CHAPTER 26
It’s too still. Too quiet. Something’s wrong. I jerk awake, hands balling into fists as I struggle upright in the seat.
“It’s okay.” Jake stretches his arm around me, drawing me to him. “I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
But am I?
Though we’re still in his truck, we’re no longer moving. And as I stare over his shoulder out the window, it’s not the view I expected to see. If he can feel the way my heart just kicked into overdrive, he doesn’t let on.
“Where are we?” I ask, pulling away.
The words come out much easier than they had before. My voice sounds more like my own. Though I’m nowhere near recovered, my body feels a bit stronger, my senses sharper, my brain less addled.
“Why aren’t we home?”
“We can’t go home,” he says sadly.
“What do you mean? We have to. What about the—”
“I have people looking after the animals for us.”
“Who?”
“The vet has the raccoon.”
“Ricky,” I murmur. Only, I guess since he’s a she, Ricki, maybe.
“What?” Jake asks, brow furrowed.
“Her name,” I explain. “One of the men who—” I shake my head, not wanting to waste words with needless details. “The raccoon’s name is Ricki. But what about everyone else? The rest of the animals?”
“Hal’s going to be staying at the sanctuary to take care of them while we’re gone.”
“Hal? Your security guard from Myers and Kleinman?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know what he’s doing?”
Jake grimaces. “No. But he has the vet’s number. Craig’s going to do his best to talk Hal through any problems he has.”
I give him a hard look. “That’s not good enough. They deserve better than that. Take me home.”
“I can’t, Cassie.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not safe.”
“So?”
He covers his face with his hands and groans. “I just spent the last three days worried that I’d never see you again. Can you please try to work with me on this?”
“Three days?”
I sit back in the seat, swallowing vainly at the lump in my throat.
“Three days,” he whispers.
His eyes glisten. His hand wraps around mine, his grip hot and damp and desperate.
“I know this is all my fault and you have no idea how incredibly sorry I am. For everything. I screwed up. Once this is over, we’ll handle things however you want, but until then, let me keep you safe. Please, Cassie. At the very least you need time to recover, regain your strength.”
He gives a relieved sigh as I nod.
“The girls. Amelia? Danielle?”
“They’re fine. They made it back two days ago.”
A wave of nausea sweeps through me, one that has nothing to do with my head injury. If the girls made it home that long ago, why hadn’t anyone come out to that cabin to rescue me?
Jake clears his throat, looking away. “You have no idea how much I wanted to tear those woods apart to come get you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“It was too late. That guy back there had already spread the word that he had you and was looking to sell you to the highest bidder. So, I lied to Sheriff Kingston and told him you’d made it back, too.
Told him that the Feds had arrested the kidnappers.
And I had Marla tell Agent Gellar that the sheriff had them in custody.
She convinced Gellar to give you a few days before they questioned you. ”
The heat leaches from my body, leaving me feeling cold and bloodless.
“You what?”
“I had to, Cassie. I’m so sorry.”
There he goes, apologizing again. But for what, exactly? I’m afraid to find out, but I have to know. Trust has never come easy for me. It’s a lesson I learned early in life after giving it to too many of the wrong people.
I take deep breaths as I look out the window again. We’re in a parking lot, though it’s not one that I recognize. I have no idea where we are.
My gaze locks on the only other vehicle present, a white sedan. I don’t see the shadow of anyone inside of it, but the driver must be nearby. My hand curls around the door handle.
“Why would you do that?” I ask quietly. “Why would you make sure I stayed out there?”
“To keep you safe.”
“How was leaving me out in the middle of the woods with that junkie keeping me safe?”
“Because he was auctioning you off. Once the girls told everyone what happened, how they came to be taken, how random it was, all because of the paranoia of a druggie, I realized that the only way he’d know that you had a price on your head was if you had told him. Which meant that you were still alive.”
“And you figured the best way for me to stay that way was to tell everyone who might look for me that I was already safe and sound?”
“Yes.”
I glance at the other car again, hoping to see that the driver has returned. They haven’t.
“How does that make any sense at all?”
