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“Anything for you, Sadie.” He brushes his hand over my hair, then shoves me toward the phone. “But hurry and grab it because I’m about out of patience. We have a flight to catch and a schedule to keep.”

I catch myself against the counter, my hand landing next to his phone, the other next to the carafe. A flight? Another hit of fear pushes past the adrenaline in my system.

Coffee.

A calm washes over me, a sort of peace in whatever comes next. Because I suddenly know that I won’t be leaving this bar with Darren. He’ll have to kill me first.

Please still be hot.

My fingers brush against the still-hot glass. Yes. I grab Maverick’s phone with one hand, then my other closes around the handle of the coffee pot.

“What is taking you so long?” Darren demands.

He takes a few steps closer, and I turn, swinging the glass coffee pot with every bit of strength I have. It slams into his head, shattering and sending hot coffee flying in all directions.

He screams in pain, but I don’t wait around to see if it takes him to the ground. I sprint toward the door leading back out to the bar, unlocking Maverick’s phone as I do.

Help. We need help.

The door swings as I run, but I only make it another few steps before sharp pain explodes in the back of my head and I’m ripped backward.

I hit the wall, the phone falling to the floor.

My vision swims.

Darren is in front of me before I can do much else, his eyes wild, face bleeding from multiple punctures in the skin of his now-burned face. “You will pay for that.” His hand closes around my throat, and he squeezes. “Why do you keep making me hurt you, Sadie? Why can’t you just accept my love!”

The pain in my throat is nothing compared to the burning in my lungs.

“It’s not love,” I choke out as I claw at his arm. But he doesn’t budge. There is no trace of sanity left in his expression.

He’s furious.

Wild.

And he is going to kill me.

“See? You’re making me do this. Why can’t you just obey? I gave you my name. My real name.” He presses the fingers on the hand not currently wrapped around my throat, against the still-healing wound in my stomach.

Stinging pain shoots through me.

“That’s an ‘R’,” I choke out.

He leans in and presses his lips to my ear. Bile burns in my throat as his hot breath fans over my face. “Royce,” he whispers. “That’s my name. Bella hated it. She made me change it.” He pulls back. “That’s how much I love you, Sadie. Bella never cared. But you do. You do,” he repeats.

My vision begins to darken around the edges as I lose the fight with consciousness. Still, I fight to break free.

For me.

For Maverick.

For any chance of survival.

“The next time you open those gorgeous eyes will be on the other side of the world, Sadie. I will show you how much I love you, and you will have no choice but to be mine.”

Seconds later, Darren is ripped from me, and I fall to the floor. I cough, struggling to draw breath into my burning lungs.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Maverick growls.