by Lia Ellison
I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I didn’t want to run either.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. But if you’re going to torture someone, leave me out of it. I don’t want to be there for any of that.”
“Okay.”
“Tell me. Where are we going?”
“Maybe I should check this one out myself,” he said. “There’s an old house that the Scarlet Cobras used to own. I don’t know if anyone lives there right now, but Easton hinted that Zavarelli might be hiding here. It would make sense for him to hide in plain sight. It would be just like him, but I’m not sure if he’d pick that place.”
“Are you going to call your men to come with you?” I observed his face carefully.
There was something about the tightness around his eyes that made me think that he didn’t want to go to that house, but I couldn’t figure out why.
“No. I can’t risk any of them alerting Zavarelli that I figured out where he’s hiding. If he’s even hiding there at all.”
“If all you’re going to do is check if Zavarelli is at some house or not, then I’m in. It doesn’t sound all that dangerous, and you might need backup.”
He shook his head. “There’s no need. You should get some rest.”
“I’m not tired, and I want to do this,” I said determinedly. “I can stay in the car.”
“And what if he comes out and points his gun at you? What are you going to do then? It’ll be hard for me to both search the house and keep you safe.”
“Actually, why don’t you teach me how to shoot?”
Ryker’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide. “What?”
“Teach me how to shoot,” I said. “At least some basic. I’m not really used to having a gun, but I think I can figure it out. I don’t want to be an assassin, but I think I could manage to shoot someone if I had to do.”
“I thought you didn’t want any part of that. I won’t let you kill someone because of me. It’s not something you should have to do at all.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Who said anything about killing? Geez. I want to know how to defend myself. That’s all. So if one of the bad guys comes after me, I can do something about him. Or do you plan on watching over me all the time? Or have your men protect me? Because I don’t think that’s always going to work. There will be times when I’ll be alone or something might happen, so it’s better if I know what to do with a gun.”
He gaped at me as if he’d never seen me before. “Does that mean you want to stay with me?”
“We said we’d give us a chance, didn’t we? I want it to be a real chance. Yes, I don’t like a lot of aspects of your job, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you or that it’s a deal breaker. Well, I’m going to think about that a bit more, but for now, I want to see where this leads us.”
A small smile stretched across his lips. I supposed he’d thought that he’d completely ruined our chance.
“All right. We’re going to make a stop somewhere first, and I’m going to give you a gun and teach you how to shoot.”
I flashed him a smile. “Good.”
A few minutes later, Ryker pulled over at the side of the road.
We got out of the car, and then he led me through the trees until we reached a small clearing.
He pulled out his gun and handed it to me.
“Just hold it in your hand for a bit until I find something,” he said. “Feel it. Feel its shape. Its weight.”
“Um, okay. It’s not going to accidentally fire or anything, is it?”
“No, it won’t. But don’t mess with it too much.”
“Right.” I stared down at the gun in my hand.
It wasn’t like I’d never seen a gun or even touched one, but this somehow felt different.
When Ryker was back, he was carrying empty beer bottles that he must’ve found somewhere around here.
I supposed people came here to drink or have fun around a bonfire. He placed the bottles all over the clearing. Some were on the ground, some were on the rocks or even up in the trees.
“Are you ready?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Okay.” He took the gun from me, and then he showed me and explained what I was supposed to do with it.
When it was my time to try, he held his hand over mine, helping me aim it right.
Once I pulled the trigger, my heart was thudding loudly in my chest. Of course, the bullet whizzed past the bottle I’d been aiming at, and I let out a frustrated groan.
“Don’t worry. It was only your first try. Let’s do it again.” He patiently lifted my hand again, and this time, when I fired, the bullet grazed the bottle.
I gave him a small smile.
My next attempt was successful, and I jumped up in delight with a grin on my face.
“I did it!” I said.
“Yeah, you did it.” He pulled me into his arms, and my lips met his.
Warmth spread through my body, and for a moment, I forgot I was still holding the gun. When I backed away from him, I focused at the gun again.
“I’m going to try again. On my own this time.” I lifted the gun toward one of the bottles.
And then I fired.
The bottle burst into pieces.
“That was an easy one,” Ryker teased.
“Ah, you mean, you’d hit that one with your eyes closed.”
“Of course I would.”
“Are you avoiding going to that house?” I cocked my head at him.
It looked like he wasn’t in a hurry to get there, which was a surprise, considering Zavarelli might figure out Ryker was back here.
“Why would I?” His smile faded.
I shrugged. “When the Scarlet Cobras were there, were you with them?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. We need to go. Come on.” He started in the direction of our car.
Ah, so now that I’d started asking questions about it, he wanted to leave immediately.
I was sure there was more to it, and I hoped I was going to find out what it was.
Chapter 18
“IS THAT IT?” I ASKED as soon as a one-story house came into view.
It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded completely by vast fields and some trees.
“Yeah.”
