Page 140 of Severed Rivalry
I clench my fists. “The women will be unarmed and probably afraid. I suspect most of the men have no fire power, but we should expect them to be armed with rudimentary tools. Leadership might be different.”
It’s quiet for several long minutes. “We all come home,” Christian says solemnly as the car glides to a stop.
Liam shoots the compound’s layout to everyone with these final words to me. “I’ll get your girls if it kills me.”
Christian states again, this time with more authority, “We all come home.”
Liam shrugs as if it’s all the same to him as we see a lone figure running down the street. I’d say Emma looks no worse for wear except the terror written all over her.
Fitz pulls over and we exit the car, her panic escalating. “Emma. It’s me, Ci.” I gentle my tone. “We need to save the others and then we’ll head home. Wait in the car?”
She looks over her head back toward our destination before shaking her head and then nodding all in one movement.
She climbs in, trembling and staring wide-eyed at those of us from dinner and the new additions. “We’ll be back. Don’t leave, sweetheart. Finding you was hard enough, okay? I want to get you safely home tonight.”
And that’s not happening without my family.
We head much closer than Emma would like, if her trembling is anything to go by, and exit the car looking at the cabin before us. This is feeling more and more like a suicide mission.
The heaviness in my gut.
The lightness in my head.
The pure vacancy where my heart should be.
We can’t afford to fail. I can’t afford to lose my girl. Again. And losing her daughter would be the same for her.
And I won’t lose these men who stepped up in my most desperate time.
I open my mouth, ready to say something profound, only to watch Ren make a hand gesture to Fitz who returns it in kind just as they disappear into the trees without a sound.
Christian is less stealth. Hell, he’s in dress shoes.
Liam dissolves before my very eyes, the evil grin on his face one that chills me to the bone.
And I’m left…
Left with the biggest challenge of my life.
One I cannot fail.
41
rot and failure
Sariah
My head pounds, and my face has its own heartbeat. The heat and swelling are my first thought.
It’s the second thought that shakes me from my terror. Where is Renée? Where is my daughter since I obviously failed to protect her?
I’m alone, still in the cabin where they brought us originally. The dirt-packed floor smells of rot and failure.
Lying here, I sense what I failed to recognize before… Fabric covers me. It’s itchy and rough and smells acrid. It’s almost like bleach but not as sweet or sharp. It surrounds me and infuses my nostrils.
Lye.
I toss it off my body only to find my nakedness below.
