I laughed. “No, not at all.”
“Good to know,” Nikki said. “When we get home, can the three of us go for dinner sometime? I don’t have any girlfriends besides Renee, and it would be really nice to have someone else like her around.”
“I would like that. I need to step out of my shell more. Maybe not as much as I have here, because, well, look how it turned out.” I gestured at the room we were being held in. Nikki chuckled and nodded. “But I would like that. You can help me take baby steps. And Renee would be thrilled.”
It felt really good to talk to Nikki like a normal person for once. All of her self-indulgent qualities were gone. She seemed to be an entirely different person sitting in front of me. This was probably the person Renee had always known.
I heard footsteps out in the hallway and froze. Nikki heard them too. We both looked at each other and listened as they drew closer.
A torrent of thoughts rushed through my head. Were they coming down to feed us? The dinner they had brought us the night before had been decent. We had all been surprised when the man who drove us to the mansion had arrived with a tray full of cheese and crackers and grapes. He had looked over at the water once more and frowned when he saw we still hadn’t had anything to drink. Then he went over to them, opened the caps on three, and pushed them into our hands.
It was an odd moment, but we ended up drinking the water and eating the food. None of us died of poisoning, so we assumed we were safe for the time being.
But the footsteps in the hall brought all those fears racing to the foreground again. If they weren’t coming to bring us more food, maybe they were coming to let us go. Maybe Greyson had paid them the money.
Or, perhaps, he had refused to pay the money, and they were coming down to murder us and wrap our bodies in plastic tarps to throw over the Hoover Dam.
I assured myself that my imagination was getting the best of me. I took three more calming breaths as the steps in the hall drew closer, and I looked down at my sister.
I shook Renee’s shoulder. “Renee, wake up. Someone’s coming.”
Renee moaned in her sleep. I felt bad waking her up. In her dreams, she was far away from this hell, but I didn’t want her to be jolted awake by the door bursting open and some goons coming in to take us who knew where.
So I shook her again, harder this time, and called her name.
When she came to, she sat up. “What?” she asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“Someone is coming,” I said.
Renee sucked in a sharp breath. I took her hands in mine. “It will be okay. We just have to get through it together, okay?”
All three of us got to our feet and huddled together between the two sofas. A key slid into the lock. It twisted and jingled. Someone swore on the other side. The three of us backed away from the door.
My heart was hammering in my chest. I knew the other girls were just as afraid as I was. I didn’t know how much time had passed since we had been locked in here, but I knew eventually, our time here would come to an end, one way or another. I just hoped we would be able to walk out alive and in one piece.
Another key slid into the lock. This one was apparently the right one because the handle turned and the door opened slowly inward.
Out in the hallway stood the silhouette of a male figure. He was slightly stooped forward, with one arm holding his side. He was dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, which appeared to be torn at the neck, revealing a broad, muscular chest. Blood trickled down his neck and down to the exposed skin at the torn neckline.
His hair hung in front of his eyes, but as he stepped forward into the light of our room, I recognized the line of his shoulders and the cut of his jaw.
“Greyson?” I called.
He looked up, and his bright blue eyes met my gaze.
“Thank God,” he breathed, slumping backward to lean on the doorframe.
I saw the blood on his lips and cheek. His skin was split open beneath his eye, and it was turning purple. His hair was disheveled, and the way he was holding himself told me he was in pain.
Forgetting that I was upset with him, I rushed forward and threw myself into his arms.
He engulfed me with his embrace and buried his face in my shoulder.
Chapter 29
Greyson
Skylar’s arms wrapped around my neck, and the smell of her hair washed away all the panic and fear that had settled in my bones as I had tried to get the door unlocked. I opened my eyes to look at the other two women in the room. They were unharmed but still looked frightened.
I took Skylar by the shoulders and pushed her away to look her over. She didn’t appear to be injured, either. Her eyes were doing a sweep of me, too.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” I asked, cupping her chin in my hand and turning her face to the side to look at her cheeks and her ears and her neck. I couldn’t bear the thought of those goons hurting her.
“No,” she said softly, her eyes filling with tears. She blinked them furiously away as she shook her head. “But you are. What did they do to you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m fine. Are you two all right?”
Renee and Nikki nodded at me but didn’t come any closer.
I cupped Skylar’s cheeks in my hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I hated myself for putting her in this position. I hated how helpless I had felt. I hated that she had to wait in a room all night, not knowing why and not knowing if she was ever going to be let out.
Skylar took hold of my wrists as tears leaked down her cheeks. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I said, shaking my head. “None of this is okay. I never thought—” I stopped talking. Now was not the time for this conversation. I needed to get the girls out of this place. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Skylar nodded at me and looked back at Nikki and Renee. She extended her hand, which her sister took. Then Nikki took Renee’s other hand, and the girls followed me as I turned and led them out the door and to the base of the winding staircase.
My entire body protested with every step as we climbed upward. I was eager to sit down. I glanced at my watch. The whole thing from start to finish had only taken fifteen minutes. Meek would still be waiting outside in his car, and we had plenty of time to make it down the driveway.
