Page 139 of Every Broken Piece
Chapter sixty-one
Tess
Ishould have told him I loved him.
I shouldn’t have waited.
Now I'll never have the chance because I know there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that I’ll make it out of this alive. Ryan Carter in unhinged, delusional, disturbed. Mad. Sandra finally pissed off someone who'll take this to the very end and I'm paying the price. I always pay the price, but this time the price is too high. The highest.
I blink back tears because let's face it, tears don't get you anywhere and I don't want to die crying.
I really, really wish I'd told Gabe I love him. I'll die with those words having never crossed my lips and it fucking sucks.
I doesn't matter. He probably hates me because his son was shot and it was my fault. My fault. Sandra's fault. Carter's fault. It doesn't matter anymore.
I’ve tried not to think of Pax lying on the ground. I’ve tried not to wonder if he’s still alive, but my mind constantly goes to him. Funny, loving, Pax. My Go Fish partner in crime. The guywhose father I love so desperately that it actually hurts my heart to think of the evil I’ve brought to his family.
Ryan Carter’s pacing the cavernous room that will one day be a gorgeous living area. His phone is pressed to his ear, his movements jerky and agitated, his shoulders hunched. There are no walls in this house yet, just studs where walls will one day be. Thank goodness windows were installed, keeping the wind out, but not the cold. I have no idea if we’re still in Denver, or even Colorado. It doesn’t matter. I’m a dead woman waiting for the killing blow.
I woke to a terror so chilling that my mind couldn't think fast enough to comprehend it. Tied to a chair in a house with three men who care nothing about me. They can't leave me alive. I see that truth in their eyes. The other two won't even look at me but Carter, he stares at me like I'm his last meal. His gravy train. And it twists my insides with anguish. I don't want to die scared. I don't want to die at all, but I really don't want to die scared. Or with regrets, and I have plenty of those.
I just wish I’d told him I love him.
“Mr. Strong. I have your girl.”
My head snaps up. I make a sound but right before Carter made the call he'd put a piece of duct tape over my mouth. I tried to fight him but there's only so much I can do. Only so much fight I have in me.
He paces to the other end of the house, out of my sight no matter how much I try to turn my head to follow his movements. He falls silent. I glance at the other two who’d been with Carter when they took me.
One’s standing at the window in what looks like will be the kitchen, scanning the line of trees at the back of the property. A gun sits in his shoulder holster and he’s nervously picking at the exposed wood of a wall stud.
The other is in almost the same position not far from me, standing to the side of a window that faces the front of the house. He’s holding his gun, finger too close to the trigger for comfort, his knee jittering.
“She owes us money, Mr. Strong. I’m here to collect.”
Carter reappears in my peripheral. I lean to the side as much as I can to watch him. Gabe's on the other end of that call and it feels like if I lean toward him, I'm closer to him, even though I'm not. I'm still tied to a chair and he's probably far away. With Pax. Where he should be.
“Her mother promised that Miss James would pay her debt and I’m holding her to it.” He glances at me. I want to curl into myself but I don't. I sit tall and stare back impassively. It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Without any memory of our first encounter, I’d built Ryan Carter up in my mind as some sort of grotesque monster. I was way off. He’s just an average looking man, around six feet, maybe an inch less, thin build, nondescript brown hair and brown eyes. But what he lacks in height and build, he makes up for in sheer ruthlessness. There is nothing inside the man but determined greed.
His body snaps taut and he frowns. “You’ve done your research.”
He chuckles, but there’s no humor in the sound. “Ifyou find me, Mr. Strong.”
He strolls close and stops in front of me, making me crane my neck to look up at him. I’m straining to hear Gabe’s voice. Just one last time I want to hear his voice, even if it is to tell Carter to go to hell.
As if sensing my need to reach out to Gabe, Carter places a finger over the tape covering my lips and presses so hard my teeth cut into my lip. I make a sound but Gabe can't hear me.
“I’ll tell you what,” Carter says into the phone as he pins my head to the back of the chair with his finger to my lips. “Meet me in twelve hours. I’ll have your girl for you. You just need to bring one million dollars. I think that’s a fair trade.”
One million dollars?No way will Gabe pay that for the woman who maybe killed his son. I wouldn’t want him to pay that much for me. I’m not worth it.
Carter’s grin thrown in my direction is cold and all teeth. “Not my problem,Gabe.”
He tilts his head as he listens. As much as I try, I can’t hear Gabe’s voice and that makes me sad but also maybe it’s for the best. My heart doesn't need to be broken more than it is.
“You’ll just have to trust me on this.” Another pause. “Show me the money, I show you the girl. Twelve hours. One million dollars. No cops. I see cops, she’s dead.”
