Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Savannah
We’re alive. Am I alive? How are we alive?
Smoke billows around us. Was it a smoke bomb? Meant to distract and not to kill?
“Thayer!”
I feel strong arms around me. I gasp and struggle as a painful prick bites my neck.
I try to push them away. I try to flail my arms, but I’m overpowered.
I reach for Thayer, but he’s behind a wall of flames and smoke.
I fall to my knees as my vision blurs. I open my mouth to scream at the sight of a black hood, but my voice is feeble.
With a flash of alarm I remember the test I took earlier, as the hood goes over my head and my world fades to blackness.
When I wake, it’s impossible to tell what time it is because I’m in a darkened room. I try to sit up, but my head is heavy, and my limbs won’t move. I blink, trying to make sense of my surroundings.
“She’s awake, Sir.”
I look over to see the redheaded woman Thayer interviewed sitting beside a man in a dark mask.
“You did well, pet.”
I know that voice. Where do I know that voice from?
“They almost escaped, but with your help, they didn’t.”
“Thank you, Sir. I’ve learned my lesson and I do my best,” she says quietly, her hands folded in her lap. “You’ve asked that I follow your instructions without question.”
I’ve heard this before. I’ve heard them before, but it’s hard to know where or when because my head is so fuzzy.
“Good. Very good.”
My wrists are anchored in front of me in an awkward position.
Someone prowls in front of me and shines a light at me. “Put the lights on.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dim lights flood the room.
“She is awake,” the man says. “You did so well, pet.”
The redhead beams and sits beside me. “Do you know why you’re here?”
I try to open my swollen lips. “I can guess.”
“Why?”
I sigh. “Because I’m the only witness and he doesn’t want to go to jail.”
The redhead gives me a grim smile and takes out a long, slender knife. She presses it to my neck. “The officer you saw Thayer Gerard murder. You witnessed it firsthand. That night, you were in Paris and neither of you have an alibi. You’ll destroy the statement you made and make another.”
My head swims. I try to shake it. I didn’t see Thayer kill anyone…
“We’re giving you a choice, Savannah. We could’ve killed you very easily.”
“You were only pretending to audition for a job,” I say through puffy lips.
She shrugs. “Someone had to get in there.”
Behind her, her master crosses his arms. “Press harder.”
The knife scrapes my skin. I hiss in a breath at the sting.
“You saw him murder that officer, didn’t you?”
I grit my teeth. I have to stay alive. This isn’t just about me anymore. But if they have me on record testifying against him—God. They could make me betray the only man I’ve ever loved.
She leans in. “We know who you are. We know your sister obtained millions from the Gerard family for being a whore.” My pulse spikes.
I shake my head. “We know that everything you own is because of her slutty choices. We know that after your parents died, she abandoned you, then tried to make it up with her blood money.”
I shake my head. Tears blur my vision as I turn away but turning away only makes her press the knife harder. I stifle a cry as I feel my skin tear.
“We know what you saw. And this is a warning, Savannah. You will testify against Thayer in court. If you don’t do what we say, we promise, no one you know will be safe. Not Nicolette, or her husband, and least of all Thayer.”
I shake my head. “He didn’t do it.”
I don’t know what they’ll do to me, but I can’t let them hurt me.
“He did, though, and you saw it because you were with him. You were both in Paris the night of the murder. You saw him murder that officer, didn’t you?”
When I don’t respond, the man growls at her. “Cut her.”
Her eyes, wide and terrified, plead for forgiveness as she obeys him. I scream out loud as the knife cuts me. I’m trying to move away from the knife when I have an idea.
I sit up and turn to her. “No!” I scream. “I won’t!”
“Hurt her!”
With a cry, she slices at me with the knife. I yank out of her way just in time and throw my hands in front of my face. The knife slices through rope, nicking me but freeing my hands.
The door to the room bursts open. I see Thayer in a pool of light, his weapons drawn.
“Thayer!”
“One down,” he says placidly, a look of tranquility on his face as he points his gun at the man. “One to go.”
The man’s eyes go wide as he puts his hands up. Thayer doesn’t shoot to kill, though. With a look of pure malice, he shoots the man’s kneecap and makes him fall to the floor.
The woman screams and lunges for Thayer, but I grab her by the hair and yank her back. She falls to the floor. I kneel on her back and keep her down. I push the same knife she used on me against her neck.
“Go ahead. Try me.”
Thayer yells over his shoulder, “Get her out of here for questioning.”
Lyam enters and takes the redhead bodily out of the room. “Naughty girl,” he chides, clearly enjoying himself. “You’re in big, big trouble for this.”
Thayer grabs the man by the neck.
“Apologize to her.”
The man glares at me. Thayer grits his teeth and backhands him so hard he falls to the floor and screams.
“I said, apologize,” he repeats as he makes the man face me again.
“I’m sorry,” the man says. My stomach turns at the sight of his teeth, reddened with blood.
“Good. Savannah, you have a choice,” Thayer says to me. “You can step outside with Fabien and Nicolette. They’re waiting for you. Or you can stay here with me while I get rid of the last threat against you.”
The man’s eyes go wide, and he begins to shake.
Back in the alley, which seems so long ago now, I saw the look of terror on his captive’s face. He would have killed me and forced Thayer to serve time for a murder he didn’t commit.
I cross my arms over my chest. I’m not leaving Thayer’s side again.
Not ever again.
“I’ll stay.”