Chapter Twenty
Raven
Before I can blink, Lance clamps his hand around my wrist, causing me to drop my phone as he pulls me around the corner, giving me no time to run. Instead, I open my mouth to yell and he clamps a hand over my lips, squeezing my cheeks too tightly.
“Don’t,” he says in a harsh, brutal tone that sends chills down my spine. “You scream or make a scene and I promise you I will hunt down every friend you have and make them wish they’d never met you.”
I wish I’d never met him.
He releases his hold on my face and grabs my forearm hard enough to leave a bruise, but not before moving his sport jacket and revealing a handgun tucked into his dark jeans. “Got it?” he asks.
I take the threat seriously and manage a curt nod. I’m both relieved at how he could screw up his parole by carrying the weapon and afraid of what he might do with it.
The pain in my face lingers and tears fill my eyes.
I’m frustrated that after all our preparation, Lance found me without my protection detail.
Then again, the area is mass chaos because of the bomb threat, which made me a much easier target.
Something he no doubt planned because I’m sure now that he made the call.
Luckily, Lance lets the gun remain in his pants, not pulling it on me. I wonder if I grabbed the weapon, would I be able to fire at an actual human being? I have to believe that yes, I could… if my life depended on it.
“Let’s go.” Lance drags me to where we’re hidden from view, and since I have no choice because of his threat, I follow.
With a rough grip on my arm, he leans against the brick building and peeks out at the main street. His head darts from side to side in a jerky motion. His erratic movements worry me.
“We fucking need to get out of here,” he mutters, turning toward me.
I look into his normally vacant eyes and just as Caleb said, his pupils are tiny pinpricks. Not good for me now but excellent if he has more drugs on him when he’s caught. And he will be captured. I can’t allow myself to think any other way.
But for now, we’re alone and I have to consider how I can keep myself safe.
I’ll never allow him to take me to a secondary location where he can do God knows what to me.
I take some comfort in the fact that Remy has access to the tracking app in my phone and though I dropped it, I’m close by and I hope he’ll find me before Lance moves us.
I think about the changes I notice in my so-called brother.
Gone is the facade of the society boy. Though he still wears a sport jacket, the white dress shirt beneath is wrinkled and one too many buttons are open at the neck, as if he can’t stand the choking feeling of the collar. In fact, he’s sweating in the winter.
Once again, he peeks beyond the alley. “Still loaded with fucking people,” he says to himself, running a hand through his hair in agitation. “Need to get away.” That same irritation sounds in his stilted words.
“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I ask, trying to divert his attention and stall him.
He faces me and his lips turn up in a sneer as he rakes his gaze over me, openly leering. “We grew up in the same house and every damn day, you teased me with that body and those big tits. I knew you wanted me. Then you played hard to get, like every other bitch I know.”
He truly is insane, I think, and narrow my eyes, the revulsion swirling in my stomach making me nauseous. “I’m your sister,” I spit.
“Not by blood.” He raises a shoulder in that arrogant way of his. “And I can’t say it would bother me much if we were related. If I want something or someone, it’s easy to reach out and take it.”
Bile threatens but I have to keep him talking. Someone will come looking for me soon, I’m sure of it. I just worry no one will think to look down an empty street when there’s a crowd of people I could be mixed in with.
“But the main reason I won’t give up until I have you is payback.” Lance’s threat jolts me out of my hopeful prayers. “You put me in that fucking hellhole,” he says bitterly. “Your testimony. So much for being family, right, Caroline?”
I cringe at the name I despise. “You attacked Emily. Beat her badly and you were about to rape her when I walked in. Did you expect me to let that happen?” I hiss.
He’s still gripping my forearm and presses his thumbs into my soft flesh, grinning his evil smirk, as he causes me more pain. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of a reaction, I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste blood.
“Yes, sister, I did. Where’s that asshole ex-detective who’s always with you?”
I’m not surprised Lance has figured out who Remy is. Ignoring him, I don’t reply.
“No need to answer. I was brilliant with the bomb threat phone call. Got everyone all panicked and separated. And now I have you, and you’re mine.” He leans over and meets my gaze, then to my disgust, he licks my cheek.
I gag and jerk back, only serving to hurt myself when he refuses to let go.
“Raven!?”
