Page 30 of Relentless

“Tell me, Pet. Give me everything, and I’ll take you down there.”

Those words break through my trance, turning the fire in my veins to ice.

“You’re going to give her back to him?” I ask in disbelief.

8

ALANA

JD’s wrecked expression makes my chest fracture straight down the center. I can’t help it.

There’s something about the loveable idiot that just talks to me even when I’m pissed at him.

“I said I’d take her down, not that I’d hand her over,” Reid explains, dragging me back to the here and now.

My teeth grind and my muscles tense.

“I’m telling you nothing,” I spit, making him rear back in shock.

“You don’t want to see your husband?” he asks incredulously.

I keep my mouth closed as he stares down at me.

But I barely see him. All the things he said about my past and the men who’ve ruined my life and body are still haunting me.

He knows. And now so does JD. But there is no way I’m giving him any more than that in exchange for seeing Mav.

I don’t just want to see Mav. I want him to wrap me in his strong arms and take me home.

I want everything. Not just the scraps that Reid will allow us to have. Because that’s all it’ll be—the bare minimum.

All Reid cares about is himself and his beloved gang. He doesn’t give a shit about us, our marriage, or our future.

He wants my secrets for his own gain. And why should I allow that when all he’s done is hurt me?

Just like the men who have come before him.

His form of torture might be different, but the result is the same. They all want something from me.

My innocence.

My pain.

My fear.

“Not under your terms, no,” I finally confess.

“You’re just going to leave him down there?” JD asks curiously.

“Opposed to what? I highly doubt you’ll leave the door unlocked so we can run as far and as fast as possible.”

The answer is clear in his eyes. It doesn’t matter what I say, Reid will continue with his mission until he gets exactly what he wants. And then where will that leave us?

Probably still locked up and at his mercy.

Dragging my eyes from JD, I attempt to look around the beast of a man pinning me to the bed in order to see my husband.

The sight of him gives me strength, reminds me why I’m fighting. I force down the devastation and the pain of the memories Reid’s dragged up and rediscover my fire.

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