“But if he’s here, he’s going to see us coming.” It was almost impossible that he wouldn’t see us. Hell, he could’ve already spotted the car if he’d looked through the window at the right moment. “Are you sure he’s hiding here?”
“No, I’m not. It’s an unlikely hiding place, and that’s the only thing why I think he might be here, but I doubt we’ll find him. What I’m hoping to find is some clue as to where he might’ve gone.” Ryker pulled over in the driveway that was overgrown with weeds and grass.
Actually, the whole house had an abandoned look to it, but as I focused on it, I noticed that the windows were clean, and that there were any weeds in front of the door.
Maybe someone had actually been here to take care of the house, or maybe Zavarelli was really here.
“Stay in the car,” Ryker said as he handed me a gun. “If anyone comes running, hide. Don’t try to stop them or try your new shooting skills on them, okay?”
“Yeah. Be careful,” I said as he got out of the car, his gun ready.
“I will.” He gave me a small smile, and then I watched him as he advanced toward the house.
I focused on the windows, trying to see if anyone was looking through them, but I couldn’t see anyone. Maybe no one was here, and it was perfectly safe for us.
Still, I tightly gripped my gun, which was funny, because I didn’t think a weapon like that would ever make me feel safe.
But now it was in my hand, so I supposed that was why I felt better about it.
My brow furrowed when Ryker tried the door and it actually opened. My whole body tensed.
Why would the door be unlocked? Was Zavarelli really here? But why leave
the door like that?
Had someone alerted him about Ryker being in town, so he’d already run?
I had no idea, but my pulse sped up as Ryker entered the house.
As I waited, listening for any sounds of gunfire, I thought I was going to go crazy. Where was he? What was taking him so long?
The house didn’t look all that big, but I supposed it might have more than one room. But what if something had happened to him?
I glanced down at the gun in my hand. So what if I went closer to check? I didn’t see anyone in any of the windows, and I didn’t hear anything that would indicate Ryker had run into Zavarelli.
Unless Zavarelli had been waiting for him and had hit him over the head before Ryker could do anything.
Oh shit.
I didn’t want to think about that, but as the minutes trickled by, I couldn’t stop myself from worrying.
Come on, Ryker. Get out of there already.
But he wasn’t coming.
Despite my better judgment, I got out of the car and inched closer toward the door. I strained my ears, but I couldn’t hear anything.
Once I reached the open door, I took a quick peek inside. Everything looked calm and in order.
“Ryker?” I called, but no one answered. “Ryker?” I tried again, stepping inside.
“Lexi?” I heard his voice just down the dark hallway. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Is everything okay?” As I made my way toward him, something snapped behind me.
I froze, twirling around with my gun raised.
But there wasn’t anyone behind me.
I breathed out a sigh of relief, but then I realized the door was closed. And it was suddenly getting darker in the house.
“Ryker? What’s going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Let me switch on the lights.” A few moments later, light bathed the room, and I was relieved to see Ryker was unharmed.
“No one’s here,” he said. “I checked everything. You should’ve stayed in the car.”
“I didn’t know what was going on. I thought you needed help or something. And since I didn’t see anyone, I figured it should be safe enough.”
“Did you close the door and the windows?” Ryker asked.
My brow furrowed. “No. The door closed on its own.”
“What the fuck?” He started toward it, and when he tried to open it, he couldn’t. “Shit.”
“What’s going on?” I asked as he raced to the window, but there was something black covering it from outside.
“I don’t know. It’s like the house is in lockdown.” He hurried into another room, and I waited until he returned. “We’re trapped in here,” he finally said, his face slightly paler than before.
“What do you mean we’re trapped?”
“We must’ve triggered some kind of mechanism.” He lifted his gun, and then he fired toward the open window—well, it wasn’t really open now because of the black panel or whatever it was that was covering it.
The bullet just bounced off it, not even making a dent.
“How is that even possible?” I stared at the window in wonder. “Where did that come from? How didn’t we see it?”
“I guess it was well hidden,” he said through his teeth. “We need to figure out what triggered it.”
“Do you think Zavarelli planned for this to happen?” I said as I looked around, trying to find a device or anything that might be used to open the door and windows.
Ryker stopped to look at me, worry creasing his brow. “Fuck. If that’s true, then we have a huge problem.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Wait, are you saying he trapped us here so he could come for us and kill us?”
“Maybe,” Ryker said.
“What if there’s a bomb or something like that?” It would save Zavarelli a lot of time. He could kill us without even having to come here.
“I don’t know. We need to check every corner.”
I hurried toward the fridge, which was humming softly.
When I carefully opened it, I found food inside. “Maybe Zavarelli was really living here. There’s food in here.” At least we wouldn’t starve.
But I didn’t really like the idea of being stuck in here, especially if our enemy was coming for us.
Our enemy.
Yeah, Ryker’s enemies were now my enemies.
How cute was that?
