Except Creighton wanted me. We were family. Him. Levi. Lassiter. Me. We were fucked up. And right now I was back to contemplating potentially gutting Creighton, but he was family. I loved all of them. So yes, I did have a family, but we weren’t normal. We were still so very messed up.
And I was in this mess because of those family members.
Dammit, Creighton.
I kept crawling through the vents, and I was a shaking mess.
Anger. I’d focus on anger because it burned the most right now. It was the easiest to process, and I let it overwhelm me until every inch of me was pulsating fury. I was a literal fucking phoenix crawling through these stupid vents.
Creighton was like an infection.
If I cut him off, would this type of life go away? Would I stop being kidnapped? Being tied up. Being drugged. A girl could only be threatened so many times before she actually picked up a machete. I was nearing that point.
I was done.
So. Done.
Tears were burning my eyes by the time I found an exit to this building. I got to it, and paused, my chest hurting. I had no idea where my phone was. My wallet. My keys. I groaned quietly, pressing my mouth into my arm as more tears slipped free.
I rested my head against the paneling behind me and drew in gaping breaths. My chest was still hurting. A hollow ache was there, and it was so empty. It felt like there was no end to how empty I was feeling.
Life sucked sometimes.
Wiping my face on my shoulder, I shifted to my butt and lifted up a foot. With one heave, I kicked out the last panel. Looking out theside of the building, I gulped. Whoa. I was probably up on the seventh floor, and that was still a long way down. But there were grooves on the side of the building. They looked big enough to get my feet in them, so I needed a minute to collect myself. Calm my shit, and focus. All was not lost. I’d deal with the toxin in my life, but right now, I needed to keep my head about myself or I’d slip and fall.
I reached down, testing to make sure my fingers could wrap around them. They could! The grooves went all the way down, so okay then.
I’d done this before. It was an old hat.
I just needed to take my time.Keepmy head clear. And climb.
Could a person survive a seven-story fall?
I was about to find out.
Chapter Eighteen
Blake
I got to the street after climbing down, and realized they’d only taken me to the building next door. Honestly. I was more insulted by their lack of effort. Or maybe they thought the genius was in the simplicity, but yeah. Next door to where I worked was where I’d been taken.
I decided to be insulted, but the benefit was that I knew where I was.
I didn’t care what happened to my watcher. He must still be alive because Creighton didn’t seem to know that I’d been taken. I could see that as I was in the shadows now, and I was the one watching him this time.
No phone. No wallet. No keys. I walked to Creighton’s club, and a part of me dared anyone to try and mess with me on the way. No one dared, sadly. I could’ve used an outlet for some of my fury. Alas, I was able to get there safely.
So here I was. In the shadows of his nightclub. Nightclub 1.
Watching him now as he moved around the edge of this nightclub, one that was catering to some very wealthy and elite clientele, the kind that liked the after-hours of the after-hours type of club, I enjoyed this role reversal.
He knew I was here. I could tell when he paused, his head inclined as if he were trying to suss out where I was, but I wasn’t letting him. Ikept to the shadows, noting where his cameras would be and staying in their blind spots. He didn’t know where I was, not my exact location.
Good.
I wanted him on edge. Uneasy.
I wanted to have the power. To be in the know. Where he didn’t know.
