Of course, if the woman I am going to see refuses me, I’m screwed. I’ve heard the whispers. If anyone can help me, it would be her. It’s the only way I can disappear and never be found. Or so I hope.
I follow the road down the hill, keeping my sights on the city lights. My feet are sore and I can feel my ankle swelling when I finally enter the outskirts of town. I hail a cab—something I needed to look up before I left.
“Where to?” the man asks with a thick accent.
I give him the intersection I wrote down on the inside of a gum wrapper a long time ago.
“You sure?” he asks, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “That area is rundown and dangerous. There can’t be anything you want to do there.”
“I’m sure,” I say, even though I am anything but. I have no idea what I’m getting into, but I know I have to try. There’s no turning back now.
The driver doesn’t look convinced but starts to drive anyway. I try to act like I’ve been in a car more than once before, calmly watching out the window. It’s surreal being outside again. My heart pounds so loud I wonder if the driver can hear.
Soon the houses and buildings grow closer together. As we drive, everything starts to appear abandoned. Most of the homes are smaller than our garage and look ancient. Paint is peeling and windows are broken or boarded up. It’s a stark difference from where I grew up.
The driver stops at the intersection I gave him. On the corner is a two-story building. Iron bars cover the door and windows. A faint light can be seen from inside.
“You sure this is right?” he asks.
“Yes. I’m looking for someone. Thank you,” I whisper, shoving him some money.
I jump from the cab and walk toward the store. The driver doesn’t wait around, speeding off as soon as he can. A few men lean against the building, drinking from large bottles. They stare at me as I approach and fear warms my body.
“What you doin’?” one of them slurs.
I want to run when I see a few other men coming toward me. Across the street, a woman sleeps on the sidewalk.
“I’m looking for Amethyst,” I say, my voice shaky.
The men glance toward the barred door and walk away quickly. I sigh in relief and rush for the door, ringing the bell frantically. Soon I hear the sounds of a lock and a pair of eyes stare at me from the darkness inside.
“Amethyst?” I whisper. “I came for your help.”
She doesn’t speak for so long I think I have the wrong place. I start to shift uncomfortably on my feet, debating turning and running.
“Come in, girl. I was wondering which of the Blackard girls would see me first.” Her voice is low and raspy.
She opens the door and I slip through. “You know who I am?”
“I know a lot of secrets,” she says as I follow her into a room lit by candles. “You want out, I assume.”
I nod, unprepared by her knowledge of my situation. I heard this woman knew a little bit about everyone, but I didn’t expect anyone to know about my sisters and me.
“I need to find someone actually. He made me a promise.”
Amethyst sits on a wooden crate, gesturing for me to sit on the other one. I do, ignoring the dirt and garbage surrounding us. Once closer, I can see the woman better. Her hair is frizzy and gray and deep wrinkles decorate her face. She looks wild but her eyes are wise and knowing.
“There is only one way out of a family like yours. Death.”
“What? So you can’t help me?”
She laughs, the sound forced and rough.
“I can, but Shiloh Blackard will no longer exist. You can never return again and you can never tell anyone where you came from. Never speak my name again.”
I think about never seeing my sisters again. Poppy would understand. She helped me find Pierce for a reason. My throat tightens with sadness. I would have to give them up and my grandma too. Is it all worth it?
“Who is the man you seek?” she asks.
“Pierce Gallo.”
A wide, knowing smile stretches across the woman’s weathered face.
“The Gallos and the Blackards do not get along. You will be crossing enemy lines. They are air and water, east and west. Fire and ice.”
“I don’t understand,” I admit.
“You will,” is all she says before she turns and opens a cabinet, moving items around inside. “I will help you if you’re sure this is what you want.”
Am I sure? My heart breaks when I think about leaving my family behind forever. The pull of the promise of the life I always dreamed about is strong. As much as I love my dad, he will never give that. Even being married to Cyrus won’t be enough. My sisters always seemed to accept their fate, but I cannot.
“I’m sure.”
A wicked grin spreads across Amethyst’s face when she turns to face me. She holds something in her clenched hand. “You must never come back. Never tell anyone how you escaped or that I helped you.”
I nod, my throat tightening.
“Take these. It will help with what’s next.” She drops two pills into my hand.
“Why?”
She ignores me, handing me an open bottle of liquor. I crinkle my nose at the smell.
“I will make sure you get to Pierce Gallo but it is your job to keep him. This is very important.”
She grabs my shoulders and gives me a shake. Her eyes are wide and demanding. “You must make him love you—or at the very least want to keep you,” she continues. “He needs to protect you because once the sun comes up, you are a dead woman walking. You can never go back.”
“Okay.” My voice sounds terrified and unsure.
She releases me and I gulp down the pills before I can change my mind. Amethyst runs her fingers through my hair, almost in a comforting way. Her eyes are filled with understanding and pity.
“This is going to hurt,” she says, stepping back.
I start to ask her what will happen but the words never leave my mouth. The room starts to tilt and I stumble but find nothing to steady me. Amethyst only watches as I struggle to stand up straight. My head feels heavy and light at the same time. My legs and arms start to feel numb. I hit the floor and a thud echoes in my ears.
