Page 49 of Never Wed an Outlaw

Christ, my last contact with him might be the lying text I sent that morning.

After I disappeared, he'd come for me. I imagined him breaking into this empty house by himself.

He'd realize I was missing if I didn't respond for severaldays. He'd bring the club in on it, and they'd mount a full search. But they wouldn't find me in time if the two bastards occupying my kitchen had anything to say about it.

Plenty of girls in the club had wound up captured, and lived to tell the tale. Those were other biker gangs, though. The Sicilians were pros, never as sloppy as the Deadhands MC or the Atlanta Torches.

Odds were, I'd wind up a missing person. An empty question mark haunting everyone I'd ever cared about for the rest of their lives.

“Yeah...yeah, boss. You got it. Sure, I'll tell the fucking cunt.” Tony nodded into the phone pressed against his ear. Franco gulped more wine loudly, the sickening smack of his lips bringing me back to earth. “Forget about it. We'll do what we can here, whatever we can fix, so you don't have to see her lazy ass again.”

Tony clapped his burner phone shut. He turned around, eyeballing me and Franco. “Good news and bad news. Boss says we're supposed to keep this bitch here, and put her to work. Rough her up any way we need to until she figures shit out.”

Franco grinned while my heart sank. “Best fucking news I heard all day, Tony. What's the bad?”

“We've got five hours.”

“Five hours?” I cut in. “That isn't even enough time to pull down the site without major errors in backup, much less –“

“Isaid,five fucking hours!” Tony roared, running to me,shoving the cold gun against my temple. “Five hours, bitch. Count 'em. If you're still blue balling us without any answers by two AM, you can forget about paying back your debts or taking your next breath. Dom says you're more trouble than you're worth, and the contract's terminated. We'll take down your fucking site, empty this place out, and dump your body off in the mountains.”

That fear I'd sat on all evening caught up to me. I felt it in the gun's cold steel, his finger poised on the trigger, ready to end my life if I so much as sneezed at the wrong second.

It tugged at my throat, jerked me toward the black pit swallowing up my future, whispering in my ear.

Time to pay your debts for real, trailer trash. Did you really think you'd take off with your money, your man, your success?

People like you don't make it. They make bad moves and trip all over themselves when they try to claw their way up.

You're going to die alone with money that was never yours. Oh, and fuck your broken heart, too.

“What the fuck's the matter?” Tony whispered, tracing the gun along the tears I'd suppressed, spilling down my cheeks. “Easy, peach, before you get too upset. We're doing you a big goddamned favor, giving you this chance to sort things out. I think you oughta stop being so fucking selfish, and give us something back. Fix this, darling, and we won't have to end your life.”

Darlin'.I heard Dust's voice in my head when I reached up and wiped my tears. Tony lowered the gun as I reached for my laptop, and opened the screen, praying the bastard hadn't cracked it while he'd tossed it around.

It was still in one piece. Lucky me.

Everything inside me, that's what was shattered, and it didn't matter worth a damn.

I didn't have a miracle on its way to save me. And I'd lied away the only hero who might.

This was up to me. I had to move my fingers, work my brain, and do everything I could to save myself.

I took a deep breath, and tried to focus.Okay.

Step one – pretending the problem staring me in the face wasn't a completely hopeless shortcut to my grave.

I took a break near midnight.No closer to a solution than I'd been several hours ago, before they'd shown up and pointed a gun in my face.

They let me take a walk through the house for fresh air. Standing in front of my screen, I stared into the darkness, listening to the icy silence. Autumn meant a slow creeping decline for the bugs, the frogs, everything that reminded a person the world was still alive at night.

My heart clenched. I didn't really know why. Maybe because I thought I'd die without even nature's warmth to comfort me, much less anyone I ever cared about.

Ireallyfucking regretted not going to the wedding now. At least if they'd burst in and killed me later, I would've had one last sweet memory to hold onto. One more round of laughter with my brother and his wife, a few more drinks with friends, a couple more fiery kisses from the man I'd never see again.

Or would I?

Something moved in the distance. When I saw the faint headlight switch off next to my gate, I reached up, rubbing my eyes.

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