Page 10 of Jay Bird

By the time the first clusters of buildings appeared ahead, Willow’s body was screaming at her to stop. Sweat dampened her hair despite the cool night air, her cheek throbbed with every heartbeat, and the wounds across her back burned beneath her shirt.

But the sight of the city just ahead pulled her forward.

Willow glanced over her shoulder once more, but the road behind her was still empty.

She entered the outskirts of Marrakesh and immediately felt exposed. She had spent three years learning that Chen had eyes everywhere, and she had no idea which businesses, police officers, drivers, or officials might be on his payroll.

Trust no one. That was the rule now.

She needed to get to the train station. From there she could put real distance between herself and Chen, but first she had to find transportation.

Willow moved deeper into the city, keeping her head down and Lily tucked against her chest. Every dark SUV made her pulse spike. Every man who looked at her for more than a second made her change direction. Twice she ducked into the shadows because she thought someone was following them.

No one was, at least, not that she could see. Or maybe they were, and she just hadn’t noticed yet.

A taxi appeared farther down the street, and Willow’s heart leaped as she stepped toward the curb and raised her hand, only for it to keep going without slowing, disappearing past her as if she wasn’t even there.

“Shit!”

She kept walking, and then another pair of headlights appeared, and Willow turned sharply toward the sound, relief flickering through her for a split second when she realized it was a taxi.

She hurried closer to the road, waving desperately with one hand while still holding Lily tightly against her chest, and the driver finally slowed as he approached.

Behind her, an engine roared somewhere in the distance. Willow glanced over her shoulder and froze when headlights appeared at the far end of the street, her stomach dropping instantly as if the ground had fallen out from beneath her.

She didn’t know if it was them, and she wasn’t about to stay long enough to find out.

As soon as the taxi stopped, Willow yanked open the back door and climbed inside with Lily, dragging the bags in after her before slamming the door.

The driver turned around, his gaze immediately landing on her bruised face.

“Madame?”

Willow looked through the rear window and saw the distant headlights growing closer, her heart hammering so hard it felt like it might burst through her chest. Instinct took over as she pulled Lily tighter against her chest, her grip trembling while she forced out the one word she had practiced countless times, even though it still felt foreign on her tongue.

“Mihal,” she said, the word meaning the train station.

CHAPTER TWO

Willow stood on the sidewalk across from the kickboxing gym and stared at the building as though the front door represented the most terrifying thing she had faced in the last three weeks.

Which was ridiculous considering she had not only escaped from Chen Pham. But she had entered several countries, crossed an ocean with a two-year-old using a fake identification, stolen cash stuffed into a diaper bag, and no real plan beyond putting as much distance between herself and Morocco as humanly possible.

She had stayed in places she wouldn’t have considered stepping foot inside three years ago, changed transportation whenever she thought someone might be following her, and learned that twenty minutes of sleep while sitting upright with a toddler sprawled across her chest could technically qualify as rest if a person was desperate enough.

Yet somehow, walking through the front door of a gym in Virginia Beach had her feet glued to the pavement.

Lily shifted against her shoulder, and Willow immediately tightened her hold.

“I know, bug,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her daughter’s head. “Mommy’s tired too.”

Tired didn’t even begin to describe it. Willow was exhausted and running on fumes. But over the last three weeks she couldn’t afford to let her guard down.

She did not doubt that Chen was looking for her. There was no way in hell that Chen had just shrugged and decided to let her go.

She had betrayed him by helping others escape, knocked him out, tied him up, stolen his money, and then disappeared with the daughter he had considered his property, whether he had ever shown Lily affection or not.

She had humiliated him, and Willow wasn’t sure if that was worse than betrayal.