the bones in my spine crack, feel the skin over my cheekbones split wider.
He doesn’t drop me this time, doesn’t stop to pick the phone up that fell from my hand to clatter to the floor. He squeezes instead, and my air is cut off, white spots bursting in front of my open eyes as I reach up to scrabble at his hand with my fingers.
Grant is too strong. Too angry. He’s beyond reason after hearing me read what Ari said about him.
“I’ll tell you once more to give me his real name.”
Face lowering to mine, his breath is hot against my skin as he watches me struggle to breathe. “I suggest you don’t lie to me this time.”
Dropping me, he crouches at my side, completely still while my mouth opens, and my lungs drag in the first breath. I have nothing I can give him. I don’t know who Ari is.
The knowledge of that forces so much panic through me that I attempt to crawl away. All Grant has to do is grip down on my ankle, his fingers digging into the tendons until pain shoots up my leg.
He drags me to him, wraps his hand in my hair and lifts my head up until my neck is bent back.
“Tell me his name.”
“I don’t know it,” I cry, wishing like hell there was something else I could tell him.
“And I don’t believe you, Adeline.”
Slamming my forehead against the floor, he almost knocks me unconscious. My head is swimming, the room coming in and out of focus as my ears ring.
I only had another day to go before I could escape this man.
And unlike what I believed a short while ago, I now know I won’t survive it.
Ari
My phone vibrates over the surface of a table from across the room, the sound drawing my attention as I strip off the black fitted t-shirt I’d worn all day while navigating a city I wasn’t familiar with.
Outside the window, a parking lot sits half filled, neon lights flashing above a small, hole-in-the-wall bar that caters to the dregs of society.
I never stay in luxury when I take jobs, not unless it’s absolutely called for. It’s easier to rent cheap motel rooms that accept cash and don’t ask for names. Five star accommodations want credit cards and identification, which I have, but prefer not to use too much. Even aliases can be tracked if they keep showing up in places where powerful men are found dead.
The added benefit of cheaper places is the lack of cameras. Nobody gives a damn to record the crimes and activities of its customers. Would be bad for business.
My flight home doesn’t leave for another six hours, and while I could have gone directly to the airport, I chose this place instead so I could take a shower after introducing hotshot playboy and millionaire, Kennedy Porter, to the afterlife.
Not that anybody would suspect he was murdered. The man had a slight drug problem that wasn’t well hidden and the fatal overdose he took would soon be slapped all over the numerous news and social media outlets with lengthy articles mourning his loss while also discussing the dangers of addiction.
Sometimes this job is just too easy.
My phone vibrates again as I drop the t-shirt into the small bag I’d brought with me, and I ignore it to strip off my jeans on the way to the shower.
You couldn’t pay me enough to sit on the bed in this place, but the small chair in the room will do while I wait the short amount of time that’s left before my flight.
I brought my own towel, so I pull it from the bag, flinging it over my shoulder to walk to the bathroom, the phone vibrating once again.
Blowing out a breath, I turn to look at it, my dark mood not made better by the disturbance.
Ignoring it again, I take a shower, and I’m towel drying my hair as I step back into the room, finally grabbing the phone from the table and sliding my thumb over the screen.
Lincoln: You being a good boy?
I already knew it would be him. I didn’t bring my actual phone with me for this job, and Lincoln is the only person who has this number.
Fucker must have seen read on the message because the phone lights up in my hand when he calls.
I hit the green button and trap the phone between my shoulder and ear as I walk back to my bag to