Chapter 34
Danica
G laring at Eli, I tested the car’s door handle. Locked. Stupid child locks. They were helpful for everyone except a woman being kidnapped. “What are you doing, Eli?” I asked. “This is stupid, even for you.”
He scowled at the road, but ignored me.
“I don’t need your signatures on the divorce papers anymore,” I informed him. “I’m finishing this one way or another. I’m done with you.”
“You’ll never be free of me,” he snarled.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I snapped back, “What do you think you’re going to do? Keep me chained up in your house forever?” It wasn’t smart to poke at him. He was pissed and it was easy to see, but dammit, so was I. I’d had enough of him trying to control my life.
Considering my options, I made a decision. A stupid one, as it would turn out, but I wasn’t going to let him have his way. Leaning over as quickly as I could, I hit the button on the door frame on the other side of him, then unlocked my door.
“Danica! You stupid bitch! Shut the door!”
It opened and the road was flashing past at dizzying speeds. Did I want to throw myself from a moving vehicle and potentially risk losing my baby? I bit my lip, deciding against it. My baby was too important. I’d find another way to escape Eli.
Before I could do as he said and close the door the world jolted.
My body flew forward and I just barely managed to slap my hand on the dash before my face hit it.
The door flew open wide next to me as I scrambled back into my seat.
I clicked my seatbelt into place and craned my neck around to see what had happened. Car lights tailed closely behind us.
My heart soared. Had Smoke come for me? And so quickly? I frowned as the sound of a revving engine came through the still open door. The car slammed into the back of us again.
“Your fucking boyfriend is a lunatic!” Eli bellowed.
Swallowing hard past the lump of fear that had formed in my throat, I whispered. “That’s not Smokehouse.”
“What?” he screamed over crunching metal. “Get that fucking door closed!”
I wasn’t about to risk reaching out and closing the damn thing.
Not with the speed he was now going as he tried to outrun the other vehicle.
My feet were planted on the floor and I gripped the handle above my head, my other curling around my seat as I braced myself.
This was what life with Eli had been like.
A high speed chase where I had no control.
I hated it. Fear burned my throat and a metallic taste filled my mouth.
Smokehouse would never risk running us off the road. He’d just tail us until Eli finally stopped, then beat the crap out of him. I had a terror filled idea who was in the car behind us. If I was right, we were both in big trouble.
“Shit!”
I closed my eyes as the car spun out of control into the gravel on the side of the road. It was like one of those awful spinny rides at the carnival and I gulped, trying to hold back the vomit that was threatening to evacuate my stomach. We skidded to a stop.
“Let’s go,” Eli snapped, reaching over to click my belt off.
Fully on board, I scrambled out of the car and followed him as he ran off into the desert.
The devil I knew was much better than the one currently hunting us.
At least Eli wouldn’t kill me. Of that, I was certain.
He was an egotistical maniac, but he wasn’t going to end my life.
The same couldn’t be said for the men following us.
Their shouts filled the night and soon we were out of range of the car’s headlights.
I considered ducking behind a saguaro cactus and hiding from both Eli and the mafia guys following us, but I knew they’d find me.
I had to keep moving until Smokehouse and the others had a chance to get here. At least Eli provided a second target.
“This way,” Eli hissed.
I turned toward the sound of his voice and dipped between shadows.
It was dark out here, but the moon and stars gave off the faintest light, keeping it from being pitch black.
Sucking in a breath to stifle a scream as I bumped into a cholla, I stuffed my fist into my mouth.
Biting down, I whimpered. I’d hit it going as fast as my feet would carry me in the dark and there were at least five pieces of the cactus stuck in my skin through my dress.
“There you are.”
Crap. The area around me lit up as the men running toward me illuminated me with their flashlights. The pain dropped away under the fear of the men chasing us.
“Who the fuck are you?”
I closed my eyes in relief. Eli may be a dickhead, but he hadn’t left me out here to deal with these guys alone. He considered me his property and hadn’t ever met anyone who’d stood up to him, besides Smoke, enough to realize it was a bad idea.
He stopped beside me. “You working for those asshole bikers?”
Bruno shoved his way through the crowd of men. “No. We’re going to kill those asshole bikers.”
Eli’s shoulders relaxed and I wanted to scream at him that he couldn’t trust these guys. He figured it out on his own when Bruno lifted a gun and pointed it at us.
“I hate them as much as you do,” Eli said, sounding a bit panicked.
“Give us the girl and maybe I’ll consider letting you walk out of here.”
Eli scoffed. “She’s mine.”
Bruno’s eyes narrowed. I slowly started inching my way away from Eli, one tiny step at a time. If I could run off into the darkness, maybe I could buy more time for both of us. They’d leave him to chase me. I was sure of it.
“Yours?” Bruno growled. “She’s not yours. She owes my boss a lot of money.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“None of your fucking business.” Bruno looked at me, causing me to freeze. “You have a lot to answer for.”
“If it’s money you want,” I told him, “I’ll pay it. No problem.”
Bruno’s face twisted into an ugly smile. “We want the money and your life.”
