His words offer me very little comfort.
“But…”
“But my wife and kids.” His throat bobs up and down. “Declan said if I didn’t deliver you to him, he would kill them.”
“As in…Declan Walsh?”
“Yes.”
“Stephen—” I try to keep my voice calm, try to breathe through the mounting terror, but I feel like someone is sitting on my chest. “There has to be another way. We can protect them. You don’t have to do this.”
He finally glances at me, and there’s guilt in his eyes. Real, gut-wrenching guilt.
“You don’t know what he’s capable of. They sent me photos of my little boys, of my wife playing with them in the garden. Declan’s got people watching them every minute of the day.”
He’s right. I don’t know what Declan is capable of, but I also don’t want to be the reason we don’t find out.
There has to be another way out of this. The only silver lining is that I’m no longer in pain.
“Stephen, help me understand here, why now? Why tonight?”
“He gave me a deadline, and I stalled as long as I could. But after the safe house massacre…” His voice breaks, and if I wasn’t so terrified, I might almost feel sorry for him. “He changed the timeline.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Stephen’s jaw clenches. “Weeks, maybe longer? He first approached me before Max died, and I tried to resist, I really did. But then the threats started.”
“Why didn’t you come to Ronan? You know he would have helped you.”
“I thought maybe I could find a way out on my own...”
You thought wrong.
The reality has my eyes stinging with tears as the highway stretches on around us.
It’s the middle of the night, and I can count on one hand the number of cars that have passed us in the last few minutes.
I’m desperate to pull out my phone to see if the call connected and if Ronan heard Stephen’s confession, but I can’t risk it.
I might once have considered Stephen my friend, but it’s clear that when it comes to his family, I mean nothing to him. I’m just a pawn. One that is worth sacrificing.
I’m not even sure I can blame him. When I think of my own child, who I haven’t even gotten to hold yet, I know that I would do anything for them. I would sacrifice my own life if it meant they got to live.
My eyes flick to the side mirror, and my heart skips a beat as I notice a car behind us. The bright yellow lights slice through the darkness as they gain on us at an ungodly speed.
Could this be Ronan?
I have no idea if it is or not, but what I do know is that I can’t wait to find out.
Before I can overthink it, I brace my legs and shift my weight in the seat before leaning over and grabbing the steering wheel.
“Ciara, NO!” Stephen roars.
The car veers hard to the right, and Stephen tries to correct it, but I yank it again, this time with every ounce of strength I can muster.
The tires screech, and we plummet off the road, my scream lodged in my throat as the car hits a ditch and flips.
Glass shatters, and my body becomes almost weightless as the world spins around me.
