Her limbs trembled uncontrollably at the thought.
It’s just the storm. The electric lines out here are probably less secure. This is nothing.
She scrambled from the bathroom toward her bed. Her heart pounded in her ears as she reached her bedside table and opened the drawer. The flashlight . . . where was it?
Lightning brightened the room, causing another wave of panic in her.
There’s nothing ominous about a thunderstorm.
Still, why hadn’t Tennyson come over? Was he sleeping through this? Did he even know what was going on? Tennyson seemed like the type who always knew what was going on.
Something was wrong, she realized.
He should be here.
The power should be on.
She should be able to find the flashlight.
Her lungs tightened until she could hardly breathe. Slowly, she crept along the wall toward the door leading to the hallway. Would she be safer there? She didn’t know. All she really wanted to do was curl up in bed and wait for the power to come back on.
Or run over to Tennyson’s room. To feel his arms around her. To hear his words of comfort and reassurance.
He betrayed you, Mallory. Just like every other guy. Get that through your thick skull.
She was better off here. Alone. Depending on no one. Keeping her fear silent.
As she reached the door, she froze. Out there, she’d be exposed. In the open. She should just stay here, in the safety of her room.
If only she could see something. Anything! She gave up on the idea of going into the hallway. Instead, she darted back toward her bed and dove under the covers. She hated the fact that she felt like a little girl. But she did. She couldn’t deny it.
Dear Lord, be with me now. Please.
Lightning flashed outside again. Electric purple light filled the room.
It illuminated the space just long enough for her to see. For the room to come into view.
When it did, she screamed.
She wasn’t alone. Someone stood right by the closet.
CHAPTER 38
“Jason?” Her voice caught. “What are you doing here?” She jumped from the bed in alarm.
He stood only a few feet away, a gun in his hands. The weapon wasn’t pointed at her. Not yet.
Another flash of lightning revealed a crazed look in his eyes.
But it was more than what she saw that frightened her. It was what she could feel in the air: desperation. It radiated from Jason with enough force it was nearly visible.
He stepped closer, his breathing shallow and his gaze twitchy. “Why couldn’t you just do what I asked?”
“What do you mean?” She backed up, her mind racing. How was she going to get out of this situation alive?
“I don’t want to do this.” He swung his head back and forth, sweat glistening across his skin. Lightning—now coming at regular intervals—illuminated what the darkness concealed. Maybe Mallory didn’t want to see. The truth was a scary beast at times.
“You don’t want to do what?” Mallory struggled to understand, to figure out a way out of this situation. She scooted back until she hit the wall.
A dead end. Nowhere to go. Trapped.
Her fears began whispering in her ear.
No, all wasn’t lost. Tennyson. He was always two steps ahead of everyone else. Unless . . . what if Jason had hurt him? That would explain why he hadn’t come over yet.
Despite his revelation, the thought of him being injured—or worse—caused a small gasp to catch in her throat.
Jason wasn’t in his right mind. Mallory was certain of it. And somehow, she knew that she only had herself to depend on right now.
“They’re going to expose me, Mallory.” Jason’s voice cracked with uncertainty, each word sounding increasingly tense and unhinged.
“Who? Who’s going to expose you?” Her mind rushed through the possibilities, stopping only at the media. The media could expose him. Ruin him. His family’s reputation.
He chuckled a little too hard, a little too crazily. “Inferno, of course.”
Her heart thudded in her ears. Her fingers clawed at the wall behind her. Sweat trickled down her forehead. “You’re involved with Inferno?”
Thunder rumbled overhead, which made her muscles tense even more. The direness of the situation echoed in her mind. One squeeze of his finger and she’d be dead.
Jason shook his head, rubbed the skin between his eyes, chuckled again. All like a neurotic man might do. “Inferno? No, I’m not. I wasn’t. I didn’t want to be.”
“What are you saying, Jason?” She glanced around, looking for anything she could defend herself with. All she saw was her alarm clock. Her suitcase. A journal.
She had nothing.
She felt powerless. And she hated feeling powerless. Absolutely hated it.
Never again, Mallory. Never again. Isn’t that what you told yourself?
She tried to remember the defense moves Tennyson had taught her.
“I’m saying that sometimes things are out of my control.” His words came out faster, harder. “This is one of those moments. I never wanted it to come to this. Can’t you see that?”
She pushed herself back, farther into the wall. Wished she could disappear there. Wished she wasn’t such a failure when it came to choosing men.
“You can change the course of your story, you know.” Mallory’s voice came out shaky. But her only choice right now was to try to convince him that this was a bad idea.
Jason stepped closer, raising the gun in his hands. “But I can’t. They’re going to ruin me.”
“Hurting me will catch up with you eventually, Jason.”
He stared at her a moment before shaking his head. “No, it won’t. They’ll think you couldn’t handle the pressure. That you went off the grid. No one could blame you after everything you’ve been through. After what Dante did to you. It’s chipped away at your personhood.”
She refused to let his words get to her. “What is Inferno making you do?”
