Page 76 of Guarded from Danger

Wait.

I’m not the only one with a tracker. The entire team has them, and Sarah and Jade, too. I’ve seen Xavier’s—a ring that works the same as my earrings. And he would have pressed it right away.

I meet Xavier’s gaze and give him the tiniest of smiles.

He lifts his chin imperceptibly.

Yes. He already signaled for help.

And as Peter’s attention shifts to the empty syringe in my hand, I quickly touch my earring to do the same.

His team is on the way. Xavier is with me.

We just have to stay strong until they get to us.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

XAVIER

I’m going to kill him.

First, I’ll get Lucy out of here, so she doesn’t have to see it, and then I’ll kill him.

Rage is an inferno blazing inside me.

This fucking piece of garbage.

Terrifying Lucy.

Traumatizing her.

Hurting her.

Hetouchedher. Grabbed her arm. Put a gun to her head. Carried my sweet, sensitive, beautiful girlfriend in his arms as he brought her here.

My drugged, helpless girlfriend.

Fuck.

I’m going to kill him.

Fortunately—for me and Lucy, not that piece of garbage Amberson—he underestimated how much of the sedative to give me. In all his meticulous planning, he didn’t take into account that the dose he gave her wouldn’t be enough to fully incapacitate me. So I was only unconscious for a short time in the trunk, with Lucy tucked next to me, and by the time wearrived at this dilapidated house, I was awake and could see for myself that he never tried anything.

So I might make his death quick.

On the other hand…

I can still see Lucy’s face as he forced her into the trunk of his car. She was terrified. Panicked. All her worst nightmares were coming to life.

As she lay beside me, her body was vibrating with fear, and her breathing was so fast I was afraid she’d hyperventilate. As she slowly succumbed to the sedative, I reassured her over and over that it would be okay.

Will I get her out of this? Yes. So, in that sense, shewillbe okay.

But what of the rest of it? Being tricked into believing her father was dying? Having a gun pressed to her head? Restrained and drugged? Shoved into a trunk? And now shackled to the wall in an empty building, just like this whole thing started?

Maybe slow and painful is the way to go.

It’s just a matter of waiting for the right moment to execute my plan.

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