17. Amara
Amara
Outside the room, footsteps sound all around us as I remember Dominic flashing a card over a reader for entry. I recall Milly’s warning about this area being a secret—the place wealthy people come to enact their darkest fantasies.
He takes my hand and we jog down the hallway, in the opposite direction from where we came in.
I don’t want to leave here with him. I don’t know what will happen. Perhaps being captured by the police is preferable, and if it wasn’t for Detective Miles, Caleb’s brother, it would be the safer option.
I thought Dominic and his associates had all the police in their pocket, but once again tonight proves how wrong I’ve been.
“Come on, Amara. We need to get out of here,” he yells, dragging me quicker. I stumble on my high heels, slamming my hand against the wall to stop myself from falling.
“You go. Leave me here,” I say.
His eyes lock on mine as I rub my ankle. He strolls to me, grabbing me by the waist and hoisting me over his shoulder before he strides again.
“No!” I scream, pounding my fists against his back. “You need to escape. I’ll hold you back.”
“Stop! Wrap your legs around my waist,” he growls. He lowers me until his hands latch onto my hips and he jostles me until I’m tight around his body, then sprints down the hallway, kicking the door at the end as he reaches it.
The door opens. Garret, one of Dom’s henchmen, stands on the opposite side. He stares at me with a cruel glint in his cold dark blue eyes.
My pulse races wildly.
“I know this is scary, Amara, but don’t scream, because if someone tries to rescue you, Garret will kill them.”
Rescue me?
Is he kidnapping me?
I nod. I don’t want anyone to die for me. Garret is more than capable.
A phone chimes.
I cling to Dom’s waist as he sets me down, my legs shaking.
“I need to go back inside.” Dom pulls his phone from his pocket and answers, disconnecting seconds later.
He spins me around, pressing me against the wall. His eyes bore into mine. “Who the fuck have you been talking to, Amara?”
“I don’t know.” My voice comes out small, shaky.
His jaw clenches. “Well, there was a detective asking questions about you to Cade. Wanting to know why your name was on a dead body.”
A chill runs down my spine. “A body?”
“Yes, a detective and he was found swimming with sharks.” His fingers dig into my shoulders. “And he links back to you.”
My mind races.
Dom studies my face, searching for any sign of deception. “Are you using me, piccola? Playing both sides?”
“No,” I whisper, but even I can hear how unconvincing it sounds.
Garret grabs his arm. “Boss, it’s not safe. Our intel suggests the Russians brought undercover security. That’s what sparked this shitstorm.”
Russians?
Dom’s jaw clenches. “It wasn’t the Russians. Someone was trying to set me up.”
He whirls toward me. The muscle in his jaw ticks and his blue eyes blaze with an intensity that makes me step back.
“Sorry,” I murmur, wrapping my arms around myself.
“Sorry? Fucking sorry?” His voice cuts like a blade. “You should have told me weeks, no, months ago, Amara. Tonight would never have happened. Innocent people might die because of you.”
Tears blur my vision as reality crashes down. “I know,” I whisper, my voice breaking.
A gunshot cracks through the night air. Dom’s hand clamps around mine, yanking me away from the club.
“Are you going to kill me?” I ask, inhaling sharply, saying the words I already know the answer to.
Just yesterday, I wouldn’t have had to ask Dom this question. Now, I’m not so sure.
Dominic tilts his head to one side and smiles.
He slides his finger over my cheek, but he isn’t looking into my eyes when he says, “I wouldn’t be able to kill you, piccola. You know that.” He finally looks into my eyes. “I’d get someone to do it for me.”
He releases me, and I try to steady myself, but my legs are wobbly, and I slap my hand against the wall to stop myself from crashing onto the floor.
I stare at his car ahead, my head pounding not from the alcohol I consumed but from knowing my end is nearing.
He looks over my shoulder once more. He’s never looked so nervous as he raises his hand in the air and points behind me, showing two fingers.
I wrap my arms around myself to contain the shiver running just under my skin as Garret removes his gun from his waistband.
Garret nods at his associate and the two of them hold their bodies against the metal as they creep along the car. I twist around to see what spooked Dominic.
There’s nobody there.
Bang!
I jump as the gunshot rattles through the air.
