And she wanted him.
Dom was not getting away from her now.
Madison just kept going.
114
He was startingto get exasperated here. That woman was far more troublesome than she had ever appeared before.
Ernie had to give her that. Troublesome and intriguing. No wonder a man like Dominic Acardi had it so badly for her. The dogged determination to just keep running from him told him much about her character.
Or just her will to survive.
He had killed multiple people before, of course. He'd had them on their knees in front of him. Most begged. Some lied.
Still others fought. Madison was one of the fighters.
So many fought. Of course they did. It was the will to survive. Ernie had always enjoyed those very moments. Right before…
The control he had over others when he held a gun in his hands. It was the great equalizer, wasn't it?
Men far bigger than he had begged and cried for their lives at his feet. Men he had hated, men he had cared nothing about. It hadn’t mattered. They had all died just the same.
He would never forget the thrill of that.
Maybe that was at the heart of what he did? The control he had over those who should have been able to control others.
He just followed the girl. She wasn't going to get too far ahead of him. She just wasn't. He'd been in these mines repeatedly for years. Madison McAlister was not going to get away.
Ernie just followed.
115
She wasalmostbackto the second cavern. The water…was almost behind her. All she had to do was keep going and get out of there. She could do this. She could.
There was a way out of there and Madison wasn’t that far from the exit. She just wasn’t. And he didn’t have a hold of her now. Her phone, the source of light he was using, had fallen into that water and she’d never get it back.
He was in just as much darkness as she was.
Darkness, the great equalizer.
And here she was, trapped in total darkness again. She really hated the dark. Probably always would now.
Great. Madison forced herself to stop for a moment. To think what to do next.
The path to where she’d escaped him had narrowed and opened four times. There had been two caved-in portions that had had opened over that water.
Her best option was to keep going and make sure she remembered.
He would be behind her. Maybe.
Or he would just keep going to his intended exit. He had to have his phone, too, right? No one went anywhere without a phone. Especially a man like Newcomb.
She was just over the part where the second cave-in was when shefelthim behind her. Breathing down her neck. Right behind her. So close he could probably reach out and lick her neck if he wanted to. Madison fought the urge torun.If she acted that stupid, she’d fall and be killed. She couldn’t panic, couldn’t be stupid.
She couldnotpanic now.
Madison had to remember that.
