Page 64 of Devil's Cage

Yup. You can get scared, you can feel your heart beating too fast, but you can’t ever give up or give in. You have to tell yourself that you’re gonna win, no matter what, even if you don’t feel like it, even if it seems like a lie. Because the second you think you can’t do it—then youcan’t. Got it?

At the time, I’d nodded, even though I didn’t quite know what she meant. After my mother had died, it seemed a cruel joke to think of that advice or even think about taking it to heart.

But in this moment, I knew what my mother meant. My panic and my brain were going to be the death of me. I had to believe that I could do this.

The stakes were too high.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Lia

Drawing in several breaths, I began to move down the hall, telling myself over and over that I could do this. I was an excellent improviser, and I wasn’t about to let Ty or his men die. I told myself I’d been trained by the best, and I could win.

I would win.

Still, I was ready at a moment’s notice to dart into one of the other rooms. I wished that I had a weapon or something to defend myself. That statue had been too heavy to keep lugging around and I didn’t know where Ty kept the guns.

I hit my forehead. Why hadn’t I taken Joe’s gun? Jesus, what an oversight.

No, it was fine. I didn’t even know if I could still shoot a gun. It had been so long. Even my muscles were shaking a little from the fatigue of not working out or keeping up with my self-defense classes since my mother had died.

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. Marina's years of rigorous training seemed to go beyond muscle memory. I went over what my mother had told me, how to creep up behind, to go for the knees or jab my elbow into an eardrum.

Then I could do a chokehold.

It would only work if these men were disoriented enough first, especially if they were trained. It was strange for my mother to have anticipated that I’d need these skills and to excel at them to survive.

If Ididsurvive this, I was getting back to my training immediately.

Ty and I can work out together,I promised myself, even as I tasted tears and a shudder rippled through me.It’s all going to be fine. He’ll be fine.

I shook my head and blinked away tears, my throat aching.I can’t lose him.Everything wavered around me as though I was in a terrible, endless nightmare, and I just wanted to wake up in Ty’s arms.

Swiping at my face, telling myself over and over that I could do this, even though it felt like the most blatant of lies, I slowed again. Could I?

I have to.

Even though my breathing was still erratic, my mind had calmed and I snuck up to the edge of the landing without faltering again. Once there, I crouched down by the corner of the railing and peeked out, trying to see if the men had noticed that Joe was down for the count. Their voices had been muffled but now I could clearly hear them. They were still attempting to get into the bedroom.

“What the fuck is the wood made out of? Titanium?” Sarksi demanded, and there was a loud bang, then a yelp, and I jumped.

“Don’t kick the damn door as I’m trying to get the handle off, you fuck,” Jock snarled, and I heard the whir of a blade, then the coughing sound as the blade refused to cut through. “Shit,shit. This isn’t working.”

Sarksi bounced up and down on his heels. “Time for me to go in through the chimney like Santa Claus?”

“Fuck it, fine,” Jock said.

Sarksi jogged down to the next door, burst in and crossed the room. Cold air swept through the hallway, and the door swungon its hinges, indicating that Sarksi must have opened the window.

Minutes passed. I debated whether I should try to take out Jock now, but I was too scared to attempt it when I didn’t know where Sarksi was. Then I was glad I didn’t because the doorknob twisted, and the door was yanked open by a furious Sarksi.

“No one’s here.”

“What?” Jock snarled and shoved the skinnier man out of the way. A roar offuckcame from the room and then the sound of a fist hitting a wall. I jumped again, and my heart pounded out of my throat.

I couldn’t face a terrifying, rage-filled gangster like Jock. I’d have to take him down without him ever seeing me somehow.

“Where the fuck is she?”

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