Tires sounded on the asphalt above our ditch, and my head snapped in that direction.One car. Two sets of footsteps.
They were coming to finish the job, which was to either grab the file or kill us. Depending on who had orchestrated this and what their end game was.
My gun was lodged into the side panel—I’d been determined not to lose it when we rolled—so I reached down and grabbed it, determining there were three rounds left. My door was crushed, and I had no way to open it, and there was no time to crawl out the window, so I dropped my head back, feigning unconsciousness.
Riley stirred slightly beside me, a pained moan leaving her, and I silently asked her to stay still for just another minute.
They were almost on us.
I always knew when someone was watching me, this unease trickling over my skin as the pair paused near my window.
“Both out cold,” one man said, his voice not known to me.
“Get the fucking files,” the other added, “before someone comes.”
My finger twitched on the gun, and I gave them two more steps before my eyes flew open and I blasted the first one-point blank in the head. He dropped, and his friend did the same, clearly trained to avoid fire. He was gone along the ground, and I tumbled out of the too small window, managing to be up and after him in less than a minute.
I was injured. and he was fast, but still, I caught him just before he reached the dark SUV parked on the edge of the road. I could have easily shot him, but then I would have been with no one to torture for information.
He glanced over his shoulder and went pale as fuck as he saw me right on his ass. He fumbled for his gun, but it was too late. I wrapped my hand around his throat and jerked him to a stop before spinning and slamming him against a nearby tree.
“Who sent you?” I asked, my voice deathly quiet as I fought the rage inside of me. It would be a twitch of my hand to break his neck, and I was almost desperate to do it. They hurt Riley. They could have killed her.
No fucking mercy.
He couldn’t speak so I loosened my grip just a fraction. “Fuck you,” he spluttered out, face red.
My lips twisted into a smile, the sort of smile which was usually the last thing he would see in this world, but there was so much more fun for him to come. Another car screeched up, stopping right in the middle of the road like they gave no fucks about traffic. Jasper slid out of the passenger side and practically threw himself across the road.
“Riley!” he yelled, looking pissed and frantic.
“Alive,” I bit out, “but hurt. She’s still in the Bugatti. I was afraid to move her in case of neck injury.”
Dylan was there as well, in his silent way. “I’ll check her out.”
“Deal with this guy,” I said to Jasper and Evan. “I’m going with Dylan.”
“You want us to kill him?” Evan asked, looking like he would love nothing more.
I shook my head. “No, he has a lot to tell us about his role in this. Would be a shame to end his misery so soon.”
When I released him, he dropped to the ground, falling in a heap. Choking and gasping for air. Evan and Jasper moved in on either side of him, their expressions dark and hard.
“Come on,” I said to Dylan, needing to get back to Riley.
“You’re hurt,” Dylan said as I slid down the embankment, my shirt riding up to reveal some scrapes and cuts.
I shook him off. “It’s nothing. I’ve had worse. Let’s focus on Butterfly.”
Because if she wasn’t okay, I would fucking destroy the world in my rage, and no one wanted that to happen.
In the distance, I heard a car engine roar to life, and I paused because that wasn’t the same engine as the SUV or the car that had run us off the road. There were no houses around here either.
Was there a third player?
My feet moved faster as I raced to the crashed Bugatti. “Riley!” I shouted, fear tearing through me as fast as I was tearing through the bushy undergrowth.
I hit my door hard, and when I saw the empty seat where she had been, rage like I’d never known tore through me.
