So be it. We go together.
“He’s thinking,” Jade whispers barely audible without moving her lips.
“She’s too valuable,” I tell the fucker. “You won’t have your show tonight. Isn’t this about the hours of desperation and survival?”
He’s silent, white knuckling his anger, so I go on.
“This is too blunt. She’d be done. And the rest of the game would be over too soon, because you put me in the field, I’ll eat your men alive. You hamper me with keeping her alive, you’ve got your show.”
She’s steady against me, her eyes becoming more focused.
I meet her gaze, my voice growing thicker while I speak loud enough for him and his audience to hear. “She knows I’m going to fight to keep her safe. Always.”
Jade swallows roughly, but her spine is straight. When she leans in and kisses my cheek she whispers, “You got him. Don’t let up.”
“So, when does your game begin?” I challenge him. “Or does it end right here?”
A cell phone rings somewhere off to the side and another man steps into the glaring lights to deliver it to the ringleader.
Vesuvius.What a fucking nickname.
The air seems to thicken with tension as he listens for a moment. “Yes. Yes,” he mutters, pacing.
Stabbing the end call button, he whirls on us.
“Untie him,” he orders his helper, a new kind of anger in his tone that tells me there’s a higher level boss.
Realizing that we’ve just been given a chance, Jade sags, the motion barely perceptible. But the softening in her stomach lets her draw a full breath.
“Someone called him off,” I whisper.
He isn’t the decision-maker of this crime ring.
A new truth settles inside of me. If we live through this fucking bullshit, I’m taking them all down. One decapitated body at a time. Around the world, if that’s what I need to do.
The helper moves toward me, grumbling as a knife blade slides below my cuffs, releasing my arms.
Bloody, mangled, I grab her close. “You’re so brave. So strong. I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too, Ryker. Thank you for what you did.”
He cuts my other leg free and I stand up, cradling her into my body. The tranq is gone. I’m strong enough to carry her all night if I need to.
Vesuvius is staring, blinking up at me almost comically.
I’m a foot taller. A hundred-fifty pounds heavier than him.
That’s right.I let a cold grin slide into place as I lower Jade to the floor, keeping her close. “Take a good look so you’ll recognize me in your nightmares.”
He flinches.
It’s subtle, but it was there.
“Well, alright,” he redirects, clapping his hands together sharply. “This just keeps getting more interesting. Let’s get this party started. He might be big, but you know what they say… the bigger the tree, the harder it falls.”
I expect canned laughter to pour from a speaker, but there’s no sound.
Only a computer screen that I can see now that I’m standing.
