Page 136 of Anchor

“The Vault,” I whispered, and everything came back to me like I had suddenly slammed onto a brick fucking wall.

That script he’d been stealing in the Vault. The piece of white marble that had fallen off him during our fight with the guards.

“He was supposed to deliver something to the Devil’s men three days ago. He didn’t. So now they’re…dealing with it.”

“Fuck.” The word slipped from my lips.

“Yes, precisely,” he said. “They might spare him, though, because he did turn himself in—but who knows?”

My eyes closed for a second, and Radock’s voice echoed in my head. Goddess, I wanted to fucking slap myself for not staying up all night, making sure Taland stayed right there on that bed in the safe house. Because now everything was falling into place and I almostsawhim when he spoke on the broken phone he left in my car, when he decided to leave me his charm, to turn himself in because he was afraid—for me.

He was afraid the Devil’s people would find him while we were together.

Fuck, Taland, fucking hell!

“You have to help him,” I said. “You…you know the Devil.” He had to—how else would Taland have been in contact with him at all while in prison?

“I do,” Radock said. “But my brother made his choices. He turned against me, against his own family when he chose you. I will not help a traitor.”

If he’d have set me on fire right now, it would have hurt less.

But it didn’t matter now, did it? Taland was gone, whether he turned himself in or not. And I was still here, still alive, still perfectly able to go find him, kill anybody in my way—and I meananybody—and take him away. Takeusaway—to another safe house, another city, another country. It didn’t even matter.

“I’m going to leave now,” I said, slowly backing away toward the wall from where I could see all three of them until I made it to the door. “Don’t come after me.”

“With that bracelet?” said Radock, a brow arched. “You think you’ll survive out there once everybody knows that you have it?”

“I will until I find Taland,” I said, and I didn’t care about the fucking bracelet at all. When Taland was with me again, they could have it. I didn’t fucking care.

That surprised Radock even more. “You’ll die if you go after Taland.”

“I won’t.” This I said with as much conviction as Taland had in his words whenever he spoke.

Radock grinned—but I was barely five feet away from the door now, so I didn’t mind. I just wanted him to keep talking until I was out of here for good.

“Assuming that you don’t, and that you somehow get Taland out alive. What then?” He raised his hands. “How are you going to run forever?”

“I won’t,” I repeated, and the door was right there, my hand on the handle. “I’ll just give this bracelet to anybody who asks nicely.”

His smile vanished.

I pushed the door open and ran out while he called,“Rosabel!”

My body moved at full speed, and my heart beat loudly in my ears, but my head was perfectly clear as I ran, faster than I ever had before. I ran up the stairs and down the narrow corridor, and outside that door that merged in with the wall of the stripclub. The music didn’t slow me down. It was so loud that the beat shook the ground every few seconds, but I didn’t slow down and I didn’t look back until I was outside in one piece, still breathing.

Still breathing—and more determined than ever.

The bouncers watched me curiously as I stumbled down the stairs, pushing away the people who were waiting in line to get in still. The sky was dark and the moon half and nobody was coming after me that I could see. I went and hid behind cars, stopping to catch my breath with every new road I crossed until I made it to Taland’s SUV.

Then I sat behind it, rested my back against the wheel, and I cried.

Chapter 27

Rosabel La Rouge

“That’ll be twenty-one, seventy.”

I blinked and looked at the cashier, and I could have sworn I had been behind the guy who was paying before me, but now somehow the snacks and drinks I’d bought were on the counter, scanned and ready to go.

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