Page 86 of The Carver

“Where is she?” I walked up to him and shoved the barrel of the rifle against his chest.

“This is between Adrien and me?—”

“She’s my woman, not his.” I struck him in the face with the gun and made blood splatter from his broken nose. “Now tell me where the fuck she is.”

He stumbled back from the force of the blow then wiped the blood from his face directly onto his arm. “I didn’t know?—”

I grabbed him by the front of the shirt and slammed him so hard into the wall he lost his breath. “Tell me where the fuck she is.”

He dropped to the floor, and he heaved with coughs. “I wouldn’t have taken her if I’d known?—”

I put the barrel of the gun right against the side of his head. “Tell me!”

He reached for his phone in his pocket, lying on the floor as he typed. He remained in that position, like he was too beaten to do anything else except just lie there. “I sent her location. East of Paris.”

“Tell your men to dig her up.”

“They’ve already returned to Paris.”

“Fuck!” I left him there and ran out of the house, Adrien following me.

Chapter 18

Fleur

I was nearly submerged.

The water didn’t fill the coffin as drops anymore. So much rainwater had penetrated the soil that it turned into mud, and it leaked into my watery grave. It came in from all sides, bringing the cold and the filth.

There was so much water, I was practically floating, my face touching the camera as I tried to keep my mouth and nose above the waterline. I tried to dig at the bottom of the coffin, to rip a crack in the wood so the water would soak into the earth underneath, but with the water level so high, I couldn’t turn to do that and breathe at the same time.

“Fuck, I’m gonna die.”

He’s coming, he’s coming.

Bastien is coming.

He’s on his way. I know he is.

Or am I gonna die like this?

“Bastien…come on.”

Chapter 19

Bastien

We drove down the country road at full speed, a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour in the pouring rain, the tires unsafe on the slick roads. If we died in a crash, I wouldn’t be able to save her, but if I didn’t haul ass like this, I wouldn’t be able to save her either. “Turn right.” I looked at the phone, seeing the dot on the map out in the middle of nowhere.

Even though there was no road and it was just a field of dirt, my driver turned and drove over the dirt and mud.

“Keep going.”

It was a bumpy ride, over rocks and mounds of dirt, the SUV shifting and shaking from the uneven terrain.

The dot came closer. “Alright, stop.”

He hit the brakes.

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