Dominic opens the car door. “Get in,” he hisses. “The car is bulletproof and nobody can get in from the outside. Keep yourself safe.”
Does he want me safe?
I do as he asks.
I chew my lip when he takes his gun from underneath his jacket. In the passenger mirror, I watch the scene behind me.
Dominic slides along the car, back toward Garret, his gun ready to shoot.
My breath comes in quick gasps, and only when he is out of view and I’m alone with the darkness ahead—or is it freedom?—do I consider my options.
Die later?
Or run now?
I shudder, listening to the gunshots in the distance, knowing this battle is something I caused, and what that really means for me.
I only have one option, and that’s disappearing from Australia forever. And I still have an option waiting for me at the Gold Coast Airport tomorrow afternoon—HisPrincess will fly me to London.
I pull on the handle of the car and step out onto the concrete in my stupid high heels. Time is not on my side. I take off my shoes, holding them in my hand as I dart toward the safety of darkness—the opposite direction from where Dom went.
“Ow,” I hiss at the sharp pain in my soles.
But I keep running, staying hidden alongside the parked cars. I can’t stop, even if my feet are shredded. I need to get away from him. Get away from here forever.
An engine comes to life behind me.
Shit!
I don’t look. I can’t look. I keep running.
A police car zooms by and I dart into the road.
“Help!” I scream, waving my arms in the air, but I immediately regret the decision when the lights dim ahead of me.
I dash between two parked cars, crouch down, and wait to see if the police car turns around.
The lights of another car turn on in the distance.
My stomach clenches as I wait. My nerves are frayed. My feet are bleeding and throbbing with pain. But I know I need to run again—I wish I hadn’t stopped to hide.
Tears blur my vision as I scuttle from my hiding place and limp away. There is no big rescue for me today. I know that I can only help myself.
I have to escape from this place for good. My secret bank account has enough money in it to hide for a short while. But as my fingers touch my diamond bracelet, I know I’ll get enough money to fly to Europe once I land in London.
A small smile curves up as a plan forms.
My fingernails claw at my spaghetti strapped blouse.
I’ll drag it off my body, tear it, before I wipe my bloody feet on the top and leave it lying at the water’s edge.
Everyone knows that nobody would survive going into the sea at night. Bull sharks love the Queensland coast. They’ll scavenge on human flesh the moment they smell blood.
My family and the police will spend too much time checking the ocean for me, not knowing I’ve escaped.
I just need to cross this road to enact my plan.
The pathway to the beach is on the opposite side of the road. It’s my best chance of escaping. Dominic and his men will search for me in their cars.
I creep to the front of a parked SUV and dart out into the road, running in a diagonal direction.
A car roars behind me. I turn, but it’s in darkness.
Desperate, I throw my shoes away and sprint along the road, looking for the opening to the beach.
Safety is near. I can hear the sound of the water lapping against the shore, but the sound of the engine is getting so loud and close, I can almost feel the heat of the car on my legs.
A blast of a horn fills the air. I freeze in the darkness.
“Fuck!”
I spin toward the headlights when they flicker in my peripheral vision.
Thud!
I’m floating in the air as pain rushes through my body…
I groan as my head cracks against the road, and my eyes flutter as I try to move.
But I can’t move. It’s like my body is frozen.
And it’s quiet as I lie on the cold ground staring at the stars up above as every blink of my eyes causes the pain in my head to intensify.
I want to cry out for someone to help me, but I can’t speak. I’m struggling to swallow and I turn my head to one side as I gurgle on a coppery liquid.
My eyelids grow heavier with each slow blink. I stare through the narrow squint in my eyes as footsteps sound near me.
Help me.
Closer and closer the shadow gets, stealing the light and the stars.
I close my eyes. Rescue is near, and I give up trying to see as the footsteps start again.
My body is frigid, like my blood is freezing over.
My eyes won’t open. The darkness calls loudly for me now, taking me to it.
I’m scared.
I’m suffocating on my own blood.
I can’t move.
A hand touches my neck. It’s soft and warm, but it feels too late.
I try to open my eyelids but they stay closed as I lie there in silence, the footsteps faint in my ears.
There are no stars...no sound...nothing.
Only the darkness kisses me goodnight.