Page 74 of Filthy Savage

Right?

He returns his attention to the man on the chair, and before I can fathom what he’s about to do, he lines a blade across his throat.

Oh no! I can’t watch him do this!

“Gonna send a message to your family. They pay your debt, or this will happen to them.”

With a jerk of his hand, Fionn slices across his throat.

I choke on my inhale as the man gurgles up blood. My feet want to move, to run, but it’s like I’ve been cemented to the floor, unable to do anything except watch the man I once really liked—the man who could be my daughter’s father—kill someone.

“Clean this up.”

“Yes, sir.”

I sniffle, letting out a small cry.

And that’s when one of the men zeroes in his glare at the door.

My throat goes dry, my body doused with something hot and cold all at once.

“Sir, I think there’s someone there.”

Oh no! He saw me.

Go! You have to run! Now!

But I don’t. I can’t move. Shit, I’m gonna die.

Cunning eyes land on mine, and my gaze expands. My lungs are on fire, heavy like bricks.

That’s when I finally snap out of it. Before I know it, I’m racing toward the door separating the room next to this one. It’s my only way out.

“Go find out who it is and bring him to me!” Fionn hollers, his tone scarier than even before.

“I think it was a woman.”

“I don’t give a fuck. She could’ve seen everything. Get her. Now!” he whisper-shouts.

Shit, shit, shit. I need to get out of here!

Not caring if they’ll hear me, I scan my card, running into the adjacent bedroom and placing a chair against the door to help delay their entry.

I register their movements on the other side, and more terror fills my veins. Without wasting any more time, I rush out of the room and into the hallway, praying there’s no one there.

I refuse to look back. Refuse to know if they’re about to kill me. My footfalls are casual as I step out and dart toward the left, taking the stairs down.

A door opens from above.

“She’s running,” the same man tells Fionn.

“Oh God!” I whisper-cry, tears filling my eyes.

I can’t leave Fia. My baby would be alone.

My heart slices in two.

Mommy’s coming. I’m not leaving you.

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