Page 146 of Tangled In Lies

I will get us out of here.

There’s no other option.

Nothing will happen to Eve, not on my watch.

She’s gone through too much already.

I stretch my arms as far as they go, the movement allowing me to touch her elbow.

It’s not much, but it’s enough until I can gaze into thosebeautiful eyes again. It’s enough until I can hold her in my arms again. It’s enough until I can spend the rest of my life with her by my side.

And so I watch over her, paying attention to every single movement she makes, while also staying alert in case someone comes back.

Eventually, her breathing quickens, and she smacks her lips. This time, she doesn’t go back to sleep like before but groans. Her entire body shifts, and she slowly opens her eyes.

Since she’s facing me, I’m the first thing she sees. One corner of her lip tugs upward for the barest hint of a half-smile before it falls again, her brain probably slowly catching on to something being wrong.

She blinks at me, the movement sluggish, her throat loudly working on a swallow. “Phoenix, I feel . . . funny.”

The words come out slurred.

“It’s okay, Angel. Everything will be okay.” Since I don’t know what or how much they gave her, I can’t guess how long she’ll feel like this. “I’m right here. Can you stretch your hands my way?”

It takes her a while, but she manages, and I eagerly touch her hands with mine. The contact calms me, at least a little.

Eve goes in and out of sleep a few more times until her gaze appears sharper and more alert, which is both good and bad.

Her eyes widen, and she takes in the scene before her. Me and my handcuffs, my attached chain that leads to the bed frame behind me, then back to her own, followed by a glance around the room.

“What’s going on?” Her voice is shaky, her breaths coming fast now. Too fast. “Where are we?”

I squeeze her hands to get her attention. “Look at me. I need you to stay calm, okay? Can you breathe with me?”

She nods, and we take several slow inhales and exhales together until her breathing is mostly back to normal.

I hold on to her hands like they anchor me. “Do you remember how you got here?”

Her gaze moves away from mine, roaming all over the room like it helps her jog her memory. “Mmm, the last thing I remember is going to the bathroom at the café. I was washing my hands when someone came in and . . . and they grabbed me from behind and something pinched my neck.”

She tries to detangle her right hand from mine, probably to touch the spot, but my grip on her is ironclad. I can’t let her go right now. I just can’t.

“The person.” She pauses. “The person who did it said something to me.” She draws in a sharp breath. “It sounded like . . . no, no, that’s not possible.”

I already know how that part of the story played out. I don’t want to hurt her even more, but we’re not in a position where tiptoeing around will do us any good. The faster we can figure out what’s going on, the faster we can get out of here.

So I rip off the Band-Aid. “Ruby injected you with something. When I got to the café, she told me you were sick in the back, and I followed her outside. You were nowhere to be seen, of course, so she pointed a gun at me and made me drive to this neighborhood about fifteen minutes away.”

She shakes her head and stares at me, her eyes glistening with tears. “No, that can’t be. Why would she do that?”

A chuckle sounds around us. “Because Ruby’s a good pet, just like you are, Evie.”

My gaze snaps up at the same familiar voice as before, and I freeze when I see who’s standing in the doorway.

No fucking way.

He’s a dead man.

Chapter 38

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