“Well, I can’t say I agree to that,” I quipped.
“What the fuck is going on?” Eli barked.
I sighed and wanted to tell him to shut up, but I didn’t want to make Bruno any angrier than he already was. “I can’t get you the money if I’m dead.”
“Your boyfriend can.” He was talking about Static. He didn’t know that Smoke was actually my boyfriend.
“I’m her husband.”
I shot Eli a death glare. He was only digging himself into the same hole I was stuck in. “Shut up , Eli,” I hissed.
Bruno frowned. “How many men you got, girlie?”
Too many.
“They’re not going to pay if you kill me,” I told him, trying to defuse the situation. “But we’re happy to pay you whatever the cost if you let me go.”
“I’ve had enough of this,” Eli interrupted, stepping toward me.
The scream ripped from my chest as fire and noise erupted from the gun in Bruno’s hands.
Short, heaving breaths clogged my lungs, refusing to leave, as I tried to figure out if I’d just been shot.
There was no pain. No blood. I patted myself, but Bruno wasn’t looking at me anymore. I followed his gaze.
Emotions battered me. Sadness. Irritation. Fear. I wasn’t sure what I should feel in this moment because I hated Eli. Only, I didn’t dislike him as much as Bruno and his gang of thugs.
Eli stared down at the hole in his chest in shock. “What-” he whispered to himself.
I moved over toward him, ignoring Bruno and the gun.
“Oh God. Eli.” There was despair and censure in my tone.
What had he done? Why wasn’t he taking this seriously?
A man with a gun points it at you and you listen to what he says.
Not my arrogant husband. No. He thought he could control the situation because that was what he’d been doing his entire life.
But he’d never run up against men like Bruno.
Or Smokehouse. He’d only ever bullied people weaker than him.
These men weren’t weak. Bruno had just proved that Eli was low man on the totem pole here. Too bad the lesson would cost his life.
“What have you gotten yourself into?” Eli asked me, his eyes wide.
“Something bad,” I admitted.
Bruno was watching us with a bland expression on his face. As though he killed people every day. Which he probably did.
“He shot me,” Eli whined.
“He did,” I echoed. I wasn’t sure what to do for him. Blood was rushing down his chest like a waterfall. I wasn’t a doctor, but I was pretty sure this was the end for him.
Eli seemed to realize it at the same time I did. He looked down at the blood escaping his body then met my eyes. “I’m sorry. I know it’s too late for that, but I am.”
“Eli-”
“Run, Dani.”
I blinked at him. It was the only time I’d ever heard him use my nickname. It took a minute for his other word to sink in, but determination filled his face. He shoved me out of the way when he rushed at Bruno.
Gasping, I did as he said and ran. I didn’t look back.
I couldn’t. The darkness swallowed me as I ran away from the group as hard as I could.
Sobs tore from my chest as I heard three gunshots split the air.
The shadows blurred around me as I cried for the man who’d once been my husband.
Right now, it didn’t matter that he’d been awful to me.
He’d just saved my life. That was going to cause a lot of conflicting emotions for me later… if I lived long enough.
I frowned as I saw something shadowy before me. Slowing, I approached it and realized it was a wash. The ground gave way and sloped down to a river bed. As quickly, but safely, as I could, I clambered down the side of the bank. As soon as I was on flat ground again, I ran.
They were searching for me. I could hear them shouting back and forth to one another. Branches clawed my face as I went, sticking close to the bank of the wash. The sand was soft beneath my feet, making it harder to run, but I had to throw them off my trail.
My lungs were burning. Exercise wasn’t exactly something I did on a regular basis.
But adrenaline and fear of death pushed me forward.
Up ahead I saw a dug out in the sidewall of the wash.
It was my only chance. Looking back over my shoulder to make sure no one was there, I rushed up the opposite bank, grabbing a downed branch as I went.
I ran away from the wash for a little while, then circled back toward it, sweeping out my footprints as I went.
My mind was screaming at me that I didn’t have much time, but I had to erase my trail or they’d just find my hiding spot.
I gulped breath into my oxygen starved lungs as I walked backward as quickly as I could.
After what felt like forever, I made it back to the wash.
I wiped out my prints then huddled back into the dugout, pulling branches and debris over the opening.
I sucked in a breath at how dark it was in my tiny hiding spot.
I barely fit. If my foot slid forward, it would be sticking out into the wash.
I clutched my shins and pulled them back into my body as tight as I could, my head bowed so it didn’t hit the dirt above me.
It was hard to calm my breathing, but in the quiet night I didn’t want them to hear me.
If they pulled me out of here, I was as good as dead.
Listening to the shouts and curses as they followed my tracks, I waited in terror. There was more gunfire, but I had no clue what they were shooting at. Not knowing whether they would find me or not kept my heart racing at a breakneck pace in my chest.
I sat and waited until everything fell silent. Still I hid. I wasn’t taking the chance that they were waiting for me to crawl out of my hole so they could grab me. Hunkering down, I resigned myself to staying here for as long as it took.