Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
“I’d kill her.”
His almost smile was smug. “Exactly. And Levi would have done it if Blaise hadn’t. Blaise did what had to be done for the family. Gina wasn’t going to stop. She was obsessed with Levi, and as long as she was alive, Aspen wasn’t safe.”
Aspen was Levi’s wife. I hadn’t realized Gina, Blaise Hughes former step-sister, had broken Aspen’s arm and terrorized her. I just knew she’d taken her from where she worked. Linc hadn’t given us any real details, but he had to have known. Levi was his son.
Huck stretched and stood back up. “Blaise is ruthless. He protects his name and power. But,” he said, leveling me with his gaze, “part of that power is ruling with a fair hand inside the family. You still have a chance of walking out of here.”
I didn’t respond. I was currently strung up and in the caves. And if I couldn’t have Noa, then I wasn’t sure leaving was worth it.
Huck picked up the bottle of water he’d placed on the table and opened it, then walked over to me. “Drink the damn water, Carver.”
I glared at him, then opened my mouth, and he poured some inside. At least it would be easier to swallow now that it didn’t feel as if I’d been eating cotton.
Twenty-Four
Noa
The paper trembled in my hand as I stood, staring down at it. Rereading the words over and over. Each time more difficult than the time before.
When I’d awoken alone, I’d thought for a moment that Ransom had stepped out to get something. I couldn’t believe he’d just left me. He’d promised Jellie he would get me home—not that I needed him to get home, but still. He hadn’t said he was leaving.
His underwear—the black boxer briefs—was still tossed on the floor by the sofa, where he’d taken them off last night. He wouldn’t have left without wearing his underwear.
I’d gotten up and used the supplies in the bathroom that the hotel had left out to brush my teeth with some mouthwash and a cotton swab, then swooshed the rest around in my mouth. I even washed my face and used the restroom. When thirty minutes passed, I walked to stare out the window at the street below, wondering if he’d gone to pick up something special for breakfast and gotten caught up in the still-crowded streets.
I turned around to see if there was a bottle of water in the refrigerator, and it was then that I noticed the pad of paper on the desk had writing on it. My heart sank. I knew without looking that he hadn’t stepped out.
He’d left me. Again.
Forever has no time frame. You own my soul in this life and the ones to come.
—Ransom
What did this mean? The more I read it, the more it sounded as if … as if … he hadn’t gone because he wanted to.
His underwear had been left behind. My imagination, being elaborate, had many different scenarios running through my mind, and each one seemed to be more unthinkable than the next.
I had no way to contact him. No number. Nothing.
Fear crawled up my spine slowly, and my stomach knotted so tightly that I felt nauseated.
Oh God. What if something bad had happened to him? He’d rushed out without his boxers. They were in plain sight. He hadn’t overlooked them. Was he on the run?
I started to put the note down, but I couldn’t let go of it. He’d touched it. Written this to me. Holding it felt like I had some connection to him. Right now, this was all I had. Gently, I folded it and held it in my hand.
I was wearing the hotel robe and needed to get dressed. I also had to think. There had to be a way to contact him. Find him.
The heavy foreboding that was seeping through me was a monster I couldn’t control.
What if I was overreacting? This could have just been reassurance that he’d be back. His reminder to wait for me.
But what if I wasn’t?
What if he needed help and I did nothing? I couldn’t lose him. I wouldn’t survive it.
I had to go to Madison. I knew where his house was. That was the only option I had. I could go, and … and … what? Go to his security gate and ask to see him? That wouldn’t get him in any trouble. I wouldn’t be the first female to come looking for him. Or I could go to the distillery. That was a better idea.
He had said to trust him. But he’d also said being here might get him killed and the thing about my calls being traced. Questions I had put off until today because I wanted last night to just be about us. Together. Ringing in the new year.
How I wished I’d pressed him for more.