I groaned inwardly at the realization that I still had to walk down the damn driveway.
At the top of the stairs, we emerged in the foyer. I held open the door for the girls, and they all stepped through it, looking nervously around. Their hands were still clasped together, and they formed an awkward, slow moving chain as they passed me.
Don Bravo was waiting at the front door. I took Skylar’s hand when the girls froze and hung back. “Come on,” I said. “It’s all right.”
I approached the mob boss, who was holding my briefcase. He handed it to me and looked apologetically at the women. “I am terribly sorry for all of this, my dears. Luccio is a foolish young man, and I want you to rest assured that he will be dealt with in a manner to fit his crime.”
None of the girls answered him.
“I think it would be best if we just leave,” I said. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Don Bravo said, gesturing for his guards to open the doors. They did, and I pulled Skylar outside with me. The others hurried after her, and their high heels crunched on the gravel path to the driveway.
“Have a nice flight home,” Don Bravo called after us.
“Our luggage?” I shouldn’t have asked, but I couldn’t help. Everything I had was in that fucking bag.
“Not a problem.” He turned and snapped. Someone jogged our bags out to us. Not that anyone else would be so stupid to worry about it, but I wasn’t exactly in my right mind.
“Just keep walking,” I muttered under my breath to the girls. They all hurried their steps to match my longer strides. I was eager to put the Bravo mansion far behind us
.
We were all silent as we made our way down the long driveway, dragging our shit with us. When the gate came into view, I squeezed Skylar’s hand tighter to reassure her that we were almost free of this place. She squeezed back.
When we arrived at the gates, they opened for us. I let the girls go through first and then went out after them, casting one last look up the driveway. Then I hurried out after them to the street where Meek was waiting in his sleek white Mercedes sedan.
When he saw me, he got out of the car and helped us load everything into the trunk.
“What the fuck, Greyson? What happened to you in there?”
“It’s fine,” I said, waving my friend away. I went to the back door of the car and opened it. “Come on, Skylar. Get in. I want to get away from here before those assholes change their minds.”
Skylar ducked her head and climbed into the backseat. Renee and Nikki followed her in, and I closed the door behind them.
Meek was resting his arms on the top of the car above his door. “Greyson,” he said firmly. “Seriously, you look terrible.”
“Yeah, well, I feel terrible, too.” I opened my door and slowly slid into the seat. My ribs screamed with pain with every movement, and I gritted my teeth as I leaned over to grab the door and pull it closed. Twisting around to put my seatbelt on wasn’t going to happen.
Meek got in and started the engine. When he pulled away from the curb, he shot me another worried look. “How bad is it under there?” His eyes glanced at my ribs and stomach.
“Not as bad as you think,” I said. “Just took a few hits, is all.”
Meek made that irritated sound in the back of his throat he was so good at. “I don’t like it,” he said. “You don’t look good. Hospital?”
“No,” I said, sitting up straighter. “Seriously, Meek, I’m good. I’ll be right as rain in a few days.”
“There’s no blood under there?”
“No blood,” I said.
He glanced at the suitcase between my feet on the floor of the car. “He didn’t take the money?”
“Oh, he tried. And I gave it to him. Then things got a little out of hand. It escalated. I got a hit in, though. You would have been proud of me. Knocked his ass flat for a good five seconds or so. Of course, things didn’t go well for me after that, but it was worth it.”
“Is anyone going to explain any of this to us?” Skylar asked from the backseat.
I looked back at her and regretted it as my side shrieked with pain. I grimaced and faced forward again. “Sorry. Yes. Where the hell do I start?”
“How about telling us who kidnapped us and why,” Skylar suggested.
So I told them. I told them everything about how Luccio had been caught cheating in my casino, and how he had taken it very personally when I kicked him out. I explained who he was and who Don Bravo was, and how the appearance of the mob boss in the Bravo mansion had been the only thing that saved my neck. Meek listened to the whole thing with a clenched jaw.
“You could have gotten yourself killed,” Meek said when I finished recounting the story.
“Yeah, but I didn’t,” I pointed out.
Meek rolled his eyes. Skylar slapped my shoulder.
“Ouch!” I yelled, glaring back at her.
“That’s for being reckless,” she said. “And for not telling me everything that was going on.”
“That’s fair,” I grumbled. Meek did his best to muffle his laughter, and I shot him a look. “It’s not funny. You’ve been the biggest pain in my ass since this whole thing started. You don’t get to laugh.”
“I’m not sorry,” he said.
“You should be,” I groaned, resting my head on the headrest. “I feel like I was just trampled by a bull.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t that bad?” Meek asked.
“It’s not. It’ll pass. Just get us to my place, will you? Skylar, I’ll have a private jet take you all back to Houston tomorrow morning. Are you all right with spending the night at my place? I can put you in a hotel overnight, if you’d prefer?” I hoped she wouldn’t ask for the hotel. The guilt I felt at exposing her to the biggest crime lords in Las Vegas was crippling. If she chose to stay somewhere far away from me, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take it.
