Page 109 of Possessive Mafia Vows

“Is anyone there?” I hear the tremor in my voice.

A sound behind me.

I whirl around. Stare into the gloom. “Hello?”

Nothing.

Then another sound, but this time it’s coming from the opposite direction.

My head spins with each movement, and I lean against a tree. “Kyle? Is that you?”

Still no answer.

I realize that I want it to be Kyle so desperately, that I’ve convinced myself that he came here to save me and has defeated the men who were keeping me imprisoned. But Kyle wouldn’t scare me this way. Kyle would be yelling my name, telling me to wait for him to find me. Kyle would keep talking so that I could follow his voice until he appeared amongst the trees like an apparition and folded me into his arms.

The silence that follows each sound tells me all I need to know.

I’m not alone in the woods, and whoever is here with me, doesn’t want to be seen.

I spot a glimmer of movement from somewhere nearby on my right. I strain my eyes to bring it into focus, but all I can see are branches swaying in the relentless clutches of the wind. More movement on my left.

I don’t call out.

I move slowly backwards and around a wide, gnarled trunk, until I’m completely hidden, then I start running.

My painful ankle is forgotten. My head jars with every footstep. I keep running until the gusts grow stronger, trying to force me back inside the woods, and I can no longer feel my face with the icy rain.

I run until the trees stop and the ominous black sky starts.

I’m panting. My brain is trying to make sense of what it can see, and then I hear a voice behind me.

“There’s nowhere else for you to run, Sienna.”

I whirl around to find Nick watching me, his face in shadow, his hair like a wet black swimming cap fitting his head snugly. He raises the gun in his hand and points it at my head.

26

KYLE

Nick moves too quicklythrough the woods as if he knows the layout of the land and can navigate the trees with his eyes closed. There’s something about the way he slithers into the overgrown foliage like a snake chasing food, that makes me send Patrick into the building to check out the basement. It’s more than just a coward saving his own skin. His movements are predatory.

He is following someone.

Sienna.

I thought I’d glimpsed someone escaping the house when we first arrived, but the rain distorted my vision, and then they were gone. I should’ve trusted my gut. I should’ve gone after her myself, and now my hesitation may have cost Sienna her life.

She and Nick are standing on the edge of the cliff when I emerge from the shelter of the trees, the gale pummeling them, whipping their hair around their faces and trying to undress them. The brooding night sky provides a fitting backdrop. Because Nick’s arm is around Sienna’s neck, and his gun is pressed against her temple.

I can see the fear in her eyes as she watches me. I promised that I would never let anyone hurt her. I’m keeping that promise.

“Let her go, Nick!” I have to yell to be heard above the shrieking wind blowing in from the sea. “This has nothing to do with Sienna.”

I lower my gun, crouching slowly, and place it on the wet ground at my feet. No sudden movements. I straighten again.

“Touching.” Nick blinks the rain from his eyes and grins. “Kick the gun out of reach. Carefully. One wrong move, and I pull this trigger.”

I kick the weapon sideways, just far enough that I can still lunge for it if necessary. I have a pistol tucked inside the waistband of my pants, but I have no intention of using it while he has her. I’ll find another way to free her before I kill him.

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