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A group of guards is heading straight for the bushes where I left Cara. My pulse spikes, adrenaline surging through me, and I grind my teeth, torn between finishing the job and protecting her. I can’t fucking leave her there, not with them so close.
I freeze, watching the guards as they near her hiding spot.
They’re pacing too fast and too fucking close to my girl. They’re going to see her any second now.
My heart slams against my ribs, the urge to rip them apart taking over. Fuck the plan. Fuck the intel. I need to get to her. Now.
I pull my knife from my belt, my fingers tightening around the handle as I take aim. One quick throw, and the blade slices through the cool air, sinking into the throat of the closest guard.He gurgles, choking on his own blood as he claws at his neck before collapsing to the ground in a heap. His death doesn’t go unnoticed; now the others are on alert. Guns drawn, eyes searching for me in the shadows.
Fuck.
I launch myself at the nearest guard, my inked fist connecting with his jaw, but before I can follow through, another one grabs me from behind, slamming me into the cold, hard ground. Pain explodes in my side, but I don’t stop. Ican’tstop. Not when she’s still in danger. My fists fly, my body moving on pure instinct as I fight off the two guards surrounding me. I taste blood, feel it dripping down my face, but I keep swinging, keep fucking fighting because they can’t have her.
I won’t let them.
She’s mine.
The world narrows to fists and boots, to the crack of bones and the rush of pain as more guards join in. They beat me into the dirt. My strength fades with each blow, my body giving out under the weight of their hits, but I can’t stop. I have to finish them.
I have to protect her.
Another fist slams into my face, and my ears start ringing. They’ve got me. I’m not winning this, and there’s nothing I can do about it. There are too many of them.
But then I see her. My girl. Still hidden. Still safe, hidden within the bushes where I left her.
My little nightmare is safe, and that’s all that matters.
They can take me down. They can beat me to a fucking pulp, but as long as she’s safe, I’ve won. I’d sacrifice myself a thousand times over if it meant keeping her out of their hands. Because she’s mine, and no one,no onefucking touches what’s mine.
The last thing I see before the darkness closes in is her face—wide eyes peeking through the shadows, terrified but rootedin place. She should be running. Hell, I expected her to. But she’s frozen, watching me get torn apart, her breath shaky and uneven, her lips parted in silent horror.
She needs to go. She knows it. I can see the battle raging inside her—her body telling her to flee, her mind screaming to get out while she can. But she’s not moving. She’s stuck.
Why the fuck isn’t she running?
And then it hits me. She’s not leaving because she knows I’m the only thing standing between her and whatever’s inside that warehouse. She’s scared of what might happen to me, but she’s more scared of what’ll happen if I’m not there. The fear that grips her isn’t just for herself—it’s for me.
Good.
That means she knows, even now, even with her terror choking her, that she can’t outrun me.
When I get back up, she won’t even think about running.
Chapter Thirteen
CARA
He sacrificed himself for me. They would have been on me in a matter of seconds, but he gave himself up to drive them away from me. I hid, watching from the bushes as they beat him and dragged him away, doing nothing to save him like he had saved me. There’s a ball in the pit of my stomach making me feel nauseous. I’m not sure if it’s because I just had a near death experience, or if it’s because I’m running away, finally making my escape and leaving Rhett behind.
Ducking through dense bushes, I weave my way across the thick vegetation. I’m staying low as I ascend the hill, frantically making my way back to Rhett’s bike. In the back of my mind, all I can see is Rhett being ganged up on by half a dozen men. The way his nose bled when they punched his face. The way he grunted but didn’t cry out as they inflicted unbearable amounts of pain on him. He held himself together and didn’t give them any reason to think he was with anyone else. He protected me.
I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself as I turn back to see Rhett being beaten and forced into the warehouse at the bottom of the hill. He’s unconscious now, and two large men are dragging him through the entrance. He disappears with themafter only a few seconds, leaving me feeling heartbroken and alone.
This is my chance to escape.Thisis my clean getaway. I can run back to the main road; it’s far but I could do it. I could get picked up by someone passing by, and never look back. The police can handle it from here.
But I can’t get myself to move. I’m stuck, frozen in place by images of the man I’ve spent countless hours with over the last few weeks. He’s batshit crazy, but he’s done everything for me.
I’ve felt alive for the first time in a very long time because of him. This monstrous man has grown on me, and now I think he might mean more to me than anything else.
