Page 12 of Ride Hard
Sloane
Ididn’t knowhow much time Ihad.
Chaser had been right about the men trying to drag me into their beef with my dad, but it didn’t mean I was going anywhere with him, either. This wasn’t a movie where the hot hero showed up and said, ‘Come with me if you want to live.’ This was real life, and in it, I had to be my ownhero.
Glancing over my shoulder, I hoped it was the last time I would have to, but I knew I would be doing it for the rest of my life. Well, at least the rest of my father’slife.
Powering through the security entrance, I ran up the stairs to the fifth floor. I had to be fast. Grab a bag and stuff in as much as I couldcarry.
Maybe I was doing the wrong thing, and maybe I was too stupid to live, but I didn’t want to choose the lesser of two evils. Death on one hand or imprisonment on the other. The smart choice would be to go for imprisonment, but it was off the table. Not when I had a chance at disappearing before I was forced intoit.
I had totry.
Jogging down the hall, I rounded the corner and almost slipped and fell on my ass. A body wearing a pink robe was lying half in and half out of the doorway to an apartment, her clothing clashing with the crimson pool of blood she was lyingin.
Mrs.Adelstein.
My hand flew to my mouth, and I stumbled back against the wall. I was so screwed. It was bad this time. Really bad. What had my father gotten mixed upin?
Glancing down the hall, the door to my apartment was closed, but that didn’t meanshit.
Stepping over the pool of blood, I swallowed the vomit working its way up my throat and pulled out my keys. I had to at least get my cash. I wasn’t getting far with the twenty bucks in my purse, and I’d forgotten to collect my tips for the night. I needed that money. Otherwise, I was fucked before I even got to the citylimits.
Raising my hand, I went to put the first key in the lock, but it never got there. A hand clamped down over my mouth, and I was pulled back against a hard chest, a strong arm trapping my arms against mysides.
I screamed and thrashed, desperate to get away. Lifting my feet off the ground, I kicked backward, aiming for anything I could. There would be bonus points for ramming my heel into hiscock.
“Fuck,” a male voice rasped. “Settledown.”
Like hell. I thrashed harder, attempting to shake my head side to side. If I could just gain enough slack, I could bitedown…
“Sloane, it’sChaser.”
All the more reason to go for the bonuspoints.
“Quiet down,” he murmured into my ear. “They could still beinside.”
His words flipped my switch to the off position. I slackened, and his grip loosened. When I didn’t try anything, he let mego.
“Keys.” He held out his hand, and I placed them into hispalm.
I stood back against the wall, my knees trembling as he unlocked the door and pushed it open with the tip of his boot. It swung inward, but nothing happened. No gunshots, no knives, no men bursting out, nothing. My one room apartment wasempty.
“Clear,” Chaser said. “Nice place. Real…open. Never seen a shower in the kitchenbefore.”
I wasn’t in the mood to argue about the configuration of my shitholeapartment.
I glanced down the hall. Mrs. Adelstein’s hand was peeking out from her door, the pool of blood creeping further toward the opposite wall. There was no way he could’ve gotten here before me. Chaser didn’t kill her. So who did? It couldn’t have been Pube Face, who was sporting a mighty fine stab wound, so it meant he wasn’talone.
He wasn’talone.
“Are you ready to stop running and start listening?” Chaser snarled in annoyance, pushing me into myapartment.
“How do I know you’re not one of them?” I demanded as he closed the door and leaned against it. “I have no reason to trust you. I don’t want to, considering you work for myfather.”
“If I were one of them, you would’ve been dead long before you even sawme.”
I tensed, my heart twisting in my chest. How long had Chaser been watching me? More importantly, where had I slipped? I must’ve given myself away somewhere along the line. I had fake IDs, dealt in cash, used a scrubbed computer, and had a burner phone. I hadn’t even legally changed my name or submitted any forms with my signature. I’d made up a new one to go with my new identity.How did heknow?
