Page 47 of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The guilty look marring his beautiful face says everything.

“You promised me, Gage, you promised you’d take me away from this life. I’d never have to worry about jackhole men trying to hurt me. I’d never be just the daughter of a club whore ever again.”

“Baby, you won’t be. If you’re my old lady, the brothers won’t touch you. Their kids won’t touch you. It’s a measure of safety. Raif and I’ll look after you, you’ll see.”

“No. We won’t.”

“Don’t say that,” he implores, using his big, blue puppy dog eyes in a way that would normally work for him. Not today.

“We’re done. I’m done. I refuse to be Misti and wonder every time you head off to St. Louis if it’s for easy pussy, or god forbid, my mother. My poor, desperate mother, who hung on, hoping for a life, for a love that my piece of shit father never planned to give her.”

“Stop, Liv. Don’t talk about Ripper.”

“I will,Gage. He’s a piece of shit and if you throw your lot with him, then you’re a piece of shit, too.”

“It won’t be like that for us, baby. I promise you. I promise. Just because he cheats doesn’t mean I will. I could never hurt you.”

“You just did.”

I had planned on giving myself to him that night. After the breakup, god, I’d been distraught and went to one of the few places that brought me solace. Wrigley Field. Straight into the arms of a lunatic. Stupid, I’d been so stupid.

If I’d only listened to Gage then. He wouldn’t have hurt me. I know that now. If I’d just stayed the night with him, we’d have shared a wonderful memory and I’d never have had to run. Because Houdini would’ve met some other girl.

That’s selfish. I know it’s selfish.

Okay, that’s enough wallowing. Enough. Now is the time to make plans. How do I get out of here? How do we keep Elise and Gun safe? If she’s back in Kentucky on the compound, then she’s safe. Nothing to worry about.

No other plans, save escape, come to mind. I spend my time checking every inch of railroad car I can touch and scrutinize with my eyes those I can’t, looking for any hole or weak spot. Any place I could dig at.

Even flipping up the mattress, there’s nothing that I can find. Righting it, I flop down on the edge, knees to chin, and try to regroup.Please don’t let us end this way. Please, please, please let me see Gage again.

Stupid, so stupid. There’s noise outside the car, like someone walking around. And I guess, I don’t know. I’d just sent that prayer out into the universe to see Gage again and then right after hear someone outside. Serendipitous.

“Hello?” I call out. “Hello, is someone there? Please help me! I’ve been kidnapped!”

The click from the lock and the door rolls open. So, so stupid. Why would I ever think it would be my Gage?

“I know,” he says. “Since I’m the one who put you here.”

He throws the same black garbage bag from the first time he visited, not the stretchy kind but a cheap black garbage bag, down on the floor of the car before he hefts himself inside and slides the door shut.

“Go ahead and scream your head off, no one will hear. You think I’m stupid?”

“No, I think you’re certifiable,” comes out of my mouth before I can think better of it. He snickers as his bearded mouth tips up in the corner.

“Good, gonna make it fun this time.”

My eyes grow huge. His comment unnerves me. But if I could take him off guard, he hadn’t locked the rolling door… If I could get out, lock him in…

Not paying me a lick of attention, he bends down to riffle through the bag. I take the chance and tackle him with a head-butt to the gut. He falls on his ass. Tactical error—I should have used my shoulder, not my head. Despite the dizzying effect of the hit, I scramble into a run, just reaching the rolled door before he catches my foot, yanking it out from underneath me.

Even throwing my hands out to block the fall, my chin still clips the metal and splits open. Face wound and all, blood begins to seep down onto my shirt, blossoming out into a saturated stain by the collar.

“And so it begins,” he mutters, and then I feel the cold, metal shackle clamp around my ankle.

“No,” I whisper. Electricity hums through the air.

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