CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
TESSA
He’s encircled by at least twelve gruff and malicious monsters. They aren’t touching him, and I can’t hear what they’re saying. But one of them raises a gun and shoots our security guard in the head.
A chill of terror skitters down my spine. Twelve hours ago, he was guarding the employee maze. Now he’s gone.
Why didn’t Maddox take the damn gun?
Even from my stance within the trees, the putrid stench of burning rubber and oil meld with the sweet aroma of pecan trees, bald cypress, and marshy swampland. It’s a cocktail of preserved nature and manmade disaster. The aroma of annihilation.
I send a quick text to a family chat on Maddox’s phone, afraid it will lock before I do. I have my own, but I’d have to text them all individually.
Me: 86
Me: It’s Tessa.
That number is a casino term to denote foul play. They must all use it to signal trouble because the responses are immediate.
Axel: On our way.
Ryker: Do whatever he told you to do.
Me: I can’t leave him. Please hurry.
Cash: Status of security team?
I scan the area, peering through overgrown branches and searching for any sign of the other three guards. Nothing.
Me: I think they’re dead.
Axel: What about the Escalade?
Me: Totaled.
Jax: How many against Maddox?
Me: Looks to be a dozen.
Ryker: Fucking run, Tessa.
I don’t respond. They already know I’m not capable of fleeing.
Love is an action.