Jake taps the backpack containing the money he used to buy me from Skunk. “I made sure that I was the highest bidder. Two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
My mouth drops. I open the bag and look inside. Sure enough, it’s filled with wrapped bundles of hundreds. It’s more than I’ve ever seen in one place before. And a tiny part of me can’t help but wonder—did he shoot Skunk because the man was coming after me? Or to get the cash back?
“Come on,” Jake says. “We need to keep moving. We have to go.”
“What do you mean? Go where?” My voice rises several octaves as Jake opens his door and climbs out of the truck. “Why are you getting out?”
This time, as my hand tightens on the handle, it’s to keep me inside the vehicle instead of preparing to escape it.
Jake gestures toward the white sedan. “We’ve got to make sure they can’t find us.”
I watch as he rounds the truck and opens my door. Holds out his hand to help me down.
My headache has returned with a vengeance, my skull throbbing so hard I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m so tired, so overwhelmed, in so much pain that I can barely think. But I need to make a decision, and fast.
Do I trust him? Just last week there wouldn’t have been a doubt in my mind, but now? He didn’t just storm off and leave me at the sanctuary, he made the decision to leave me out in the woods in that shack, too. There was no way for him to know for sure that I’d stay safe—or even alive.
But this is Jake.
I look deep into his eyes for a long moment, the beat of my heart matching the seconds as they pass. Then I give a single nod.
He lifts me down from the cab and folds me in a hug. Holds me tight, until I start to believe that everything will be okay.
With a final squeeze, he pulls away. Grabs the backpack of money from his truck. Pulls his phone from his pocket, then hesitates just before he puts it in the glove box. Indecision flashes across his face, followed by sorrow and something else I can’t define.
“Here.” He holds it out to me. “You better call Marla real quick. Let her know you’re okay.”
Taking the device, I lean against the side of the truck and place the call. It gets answered after only half a ring.
“Jake?”
Director Marla Jacobson’s voice holds a note of panic that I’ve heard only a few times before—and always because of the jeopardy I’ve been put in. I try not to think about all the years that might have been shed off the poor woman’s life because she cares about me.
“No, it’s me.”
“Cassidy! Oh thank goodness. Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Are you safe?”
I meet Jake’s gaze as he watches me with concern. Did he know that I needed this? Confirmation that what he said was true, that Marla knew what was going on and was helping him?
The glimpse of hurt I catch on his face as he turns away makes me suspect so.
That he knows I have doubts about trusting him.
But do I really? I’m suffering my own hurt, but if I suspect, even for a second, that his intentions are anything other than what he wants me to believe, all I have to do is speak the words right now to Marla.
Drawing a deep breath, I say, “Yes. I will be. I just wanted to let you know… I think we’re going off the grid for a while.”
She exhales heavily. “That’s not ideal, but I understand the decision. You’ll let me know if you need anything?”
“I will.”
Ending the call, I hand the phone back to Jake. Watch as he puts it in the glove box, closes and locks the doors to his truck. Then, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he leads me toward the white sedan.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask. “We can’t just run from Bianchi’s men until he loses interest.”
Jake stiffens beside me. I cast a wary glance at him from the corners of my eyes. A gush of ice water floods through me. He looks completely stricken.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, heart kicking at the walls of my chest as I take a big step away, pulling out from under his arm. I come to a stop, waiting for an answer. “Jake?”
He closes his eyes. Squeezes the bridge of his nose and releases a giant sigh before saying softly, “Bianchi’s dead. He was stabbed to death Monday morning at the prison.”
I rock back on my heels, trying to keep my balance as a curtain of dizziness drops over me.
If that’s true, then why are we on the run?
Why would Jake need to pay a quarter of a million dollars to be the highest bidder to get me back?
Had he purposely waited to tell me this until after I had spoken to Marla?
“Then shouldn’t this be over?”
He shakes his head sadly. “I’m sorry, Cassie.”
Yet another apology, but still no explanation.
“For what?” I ask sharply. “What’s going on? I want the truth this time, the full one.”
My stomach churns as his gaze meets mine, because whatever it is that he’s so sorry about? His agonized expression tells me it’s going to be a doozy.
“I’m sorry because it wasn’t Bianchi who put out the hit on you.” I hear the click of his throat as he swallows hard. The wavering breath he draws. The pure grief in his voice as he says, “It was my mother.”