I waited a few agonizing minutes while the girls discussed what they wanted to do in the backseat. Finally, Skylar spoke up. “Your house is fine.”
“Great,” I said. “I’ll make sure we have something to eat when we get there. You must be starving.”
All three of them said they were.
***
Meek dropped us off at my house, and I let the women in. The food had already been delivered and was spread out on my dining room table. The women dug in as I went to my bedroom to clean myself up.
I threw out my destroyed T-shirt and changed into a different pair of jeans that weren’t speckled in my blood. Before putting a new shirt on, I looked at myself in the mirror. My ribs were already bruising. Big purple blotches rimmed in pale yellow had begun to form. My cheek looked quite disgusting, so I went into the bathroom to wash my face. I slapped a bandage on it so the women wouldn’t have to look at the gash. I scrubbed the blood off my neck and out of my hair and emerged in the dining room feeling fresher.
The women were all eating greedily. I went to the kitchen, filled a glass with water and salt, and swished the concoction around in my mouth. There was a hole in my top jaw from where my molar had been knocked out. The bleeding had stopped, but my mouth still tasted coppery. The salt water rectified that and cleansed the open hole where my tooth had been.
Skylar arrived behind me as I spat into the kitchen sink. She put her hand on my back. “Are you okay?” she asked.
I looked over at her as I braced myself on the sink. “Yeah. I’m all right. I’m relieved that you are, too. I’m sorry, Skylar. I never even thought that something like this might happen. I never wanted to put you in danger like that. Or your sister and Nikki.” I wanted to beg her to believe me.
Her hand rubbed my back in slow circles, but she looked away from me. “I’m going to sleep in the living room with the girls tonight. I should be with them. Thanks for coming to save us.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling empty as she turned and walked back to the others.
I rinsed my mouth again, spat, and walked slowly to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and fell down on the bed on my back to stare up at the ceiling. Everything hurt, but not as much as my heart. Skylar didn’t trust me anymore, and I couldn’t blame her.
Chapter 30
Skylar
Greyson’s living room was lit by the pale light from the moon shining in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He didn’t have curtains. He was so remotely located that there was no one around to need privacy from. It was peaceful lying on my back on his sofa, staring up at his ceiling, listening to Nikki and Renee breathe softly around me as they slept.
Greyson had left us alone hours ago. After finishing our food and helping ourselves to the hot water in his shower, we were all feeling better. Better, but tired.
Renee and Nikki had fallen asleep at least an hour ago. Despite my eyelids feeling heavier than paperweights, I wasn’t able to drift off. Every time I closed my eyes, I expected to see the inside of the room we were held in at the Bravo mansion. I expected to see a mobster grinning sadistically at me.
But all I saw was Greyson’s face. It was worse than anything else I could have seen. The expression was always the same: the one of grief he had given me when he was leaning over the kitchen sink. He felt terrible about what had happened. My choosing to sleep in his living room had wounded his soul. I watched it happen.
I wondered if he was able to sleep.
I sighed and rolled onto my side to face the back of his sofa. I knew he hadn’t meant for me to get caught up in the whole mess with Luccio Bravo. I knew it as surely as I knew my own middle name. He cared for me, and he was being torn apart over what he had exposed me to
.
Greyson was a good man, a good man who I would never see again after tomorrow morning. I was spending my final night on his sofa while he lay alone in his bedroom, body aching from the injuries he had earned while saving me.
I rolled back onto my back. Lying here was wrong.
I pulled the blanket down that I had found in his linen closet and swung my legs over the side of the sofa. The floors were cool on my bare feet, and I tiptoed through the living room as silently as I could so as not to wake the others from their well-deserved rest. I crept down the hallway to Greyson’s door, and I drew up short in front of it.
Would he even want to see me?
I paused with my fingers inches from the doorknob.
Deciding that rejection didn’t matter, I turned the handle and let myself in. I pressed the door gently closed behind me, and it clicked softly into place.
Greyson’s room was darker than the rest of the house. His blinds were closed, and the only light was the pale glow from the moon around the edges of the blinds. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I made my way deeper into the room until I was standing at the foot of his bed.
I stripped out of my clothes. Then, gently, I went to my knees on his bed and made my way upward. I was mindful of where I put my hands and knees as I climbed until I was hovering above him.
He was, in fact, sleeping. I was a little surprised.
His breathing was deep and even. I put my hand on his bare chest and felt the beat of his heart beneath my palm. The closeness chased away all the lingering anxieties in my gut from the experience at the Bravo mansion. I was safe here. I was safe with him.
I leaned down, my knees on either side of his hips, and pressed my lips to his.
He woke almost immediately and kissed me back.
Greyson’s hands cupped my cheeks and wandered down my neck. He explored the line of my shoulders and traced one finger down my spine. His kiss became more insistent when he discovered that I was naked.
I pulled his blankets down. In the darkness, I could just make out the lines of his stomach. I traced his muscles like a topographic map and tried to imprint the memory on my brain for safe keeping. I wanted to remember this forever.
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