Page 41 of Savage Truth

“As for what I’m going to do with you...” An evil grin curved his mouth, and I barely stopped the bile climbing my throat. Whatever he planned would be some next-level shit. “The contracts are signed. You’re going to get me what I want by marrying one of my rivals. We leave in fifteen minutes.” He walked out.

“The hell I will!”

He was already gone, but I was sure he’d heard me. I counted back from ten to one, needing to regain control. There wasn’t much time to figure out how to get out of there. If I didn’t, he would take me back to New York and the hellish future he’d had planned for me, which was too similar to what Mom had escaped. I wasn’t having any part of that.

I grabbed the water bottle’s cap then heard the satisfying break of the seal, happy that no one had tampered with it. I downed the entire thing, knowing I was dehydrated. Then I twisted to look at what he’d handcuffed me to. With a hard yank, I tested its strength. Nothing. It didn’t even budge. The bedpost was solid, but I couldn’t figure why, since it was clearly a cheap motel.

And why here?Mom had alluded to him having money. If he was in a big-deal crime syndicate, it was a weird move on his part. Or maybe that was why—Mom would expect him to be at an expensive hotel or traveling to the airport in one of his fancy cars.

Will I ever see her again? And Cole?My heart hurt. Desperation clawed at my throat, and tears filled my eyes.Fuck it. I can do this.

I’d watched people dislocate their thumbs in movies, and Uncle Ronan had shown me how to get out of handcuffs that way. He’d taught me a lot of survival skills.

This is going to suck. I turned my head to the side, bit down on a section of my shirt, grabbed my thumb, positioned my knee for added leverage, and then yanked.

Fuck, fuckity, fuck!I panted through the pain. Not wasting too much time, I pulled my hand through the cuff, grabbed the water, and slid off the bed. I wasn’t sure how to get my thumb back in, so I left it out of the joint. Hurt like hell, but I would do whatever it took to get out of there.

Once on my feet, I crept unsteadily to the draped windows. Moving the edge of the heavy curtains back a hair to see if the coast was clear, I braced against the pain from the light. It wasn’t too bad.

There were two overly large thugs near the window. I eased the curtain back into place then scanned the room again for vents or any other way out. I had no idea where I was or if anyone was coming for me. All I knew from when he’d opened the door was that we were somewhere near the ocean.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

COLE

It’d been two fucking days with no sighting of Riley or her kidnapper.

Cops were crawling over the woods and all airport, train, and bus stations. And there were too damn many of them downstairs. But they had nothing so far. She had just disappeared, and they weren’t doing enough to find her.

I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours. Dad and Raelyn looked like they’d gotten a similar amount of rest—her eyes were red and swollen, and he had dark circles under his. When I’d gone downstairs to see if there was any news, she’d swayed on her feet. Dad was by her side when he wasn’t on the phone or working on his contacts. He was completely different around her than he’d been with Mom. I’d noticed it, and so had my brother and cousins.

I didn’t even care anymore, though. All that mattered was finding Riley. My chest hurt, and all I could think of was that note I’d found in her room from Nick. I didn’t know why she’d kept it—maybe to remind herself that he was a threat so she didn’t create a fantasy of him that differed from the reality: he was a dangerous asshole.

I also worried about something I’d overheard Raelyn say to my dad about her brother. She hadn’t been able to reach him and thought Nick might have done something to him. When Dad suggested telling the cops, she freaked out. They were at a standstill.

That was how it was with everything, and I couldn’t stand it much longer. I barged into Damon’s room, and he blinked one eye open. It was eleven, but he’d slept in since it was Sunday and there was no football practice.

I wasn’t about to leave Riley’s life in the hands of Nick and other people who didn’t care about her. The detective had nothing, my dad’s contacts had very little, and Raelyn was going just as crazy as I was.

“What are you doing?” Damon asked, his voice rough from sleep.

I yanked open his closet and rummaged around on the top shelf. “Looking for that drone you got for Christmas a year ago.”

“Hold up a minute.”

When I couldn’t find it, I went back into his room and paced. I couldn’t sit around and wait any longer.

Damon sat up, and the sheet bunched around his waist.

“I can’t sit around and do nothing.”

He sighed then ran a hand through his hair. “I get it, but running off without a plan won’t help. And you need to clue me in on what’s going on. One minute, you want her out. Then she’s cool. Then she’s not again. Things changed again after her dad broke into the house… so spill.”

Fuck, he was right. “We slept together.”

“So, your dick is speaking for you?” He snorted.

I took two steps forward then slapped the back of the head. “It’s not like that. Well, at first, it kinda was, but then I realized the only thing I hated about her was what our parents and Raelyn had done. Their drama.”

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