Keep him talking, Mallory. As long as he’s talking, he’s not hurting you.
“If I don’t bring you with me, they’re going to let the world know who I really am.”
“Who are you?” She scooted down the wall, inching closer to the door, to escape.
“I’m a loser, Mallory. You don’t know what I’ve done.” He frowned. No, that wasn’t a frown. It was a cry, followed by a low moan.
“Tell me, Jason. You’ll feel better if you get it off your chest.” Even though she already knew.
“That night you were abducted?” Sweat glistened on his upper lip.
“Yes?” Her lungs squeezed as she waited.
“I knew what happened. I knew who’d taken you.”
Her throat burned as dark emotions clawed their way to the surface. “What do you mean?”
“I was with a girl I paid for. Not a girlfriend. Inferno knew this. They told me if I said anything, that they’d tell the world that I liked to buy my women.”
Nausea roiled in her again, followed by the smack of betrayal. “So you stayed quiet? You traded my life for your reputation.”
He nodded too quickly, too frantically. “It was complicated. Survival in its rawest form.”
“You let me be kept as a slave for a year so you could take over your father’s company?” Tears sprang to her eyes.
“I told you I was a bad person.”
“I trusted you, Jason.” Mallory pulled herself together. She had to convince him that he was above all this. She couldn’t take him out herself, nor could she defend herself against his gun. She crept closer to the door.
“I’m not very trustworthy. You need to come with me, Mallory.”
“You’re going to have to take me dead. Because I’m never going back. Not willingly.”
She continued to inch closer to the exit.
“I don’t think you understand.” His hand trembled, along with his voice. “You have to come back wi
th me. They’re going to kill me.”
“No, you’re going to have to kill me. It’s not going to happen.”
His free hand balled into a tight fist. “Why do you have to be so difficult, Mallory? You’ve always been so difficult. Nothing’s ever easy with you.”
“Yet you’re the one holding the gun and making demands of me. Just shoot me, Jason. You’re not going to take me alive.”
“Maybe this will give you incentive: I’ve got Tennyson.”
Tennyson pulled his eyes open. His head throbbed with such intensity that it took him a moment to remember what had happened.
Then it hit him. The storm. The electricity going out. The intruder.
He reached for his gun, but it was gone.
Whoever had knocked him out had also taken his weapon.
He hopped to his feet, a little too quickly. His head swam.
He didn’t have time to worry about how he felt. He had to get to Mallory. Now.
Each step made his head pound harder. He pulled out his phone and called Logan. He didn’t answer.
The lights were still out as he rushed up the stairs. Kori lay crumpled on the floor.
He put his fingers to her neck.
She was still alive. Her heart still beat strong. She’d be okay.
He paused by Mallory’s door.
As he reached for the door handle, he heard voices inside. Two voices.
One was a male’s. But it wasn’t Logan’s. If he had to guess, it was . . . Jason’s.
His heart surged with concern. He crept into his room, grabbed his extra gun, and then slipped through the connecting door into the bathroom. This would be the best way to take Jason by surprise.
He hoped.
Tennyson could hear Jason talking as he crept from the bathroom into Mallory’s room. Jason’s back was toward him, and as long as Tennyson remained quiet, he should be able to make this work.
He remained in the shadows. His head pounded fiercely. Jason had knocked him out with something big and heavy. He probably had a concussion, but he’d think about that later.
At the moment, the only thing he could think about was Mallory. She’d meant it when she said she’d rather die than go back to being a slave. He’d heard the truth in her voice, and he didn’t want her to do anything stupid as a result.
That meant he had to take down Jason.
He had to be careful. The gun was wobbly in Jason’s hands. All he had to do was pull that trigger, and Mallory would go down. Tennyson couldn’t let that happen.
Jason’s announcement made Mallory’s blood freeze.
Tennyson. What had he done to him?
She spotted movement behind Jason.
Tennyson. Was that Tennyson? He is alive.
He shook his head, and Mallory looked away, not wanting to give away his presence.
He was planning his attack. But timing was everything. Mallory knew that.
“You’re not a killer, Jason. I know you better than that.”
“You don’t know me.” His voice cracked with every other word. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mallory.”
“Then don’t.”
Jason raised his gun. “I’m sorry.”
Tennyson lunged from the darkness, tackling Jason. The two wrestled on the floor.
In the darkness, it was hard to see who was who. All Mallory could tell was that one man was on top of the other. Punches were being thrown. Grunts filled the air.
Lightning again lit the room, and Mallory spotted Tennyson. He’d pinned Jason to the floor. The gun had flown out of Jason’s hand, but it was still within reach.
As she started to lunge for it, Jason got a second wind. He threw Tennyson off. Before Tennyson could right himself, Jason grabbed the gun.
He was going to shoot Tennyson.
Mallory couldn’t let that happen.
Just as Jason raised the gun, she catapulted herself across the room. She threw herself over Tennyson.
“Mallory, no!” Tennyson shouted.
As she did, the weapon discharged. Acidic smoke filled the air.