Several pair of boots come into view. The voices sound muffled, and I feel like I’m underwater. I try to reach for help but cannot move. I’m dragged from the dark room, and soon I see the stars in the sky.
Then the pain starts. A blinding pain starts in my stomach. I try to curl into a ball, but I’m hit again with the pain. I’m being kicked. Shoes come at my face, my stomach, and stomp on my back. I scream but no one comes to help.
The hits come from all directions until I can’t tell if they’re still coming. The salt of my tears mixes with metallic-tasting blood in my mouth. The pain is blinding. I’m rolled onto my back and I think it’s all over. I cry, chocking on blood and tears. But it’s not over. A heavy weight sits on my chest and cold hands wrap around my throat. A blurry face looks down at me. I try to fight but my body is weak. My vision is fading, and I can’t get enough air. I claw at the hands, but he keeps strangling me. Everything starts to fade away and the hands fall away from my throat.
She told me the only way out was death.
chapter five
pierce
THERE’S A DEAD body outside my door.
I look at my head of security as he fusses with the body, moving long blond hair from her face. I wonder how she got up to the penthouse floor in the first place. Pale skin is marred with bruises and dried blood. This girl took a beating.
“She’s alive,” Hans tells me. “Barely.”
“This is not what I need today.” I sigh. “I wanted to be on the plane in less than an hour.”
“It’s your plane. It will wait.”
Hans looks up at me for direction. The need to leave is screaming at me. My instincts are always right. I’ve already outstayed my welcome here in Vegas. The pain in my shoulder is a harsh reminder that I need to get out
of here.
“How the hell did she wind up outside of my penthouse suite anyway?” I ask. “She doesn’t look like she could even walk.”
Her ankle is swollen and her bare legs are also bruised. Wearing only a large T-shirt, I doubt she just walked on to the elevator.
“She must have been dropped off. I’ll check the surveillance.” Hans is already typing on his phone.
I bend down to get closer to the little thing. She looks young. Light skin and blond hair. I run my finger down her arm. Her skin is soft but ice cold. Her breathing is ragged, each intake a struggle.
“We can’t leave her here,” Hans whispers. “It will look suspicious.”
“And she will die,” I add. “Bring her along. Call the doctor and tell him to meet us at the airport. He can tend to her on the plane.”
“You’re going to help her?” Hans asks in disbelief.
“I’m no hero. I want to know how she got here and who sent her. I’ll meet you in the car.”
I stalk back into the room and finish the packing I’d started before we heard the noise outside the door. Hans is on the phone, and I can hear his voice until it fades as he boards the elevator. This city has no love for me, and I intend to leave it behind for good.
I breathe a little easier once in the car, watching the desert and flashy buildings pass by. I can’t say that I will miss this dirty city.
“Footage shows someone dressed in all black dumping the body shortly before we came out,” Hans tells me on the drive to the airport. “They knew where the cameras were and kept their face hidden.”
I’m not surprised. The Blackard family didn’t become the most respected and feared family by making mistakes. No, they are smart and sneaky. You don’t even know you are on their radar until it’s too late. Just like my birthday party. Except that night they messed up.
We board the plane and the doctor is already waiting. His eyes widen when he see the limp girl in Hans’s arms but says nothing. That’s what I pay him for. The girl is taken to the back cabin while I take a seat near the window.
Once the plane takes off, I’m served a drink, and Hans finally ends one of his many phone calls.
“We finished checking the last of the strip clubs. None of the dancers are talking,” he informs me. “No one knows your mystery nurse.”
“Someone scared them.”
“Why do you want to find her anyway?”
I think back to the first face I saw when I opened my eyes after being shot. I have fuzzy memories of the attack and my escape. The pain was excruciating, but I clung to her eyes. She told me I would be okay even though I doubted it. I owe my life to a stripper, and I intend to thank her properly.
“Mr. Gallo?” the doctor interrupts.
We both stand to face the man as he cleans his glasses with a tissue. There’s blood on his expensive shirt, but I’ll be sure he is compensated well. He can buy another shirt.
“What’s the word?” I ask, impatient for answers.
“She’s gaining consciousness. She was beaten pretty badly. I stitched up some of the deeper lacerations. She should get some scans to check for internal bleeding and breaks. I’m sure she has a sprained ankle and some cracked ribs. Anything more, I can’t say.”
“She say anything yet?” Hans asks.
“Not yet. She’s confused and probably concussed. They did a number on her, but she didn’t have any defensive wounds as I would expect. Maybe she didn’t see it coming or she could have been drugged.”
“Or allowed it,” Hans muttered under his breath. Like me, he’s thinking she was planted.
“She woke up before I could check for sexual assault and fought me away.”
“I want to see her.” I don’t wait for permission and walk into the cabin.
The first thing I notice is her wide eyes. They open to reveal huge blue eyes. The girl is sitting upright in the king-sized bed, an IV running into her arm. Her hair is knotted and hangs over one shoulder, shaking hands rest in her lap. She stiffens as I come inside with Hans and the doctor, closing the door behind us.
“Do you know who I am?” I ask.
