Wicked Truths (Hunt Legacy Duology #2) - Jodi Ellen Malpas Page 0,166

silence for a few moments, and I hear him sigh, the mattress dipping. I have absolutely no idea what happens next. I’m moving without thinking, my knee coming up and cracking Brent in the nose. ‘Fuck!’ he chokes, flying back with his palm over his face, blood spurting out the sides. I look up, praying for a miracle, wrestling with my shaky hands. ‘Come on,’ I whisper, seeing the tip of the key a mere millimetre away from the lock. I growl, having a quick check on Brent, finding him slumped on the floor looking a bit dazed. He looks up at me. And a veil of evil falls. Shit. I return my attention to the headboard and pull harder on the cuffs, hissing, seeing a trickle of blood roll down my forearm.

The key slips into the hole, and one last twist of my wrist releases the lock. I gasp, feeling the blood rush back into my arms.

‘You little—’

My leg shoots out, my foot connecting with Brent’s jaw, and he yelps, flopping to the bed. I grab his arm, yanking it to the bedframe, my fingers working fast, adrenalin pumping.

I cuff him to the bed.

‘Fuck!’ he yells.

I jump up quickly and brush my hair out of my face, my pulse racing. When I find his outraged eyes, I step back, a little dazed, a lot scared. How the hell did I manage that?

‘Eleanor!’ he barks, bucking off the bed, his body twisting as he hisses from the friction of the metal on his wrists. ‘He can’t be trusted. I’ve just proved that, you stupid woman.’

I grab my jeans and yank them on before shoving my feet in my trainers and claiming the wig from the chair. Brent’s face straightens momentarily while his mind plays catch-up. Then his eyes bug. ‘You?’

I throw it at him. ‘You’re the criminal, Wilson. You’re the deceitful one who can’t be trusted.’ I make my way to the door. ‘Get comfortable. You could be there a while,’ I say, yanking the door open and slamming it behind me with brute force. I run like the wind out of the hotel.

The streets are quiet now, and a quick glance at my watch tells me why. It’s 2a.m. I look up to the dark sky. It’s started to rain, fat drops of water hitting me hard, as I sprint towards the Pantheon, adrenalin pumping. When I reach the Piazza della Rotonda, I skid to a stop, staring straight at the mammoth marble columns that line the porch. It’s dark, it’s quiet, and it’s so eerie. The glow from a few street lanterns illuminate the square a little, but the porch beyond the pillars of the ancient temple is cloaked in complete darkness.

The rain starts to come down harder, seeping into the threads of my sweater, my hair now sticking to my face. Shuddering, I tentatively walk forward, rounding the fountain, listening carefully, my eyes darting. There’s a constant, distant tapping sound that’s getting louder the closer I creep towards the church. But I can’t see a damn thing.

Then the tapping suddenly stops, and so do my steps. I’m as still as possible as I listen carefully, apprehension creeping up my legs into my torso. I start to tremble, my eyes darting. ‘Bec—’ My breath is stolen from me, a hand slapped over my mouth as I’m grabbed and hauled across the piazza.

‘You’re seriously pushing my fucking buttons, princess,’ he hisses in my ear, squeezing me to his body. Dumping me on my feet when he’s carried me onto the porch of the Pantheon, he grabs the tops of my arms and shakes me a little. ‘How the fuck did you get free?’

My vision clears and centres on his vexed expression. If I thought I’d seen mad, I was wrong. He looks borderline psychotic. But I’m not exactly pleased as punch myself. I square up to him, bold and full of fire. ‘I took the key to the cuffs out of your bag.’ I push into his shoulder. ‘Don’t think you can play me, Hunt.’ I present him with my wrists, showing him the angry, red welts. ‘This princess is determined.’

His eyes widen at the sight. ‘Eleanor, I’m—’

‘Shut up and do what you’ve got to do before Brent joins the party.’

‘What? Brent’s here? Where?’

‘He’s taken my position on the bed.’ I don’t mean to sound proud, but I kind of am.

His neck retracts on his shoulders. ‘Come again?’

‘He came to the hotel.’

His eyes are getting progressively wider. ‘What?’

‘He came