Tennyson? Was Tennyson okay?
Before she had a chance to ask him, she felt something warm prick her arm.
She looked down.
Blood.
She’d been shot.
That was the last thing she remembered.
CHAPTER 39
When Mallory regained consciousness, she was surrounded by white. A hospital, she realized. She was in the hospital.
As the room came into focus, she spotted Grant. He hurried from his chair toward her.
At once, she remembered—not her rescue, not the events that had gotten her here—but she remembered her kiss with Tennyson. The sweetness of it. How her insides had swelled with joy and elation. How all her fears about intimacy had resolved for a moment.
Then she remembered his revelation. How her fears had come back with a vengeance. How her swelling heart had quickly deflated.
How was he doing? Was he okay?
“Tennyson . . .” Her voice sounded dry and raspy.
Grant leaned over her, taking her hand in his own. “He’s okay. He wanted to be here, but he’s wrapping up some loose ends about Jason.”
She let out her breath. “Good. And Logan? Kori?”
“Logan’s standing outside the door, keeping guard for us. Kori is taking second shift. Jason knocked her out, but she’s okay.”
The gunshot flashed back to her. Had Jason been killed? She couldn’t recall what happened after she’d been shot. “So Jason is alive, as well?”
Grant nodded. “He’s okay also. He’s with the police right now.”
Mallory tried to sit up. She expected pain, but there was surprisingly little. Still, everything felt thick and gel-like around her. “How long have I been here? Why . . . ?”
“You’ve been here about twenty-four hours. You’re in Norfolk.”
She glanced down, taking a self-inventory. There was a bandage on her arm. An IV in her wrist. Various monitors, one on her finger, another on her chest. Those things didn’t explain how she’d lost a complete day.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
The lines on Grant’s face deepened. “The doctor believes your mind shut down because of the trauma of the situation.”
She swallowed hard, not liking how that sounded. So much for being strong. “I see. Then I’m okay otherwise?”
“The bullet grazed your arm. You just have a few stitches.” Grant leaned closer, his gaze full of fatherly concern. “I’m sorry, Mallory. I know this is upsetting to you.”
“That’s an understatement. But thank you.”
“I try to imagine what it would be like if it was my own daughter in this situation.”
She blinked, uncertain if she’d heard him correctly. “Ashley?”
He nodded, an unreadable emotion lingering in his eyes.
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Very much. Her mother and I got divorced when Ashley was only five months old.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. I discovered there wasn’t room in my life to be both a family man and to dive into my career.”
“You chose your career?”
He rubbed his chin. “Before I had the chance to make things right, it was too late. My wife left me. She moved Ashley to California and started a new life with a man who eventually became her new husband.”
“I see.”
“Anyway, the doctors knew when Ashley was born that something wasn’t quite right. She has a disease that’s so rare that there’s not even a name for it, but it’s affecting the way her bones grow. We found an experimental treatment that’s not covered by insurance. I’ve been trying to get the money together so we can start it soon.”
“You should have told me. I would have helped.”
“I didn’t want to distract you from the task at hand. You were already dealing with a lot. I’m very protective of Ashley and who knows about what
she’s going through. One of my biggest regrets is that her mother and I didn’t stay together. Things would be easier if we had. Easier on Ashley. But we can’t undo the past.”
“No, we can’t. I’m sorry, Grant,” Mallory said again. She could only imagine how hard that would be.
“Me, too.” He shifted beside her and let out a deep breath. “I’m not sure how this happened.”
“How what happened?”
He rocked back, looking ten years older than he had just yesterday. “How this tour has turned into a monstrosity.”
“Is that what you really think?”
“When we were just starting, we had purpose, excitement, and vision. Now all we seem to have is trouble.”
She’d never heard Grant speak so candidly. He was always upbeat, almost to a fault—except when it came to Tennyson.
“We were fighting injustice in one way during the tour. Now we’re fighting it another way.” Mallory could only attribute the strength in her voice and the peace in her spirit to a higher power.
He studied her a moment before finally saying, “What’s going on between you and Tennyson?”
She drew in a quick breath, not expecting the conversation to go there. “What?”
“You can’t hide it, Mallory. I can read it in your eyes. You like him.”
“Just like I can read that you don’t like him.”
He let out a chuckle. “Don’t turn this around on me. This was about you.”
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she remembered her kiss with Tennyson—and the unpleasant aftermath that followed. “Our relationship is strictly professional.”
“For now.”
“For always,” she corrected. “There are some obstacles that can never be overcome.”
Even if she cared for Tennyson, every time she looked at him, she’d remember his decision to delay her rescue. She’d never get past that.
“One day you’ll date again,” Grant said.
His fatherly tone caused a wave of grief to wash over her. “I don’t know about that, Grant. God got the oyster and the pearl mixed up when he created me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m a pearl on the outside when people talk about how strong and brave I am. But what they don’t see on the inside is the oyster that’s still there. The rough edges. The ugliness. The scars that will never go away.”
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