Koby might’ve plucked me out of a bad situation, but Carter’s house is another cage, just with prettier walls. Koby’s intervention, however violent and furious, doesn’t equate to safety. All I’ve earned is a change of scenery.
“Please,” he says, staring at Carter. “I need a safe house.”
No... no, no, no, no,no.
Not locked up away from other people in another isolated building. No way in hell.
I should’ve considered my options instead of pulling a half-thought-out plan from the ether while surrounded by men with guns.
I look at Carter, at the concern lining his forehead whenever his eyes sweep over my bruised cheek. There’s fury beneath his cool façade, the same fury I saw whenever Aalyiah so much as teared up.
But then he opens his mouth...
“This will shove a big wrench in my deal with Noretto.”
My heart stutters, then slams into overdrive, adrenaline detonating in my chest so violently I almost sway.
I don’t wait for anything else. And once again, I don’t consider the implications. I’m inheelsfor God’s sake. Wearing a short little dress. No belongings, no phone, no money.
But none of that registers when I spin and bolttoward the door.
A chorus offucksandwhat the hellsrings behind me, getting lost in other noise. Like the echoing clacks of my stilettos againstthe marble, the frantic beat of my heart, and the whoosh of blood in my ears. There’s only one thought in my head:never again.
Never again will I allow anyone to lock me up.
Never again will I be blackmailed into submission.
Never again will I be passive.
7
Koby
For the longest three seconds, I’m too stunned to move, watching Leilani sprint toward the front door like she’s breaking out of a maximum-security prison.
“What the—Leilani!” I snap, chasing after her just as Carter mutters “For fuck’s sake” behind me.
She’s halfway down the concrete steps outside before I hit the threshold. Her heels fly off mid-run, one launching sideways into the bushes, the other clocking the bouncer’s stomach. He grunts, watching Leilani sprint across the driveway barefoot, her hair a wild mess.
“Leilani! What are you doing? Stop!”
“Fuck you!” she screams back like I’m the prison guard. “Go away!”
What. The.Fuck.
This can’t be the same girl who trembled in the passenger seat of my car. Not the same girl who flinched when Jax got nearher atScarlett. And definitely not the same one who looked at me like I was the first good thing that happened to her in years.
I push harder, gaining on her fast. She’s small but quick, her legs pumping, arms swinging as she eats up the driveway, using the downward slope to her advantage.
Gravity gives her a boost, but my legs are longer.
I catch up halfway down, wrap a hand around her wrist, and yank her back. She crashes into me, elbow first, driving the oxygen clean out of my lungs.
“Let go!” she shrieks, twisting and jerking. I barely have time to register the words before she starts swinging. “Let go!Let go!”
The first punch cracks against my jaw, snapping my head sideways. It’s no girly slap, though. Not a desperate shove.
No, no, no. Leilani doesn’t play games.
