Page 43 of Bleeding Blackheart

It’s all there. Every last dollar.

I glance over at Gunner who stares at my stacks of cash with wide eyes as if he’s in disbelief himself.

“My God, Montana.” He runs a hand over his face, and I give him my back, going up to a stack and grabbing some bundles.

After I tuck them in my purse, I nod my head at him. “There you go. It’s all there.”

He steps into the shed, giving the cash a once-over. “Where are you going?”

I push back my tears, walking away from him. “Back to the road. I’ll find a payphone and get a cab.”

The gravel crunches under my boots, and I try to walk faster, not wanting him to hear me cry.

I’m almost to the end of the row to turn the corner when I hear a loud gunshot right next to me, and pieces of gravel fly up by my feet. Turning around slowly, I see him back by the truck, staring at me with his pistol in his right hand. “Stay with me, Montana.”

I don’t move, and he takes a step closer to me. “Get back over here. Stay with me. Let’s take this money and go somewhere new together. You, me, and all of my damn horses.”

Unable to hold back my tears, I walk back to him, stepping into his outstretched arms. I’m going on the run with my captor. I look up into his eyes, not knowing what the hell’s gonna happen next. “Where to?”

He licks his lips. “Home. But I don’t want to stay just anywhere with all this cash. We’ll head back to Utah and stay with a friend of mine. Then we’ll head back to Wyoming in the morning and figure things out from there.”

“And you’re sure your friend’s not going to rob us?”

He smiles, shaking his head. “He wouldn’t dare. And he’s got fifty times more than what you have right here.”

Deep down, I know his words are too good to be true. That we’re chasing a dream that doesn’t exist. But rightnow, I don’t want to care. I just smile at him and head back into the storage unit, helping him shove our money in the car so we can go somewhere new.

It’s nearly two a.m., and we’re twenty minutes away from Gunner’s friend’s house when he gets a call. I tense up, wondering who would ring him at this hour. Is it Dallas?

But my blood turns cold when I hear the voice on the line after he answers it. There’s no need for him to put it on speaker. The car is so quiet that I can hear every word.

“Blackheart.”

Gunner glances over at me, putting his finger over his lips for me to keep my mouth shut. His voice is confident and elevated when he answers back. “Mr. Barnes.”

“It’s Tuesday morning, and I want to know why my job isn’t done.”

Rage floods my system, remembering where my father kept me for a week and reckoning with the fact that he paid to have me killed. I don’t know what Gunner’s going to say next, but there is no right answer. He’s screwed my father, and Mason Barnes will make it his mission to make him pay.

He keeps a hand on the wheel with the other on the phone while he glances at me. “Mr. Barnes, I changed my mind.”

My father curses and growls. “I need you to elaborate for me, son.”

I roll my eyes at the way my father calls him son when he’s only ten years older than him, and Gunner does too. Slowing down when we reach a stoplight, he gives my knee a light squeeze. “It means I didn’t feel like doing the fucking job. If you want her dead, you’ll have to find someone else.”

The light turns green, and he drives ahead slowly on the empty road.

My father’s voice raises. “You think I was waiting around for you to get it done? For all you know I could’ve had someone else kill that fucking cunt already.”

I bring my fist to my mouth, biting my knuckles so I don’t scream. Gunner drives faster and laughs over the line. “You’d have to find her first in order to do that.”

I want to yell at him to hang up the phone, but it’s already too late. He’s called out my father, and Mason Barnes will take his comment as a challenge.

His sinister voice lowers when he finally answers. “You have her. You took my fucking child from me, and I will find her.” He laughs deeply. “Oh, I’m coming for you,Blackheart. Both of you. And when I’m finished with the two of you, there’ll be nothing left of your useless carcasses. Not even your fucking bones.”

I hear a beep, and Gunner throws his phone in the seat behind him while he floors it. “He’s not gonna do a damn thing.”

I raise my voice, hoping he can hear me through my tears. “He meant every word. He will find us. We can’t go back.”

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