Page 189 of Savage Bosses

Frantic, I looked around for something big and sharp to break the window, but there were no rocks or sticks up to the job. The train tooted again, the sound closer than the last time. As I punched the window in earnest, the gate arm to warn oncoming vehicles that a train was approaching descended.

With time slipping fast, I doubled my efforts until the window shattered into pebbled glass. The sound must have jolted her awake. She groggily blinked, while I pulled at the zip tie holding her hostage in the car. No matter how much I tugged, I couldn’t create a gap between the tie and the wheel.

“Kent?” her voice lacked the vitality I was used to.

“Hey, little bunny.” I tried to inject a note of calm in my voice I didn’t feel.

“What… where am I? Why does my body feel so sore?” She raised her head, but it fell backward against the headrest.

“Don’t freak out, but you’re trapped on some train tracks, but I’m going to get you out.”

As the seconds passed, Madison became more alert. “Train tracks? Where’s Carol?”

“No offense, but I don’t give a shit about her right now. You’re my priority. A train is coming and I need to get you out of here.” As soon as I mentioned the train, another horn blew.

Now that Madison was becoming more coherent, her sense of alarm rose. She tugged her hands. “Oh my God, get me out! Get me out!”

“I’m trying, little bunny. I’m trying.”

Broken sobs ripped from her chest as distraught pleas fell from her lips. A sense of helplessness tore through me with my lack of progress.

Madison turned her teary face to me. “Kent, the train is coming. You can’t stay here. Save yourself.”

“Don’t say that. I’ll find a way to free you. No matter what, I won’t leave you.” I looked down the train tracks. The sound was closer, and I could see the light as it traveled through the trees. Behind me, sirens wailed in the distance, but they were too far away to be of any help.

“I have an idea. Wait for me.” I ran to my car as she screamed for me to leave.

With time flitting through my fingers, I crashed through the gate arm and used my car to push the one holding Madison captive. The wheels on my car spun, causing smoke to billow from under the tires. I depressed the pedal to the floor, but her car wouldn’t budge.

The light grew closer and closer. Finally, her car moved. When she was free of the track, I glanced at the glaring light to my left, praying I’d have time to meet Madison on the other side.

CHAPTER 15

Madison

“W

hy are you refusing to come home with me?” My mother stood beside the bed I shared with Kent. “Don’t you know the emotional trauma your father and I have suffered? To think a serial killer is after you because Kent doesn’t know how to channel his grief into healthier endeavors.”

My relationship was no longer a secret from my parents. Even as a fixer, there was no avoiding my mom and dad discovering who my mystery man was. In the hospital, Kent refused to leave my side after our near miss on the railroad tracks, much to my mother’s dismay. As the hospital staff checked me out, they got into a heated argument.

There went any hope of my mom giving Kent a fair shot. We would have to win her over the hard way.

“Mommy, Kent saved my life.”

“Your life wouldn’t have needed saving if he didn’t endanger it to begin with.” She fluffed a pillow that she’d fluffed two times already. “And I’d like to remind you, they haven’t caught that Carol woman, so your life is still in danger.”

“And Kent has already gone overboard to make sure I have protection.” I pointed to the man standing by the door.

Not only had Kent insisted on a bodyguard, but he also hired a company called Connors Elite Security Professionals. They were based in Bourbon, Texas, and they would supply a constant rotation of six guards. I would never be alone and vulnerable to attack again. After Carol, I gladly agreed to my new babysitters. I’d rather be watched and alive than alone and dead.

“Acting after the fact doesn’t soften me up one bit.”

“I love him.” The simple words stopped my mother’s next gripe. “And right now, he isn’t taking what happened well. He came too close to watching me die in front of his eyes, and it brought up a lot of pain from when Oyinlola died. So, I’m not sorry that I won’t be moving back with you.”

Defeated, my mother plopped beside me and took my hand in hers. “You had to use the dead wife card to make me feel like a heel, didn’t you? You are just like your father.”

I shrugged. I’d use whatever weapon I had to make her back off Kent.

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