for her soon.”
With all her strength, Brittany punches me in the stomach again and brings her knee in too. “That’s for being a bitch toward me.”
I lose my balance and fall to the ground, where Brittany kicks me until I nearly lose consciousness.
“And that’s for fucking the man who killed Gabe.”
After a minute of her physically taking her anger out on me, Nicolas grabs me by the hair and throws me in the back of her SUV. After the doors slam closed, the engine rumbles, and we’re quickly speeding away.
I wonder how long it’ll take Noah to realize I’m gone. After I didn’t answer the first time, I know he’s already searching for me. I just hope to God he has Eric with him because I don’t doubt Brittany’s words for one second.
She speaks to Nicolas in a high-pitched tone, like she’s happy about what she’s accomplished. I try to turn my body to see out the window but can’t manage to twist around. My eyes burn with hot tears, and I try to take myself out of the situation until I hear Brittany tell Nicolas she’s calling Noah.
A lump the size of Texas forms in my throat as I hang on to every word she says.
“Noah,” she purrs. “How are you?”
I can only imagine what he said to her and wish the phone was on speaker.
“Ah. Okay. Playing hardball. Got it. Well, as you’ve probably figured out, I have your girlfriend.”
She’s silent for a moment. “We’re not playing macho man today, Noah. You’re not in control here; I am. Now you’re gonna listen to me very carefully and follow every fucking one of my directions, or I’ll kill her. And trust me when I say it would satisfy me beyond belief to end this cunt’s life.”
I wish I could see her reaction, but based on her tone, she’s unamused.
“So if you want your precious girlfriend back, I need you to meet me alone at the storage units outside of town,” she says. “You know which ones.”
For a second, I think she’s ended the call because she’s quiet. All I can hear is the hum of the tires against the road. She eventually speaks up and forces me back to this reality. “Because I want you to suffer for murdering the love of my life. This is only fair, Noah. There are consequences to every action, and this is yours. You took away the only man I loved, so I’ll take away the only woman you’ve ever loved. At first, I wondered how I’d be able to pull this off. Honestly, you made it too easy.”
The tears begin to fall again. I never wanted to put Noah in danger, and now, I’m the reason he’ll go straight to Brittany.
“I’ll tell Nicolas to let her live,” she says with a laugh, then continues. “Don’t worry about it.”
I try to scream and tell him to stay away.
She speaks up again. “Oh, I’d much rather see you bleed out than her. You have thirty minutes. If you arrive a minute late, she’ll have a bullet in her head. And I won’t stop until you do too.”
She hangs up, and I can only imagine the satisfied look on her face. “It will all be over soon,” she confirms.
“It will,” Nicolas agrees. “I told you it’d all work out.”
Eventually, the SUV makes a hard turn onto gravel, then comes to an abrupt stop. Brittany and Nicolas get out, and I’m convinced they’re going to leave me in the hot vehicle. It’s already hard enough to breathe, but the heat seems to make it worse.
A long time seems to pass before the back opens. Nicolas grabs my arm and drags me across the gravel toward a storage unit.
I’m thrown into a metal chair, and I try to adjust my body the best I can without slipping off it. I glare at Brittany, wishing my internal anger could magically strike her down. By the grin on her face, I know she’s enjoying this a little too much. Psycho bitch.
The large garage door of the storage building is closed to a crack. Nicolas flicks on the overhead lighting that seems to buzz with intimidation as they load their guns.
Right now, I’m more scared than I have ever been in my life. The last thing I want to do is bring any attention to myself, but it doesn’t matter because her beady eyes zero in on me.
Brittany stands before me and shakes her head with disgust. Another step forward