As usual, Tommy had an answer ready to roll. “Did I forget to mention I’m very good friends with the insurance company’s CEO? Who, by the way, I have more dirt on than you could ever imagine.”
The man was even more delusional than Allison ever realized. To listen to him, Tommy truly believed he was going to get away with all he’d done.
Her thoughts turned to Liam, and the copious amount of blood beneath his head. Her heart ached beyond repair from knowing he’d been shot and killed because of her.
As the self-damning thoughts entered her mind, Liam’s imagined voice filled her ears.
No, darlin’. This is all on Tommy. He’s the only one to blame. But he’s not in control like he thinks. You are. So take control, Al. Maddie needs you.
The words were as clear in her head as if the protective man was sitting right beside her. Imagined or not, the voice in her head was right. Once she was dead, there was no guarantee Tommy would make good on his promise to leave Maddie alone. The only true way to protect her daughter was to make sure Tommy couldn’t hurt her or anyone else, ever freaking again.
Allison drew in a deep, calming breath. She glanced around at the rural-like area surrounding them. There was what looked like a cluster of old grain bins up ahead, but other than that, it was nothing but highway and field.
Dying in a car accident isn’t the way she’d hoped to go. But it had to be better than whatever sick plans Tommy had in mind.
His pistol was resting on the console, and for a brief moment, Allison considered grabbing it and taking a shot. But as she played the scenario over in her mind, she soon realized that wasn’t the best option.
She couldn’t shoot him, and she wasn’t brave enough to jump from a speeding car. But she could use the car as its own sort of weapon. It would probably hurt like hell, but at this point, what did she have to lose?
You got this, Al. I believe in you.
Liam’s voice filled her head once more. With tears burning her eyes, and her chin trembling with fear, Allison came up with a plan.
She filled her lungs and let it out slowly. Then she did it three more times. Up ahead, she spotted an area of the road where the shoulder dipped low, into a deep-ish ditch. The incline wasn’t great, but surely it would be enough.
Please, God. I know you’re the one in charge, here, but I’d really love it if me surviving and getting back to my daughter was part of your plan.
But even knowing there was a possibility that it wasn’t, Allison was at peace with the decision she’d made.
She looked over at Tommy, who thankfully seemed lost in his own thoughts. Allison checked the road again. They were almost to the spot with the ditch she’d scouted a moment before. And when they were almost…there?—
Allison threw her upper body in front of Tommy’s and put both hands on the wheel. An animalistic growl filled the car’s interior, and it took her a second to realize it was coming from her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Tommy struggled to maintain control. “You stupid bitch, you’re going to make us wreck!”
Kind of the idea, dumbass.
Allison continued with her efforts. The car weaved back and forth wildy all over the highway, jerking hard to the right and then back to the left.
This was it. Her final chance. If she didn’t get control, there’d be no chance for escape.
Mustering up every last ounce of courage she possessed, Allison gave the wheel one last pull.
Tires squealed as the car Tommy drove left the pavement. The wheels hit the shoulder’s loose gravel. They slid, drifting across the surface at a high rate of speed.
A heartbeat later, the car was airborne.
Over and over, the vehicle rolled like a barrel across the grassy plain. Allison and Tommy’s bodies were tossed around like a couple of rag dolls in a clothes dryer drum.
There was a flash of pain as she struck her head, and then…
Nothing.
CHAPTER 16
“Holy shit.”Jagger took the words right out of Liam’s mouth.
Liam’s stomach dropped, the pain in his heart exponentially worse than the throbbing in his head. “Is that them?”
