Tangled In Lies (Tangled & Torn #1)

43. Phoenix

Chapter 43

Phoenix

T yler touches Eve, and I’m forced to watch. I’m two seconds away from ripping my hands off to get to her, no matter how much my wrists scream at me.

This is my wife. It should be me doing this. Not this excuse of a human.

“How many of these damn pearls are there?” Tyler heaves a sigh, as if the poor bastard is actually inconvenienced.

If it was me, I’d savor each pearl, unwrapping my wife inch by inch like the present she is.

The fact it’s another thing he’s taken away from me only adds to the mental shit list I already have for him.

Tyler’s frustration is getting the best of him, and he yanks on the back of the dress so hard that Eve is tightening the grip on the back of the chair for balance.

Several pearls pop off the dress and scatter around the room, and I want to pick them all up and shove them down his throat .

“Fucking finally.” Tyler takes a step back. “Show your husband the underwear I got you.”

This guy knows how to play his sick mindfuck games, I’ll give him that much. He knows exactly what buttons to push to get the biggest reaction out of us.

Boiling with fury, I grind my teeth so hard it hurts. But I welcome the pain and hold on to it. It’s so much better than this constant fear and unease Tyler’s instilled in me.

I tighten my hands into fists when Eve gasps. Her hands try to grasp the front of the dress, but it’s too late. It’s already sliding down her waist and legs, pooling in a puffy heap on the floor. And fuck. This woman. My wife. I hate it, but she’s an absolute stunner in the black panties and bra set.

“What do you think, brother? I did good, didn’t I?” He reaches out with his hand.

I hold my breath and snap at him, “No.”

I’m not sure how much more I can take. It’s absolute torture.

If he’d only come a little closer.

I avert my gaze from him to Eve. She’s already watching me. There’s something in her gaze I can’t identify. I can’t even tell if it’s good or bad. At first, it seems like she’s calm, but then her chest expands on an extra-long inhale, and she mouths my new favorite three words.

I. Love. You.

A swoosh sound fills the air around me, and I blink. Then I blink again. Eve is in the middle of doing a one-eighty with the chair clasped in her hands, swinging it straight toward Tyler’s head. She catches him so off guard that the wooden legs connect full-on with his head. His eyes go wide, and he stumbles back a step. Then two. She swings it again. He crumples to the floor. Fuck. He’s on the floor, not moving.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Is he dead?” Eve’s breaths come in harsh bursts. She’s trying to get to Tyler, only to stop short.

Fucking chain.

“You did so good, Angel.” And she did. So good. But shit, he fell in the wrong direction, away from both of us toward the foot of the bed. “Give me a second.”

I move closer to the headboard, which gives my wrists the relief they’ve been begging for, and try to force the bed back with my legs. Turning around, I push with all my strength. I don’t know where the hell this bed is from, but it’s heavy as hell.

“Keep your eye on him.” Once the bed is far enough back, I grab the headboard and pull it sideways toward where Tyler is lying. It’s a process, and by the time I’m halfway across the room, my shirt is soaked in sweat.

“Almost there.”

Eve’s voice is lighter than I’ve heard it in the last two days.

It gives me hope. The bed bumps into the corner behind me, and I can’t go any farther. Tyler is almost within reach, so I sink to the floor and wrap my feet around his legs to drag him toward me, which isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

“Come on, come on, come on.” I clench my teeth, wishing I could get a better grip on him.

Eve is leaning on the chair, watching the scene with knitted brows. “Just a little more, baby.”

I don’t look at her, not wanting to waste a precious second, but I feel that tether inside me that connects us. It gives me strength.

We’re going to make it out of here alive. Together.

I’m finally able to reach Tyler with my hands after what feels like forever. I haul him far enough toward me to get the keys out of his pocket.

Thank fuck.

I fumble with the keys. It’s not as easy to unlock your own handcuffs as I expected it to be. When I finally get them open, they fall to the floor with a satisfying clunk .

I scramble up, my entire focus now on Eve. Getting to her. Freeing her. Going home with her.

Her expression suddenly changes, her eyes bulging. She screams, “Phoenix, watch out! Down.”

I dive toward her at the same instant a shot rings in the air.

But I’m not fast enough, and the bullet grazes my arm. My skin is on fire, the pain stealing my breath momentarily.

“No, no, no.” Eve strains to get to me.

But I’m too far away.

I toss her the key and another shot goes off. “Eve, get down. Now.”

This time, I jump out of the way, scrambling around the corner of the bed to put as much distance as possible between us.

Shit, shit, shit. What now?

“I thought maybe we could get through this, you know.” Tyler’s staggers toward me, his words slow and a little slurry.

Since there’s no real cover for me to take, I wait until he’s close enough and lunge straight for him. I collide with him, ramming my head straight into his middle, and we crash into the wall. The wooden beams vibrate under the attack, but that deters neither of us. Tyler’s fist connects with the side of my head, taking the dull headache to an excruciating level.

The sudden dizziness and blurry vision are disorienting, and I twist away from him, allowing him to get in another punch. This time to my stomach. I wince at the assault, but the new pain distracts me to the point the fog clears in my brain. It’s enough for adrenaline to do its job, and my angry bull resurfaces.

After a punch from me and a tackle from him, we roll around on the floor, a tangle of limbs. Fighting for dominance. I hit Tyler in the same spot on his temple as before, and he squeezes his eyes shut and sways. I use that moment to get the gun but never make it there. Tyler pulls my legs out from under me, knocking the breath out of my lungs.

I accidentally kick the gun, and it slides across the floor to the other side of the room.

Tyler pushes himself up on all fours. I grab the chain and wrap it around his neck from behind. His hands tighten around the metal links, trying to tug them off, but I hold it as tightly as possible.

By the time he sputters and lets go, my reserves are depleted. Tyler’s hands fall limp before him. Without any strength left, the weight of his body propels me forward.

Then things get a little blurry. Tyler either faked his loss of consciousness or he got a superhuman adrenaline hit. Because one moment he’s limp, and the next, he’s reached the gun and points it at me.

This time, the bullet hits me in the shoulder, near my throat. There’s a snap, and then nothing but a white-hot burn like someone is jabbing me with a fire iron.

My vision darkens at the corners.

Tyler sways and drops the gun, and it slides under the bed. I clench my teeth hard to fight off the excruciating pain and dig deep to find every last remaining ounce of my energy to get to him.

He’s closer to Eve now than he is to me, and I can’t let that happen.

Tyler is not going to leave this room alive.

This is for Eve. This is for Connie. This is for me.

The pain is almost unbearable, but I push into a sitting position. Tyler groans.

When I see why, the ache in my chest almost explodes.

Eve has jumped on his back, with her legs wrapped around his waist and her chain around his neck.

Fuck me.

That’s my wife.

Her eyes are dark, her face tight with determination. And she yanks on the chain with a grunt.

Her arm muscles strain, but she twists and pulls, not letting go. Not when Tyler tries to yank at the chain, not when he claws and punches at her legs and arms. Nothing. He’s too weak right now, and she hangs on for dear life, until, eventually, he collapses like a dropped rag doll. Eve tumbles with him, her fall cushioned by his body underneath her, her hands still holding on to that chain.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Tyler doesn’t move, and his vacant eyes are the last thing I see when I crash to the floor too.