Page 7 of Bound in Promise
I killed him.
I’m the reason he’s dead.
“Now, Victoria.”
My muscles are slow to respond, and my thoughts feel sluggish in my brain. I don’t know what to do. Liam has a gun and I have nothing. Slowly, clumsily, I open the passenger door and follow Liam’s instructions like a dog with its tail tucked.
I don’t want to die, and I especially don’t want Liam to kill me. There has to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I refuse to accept that there’s no hope for me. I have too many plans, and dying in the middle of nowhere isn’t one of them.
The phone still in my palm reminds me that I at least have that option, so I shove the device in the front of my underwear and try to walk normally around the minivan. Liam meets me at the rear and yanks me forward into his chest and spits his next words into my face.
“You think this is a fuckin’ game? You just made me kill that man!”
I’d like to say that Liam feels bad about it, but he wouldn’t have done it in the first place if he had any empathy for human life.
He could’ve warned the man. Liam could have done anything else but take a good Samaritan’s life.
My situation is growing more precarious with each passing second. Clearly, Liam will do whatever it takes to get what he wants and now he’s involved me in a murder. He’s desperate, which means nothing is off limits for him.
It’s becoming more likely, almost a guarantee, that he’ll just eliminate me once he gets my money. He just shot a man in cold blood and I married Liam’s uncle instead of him.
I’d say it’s a safe bet that revenge is at the top of Liam’s to-do list.
“You have to let me go, Liam,” I mutter, unable to stop my tremors or hide the fear in my voice. “This isn’t worth it.”
He squeezes my biceps harder, and I know the pads of his fingertips will leave bruises. “You’re not worth it, you’re right. But I need your money to get out of here. And I’m not taking you with me. You’re dead once the money’s in your account.”
My stomach drops as he gives voice to my worst fears. Liam’s right. The further he goes down this path, the more of a liability I will become. He needs to get across the border, past government officials, and there’s too much risk that I’ll scream for help. He could always gag me and toss me in the trunk when he crosses, but then he’d have to worry about someone searching the car and finding my bound body.
I’m starting to think getting rid of me has been Liam’s plan all along. That the whole going with him part was just a front to keep me calm and cooperative.
Now, he’s executed a man without batting an eye and there’s no trace of the guy I dated last year.
He’s gone.
And I need to get the hell away from the lunatic in his place.
4
VICTORIA
We drove west until early in the afternoon, when Liam decided to stop and check in at another cheap hotel. Based on the road signs, we’re in New York and not too far from the Canadian border. I have no idea why he’s hitting pause on the road trip now. Liam has barely spoken to me—thankfully.
Once we got to the room, he shot off a text and told me not to get too comfortable. Then he decided to take a shower, leaving the curtain and door open wide and demanding I stay in his line of sight. He even made a point of keeping the gun in easy reach next to the sink.
But when it’s my turn to clean up, he gives me privacy. Probably because there are no windows for me to climb out of and he’s tired of seeing my face.
It’s a more than small blessing, since the cell phone I took from the poor man at the gas station is still pressed against my pubic bone. I got unbelievably lucky—either the phone was set to silent or no one has tried to call or text him—because not a single sound has given my secret away. I have been impatiently waiting and hoping for an opportunity to use the phone, memorizing the hotel’s address off the stationery on the bedside table. Other than somewhere in Canada, I have no idea where Liam is ultimately going. He’s insisted on taking a winding route, going north from Connecticut before turning west in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Liam demanded I keep the door unlocked, so I make quick work of sitting on the toilet with my pants down for cover should he barge in. Then I shoot off a text message to Ellie.
2370 Pine Hill Rd Rochester, NY. Not sure how long for. Tell Dante. Liam took me. Turning phone off to save battery and keep safe.
Powering the cell phone down, I hide it behind the trash can and turn on the shower. I quickly lather myself up with the cheap soap and enjoy a few minutes of solitude until the shower curtain is abruptly ripped open. Fear courses through me.
He found the phone.
“I wanna fuck.” He clenches my forearm and drags me out of the shower, almost causing me to trip along the edge as he guides me into the small living space.
