Page 61 of Submit

“Why aren’t we staying in here?” I can’t stop the barrage of questions even though I was just instructed to run for my life.

Dominic humors me with an answer one more time. “Because they’re about to set the house on fire.”

Shit.

He pushes me back toward Max as he growls, “Anything happens to her and I’ll cut your dick off with toenail clippers and then suffocate you with it.”

Max’s eyes widen slightly but I can’t tell if he understood every word of that threat or just “dick”. Either way, he knows it isn’t good based on the tone of Dominic’s voice.

If we were in literally any other scenario, I would most likely be laughing my ass off right now. But since we’re inthisscenario, I clutch Dominic’s arm like it’s my last lifeline. “No, no, no. Let me stay with you. Or you come with me.” Here I am, begging yet again.

“I can’t get on that boat until they’re all dead and I need to you to get the hell out of here, right fucking now.”

Before I can respond, someone - presumably, Max - yanks me away from Dominic, forever earning a spot on my shit list.

I try asking Max some questions. How many are left? Where are the others? How do we know the boats are safe? But his English is worse than my Spanish and all I get is “Rápido!”

We make it outside just as the windows rattle and flames start to lick the house.

“DOMINIC!” I scream, clawing at Max’s arm. I don’t see Beatrice or Richard anywhere and can only hope they got out in time, but I know for a fact Dominic is still inside that burning house.

With a guttural war cry, I tear away from Max back up the path to the house. Ripping open the back door, I accidentally feed more oxygen to the raging fire.

Fine. I welcome the heat because it’s gotnothingon the fire of rage that is already consuming me.

“Dominic!” I yell.

No answer.

“CAS!” I try again, so loud my voice cracks eight octaves higher than normal.

“Libby! What are you doing? Get the fuck out of here!”

Max is coming in the back door after me. Maybe he understood Dominic’s threat after all.

He’s tries to grab for me again but I’m tired of being manhandled so I flip my safety off and point my pistol right at his face. This is a language we all understand.

He puts his free hand in the air - his other still clutching his firearm - and backs away with an apologetic look at Dominic.

Dominic says something in Spanish to Max who moves to look out the window and says something back.

“We don’t know everything yet, but they came with twenty-six men. They’re down to four. Unfortunately, Will is one of them and we’re running out of time.” We hear a gunshot outside somewhere. “Let’s hope that means only three are left.”

The heat from the kitchen is licking its way to us in the front living room now. “Cas, we have to get out of here.” He smiles at my use of his nickname’s nickname.

“I like that you met that version of me first,” he says and I know exactly what he means.

“You can show me how much you like it once we get out of this mess. Can we get outside and circle around to the back? We can try to get down to the boats.”

He shakes his head. “Not without knowing Willem’s been taken care of.”

“We can’t stay here! The house is falling down around us. We have to make a run for it.” Stucco itself is actually pretty fire resistant. The problem is that wood, sheetrock, curtains, and everything else aren’t. The outside of the house acts as an oven, trapping all the heat inside. I lace my fingers with his, silently asking him to trust me even though I have no idea if what I’m choosing to do is the right move. Before he can respond, our choice becomes very clear when a Dutch accent rings out from the doorway in front of us which had quickly become our only escape.

“She’s right, you know. You should have followed her to the boat, Hielo. Or better yet, you should have fucking returned her like I asked.”

Will.

“This is crazy!Youare crazy!” I yell over the roaring of the fire.

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