Page 31 of Vows and Vendettas

9

HELLIE

The next morning the bed’s empty. My heart sinks.

I dress quickly. I find him in the living room by the window. A quick look around confirms my red dress is gone.

There’s only Cal. And my bags.

But no hope.

“I have a friend coming. He’ll help you get set up with a new life, Hellie.”

I swallow. “And you?”

He doesn’t answer.

“And you, Cal?”

He turns, kisses me softly, and the softness melts into something harder, tongues tangling, a kiss that rocks me to the tips of my toes and clenches my heart.

Bittersweet.

A goodbye.

Finally, he lifts his head. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

“They’ll kill you.”

“No,” he says. “They won’t.”

Outside, a car pulls up.

“Cal, come with me. We don’t—”

“We do. If I go, they’ll chase us and you’ll never be safe. Go. My friend will help.”

There are words I want to say. Words that make no sense and hold the bones of truth. Words of love.

I’ve fallen for him.

It took an instant. The moment I met his eyes a lifetime ago and now…

And now, he steps away, walking from the room and my life.

Forever.

10

QUINN

“Thanks,” I say to Mercer. He owes me but something tells me after this, I’ll be owing him.

He’s been out longer than me and he dresses like a different man. A suit with an air of a mission about him. But the deadliness, the control, the drive and carefully meted out hunger is the same.

If anyone can get her to safety and give her a chance at a new life, it’s him.

“No problem, Quinn.” His gaze flicks to the new car where an unmoving Hellie sits. “It’ll be like she died.”

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