Page 76 of Red My Lips

“It’s not done. We’re not done. Not ever.”

His words slide right off me, my body going still as I let the finality settle through me.

“I regret ever loving you.”

Gage reacts like I’ve hit him with a sledgehammer. The devastation on his face would be enough to break my heart if he hadn’t already ground it into the dust.

“Any last words before you never see me again?”

Gage leans forward in the chair until he’s pulling against his restraints, his eyes spearing me with conviction. “Wherever you go—it better be far, and you better go fast. Make yourself invisible while you’re at it. Because I’m coming for you, little devil, and there’s nowhere on earth you can run that I won’t find you,” he says. “We’re forever, Jill. There’s no getting rid of me. Even if you kill me right now, my soul will find yours in every lifetime. I’m your shadow under a never-setting sun.”

My gut clenches, and my heart threatens to pound right out of my chest. Ignoring my visceral need to collapse into his arms and let him make everything okay, I lean down until I’m just out of his reach. My soul tears in two as I gaze at the man who I thought was my forever.

Using the painful ache in my chest where the love used to be, I allow my voice to shake with all the anguish that’s ripping me to shreds. “Shrivel, wither, and rot in hell. Just like the rest of them.”

When I grab the bag of loot from the safe off the floor next to the desk and turn around to leave, I don’t look back. But I do lock the office door behind me. It won’t stop Messer or Anders when they inevitably come to let Gage loose, but it’ll slow them down.

I stride through the club with a purpose, evading every familiar face as I make as fast an exit as possible. A large black luxury SUV waits in front of the building for me. As soon as I climb in and close the door behind me, the vehicle is pulling away from the curb and weaving into traffic.

“How did it go?” Lana asks from the seat next to me. I toss the duffle bag onto the floor at my feet and clench my shaking hands. There’s blood on them—it’s not much, but it’s there.

His blood.

I’ll have to scrub my hands when I arrive at my destination.

“I almost killed him. I could have, but I didn’t.” My voice is trembling, and I hate it. I feel like I want to laugh and cry at the same time. Maybe I need to scream or punch something.

“I’m proud of you,” Lana’s tone gets softer, and it makes tears mist in my eyes. But I force back the waterworks. I can cry later. “Are you okay?”

I look over at my best friend, and I know she can see that I’m absolutely devastated. I give the slightest shake of my head no, and that’s all she needs.

“We’ll be at the marina in seventeen minutes,” The driver informs us from behind the wheel. Lana’s hand creeps across the back seat to intertwine with mine and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I glance over at her but quickly avert my eyes to look out the window. If I keep looking at her, I’m going to lose my shit. I can’t be a mess right now, not yet.

Soon, this will all be behind me, and that man will be nothing but a rancid memory.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Gage

“Where would she go?” Anders asks, typing at my computer.

After Jill walked out, leaving me locked in my office and tied to the chair, I had to call for backup. Using my voice command on my phone on the desk, I called Anders in. He kicked the door down and cut me loose within fifteen minutes. But it’s not fast enough.

Devastating desperation has me in a chokehold as I rewatch the security footage of Jill exiting the building and climbing into an anonymous car. The camera doesn’t catch the license plate of the SUV before it disappears from view.

My body hurts—my wrists are raw and bloody from fighting against the zip ties, my chest hurts where the knife carved my flesh, and my head is pounding. But none of that registers past the soul-aching anguish that feels like all of my vital organs have been ripped out of me.

“Flights would be too obvious and unreliable,” Anders adds. I shake my head. She wouldn’t take her chances on a flight. Those are too easy to track, and she wouldn’t take the chance of a delay or cancellation. She would only leave with someone she trusts, and that list is very short. Especially now.

“Lana,” I say, standing from my chair and striding towards the door. “Lana left on a yacht this afternoon.”

“I’ll drive,” Anders says, matching my pace. The drive to the Marina breaks all traffic laws—running lights, speeding, and ignoring traffic signs. Anders doesn’t hesitate to drive his car down the boardwalk, only stopping when we run out of dock.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing? You can’t drive your car here!” There’s not a flicker of hesitation when I pull my gun and aim it at the whining middle-aged man standing in a boat to my left. His hands go up immediately, the words dying on his lips.

“We need your boat,” I demand, gesturing to his speedboat. “Now.” The man pales visibly, nodding and stumbling as he clammers out of the boat onto the dock.

“Tell anyone about this, and this entire clip will have your name on it.” I don’t bother disguising the vicious edge in my voice, and he nods numbly before stumbling away. Anders jumps down into the boat and revs the engine, and I’m right behind him. Anders doesn’t hesitate to whip the boat around the dock and steer into open waters.

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