“Leith isn’t here,” Islan says, shaking her head and giving me a look of confusion.
“He isn’t,” her captor agrees. Then his eyes dart above my head for a minute, before he looks back to me.
“You took him. I saw him with my own eyes. He’s here, and you’ll use him as bait.”
Islan stares at me, bewildered. The man in front of me doesn’t look surprised at all, but worried.
What the hell is this?
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, but it’s a blatant, bold-faced lie. Liar.
Rooms upon rooms are filled with boxes here, and we’re hidden in the very center of it all. I feel like they’ve led Tate to a maze of sorts. But he’s a smart bloke. Will he walk right into a hornet’s nest? Even someone who’s a damn good fighter like him doesn’t stand a chance against however many people are here.
“Thought you said Cowen was here,” one bloke says, a large, oafish man by the door.
“I did.”
“Don’t bloody see him now, do we?”
My heart soars. Tate’s got the upper hand. He came, and already they lost him. He’s no bloody fool.
The men are preoccupied, their eyes darting around the massive warehouse, and I want to taunt them. Thought it would be easy, didn’t you, boys?
Not with my man. Never.
I feel guilty, though, so guilty. The last communication I had with Tate was telling him I had second thoughts. Did it hurt him? Did he believe me?
I know now that he wouldn’t believe what they made me tell him, that he wouldn’t fall for something as flimsy as a breakup text just after we’d married. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after everything we are.
“Come, then, boys,” I taunt, unable to help myself. “Surely a bunch of blokes like you can take on one little measly Scot, eh?”
Islan’s lips quirk, and the men don’t even look my way.
“Fran.”
I look quickly to her, and she moves her eyes pointedly in the direction of a stack of books to her left. My heart skips in my chest when I see what she saw. Two gleaming silver box cutters. Hidden weapons, as it were.
She wriggles her chair over just a little. I’m close enough I can shove her a little further with my foot.
“Oh! There he is! At the window!” And the idiots are dumb enough to actually look there. It’s just a quick enough distraction for me to shove her even further, and my heart soars in triumphas her fingers slide over the blade. She’s Cowen Clan born and raised. She’s brave and innovative.
They pace the room as Islan quickly begins to scrape the blade against one length of rope. Slowly, painstakingly at first, she gathers more freedom as the rope frays, moving more quickly now. Sweat beads on her brow, and a few times she has to hide the blade in the palm of her hand when they look her way, but they are now fully preoccupied with looking for the disappearing Tate.
And then everything happens. At once.
There’s a loud crash and boom, and the boxes to the far right explode into flames. The men at the door shoot and duck, as an entire army of men flood into the warehouse. Islan openly cuts her bonds, her hands moving rapidly. One rope falls to the floor. She tips her chair, catches herself on her shoulder, and manages to wriggle out of her bonds even as her hands are at my ropes, cutting me free.
Gunshots. Screams. Blood and carnage. I think the entire McCarthy Clan’s showed up for this ambush, with Tate and Keenan at the head. The two men at the door, our guards, are quickly immobilized, and after my hands are free, I look about me in surprise. No one’s killed. Every one of the men is bruised and bloodied, but merely incapacitated. Keenan’s army stands guard, heavily armed and ready to fight, as Tate makes his way toward us.
They’ll bring them in for questioning. A shudder runs through me.
Then he’s here, in front of me, larger than life, reaching both of us at the same time. Islan snorts. “Go on, then. Don’t give me that ‘blood’s thicker than water’ crap. Hug your damn wife.”
He reaches for me.
“Break up with your husband, my arse,” he mutters, and before I can respond, his mouth is on mine and I’m melting into him.
“Didn’t think you’d fall for it,” I breathe, when he finally releases me. “But we have to move. There’s so much more we need to find.”
