Page 32 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

Seeing Don so large made it seem like he was all powerful. Like whatever he wanted would happen. Everyone’s voices died away but his. And I couldn’t look away. His eyes were focused forward, not on me, but it felt like he could see me.

“This was supposed to be fun, Summer,” Don said. “But you’ve never made anything easy.”

My bottom lip trembled.

“I sent people after you.” He ran his fingers downs the scars on his face. “A face for a face.”

“Summer, get back in position,” someone said into my earpiece.

But I couldn’t move. All I could do was watch the movie unfold.

“And I’m sorry about that, doll,” Don said. “I changed my mind. I could never destroy your beauty. You know that.”

I felt nauseous.

“You’re everything to me. A living, breathing replica of your mother. I could never hurt you. But you were supposed to make this fun.”

“Summer, you have to move!”

I ignored the voice in my earpiece.

“You left me,” Don said. “Do you know how much that stung? No, killing you isn’t an option. But I can take everything from you. Until you come crawling back to me on your knees. I always loved you on your knees.” His smile grew crueler by the second. A leering scowl that took up too much space on his face.

I swallowed down the vomit that was threatening to come up.

“I’ll keep playing this game until you can’t trust anyone. Until you realize your mistakes. Until you willingly hand me who I want. He’s here, right? The infamous V. Hello, V. Guess what? I know your secret.” Don laughed. “I know exactly who you are. It’s going to hurt her when she finds out. Whatever game you’re playing, you’ve already lost.”

“Damn it, Summer,” Eli said as he grabbed my arm. It seemed like he had been trying to get my attention for awhile. “We need to go, we were set up.” He pulled me to my feet.

And then all the lights came back on. I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light. I tried to blink away the image in front of me. But no matter how many times I did, the image didn’t go away.

The real Don was standing in the middle of the theater. With that same stupid smile. And his gun was pointed right at us.

“He’s in the theater,” Liza said. “But I guess you already know that…”

I barely heard her. I reached for my gun.

“Don’t move,” Don said. He made a disgusting tsking noise with his throat. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, doll.”

I could feel his eyes scanning my body.

The movie stopped playing and it sounded like the movie roll was continuing to spin in the projector.

“And Elijah Serrano,” Don said. He turned his gun to Eli. “I see you’ve found something better to do than sit outside my house spying on me. I’d apologize for ruining your career, but weren’t you trying to do the exact same thing to me?”

Eli stepped in front of me, blocking me from Don.

No. “Don, stop.” I ran to the balcony, blocking Eli. “I’ll do whatever you want. Please just take me. I’ll go with you. Please.”

“Weren’t you listening to what I said?”

His gun fired faster than I had time to react. All I could do was close my eyes and wait to die. I expected an impact. I expected to feel the bullet pierce my flesh. I was prepared for death. I had been ready for it since that first night Don put his hands on me.

But I didn’t feel anything. I was alive. God, I’m alive!

“Eli, Summer, get out of there!” Liza’s voice sounded in my earpiece. “Now!”

Sirens wailed in the distance. I turned around and grabbed Eli’s arm. I nearly tripped when he didn’t move.

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