AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t attempt to open the door for her, imagining her reaction to chivalry would be less than favourable. In current traffic, it’d take half an hour to reach our destination.
“Fucking drive then,” Ivy orders impatiently from beside me.
I rev the engine and pull away, not bothering to turn on the sat nav. I’ve already made peace with my decision and the consequences I’m going to have to face…
CHAPTER 24
IVY
For the last twenty minutes, we haven’t uttered a word. No music, no radio, just the growling engine and bucketloads of tension. So much for trying to avoid him.
Freddie grips the wheel tightly, his prominent veins stretching over his tanned knuckles. What is he thinking? I guess I’ll never know because I refuse to break the silence. He made his bed and must lie in it.
“We need to talk,” Freddie says eventually.
“I have nothing to say,” I reply petulantly, turning my head away from him. “Are we nearly there?”
He swerves onto a narrow street. Although I’ve been to the Killers Club house before, I’m unfamiliar with its location or how to get there. We’ve taken a roundabout route, and I don’t recognise our surroundings at all.
We’re jostled from side to side as the wheels roll over the roughly paved surface that’s riddled with deadly potholes. No other cars or people are around, and the road slopes downwards. My stomach sinks as we progress.
“Maybe you should make a U-turn?” I suggest, glancing out of the rearview mirror. “You must have gone the wrong way.”
This is not a public road. Fading graffiti covers the surrounding brick walls, and it’s eerily quiet. It’s the type of street where teenagers with nowhere to go come to party at night. Bad things happen in these places, and a sinking feeling in my gut tells me our reason for being here isn’t good.
Freddie’s eyes stay fixed ahead. “This is the right way.”
We veer to the right, entering an even narrower road. Thankfully, no other cars are parked, allowing just enough room for us to pass.
“Turn around,” I insist.
The safe house is on a tree-lined street, not in some backwater crack den.
Freddie ignores me and hums to himself like a man possessed. Maybe he’s finally lost his mind. We’re going slow—around ten miles per hour. I reach for the door handle, ready to jump out and find my own means of transport, but he reacts quickly and locks all the doors.
I try lowering the window but only crack it open by an inch before he stops me. The unmistakable smell of rancid water and fish fills my nostrils. We must be close to the river.
He takes a few more turns, passing dilapidated buildings that show no sign of life. Judging by the smell, I assume they used to be markets or places used to store seafood, likely illegally.
Freddie doesn’t stop until we come to a dead end.
“What the hell are you doing?” I ask. “Where are we?”
His expression is oddly serene. I haven’t seen him this calm since before he knew my true identity.
“Look under your seat,” he says.
My heart pounds as I cautiously bend to feel around while maintaining eye contact with him. I know better than to look away from a psycho when they’re having an episode.
“There’s nothing here,” I huff in frustration, grappling with my fingers until they brush against a plastic shopping bag. I pull it onto my lap and frown, then open it. “A gun?”
I stare at it in disbelief, picking it up to turn the weapon over in my hands.
“If we walk a few feet, there’s an entry point to the Thames. All you have to do is pull the trigger,” Freddie says. “I won’t fight. My body will get washed away. No one has to know.”
He has to be joking, right? I swallow the lump in my throat and check to see if the gun’s loaded. One bullet.
“I made sure the police won’t be able to track the gun,” he continues. “I’ll never forgive myself for betraying you.”
