“Family?”
“I’m his half sister. Elias rightfully belongs in our family. As soon as you sign over custody,” she said and tickled Elias’s neck, “he’ll be headed to Florida where his new momma is desperately waiting for him.”
My blood turned to ice. Half sister meant Colter’s family. This wasn’t random—this was planned. I took a step back. “I’m not signing over custody. To anyone.”
“Oh, I think you will.” She motioned to the bag. “Put the dress in the bag. We have an appointment to keep.”
I hesitated.
“I won’t hesitate to kill you, and if you don’t care about yourself, then think of Elias. It would be a shame if he got hurt.”
I looked at Elias, so small and helpless in this stranger’s arms. “You wouldn’t.”
She shot me the most menacing look. “You really want to test me?”
My hands trembled as I reached for the dress. My lungs seized. I needed to give myself time to figure a way out of this.
Once I had the dress back in the bag, I stood stone-still in the living room.
“Where’s your phone?”
I slipped it out of my pocket.
“Toss it to the floor.” She motioned with the gun. “Quickly.”
“Jason’s men aren’t just going to let me walk out of here,” I said as I complied and threw my phone to the floor. I glanced at the door. “They’re going to ask where I’m going.”
Daisy slipped her purse onto her arm and stood. “Don’t you worry about them.”
Don’t worry about them? “But?—”
“Get his diaper bag,” she ordered, keeping the gun trained on me while she held Elias. I walked to the corner where we kept it, my hands shaking as I picked it up. “I don’t have a car, and Jason’s men?—”
Gunfire erupted and I started to rush to Elias. Daisy pointed the gun square at my chest. “Our ride’s here.”
Just as quickly as the gunfire started, it ended.
She smiled. “We can go now.” She motioned with the gun. “You first.”
My whole body was shaking. When I opened the door, the men who had been guarding it were now dead. My legs nearly gave out. My stomach lurched, but Daisy’s gun pressed into my back.
“Hurry up,” Daisy whispered behind me.
A car stopped at the bottom of the steps.
Daisy poked me with the gun. “Go on. We’re wasting time.”
Once Elias was buckled into an already waiting car seat, we got into the car. We reached the end of the driveway and there were three more bodies.
“Where are you taking us?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” She shifted in her seat.
I flicked my gaze to the gun in her hand.
Maybe if I could grab i?—
Pain exploded across my temple. The world went black.
