Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
Danica used her cuffed hands to wipe the tears from her face, but she only succeeded in smearing them. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“You know I can’t allow that,” Blake said a monotone. “You’ll just have to hold it, or do it there.”
Danica let all her emotions overwhelm her. The terror and rage and fear. The agony that she’d lost her mother all over again, that she was losing Noah.
When she spoke, she was careful to allow just a hint of a tremor. “You can’t even give me some dignity? After everything? For my mother?”
His fist clenched and unclenched. Finally, he stood up from the table. “You can use the bathroom down the hall. But I’m coming with you. If you try anything, you’ll regret it.” He gestured at the gun, which was once again aiming at her.
Danica nodded slowly.
Blake walked toward her, and he lowered the keys to the handcuffs into her open palm. He stepped back as she unlocked them.
“Go ahead. It’s that way.” He pointed with the gun.
Rubbing her wrists, Danica walked toward the hall.
In the bathroom, Blake stood in the doorway, averting his eyes while she peed. She kept her movements subdued. Head down. The tears continued to fall.
“I’m finished.”
Blake moved out of the way. “Go back to the kitchen.” He waited for her to pass.
Danica went down the hall. She reached the end of it, where the large room opened up. Living room on one side, kitchen on the other.
Her heart was beating so hard she could see it in her vision, like the room was pulsating.
As she stepped out of the hall, her pace slowed.
“Keep going,” Blake said behind her. “I’m warning you.”
The gun met her lower back. Just what she’d been waiting for.
With an explosive motion, she spun. Danica grabbed hold of the arm holding the gun, and kneed Blake as hard as she could in the crotch. He grunted.
The gun went off, the chambered round hitting the wall behind her.
She’d caught him by surprise, but Danica felt the strength in Blake’s body. She had to get the weapon away from him.
Her knee jammed into his crotch again, and her hand closed over the gun, twisting it out of his grip.
But with a bellow, Blake charged. His weight slammed her into the wall. The gun went flying out of her hand. She couldn’t see where it had gone.
His fist came at her. Danica pushed at his arm with the blade of her hand, deflecting the blow. She spun away from him when he tried to grab her.
His next punch landed painfully between her shoulder blades, knocking her off balance. She fell to the carpet.
Danica rolled onto her back just as Blake lunged at her, going to his knees. His fist retracted, his face a snarl of hatred.
He wanted to hurt her. Make her pay.
Then a deafening sound cut through the air.
Blake toppled forward, his body going limp.
Danica pushed him away, scrambling to get up. She saw blood on the carpet. Her brain was still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
“Dani?”
Noah. Noah was here, in the mouth of the hallway. Two other men stood behind him, though she hardly paid them attention.
She ran to the man she loved, just now noticing the gun in his hand. The acrid scent of gunpowder met her nose.
Noah’s arms closed around her. She pushed her face into his chest. Tears were falling again, and this time, they were pure relief.
“Noah.”
“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”