Page 73 of Crossing the Line (Whitecap)

“Ah, ah, ah,” Graham tsked as String Bean pulled a gun from inside his jacket and leveled it at my head. “None of that now, or this meeting will be over far too soon.”

Renee’s head came around, her eyes big, stark with fear. “Mommy!” she screamed, holding her arms out to me, begging me to get to her, to take her out of here. “Mommy!”

“It’s okay, doodle bug,” I called out, my voice thick with tears. My legs wanted to run. My heart hammered helplessly with the need to get to her. “It’s all right. Mommy’s here, baby. It’s all going to be okay.”

At the second flick of Graham’s wrist, No Neck disappeared back behind the opened door. I wasn’t sure how I managed to stay upright as he shut Renee back in that dark room all by herself, the thick metal of the door muting her cries, but I told myself that it was almost over, just a while longer, and this nightmare would finally end.

“We have confirmation,” Dalton said into my ear, having seen everything I just saw from the camera feeding live to wherever he was. “She’s in the back room. Move now.”

“There,” Graham started as No Neck resumed his place behind and to his left. “You’ve seen her. Feel better?”

“Not particularly,” I answered through gritted teeth. It took an act of strength I didn’t know I was capable of to keep my eyes pinned to my husband and not allow them to dart to the back door, but I couldn’t risk drawing his focus that way. “I’m still stuck here in your presence.”

His top lip curled up in disgust. “You always did have a mouth on you,” he spat disapprovingly. “I was always surprised that none of my...lessonsmanaged to bleed that out of you.”

He’d always referred to his beatings as lessons, as though that somehow made them more acceptable. Looking at the man just then, I wondered how I’d ever been blind enough to think he was anything but a disgusting, slithering snake.

“That makes two of us, because I was always surprised by how easily you were able to con all those idiots in the state capital for all those years.”

Before I had time to register it was coming, Graham’s arm whipped around, his knuckles slamming into my cheek and setting fire to my skin.

I righted my head just in time to catch a glimpse of Trent slowly creeping in through the back door from the corner of my eye. He’d just witnessed the smallest taste of the brutality Graham was capable of, and I was worried it would cause him to react. That couldn’t happen. He had to stay focused on Renee.

I let out a low, brittle laugh as I turned my head and spat the blood that had filled my mouth onto the dirt-covered floor. “You still hit like a bitch,” I taunted, anything to keep his focus on me.

He pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his slacks, wiping my blood off his knuckles. I noticed with disgust that he still wore his wedding ring. Always playing the part.

I’d pawned mine, along with all the other expensive jewelry I’d accumulated during out marriage, at the first shop I came across once I got out of Ohio. The cash I got from all of it had made a hefty down payment on my beach cottage. Bet he would have loved that.

“You always were a piece of trash,” he hissed. “I honestly don’t know why I wasted my time on you.”

Motion from the back of the room caught my eye, but I refused to look that way as the door to the office Renee was in inched open and Trent slipped through.

“You know, I’ve always wondered the same thing. You could have just let me go. Why bother spending all this money and energy trying to track me down?”

In the blink of an eye, he was in my face, his own ruddy with rage as he thundered, “Because you don’t get to win! You belong to me, you’re my property! Do you understand? Mine to do what I want with. To use and defile in any way I choose!”

His rampage was cut off by my daughter’s high-pitched cry. “Mommy!”

I looked toward the back of the warehouse just in time to see that Trent had my little girl in his arms and was only feet from the back door.

Panic latched at my chest as everything began to move in slow motion. “Trent,run!” I screamed. Then all hell broke loose.

Before String Bean had the chance to lift his hand that still held the gun in their direction, glass shattered from above us and a bullet slammed into the side of his head, taking him to the ground. Kill shot.

“What the fuck are you waiting for!” Graham shouted at No Neck. “Get them!”

No Neck turned and lumbered off just as my husband reached around and pulled a gun out of his waistband, prepared to shoot in Trent and Renee’s direction.

“No!” I shouted, launching myself at him. We landed on the floor in a heap of tangled, clawing limbs, and I knew this was it.

My last chance.

As long as Trent and Renee got out, nothing else mattered.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Trent

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