Chapter 48
Remi wrenched upward. She flexed her feet, trying to maintain contact with the platform, but it was no use.
Her toes scraped the wood, then left the ground.
The smooth cotton of the bedsheet burrowed into her neck.
Shock flared through her, the alarm of her body being denied air as the rope savagely constricted her windpipe, sending a rush of adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Her body had become the biggest threat, gravity pulling her downward and tightening the noose until each frantic breath drew less and less oxygen.
The edges of her vision grew fuzzy as she searched the room for Everett.
He was her only hope. The only chance she had of surviving rested with him, a man bound by shackles to the stone floor.
Through the haze of darkness constricting her vision, she saw him, bucking and wrestling with his restraints.
Veins corded his neck, sweat beaded along his skin, and his mouth formed silent curses as he strained against the unyielding iron clasps.
The chains rattled and shrieked as he threw his body against them.
The man behind it all, the one Everett had called Faroe, stood on the edge of her periphery. Smug satisfaction plastered on his face as he put them through hell.
Her eyes burned and watered, losing focus.
An oily, copper taste spread through her mouth as the noose crushed against her throat and jaw.
The pressure was catastrophic, wrenching and pinching her neck with a debilitating sharpness that left her mind splintering around one desperate command: breathe.
Cold numbness crept through her feet, legs, hands, and arms, spreading quickly to her core.
She struggled to blink as each hitching breath brought in almost nothing to feed her dying cells. She was suffocating to death?—
“Remington!” Everett howled her name.
She found him through the blur. He arched once, then twice, hurling his body toward her. On the third convulsion, there was a snap of metal and a harsh scrape as brittle stones tore loose from the floor.
Faroe’s smile vanished. “No … that’s not possible.” His face went slack with shock. “Stop it. Stop right there!”
Everett collapsed, then caught himself. He was on his feet, the chains dangling and rattling from his arms as he staggered toward her.
“You don’t get to ruin all my plans. You don’t get to save her!
” He rushed between them, blocking Everett’s path to her.
Faroe’s hand moved toward his waistband, where the Glock rested against his back.
He lifted it out, but wasn’t fast enough.
Everett’s hand gripped the chain of the shackle and swung it at Faroe.
The broken stone still attached to the chain crashed into the side of Faroe’s head.
The gun flew from his hand, landing across the room.
Blood spurted in the air as his body crumpled to the ground.
The machete clattered beside him. Everett snatched it up without slowing.
“Stay with me, Remington.” Everett’s voice punched her back into focus.
The distance between them was only a few feet, but it seemed to take years for him to close the gap. He leaped over Faroe’s body and jumped onto the platform.
She tried to help, but her muscles refused to respond. She couldn’t feel any part of her body anymore. Only the ragged fire that blazed in her lungs as she struggled to get the smallest amount of air through.
Everett was talking to her, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Her vision had reduced to a pinprick of light, and darkness was descending around her.
She could barely make out his strong, muscular body next to hers.
His arms wrapped around her, but she couldn’t feel his touch, which was a shame.
She wanted to feel him one last time before?—
Her airway surged open. She opened her mouth wide. Her gasp came in ragged. Air ripped into her lungs, cold, bitter, shocking her body as sensation flooded back in an agony of pins and needles.
Everett had her hoisted over his left shoulder, his arm locked around her legs as her torso sagged against his neck and face. He’d lifted her high enough to take her weight off the noose. A machete was in his right hand, the blade hacking frantically at the linen above her head.
“I got you, baby. I’m getting you out of this. Stay with me. Don’t you die on me, Remington. Do not do that to me.” His voice was thick with emotion, rambling as he moved his arm faster. The twisted fabric shredded beneath each blow until the last thread snapped.
She dropped.
Everett caught most of her weight, but the force dragged him down with her. He twisted as they fell, taking the impact on his body before easing her onto the platform. She lay there, head spinning, her body still caught between living and dying.
The broken linen snaked from the ceiling, twitching in the air above them.
Everett’s hands moved quickly to the knotted noose around her neck, yanking and tugging until it loosened. He tore it away and tossed it to the floor as she dragged in another shuddering breath.
Then he grabbed the machete again and sliced through the zip tie at her wrists, then the one binding her ankles. Her hands shook as they rose to her throat, fingers brushing the tender skin where the noose had been.
Everett leaned down and kissed her forehead, pulling her into his arms.
Remi clung to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
She was struck speechless. The weight of his love as he cradled her was comforting and safe. It was the only place she wanted to be. Here, next to Everett, through anything she’d have to face now or in the future. She couldn’t imagine her life without him.
She wouldn’t have had a life to imagine if it weren’t for him. If he hadn’t come back in time to stop Faroe.
“You saved me, Everett,” she whispered. “I would’ve?—”
“Don’t,” Everett said, tightening his grip. “All that matters is that you’re safe now.”
“Because of you,” Remi said, leaning back to gaze into those gorgeous gray eyes. “I can’t begin to thank you enough. For everything.”
“I never should have left you alone. It doesn’t matter what I was going through.
Nothing is more important to me than you.
I lost sight of that and … I almost lost you.
” His jaw clenched as he inhaled and exhaled a shaky breath.
“I won’t ever do that again. I can’t lose you, Remington.
My life is nothing without you. I need you.
I love you. More than everything, I love you, Remington. ”
“You’re stuck with me.” Remi cupped Everett’s face in her hands. “You have all of me, Everett. You always have. I love you.”