Page 67 of Love Over Time

“We tried. But you were gone. You told them about Henry. You were afraid he might get caught?”

She nodded. “I should’ve known Henry would never stop. Now that you’re here, he’ll come after them.”

“I don’t know about that, Tessa.” I rubbed my chest to ease the pain.Henry, please don’t hate me.“I hurt him to push him away. After I heard the recording, I thought it would be best if Jonathan didn’t have any leverage over Henry. I wanted Henry to be free of his uncle so he could save Lisa and himself.”

“Hipolita, that’s not going to work. He loves you too much. Even when you were kids and you thought you didn’t deserve him because you werethe help, as you said. Do you remember when you first got here? How many times did you push him away when he tried to make friends with you? Did it work? Were you able to dissuade him from wanting to be around you?” She squeezed my hand.

No. It hadn’t worked. He’d won me over with hot chocolate and fake clandestine adventures. Even then he’d known exactly what I needed to get over my grief. But this was different. I’d cut him deep this time, using his fears against him. All I could hope for was that he’d do right by Lisa.

I shrugged a shoulder. “The name is Nikki Swift now. And we need to figure this out on our own.”

“I didn’t know that.” She smiled. “When did that happen?”

“Shortly after I left here. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that just like Henry, I’m not a kid anymore, and I have certain skills that can help us get out of here.” I winked at her. “Come on. Our best shot is to use the door that leads to the gardens.” I pulled the emergency pack I kept in the belt wrapped tight around my thigh.

In the darkness of the corridor, we had no way of knowing what time of day it was or how long we had until Francesca and her goons came back with more sedatives or, worse, a gun. I’d bet that was on their to-do list for tonight. Our only saving grace was that they knew we had the recording. For as long as we had that, they’d keep us alive. Unfortunately, they only needed one of us alive. I glanced at Tessa over my shoulder as she struggled to keep up with my fast pace.

When we reached the end of the tunnel, I sat on my haunches and got to work on the lock. The deadbolt was on the inside, but there was also a lock on the doorknob outside. How many times had Tessa tried to escape before they decided to reinforce their security? Luckily, they hadn’t bothered changing the locks since the last time we were here. They’d finally made a mistake; they underestimated my abilities. I closed my eyes and pushed on the pins, listening as each one fell into place with a quiet click. Next to me, Tessa watched me work. Even in the dark, I could see how her mouth was slightly open, eyebrows raised.

After the final pin lined up just right, I turned the doorknob and flipped the deadbolt. The heavy door squeaked open, and I peeked through the small gap. It was still night, though the dark sky had a few patches of light. The scent of the shrub right outside wafted in. Freedom was just fifty feet away.

“Seems quiet out there, but we’ll have to make a run for it. Are you up for it?” I whispered so low I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me until she nodded. We squeezed through the small gap, making sure we didn’t open the door too much. Any movement could catch the guards’ attention. Peering at the wall, I waited until I was sure there wasn’t anyone out there. I put my hand up and counted with my fingers…one, two, three…and took off running.

The ringing in my ears was immediate, but it took me a few seconds to figure out what the whizzing past my ears was. Bullets. They were fucking shooting at us, but I’d made it halfway to the manhole to the side of the garden. We could still get out.

“We’re almost there.” I slanted a glance at Tessa. Except she wasn’t behind me. Instead, she lay a few feet outside the door, unconscious. Dammit. Another shot made me drop to the ground and eat rose-flavored mud. I could keep going and get out, get help. Or I could go back and make sure they didn’t finish Tessa off.

I crawled back to Tessa, covered her with my body, and lay still. My lungs ached as I held my breath, waiting for the assholes in the garden to make their next move. Seconds later, though it felt like hours, the shooting stopped. Were the guards randomly shooting at anything that moved out here, or did they have orders to keep us in? When everything quieted down, I hooked my hands under Tessa’s underarms and pulled her back into the tunnel. Out of habit or fear, I flipped the latch to lock the door.

I plopped myself down against the wall and braced Tessa on my thighs. A warm liquid covered my hands. I waved them in front of me, but I couldn’t see a thing. Not that I needed to. The coppery stench made my stomach lurch. I rubbed my palms on my skirt to get the sticky stuff off me, and let the tears flow down my cheeks.

Tessa wrapped her arms around mine. She held on to me as if I were her lifeline. I supposed I was. I hugged her back as more blood oozed onto my dress. “We’re gonna get out of here, Tessa. I promise.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Down the Rabbit Hole

Henry

“What are you going to do?” Dom asked.

My mind raced. Nikki had flushed our only plan down the toilet when she’d decided to take off and leave me hanging. Deep down, I fought the idea that she’d done it to help Jonathan, that somehow he’d gotten to her and paid her off. I rubbed my hand on my face and into my hair. I had to let her go and focus on Mom and Lisa. Whether she’d helped Nikki or not, didn’t matter. Lisa hadn’t killed Dad.

“Pull the trigger. Lisa deserves to come home.” I headed for the door. The slow burn in my stomach hadn’t gone away, not even after the fight with Dom. I had nowhere to go, and I was out of leads. But there was an asshole downstairs who could at least tell me where to find Jonathan’s guy, the one he’d sent to teach me a lesson and ended up getting schooled by Nikki.

Dom chuckled. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll take care of it first thing.” He followed me to the door, hands in his pockets as he leaned on the threshold. “You’re not going home.”

I shook my head. “Hey, I was an asshole earlier.”

He waved my apology away with a quick shrug and slid a finger down his jaw where the skin was already turning colors. “The ladies love it. Though the sting is making me feel like punching something. If you’re going downstairs to beat up the bartender until he tells you what he knows, I’m coming with you.”

“No. You’ve done enough.”

“I wasn’t asking. Beats staying here, thinking of all the things I can’t have.”

“Seems like you have enough.” I pointed my chin at the grand suite, with a full-size dining room, a living room decorated in light blues and golds, complete with a fireplace.

“That’s just money.” He pushed off the wall and headed for the elevator.

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