AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Katie slapped her hand over her mouth, too stunned to speak. Nat groaned and instinctively put her hand on her father’s arm, knowing as well as I did what came next.
“What in the fuck did you just say? Tell me I heard you wrong,” Aleks snarled, his muscles tensing as he leaned forward.
“You can beat the shit out of me when all this is over, okay? The most important thing is focusing on finding Jenna.”
He shook his head. “You seem to forget I’m good at multitasking.”
His fist leaped forward to slam me in the jaw. Pain rocketed up the side of my head and down my neck. He must have been keeping up his membership at my club. I nodded once, rubbing the spot that was surely going to be a wicked bruise, accepting it probably wouldn’t be the last blow I’d have to take. Not now, though.
I stood up and headed for the door. “Now let’s get to work.”
Chapter 34 - Jenna
The back of my head was pounding when I came around, being dragged toward a car that was wedged onto the trail. That asshole was grunting, trying to get me into the backseat, his few strands of hair falling into his beet-red face. This was my last chance to get free.
As dizzy as I was from the blows to the back of the head, I kicked out at Hardy and thrashed until he dropped me. Flopping to the leafy ground, I scrambled to my feet, so furious I was almost willing to give up the precious seconds I had to run away by kicking him again.
I made it to the trunk of the car, about to haul myself forward on it for leverage, when the middle-aged lady I’d seen with Hardy at the resort stepped around the side, holding a gun aimed at my face.
Where Councilman Hardy was red-faced and panting with exertion from dragging me, Mrs. Hardy was stone-cold and calm. Dressed like she’d just come from a yoga class in lemon yellow leggings and a light cardigan thrown over her t-shirt, a single strand of pearls disappearing into the neckline, she waved the gun toward the car.
“Just get in and be quiet,” she said.
Hardy grabbed a handful of my hair as I was frozen at the sight of the gun barrel, only inches from my nose. He jerked me back and shoved me into the car, hurrying around to the driver’s seat. Mrs. Hardy unceremoniously pushed me over to sit beside me, still keeping the gun trained on me as if she did this every day of the week. The car revved to get off the dirt trail and inched its way along until we came to a larger dirt road leading further into the forest.
I had no idea how long I was unconscious while Hardy dragged me to where his car had been hidden, and risked raising my arm slowly so I could dab at the back of my head. Bits of bark and pine needles clung to my hair, and I winced when I found the bloody spot that had slammed into the tree trunk.
“You’ll be fine,” Mrs. Hardy said without any trace of sympathy.
“You’re wrong,” I said. “I don’t know why you think I’m married to—”
“Shut up,” they both interrupted in unison. “The information’s been thoroughly checked out,” Hardy said, giving me a smug glance in the rearview mirror. “I’ve been trying to get rid of Lev Fokin ever since he arrived in my city over a year ago.”
I shook my head, feigning ignorance for as long as I could. “Who? My boss’s last name isn’t—”
“Just be quiet,” Mrs. Hardy said. “You’re not a good actress or a good liar, so stop wasting your breath.”
Her tone and the emptiness in her eyes made me wonder if she was the mastermind behind this plan. Hardy himself was sweating like he was about to have a heart attack, and I wished he would. If this was how it was, then so be it.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” I said.
Anger made me unaccountably brave, or stupid. I’d been thoroughly fooled by Hardy’s good guy act, but then again, so had everyone in town who’d been voting for him to stay in office. Lev hadn’t been, though, had he? I searched my memory, wondering if there was ever a time he’d spoken out against him when I had nearly idolized the man.
Why hadn’t he told me straight out that he was corrupt? Didn’t he promise to be honest with me?
He promised to answer any of my questions honestly, and I never once thought to ask anything specific about the councilman. The only thing Lev had told me in regards to him was that things were never black and white. All of Hardy’s outreach programs actually did good things for the community, but here he was, bashing me into trees and taking me to some undisclosed location in order to… what?
My blood ran cold, and I stopped thinking about what came next. I stuck out my chin and kicked the back of Hardy’s seat.
“You can’t possibly think I’m going to go along with your setup now,” I said. “As soon as Lev finds out you kidnapped me, he’s going to kill you.”
It was gratifying to see Hardy go pale and wipe the flowing sweat off his face. But his wife reached over and thumped me in the side of the head with the barrel of the gun.
“What you’re doing is the opposite of being quiet,” she said.
I made a futile attempt to swipe the gun from her like I’d seen people do in movies, but the barrel slipped through my fingers and only further enraged her. Slapping me hard across the face, she rummaged in her fancy designer bag and pulled out zip ties.
It took every ounce of my strength not to beg her to put them away, and it was only when the gun was pressed into my chest that I calmed down enough that she was able to whip them around my wrists.