Ryker approached, frowning at the fridge. “No, I don’t think so. This is a trap. And I walked straight into it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Zavarelli doesn’t like cheese, never drinks milk, and there’s no beer, which is his favorite thing in the world.”
My eyebrows shot up.
He really knew the guy, huh?
“Okay. Maybe he was out of beer, so he went to get some. And someone might’ve been with him. Someone who likes cheese and milk.”
Ryker ran his hand over his face. “He tricked me. I’m sure of it. He wanted this to happen. He knew I’d come here. He and Easton must’ve planned it all. That’s why that fucker was smiling at me before I—”
“What are we going to do? Is there another way out?”
“I don’t know. Let me think.”
As Ryker started pacing up and down as if he was a wild animal trapped in a cage, I wondered how the hell we were going to get out of here alive.
Chapter 19
“HEY, ARE YOU OKAY?” I asked as I settled next to Ryker, who was sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up, his eyes swirling with emotion.
We’d been looking around the house for hours, but we couldn’t find anything to open the damn door or the windows. And our phones weren’t working either, so we couldn’t call anyone for help.
But at least no one had come for us.
Yet.
Maybe Zavarelli didn’t even know we were here.
“Yeah,” he said, turning toward me and placing his hand on my cheek. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I should’ve never let you come with me. But I’ll need you to do something for me.”
“What is it?” I asked, nuzzling his fingers.
“When Zavarelli comes for us, I need you to hide somewhere. Somewhere no one would remember to look. I’ll convince him I’m on my own. No one knows you’re with me and they wouldn’t expect I’d bring you with me anyway. I don’t think they’ll even check the house. And it’s possible they’ll leave the windows and doors open.”
“Wait, slow down. What are you talking about? We have our guns. If Zavarelli and his men come, we can fight them. Hell, we can rearrange the furniture and make a fort or something.”
“It won’t matter. He’ll have everything he needs to subdue us, maybe even gas bombs. I don’t want you to die because of me. Listen to me, Lexi. You need to hide, and you can’t come out no matter what you hear. Do you understand me? It doesn’t matter what he’s doing to me, just don’t come for me.” His eyes bored into mine.
I blinked at him. “No.”
“Lexi, please. Zavarelli wants me. He won’t care about anything else, and he can have me.”
“Why are you so sure he’ll come for you? Maybe he doesn’t even know we’re here. Maybe we accidentally triggered something that only he was supposed to know about.”
“He’ll come. He’s still holding a grudge for something I did. He’s always been asshole, and I got my revenge for what he did to me in a way that seriously pissed him off. He’ll want to take care of me in person.”
“No. I’m not going to hide and listen as some guy kills you. No way.” I shook my head. “Just forget about it. Unless you want me to lie to you. But you can’t expect me to just hole up somewhere and do nothing. If we go down, we go down together. I’ve always known being with you is risky, but here I am anyway.”
He let out an exasperated sigh.
“Why don’t you tell me more about this Zavarelli guy? What did he do? What did you do to him?”
“I told you, he was my boss’ se
cond. He was always whispering into the boss’ ear. I was just a kid when we were here to plan the Cobras’ next mission. I was only supposed to observe and learn as much as I could so I could become a Cobra one day. Zavarelli did anything he could do make my life as miserable as possible.
“He enjoyed tormenting me. Hell, he was the one who suggested the whole bullying-you thing to my boss. I was so mad at him, but I couldn’t do anything because he was always well protected and everyone loved his company. He could be a very entertaining guy when he wanted to. Anyway, for revenge, I slept with his daughter. I was her first.
“He would’ve killed me if it the boss hadn’t forbidden him from it. He’s hated me ever since, but I guess he’s always hated me for some reason. Maybe because of my father.”
“Wow.” I hadn’t expected to hear something like that. If only I’d known some of that when I was a kid in school. Maybe it would’ve made me feel better about the whole thing, or maybe not.
“He’s a really sick fuck, so I don’t want you anywhere near him. If he even sees you, he might decide to torture you in front of me just to make me suffer.”
“That won’t happen.” I placed my hand on his arm and squeezed gently, and then my gaze fell on something across the room. “What is that?”
“What?”
I got to my feet.
There was something in the wall across from us. Some kind of a tiny hole.
I traced my finger around it, and when I pushed the tip of my finger inside it, something clicked not too far away from me.
Suddenly, there was an opening in the wall.
I looked inside it.
My eyebrows shot up when I saw a gun.
“Maybe this was supposed to be someone’s fort. For protection. Until the reinforcements came.” I eyed the gun as Ryker approached.
He picked up the gun, and his lips parted.
“It’s the same kind of gun that Zavarelli held to my head,” he said.
“What?” I gaped at him.
“I was about nine, and I dropped something Zavarelli wanted me to bring to him. I don’t remember what it was. But he pulled out his gun at me and he jabbed it into my head. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“That’s awful.” I glanced around the room. “Wait, I think I see another hole.”
