Page 7 of Savage Protector

Chapter Four

Isabella

With the thunder of blood rushing in my ears, I grabbed onto the door handle and fought not to open the cab door and fling myself out of it. My heart raced and my chest ached as panic rushed through me. I might have made the impulsive decision to run at the last second, but I couldn’t escape the feeling I would be caught any second.

A quick look outside the car window and I had to be free of this small space right now. “Stop the car.”

The cab driver looked at me in the rearview window for a few quick seconds before swerving to the side of the road. “We’re still a couple of blocks away from the Edgewater Hotel, ma’am.”

“I don’t care. This is good.” The meter read sixty-five dollars and some change. I definitely wasn’t far enough away. But I needed to get the hell off the streets and out of sight before someone caught up with me. I dug through my purse and pulled several large bills from the roll of cash stuffed inside. “I’ll give you an extra hundred dollars if you swear you'll admit to no one you saw me tonight.”

“Lady, I don’t even know who you are.”

I raised my brows and smirked at him. “Trust me. Someone is going to ask and my life could depend on your answer.”

“Are you in some kind of trouble?”

When I didn’t respond to his question he continued. “Fine, I never saw you. Happy?”

I met his gaze in the rear view mirror. “There’s no such thing as happy. Only pain and utter disappointment.” I pressed the bills into his palm and hurried from the cab before he questioned me further. I’d already said too much and every second I wasted on a stranger meant a chance of being caught.

A few more minutes in the cab to the hotel would have been the smart move, but with a panic attack threatening, I had to get out. I crossed the street to the waterfront and race-walked down the semi-deserted pier. The few stragglers still hanging out in the infamous Seattle mist watched me from the corners of their eyes. Maybe seeing a woman walk down a pier in the poofiest princess wedding gown wasn’t a normal occurrence. I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting some fresh air and slowing down the speed of my racing heart.

I was free. For the first time in years I didn’t have an escort or some asshole watching my every move. And yet, fear still gripped my insides, trying to claw its way out.

I reached the end of the pier and grabbed the railing, stuck my head over the side and took deep breaths while staring down at the water.

How long had it been since I was allowed to do something as simple as breathe without worrying about what someone thought or what someone wanted?

As my heartbeat returned to a slightly more normal pace, I lifted my head and stared out at the horizon. A ferry was approaching from one of the many islands that dotted the Puget Sound. I’d practically grown up in and around Seattle and not once had I visited any of those islands.

My family consisted of roughneck businessmen who were not related to me by blood and who cared about little else besides power and money. Their jaded women were no different considering they did nothing more than bitch about the whores their men spent time with and shop.

God how they loved to spend money.

They weren’t the kind of people who did normal things like go on vacations to pretty places. I almost laughed out loud at the mental picture of my warped version of family on a beach. Except laughing implied happiness and there was nothing but emptiness inside me. My whole life all I had was my strange, albeit dysfunctional, family to hold onto.

Then suddenly it was gone and I was being passed off to a man with a scary reputation and an even worse disposition.

Which reminded me that I needed to get out of sight. If I truly wanted to disappear, maybe a tropical island was exactly where I needed to go. A place where no one knew the family name. How I’d get there I had no idea.

The money stuffed into my purse wasn't chump change but it wouldn’t last long. I needed everything. I looked down at the lace and tulle gripped in my hand. Especially clothes. And the sooner the better. I stuck out like a sore thumb dressed like this.

Hard to believe this was what my life had been reduced to. From princess to runaway in a matter of hours. Although realistically prisoner to runaway sounded more accurate.

I’d had the foresight to keep my secret savings in my purse just in case, but everything else had been left behind. No cell phone, no passport, no fancy luggage stuffed with the honeymoon clothes I was supposed to wear when my new husband took possession of me. Nothing.

I had the fake ID I’d used years ago. Back when I was a clueless teenager who liked to sneak into clubs on the rare occasion I got out, but even that was precarious.

When my father began to question my old friends, that information would get shared. No one held out against Frank Mazzeo, Italian mob boss extraordinaire, when he was on the hunt. Not if they wanted to stay healthy.

In fact, now that I thought of it, using that ID to get a room at the Edgewater hotel or any hotel was a very bad idea. I needed a different plan and I needed it now. If I was going to last more than a day or two on my own I needed to be a hell of a lot smarter.

I turned around and took in my surroundings. Someone could have easily followed me or tracked down the cab company by now. The couple at the end of the pier were so into each other I doubted they noticed anyone. Even a runaway bride.

A family of four stood huddled together off to the side, holding up a cell phone to take a series of selfies, also oblivious to those around them. They’d noticed my arrival, giving me a strange look as I passed them, but quickly moved on to whatever brought them here in the first place. Most likely tourists if I had to guess.

In fact, no one paid any attention to me at all. Some of the tension keeping me strung tight loosened. But still no new plan came to mind. I was still standing on a pier in a wedding gown with nowhere to go.

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