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Okay, if she couldn’t walk, she could always crawl. Or maybe it was time to hide. Christian had told her to find a place where she could hide away and wait for him to come for her.
Lila had to believe he was alive and he would come.
Allowing herself to think—even for a second—that Christian was already dead would open up room for her to give up. And she couldn’t give up, not when her baby was counting on her. She’d failed her first child, hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to her parents and deal with her trauma. There was no way on earth she was going to let this baby down as well.
She had to be strong.
Scanning the area, she spotted what looked like a cave up ahead. One similar to those Christian had found for them to stay in when they’d been together. But now it was just her. There would be no MREs, no thermal blanket to snuggle under, no big solid presence to make her feel safe.
Just her.
Alone.
There was no way she could get back on her feet, her ankle had done all it could and now it needed rest, so she was going to have to crawl over to the cave.
In theory, that sounded easy enough, but her arms were shaky and wobbled precariously, wind sent her hair whipping around her face, and there wasn’t a single angle that didn’t put pressure on her ankle. With each drag of her leg, it screamed out in agony, and by the time she managed to cross the forest floor and enter the cave she was breathing hard, sweating, and a fresh wave of tears were stinging the backs of her eyes.
But she’d done it.
She was here and somewhat safe. All she had to do was curl into a ball, try to conserve some body heat so she didn’t freeze to death, and wait.
Carefully shifting around so she was sitting on her bottom, Lila winced as she shuffled backward until her back rested against the rough rock of the cave. If Zara and her army found her, she wasn’t going to be able to run from them. Her ankle was too painful. Lila hated admitting it, but it was the truth. The only thing left for her to do was wait here and pray Christian found her first.
Another wave of exhaustion rolled over her, and she tipped her head back. Never in her life had she felt this drained. She hadn’t even realized a body could be this level of tired and still function.
Well, semi-function.
As wonderful as sleep felt, she didn’t want to pass out and have Christian walk right past her. He knew how to track someone, but the wind was continuing to pick up speed, and she was worried that it was blowing the leaves and sticks around, wiping out any trail she would have left.
As weak as she felt right now, Lila wasn’t sure she could survive a night out here in the cold.
Stay awake, she had to stay awake.
Counting.
She could count.
That was simple and something she could do pretty much on automatic, but it should be just enough to keep her brain operational.
“One, two, three …” Would Christian be here before she reached ten?
“Four, five, six, seven …” Maybe before one hundred?
“Eight, nine …”
“How cute, you’re counting.”
Lila screamed at the sound of the voice. That scream quickly morphed into a cry of terror.
Zara was there.
And she wasn’t alone.
One of the bodyguards she remembered seeing on the plane, and at both of the mansions was with her. The man was always close to Zara, and she assumed he was her own personal bodyguard while the rest of the men were her army.
With her back pressed against the cave, solid and unbreakable, there was nowhere for her to go.
No escape.