I stiffen as a familiar voice calls out my name, his loud yell both welcome yet… not.
Lance won’t hesitate to shoot him. I know it and will do everything I can to protect the man I love.
“Answer and he’s a dead man,” Lance says in a low voice and pats his weapon for emphasis, confirming my greatest fear.
He’s back to anxiously peering out to the street, then ducking back again, his movements jerky, his composure like a strung-out junkie.
Trying to tamp down my panic, I close my eyes and envision my location.
The building the bar is in is across the way on a main street where cars pass by all the time.
Unless the police have closed it off by now due to the bomb scare.
I heard someone yelling at the people to disperse and go home earlier, so maybe the area isn’t as crowded as it was.
I don’t know, but I need to run… away from the innocent people and far from Remy and anyone looking for me. If Lance shoots at me, so be it. The cops would be on him in seconds and that matters more than whether I’m hit by a bullet. I’d rather save Remy from that fate.
I cringe at the thought of being hit by a bullet but gather every ounce of strength and courage I have. “Lance?”
He turns toward me, his eyes wild and unfocused.
“I’ll go with you if you leave Remy alone,” I tell him.
He studies me through narrowed eyes, gauging my honesty. He must not trust me because his features morph into the angry man I saw hovering over my roommate, cheeks flushed, lips pinched, ready to cause pain.
“Lying bitch,” he says, his anger turning him into a monster.
This is it. Time to act. I did reading on self-defense after he attacked Emily and I was afraid he would get out and come after me. The solar plexus is the best place to aim in order to knock the wind out of someone.
Using my free arm, I pull back and with my palm strike straight into the soft spot beneath his ribs and above his stomach, aiming upward as I hit.
He groans and doubles over and I take the opportunity to run out to the main street. Just as I scream for help, Lance grabs my ponytail and yanks so hard I see stars. My eyes tear, blurring my vision, and I trip, falling hard onto my knees on the sidewalk.
“Get up, bitch.” He pulls me up by my hair again and presses his gun against my rib cage.
Feeling the dig of the weapon, I remain on my knees and pray I’ll pass out and not feel any pain when he pulls the trigger. No way will I go anywhere with him when he plans to rape me.
“Hey!” a large, bulky-shaped man yells. “Let her go!” He shoves Lance so hard he releases me, then stumbles… into the street and in the path of an ambulance pulling away from the curb.
I watch in horror as the vehicle slams into Lance’s body. I scream as he goes airborne for seconds before landing on the ground with a loud, dull thud.
He lies motionless, and I have no idea if he’s dead or alive.
“Miss? Miss. Are you okay?” the man asks, but I can’t answer.
I’m too busy watching people, including armed police officers, surround Lance. And I know it’s finally over.
* * *
Remy
As the owner of the bar, I exit last and immediately look for Raven.
I don’t see her anywhere near the back entrance or when I go around to the front of the building.
The police and bomb squad arrive before I can take off and find her, forcing me to stay and talk to the man in charge.
No, I haven’t seen or heard anything suspicious.
No, there were no packages left unattended that I noticed, and so on.
By the time they let me go, I’m in a frenzy, doing my best to look for her in the crowd that by now, is across the street by order of the beat cops corralling the people who stayed and gathered.
I go to pull my phone from my back pocket only to realize I left it on the table where Melissa, the anxiety-ridden woman, was sitting. Shit.
I return to the rear of the building and approach the uniformed officer guarding the bar entrance. “I’m Remy Sterling, the owner and a former NYPD detective. I need to get inside for my phone. It’s an emergency.” My cell has access to Raven’s tracking app and I need to see where she disappeared to.
“Sorry,” the officer says, folding his arms across his chest. “No one enters until I get the all clear.”
Fuck. I don’t blame the guy but I need to find Raven. Heart racing, I take off at a run, returning to the front and circling the crowd across the street, hoping she’s nearby.
When I don’t find her, I push my way through the throng of people and scan everyone I pass. No luck.
After breaking through, I’m back on the empty part of the sidewalk.
“Raven!” I yell, at a loss as to anything else I can do to find her.
She doesn’t answer nor does she miraculously show up. I catch sight of the security guard who was assigned to watch Raven and every move she makes.
I stalk over to the man. “Where the hell have you been?”