Page 153 of Swept for Forever
“You want to bury this?” he snapped. “You need me alive. You need mefree. Because if I don’t make the call in the next twenty minutes, your face is going viral with a murder warrant attached.”
Spears faltered, just for a second. But I saw it.
He didn’t know if Dom was bluffing, but did he want to find out?
The silence that followed was heavy, and Big-Mouth and Pickle shifted beside me.
Then, Spears stepped back, muttering a curse, and nodded toward his men. “Come on.”
“Don’t try anything smart,” Pickle growled at me as they passed. They decided to leave Big-Mouth with me.
Before Dom was hauled back upstairs, his eyes met mine one last time.
He wasn’t beaten.
Oh, no.
He was just getting started.
45
DOM
The moment Spears dragged me toward the front of the lodge, I knew I had twenty, maybe thirty seconds, max.
They were planning to move me to somewhere with a signal, somewhere I could be forced to make the call they needed.
“Let’s go,” Spears barked. Pickle gripped my arm from behind.
They thought they had me. They thought I was done.
But they didn’t count on me still breathing—for her.
The second they shoved me into the back seat of Pickle’s car, I rolled, slammed the opposite door open, and bolted.
Spears, slow to react from the far side, lunged too late.
Pickle moved, but not faster than me. Outside, he might’ve been quick for his size. In a car, though? Big men didn’t pivot well, and I’d already clocked that weakness.
I sprinted for the lodge like hell itself snapped at my heels. I hit the porch, ripped the door open, and slammed it behind me.
A heavy console table stood nearby, so I dragged it over and slammed it against the door. Wood shrieked againstwood. Then I shoved a chair under the knob, wedging it tight. It was not foolproof, but it might buy us enough time.
The handle rattled.
Once.
Twice.
Harder.
I didn’t wait. I took the stairs two at a time, my boots hammering against the worn boards.
The guard in the basement barely looked up before I was on him. After dealing with that ogre, this was nothing. I slammed a fist into his throat and drove a knee into his gut. He folded. He had a sloppy stance and poor instincts. Lucky me.
I dropped down to Autumn.
“Baby, you okay?” I asked, needing her voice. Her wrists were raw, her face pale, but her eyes…God, her eyes. They burned into mine like a stronghold. I hadn’t been this close to her in what felt like forever.
