re injured or unconscious. That assumption and the bedlam give us a very small window. We’re hanging within our seat belts, so I grab my knife to free us.
“Arms to the ceiling for support, baby,” I order, cutting myself out, dropping to my chest, and releasing her once she complies.
She folds and flips like a champ. There’s a nasty gash on her head, but we can’t examine it right now. She must have gotten thrown around beyond the coverage of the side airbag. I quickly open the center console, collect the gun and extra knives, andeven happen to find my phone before I fling open the door facing the forest, guiding her out.
She’s a bit dazed, but sticking with me.
“Look at me,” I demand as we crawl behind a tree. When her Caribbean blues rise to mine, I almost choke on bile at the horror swirling in them. I hand her the gun, the extra magazine, my unlocked phone, and two spare knives—even though she likely has her Karambit on her. “Take these, run as far as you can—”
“What?” she gasps, blood oozing down her face. “What are you doing? Where are you—”
“Tessa, we’ve only got a second. Stay hidden behind the trees, don’t fucking stop, and shoot or stab anyone who comes near you. Text my family eighty-six on any of the family group chats while you’re running. They’ll find you.”
“Come with me,” she pleads as tears trickle over her cheeks, but realizing I won’t, she switches tactics, her entire body shaking from the adrenaline. “Maddox, I—”
“Don’t say it, baby girl. I know.”
She gulps it down and peers past me. “You need the gun. There are so many of them.”
I don’t tell her I love her, and I won’t let her say it to me because she’ll view the exchange as defeat, as an ending, and I need her to keep going. So, I choke back any thoughts I have about how this might turn out, kiss her forehead, and rise with all the confidence of the untethered lunatic I’m known to be.
“I’ve got the most important thing right here.” I pat my chest with a wink. “My favorite song. I’m not a gun guy, Nightmare. My knives and their egos will be their demise.”
With that, I waltz into the madness, twirling my Karambit and egging them on, hoping like hell I can last long enough for her to get away.
TESSA
He’s encircled by at least twelve gruff and malicious monsters. They aren’t touching him, and I can’t hear what they’re saying. But one of them raises a gun and shoots our security guard in thehead.
A chill of terror skitters down my spine. Twelve hours ago, he was guarding the employee maze. Now he’s gone.
Why didn’t Maddox take the damn gun?
Even from my stance within the trees, the putrid stench of burning rubber and oil meld with the sweet aroma of pecan trees, bald cypress, and marshy swampland. It’s a cocktail of preserved nature and manmade disaster. The aroma of annihilation.
I send a quick text to a family chat on Maddox’s phone, afraid it will lock before I do. I have my own, but I’d have to text them all individually.
