Melody
Kk.
Hauling the backpack over my shoulder, I head over to the door but stop short at a tiny meow.
“Oh fuck!” I exclaim. I completely forgot. “I can’t take you with me, baby girl. I’m sorry.”
Tears well in my eyes. I know Kayden will take care of her for me—I know he would never hurt her or get rid of her. Over the past two weeks, she’s become a favorite of his, though he’d hate to admit it. A small smile appears on my face as I think of how she quickly wiggled her way into his heart. Giving her a quick scratch under the chin, I straighten and take a look back at her before opening the door and leaving the room.
The facility is busy today and I use it to my advantage. Walking through the common area, I get a sense of déjà vu seeing the women sitting on their cots, vacant looks in their eyes. Feels like just yesterday I was in their same shoes.
My phone beeps with another text from Melody. Time to move.
Opening the door to the warehouse, I’m momentarily blinded by the sun. Placing a hand over my eyes, I look around for Melody’s car. Spotting the black sedan near the edge of the parking lot, I continue on, shutting the rusty door behind me as the hinges squeak in the silence, making me flinch.
“Where are you going, missy?”
“FUCKING HELL, DONOVAN!” I exclaim, my life flashing before my eyes as I put a hand to my chest. Donovan is one of Kayden’s lead operatives alongside Axel and probably one of the sweetest guys here. That makes this even harder to do.
“Sorry, Dani, didn’t mean to startle you.”
Internally I’m freaking out. My heart races and my stomach turns. Melody is fifty yards away, but what do I tell him?
“It’s OK, I’m just bringing a few things out to the dumpster.” Fuck, I hope he believes me.
“We could have done that for you, Dani.”
“No, no. Really, I want to be the one to do it. Sentimental items and all that.”
He looks at me with pity as he knows the exact situation I was rescued from.
I shrug my shoulders and walk with what I hope are measured steps. Sweat breaks out above my brow and my hands shake. My eyes lock on Melody’s vehicle, and I try to signal her over but I come to the conclusion I’m just going to have to make a run for it.
As soon as I get to the dumpsters, I hightail it, Donovan yelling behind me. Melody must realize the situation because she floors it and comes to a screeching halt that nearly takes me out.
I yank open the door and jump in, slamming the door behind me. “GO, GO, GO!”
“Fucking hell, Dani! What have you gotten yourself into?” she asks as she peels away from the lot. Instead of answering her, I watch Donovan in the mirror getting smaller and smaller, but there’s no mistaking the phone he puts to his ear.Fuck.
Melody is going to take me to the private jet which has been prepped and ready to take off. Whatever gets me out of this city and to the house the fastest is fine by me. Not only do I want to leave Kayden behind me for now, at least until I can think straight, but hopefully it’ll keep Andrei off my tail too.
“You have some explaining to do, Dani.”
“I promise when this is all over, I will tell you anything you want to know. Actually, I’ll fill you in once I get to the house. Deal?”
“Yeah, it’s a deal,” she replies with a roll of her eyes. “Why do I have a feeling Jaxon is going to flip his shit when he finds out I helped you?”
I can’t even argue with her on that. Jaxon probably will flip out. But not on her. No, he’s going to tear Kayden a new one when he finds out about everything. I think my little stunt opened the proverbial door on that one.
I’m glad I won’t be around to see it. Kayden will have some damage control to do, and hopefully it slows him down enough from tracking me.
There’s really no going back now.
Twenty-Two
Kayden
This ring bust is probably one of the hardest ones we’ve had yet. They are catching on to us and haven’t settled into a set routine which makes organizing our plans that much more difficult. Not only that, but a lot of them no longer have security cameras for us to hack into. Luckily, with my connections and money, I was able to get a through-wall radar system with the help of Franklin. The radar sends pulses which can pass through even the thickest cement, showing us exactly where the men and women are. These handheld devices are connected to Franklin’s system so he sees exactly what we see at any given time.
