Page 64 of Savage Scream

“You got some balls on you, girl. Coming here thinking you can steal my boy away.”

My brows shoot up at that. How does she know I’m here to take Travis away?

“Adam said you aren’t much of a talker. Mute or something, he called ya.” She scoffs, tossing her smoke butt to the road and leaves it to burn out as she steps closer to me. “Adam spotted you harassing my son while he did community service at that uptight school. Seems you’re not very good at taking a hint, love.” She’s so close now, I can smell the stale cigarette stench wafting from her clothes and skin. “He’s not interested in you. He’s never going to leave with you, so you should just do everyone a favour and leave us alone.”

If she thinks I’m going to balk at her words or the way she puffs out her chest trying to make herself bigger, she has another thing coming. I won’t show her any weakness. She needs to know, right fucking now, that she’s not dealing with a quitter, so I shake my head and snarl at her.

She looks surprised for a moment before she starts cackling. And cackling. And cackling.

Why don’t I have Thana with me? I could kill Bianca Kerr right here and now. That would take care of a lot of problems.

“I see you’re a stubborn one. What’s it gonna take to get you to leave, girl?”

I shake my head and her eyes narrow.

“Fine, looks like I’ll just tell you the truth, then. The truth the Angels and the police have been keeping from you all these years.”

My eyes widen.

The Angels? How does she know the Angels?

“I have to say, they did a good job of keeping you hidden. The psychiatric hospital was a nice touch. Made it impossible to get to you.”

What?

“Then the witness protection. Hell, they must have paid a helluva lot of money to make sure you were hidden. But then you ran away.” She cackles again, and I shake my head in disbelief.

Witness protection?

What?

“The kicker was where you ended up. No one could find you for a long time, meanwhile a cold-blooded killer had you in training, teaching you skills no child should learn.” Bianca reaches out to touch my face, but I flinch away and take a step back. She sighs, tilting her head to me, and I study her face, the wrinkles cutting deep around her lips and eyes like she needs a good drink of water. She’s all dried up like an old prune.

“I’m sure those Angel sisters had no idea what to do with a teenage killing machine, other than to put you to work. Which is exactly what they did. Didn’t they?”

How does she know this?

“There’s a number of reasons why they’ve been protecting you, Elodie, but the biggest thing they’ve been trying to protect you from,” she grins wide, flashing her yellow teeth. “Is me.”

Lightning fast, her hand whips out and wraps around my throat, her grip crushing.

I gasp, but don’t panic, because that will only cause more complications, and I need to be as clear-headed as possible.

“If you know so much about me,” I rasp, and her eyes widen at hearing my voice, “Then you know I have the ability to kill you before you take your next breath.”

She cackles again. “Sure, if you had a weapon on you. Which you don’t.”

“How do you know?” I choke out, and she grins wider.

“Because if you did, I’d already be dead.”

19

JARED

My eyes dart around the practically empty tent in search of my little pocket rocket, only they come up empty. Shit. Where’s my girl?

I spin around, finding Hastings and Rhys up close and personal, and I hurry to their side.

---