She hesitates and shakes her head. Lie.
“Do you know who did this to you?”
She shakes her head again. Lie.
“What’s your name?”
She opens her mouth to speak. A terrible rasping sound escapes cracked lips. She starts coughing so the doctor hands her a bottle of water and she drinks. Trying again, no words come out. She holds her throat, covering deep bruises.
“Her throat was crushed in the attack. See the marks and the busted capillaries in her eyes. She was nearly strangled to death,” he explains.
“How long will that last?”
“Hard to say. Hours? Days? Forever? She needs a hospital.”
I brush the doctor off. Hospitals ask questions. I have men on my payroll just like him back home. They get paid to keep their questions to themselves.
The girl tries again until frustration wins and tears run down her cheeks. Hans takes a notepad and pen from the airline and hands it to her. Her fingers fumble to hold the pen before she starts writing. Her injured hand shakes as she carves harsh letters. Turning the paper toward us, we know her name.
Shiloh.
“What happened to you,” Hans asks, his voice firm and unforgiving.
She flinches and shakes her head before painfully writing again.
I don’t know.
“Where are you from? Is there someone we can call for you?” the doctor asks. He’s more sympathetic than we are.
Shiloh shakes her head, tears falling once more. She sets the paper aside and drinks some water. She makes several more attempts to speak before I leave the room, unable to wait any longer.
“Find her clothes to wear,” I tell Hans. “Call the house and ask them to prepare the guest room. The one on my floor.”
“We’re keeping her?”
“For now. Until I find out who she really is, she isn’t leaving my sight.”
I can tell he wants to argue, but he nods and gets back on the phone. Hans is my head of security for the sole reason that he is smart and has strong instincts. But just like him, I have strong instincts too and they are telling me not to send her away.
Maybe it’s my conscious that I’d thought had dried up and turned to dust. A stranger saved my life and I feel some compulsive need to pay it forward, but this little girl that looks like a fallen angel must be up to something. With little time, I will find out.
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“And satisfaction brought it back,” I finish.
The pilot announces our decent, so I take my seat for landing. The Florida coast stretches below us. Here, my family is the most respected. We run the streets and the coastlines. I dare a Blackard to come to the East Coast.
The plane bounces as we hit tarmac and the tension leaves my shoulders. The doctor approaches as we taxi the runway.
“I gave her some pain medication, so she may be drowsy for a bit. Here’s some for later.” He hands me a bottle. “I would like to part ways here.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, slipping him an envelope as we shake hands.
Hans carries the girl, and we quickly board the waiting Cessna. The small aircraft is the only one light enough to land on my short runway. The pilots don’t even give us a second glance as we pass with an unconscious girl. Soon we begin the forty minute flight home.
“What will you tell the staff?” Hans ask as we circle above my island home.
“Nothing. I don’t need to explain myself to them.”
“Your dad?”
“I’ll think of something.”
Shiloh wakes in the seat behind us. A rough cough escapes her lips when she tries to speak. Her eyes are wide and terrified as we hit the tarmac again, skidding to a quick stop before it’s too late.
I turn around grip her chin, turning her face so she’s forced to look me in the eyes. I wait until her panic sub
sidies and she focuses solely on me.
“Can you speak yet?”
She tries. Nothing but a painful rasp. Her eyes are so expressive, I see the sorrow and disappointment in them.
“Did someone send you to me? Are you here to steal, spy, kill?”
She shakes her head, and I see the fear in her eyes. Is she scared I will find the truth or that I won’t believe her?
“What if I took you back to wherever you came from? Should I do that?”
Her hands grab my wrist tightly. Desperation and panic swirls in her gaze. She shakes her head frantically, begging me not to send her away.
“Are you hiding from someone?”
Shiloh nods. It’s full of regret and shame. She bites her swollen lip, waiting for me to push her away or pull her safety. I weigh my options.
“You escaped and think I will save you?” I can’t help the edge in my voice. “I’m not a hero.”
Her mouth forms a word—one so simple I can read her lips.
Please.
They tell me the girl is mute, that she may never speak again. She doesn’t need a voice because I see every word she needs to say in her eyes.
“Come,” I tell her. “You will stay with me until I figure out what to do with you.”
I take her arm and help her off the plane. She’s weak but light and easy to hold up. When she steps to the ground, she inhales deeply. Her wide and glassy eyes looks over to the ocean. I watch her awed reaction and notice the light freckles dotting her nose and cheekbones. There’s an innocence about her that I’m not sure if I should trust.
“Never seen the ocean before?” I ask.
She shakes her head, still staring off to where the sun is starting to set over the blue horizon.
“Welcome to the Bahamas,” I say.
Her gaze is torn away from the view, and mine from her, when my housekeeper takes her off my hands. The girl’s ushered into my home, and I wonder if I just made the stupidest mistake of my life.
chapter six
shiloh
NOT FOR THE first time, I wonder if the beating was necessary. Granted, I ended up exactly where I needed to be, but I expected something along the lines of an address and possibly even a ride. She warned it would hurt, but I thought that meant emotionally. I don’t want to know how I would feel without the drugs she gave me.
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