I want to protest. But my thoughts feel like they’re moving through quicksand. If I don’t sleep, I’ll be worthless as teats on a bull.
Five minutes later, I stretch out in the second bedroom. As I drift away, I offer up a quick prayer that wherever Nash is, he knows we’re comin’ for him.
Nash
I jerk awake, Raelynn’s name on my lips. For a few brief moments every hour, I fall asleep. Or pass out, I can’t be sure. After Enzo and his goons left, I dragged myself across the basement to the sink. Half a dozen times, I tried to stand, until finally, I got my bound feet under me and pulled myself up.
The water tasted like sweet relief, though the bitter tang of blood still coats my tongue. Hunger claws at my stomach, warring with bouts of nausea. No one’s bothered to bring me food. Why when they’re going to kill me in a few hours?
Lying on my side, a few feet from the sink, I stare out the windows high on the opposite wall at a single tree in the distance. Its leaves sway gently in the breeze. The sun paints it in a dull, orange glow. It has to be past 6:00 p.m. I only have another two hours to live. At most.
I wish I could have seen Raelynn one more time. I don’t know when I knew I’d loved her. On the plane? When Lincoln told me they were going to kill her? Or in the back of the SUV on the way here? Wherever here is.
Why did I ask her to get my tools? I could have worked with that narrow paint scraper. I would have picked the paint off one chip at a time with my fingernails—or my teeth—to save her life.
Every bad decision I’ve ever made plays on a loop in my head. From leaving Frank in Reno to opening Raelynn’s front door, thinking her neighbor needed help.
Had I changed even one of them…she’d be safe.
The basement door creaks open.
No. I’m not ready.
Rocco and Benny don’t give me a choice. They each take an arm, dragging me out of the room and up a set of stairs. My knees thud against each step.
“Please,” I manage. “You don’t have to do this.”
Rocco laughs. “Didn’t think you were that dumb, Rossi.”
“Fuck you.”
Benny shoots him a questioning look, and the two men drop me. My head hits the railing on the way down. The world spins when they lift me again. Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?
At the top of the stairs, in a small kitchen, Lincoln waits for us. On the counter next to him, a roll of duct tape and some black material, wadded up in a loose ball.
“Hold up.” He tears a strip off the tape and nods. Rocco shifts his hold and yanks my head back.
“No, don’t!” I thrash and jerk, pain pricking my scalp as a chunk of my hair pulls free. But it’s no use. Lincoln slaps the tape over my lips as I scream obscenities at him.
I can only scream as he pulls a hood over my head, closing me in a dark, stuffy cocoon. Every breath is a struggle. Panic takes over. My limbs flail helplessly, the zip ties tight enough they cut into my wrists.
The scent of rubber and exhaust hit me through the hood. The enforcers shove me. My back hits a hard surface, and one of them grabs my feet and forces me to bend my knees. An engine rumbles to life, the trunk lid slams over me, and I wonder if this is where I die.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nash
I drift in and out. The dull roar of the engine and the steady thump, thump, thump of the road conspire against me. Or…are they doing me a favor? The panic fades with every mile, and my mind wanders.
Will it hurt? Dying? How will it happen? A bullet to the head? Been there, done that, have the scar to prove it. An overdose? Enzo—or one of his men—could slit my throat. Does anyone still use the old “tied to a cement block and thrown off a pier” thing? Or is that just in the movies?
The car slows. Turns. Stops.
Is this it?
Voices. Enzo, I think. Rocco. I can’t make out what they’re saying. I wish they’d get it over with.
The trunk opens. Fuck. I don’t want to die. All I can do is whimper when rough hands drag me from the car. The ground is rough, my shoes dragging, toes catching on small divots every few steps. Fresh air replaces the stench of exhaust, even under the heavy black hood. All I can see are my bound hands, two fingers horribly swollen.
