Maya Banks - No Place to Run

For several seconds she stood and stretched, working the kinks out of her stiff body. She was cold and hungry, but she shrugged off both discomforts. Neither was new to her.

As carefully as possible, she climbed over the shortest rock facing, testing her footholds to make sure she didn’t fall or make unnecessary noise.

On her way over, she slipped and landed with a thump that knocked the breath from her. She wrapped her arms around her belly and lay there, mentally examining herself for any injury.

After catching her breath, she picked herself up and stared around, trying to gain her bearings. It was dark as a well bottom and there was no moonlight to guide her. Good for not being seen. Not so good for being able to see.

She crept through the trees and the underbrush a lot slower and stealthier than she’d done hours before. She’d had all day to come up with a plan, but the only thing that stood out was that she had to find transportation. She couldn’t make it on foot if she hoped to put any distance between her and her immediate threat.

When she was but a short distance from the cabin, she paused and rubbed at the stitch in her side. She could barely make out where the trees fell away, and she inched forward, trying to make out whether the lights were on in the cabin and if the trucks were still parked out front. She didn’t know how stubborn Sam would be or how long he would persist in searching for her or if he’d searched at all.

“Going somewhere?”

She whirled around and slapped a hand over her mouth to stanch the reflexive scream. The light from a flashlight blinded her, and she threw up her other arm to block it.

Poised for flight, she shot to the right, but Garrett’s hand snapped around her wrist, and he hauled her up short.

“Let me go,” she said desperately.

“You’re going to hurt yourself. Stop struggling,” he said in a calm voice.

Tears knotted her throat. “Damn you.”

The light went down, and then he turned it upward so the immediate area was illuminated. She expected his face to be his usual thundercloud, but he wasn’t frowning.

“Let me go,” she pleaded. “You don’t even like me. You haven’t liked me from the beginning. Let me go and I’ll never bother you or Sam again. But at least give me a chance to protect my baby.”

Something that looked like regret and unease flashed across his face. His features softened and his grip lessened on her arm. For a moment hope sparked in her chest. He was going to let her go. But when she tried to pull away, his grip tightened again.

“Listen to me, Sophie. Sam is frantic with worry. Whatever you heard or think you heard, he isn’t about to sell you out.”

“He already did,” she said bitterly. “I shouldn’t have expected anything else. He doesn’t owe me anything. I was just some chick he picked up in a bar. Knocking me up wasn’t part of the deal.”

“If you knew Sam, you wouldn’t be spouting that horse shit,” Garrett said. “I get that you’re hurt. I get that you feel betrayed. But give him a chance to explain. We will protect you, but we can’t do that if you take off on us.”

“ ‘We’?” she questioned. “Are you including yourself in that promise?”

“I am,” he said evenly.

“Why?” she blurted. “You’ve made no secret of the fact you despise me. You don’t trust me. You don’t want me anywhere near your brother.”

“You’re carrying my niece or nephew. You’re important to Sam.” There was resignation in his voice, as if acknowledging that left a bad taste in his mouth. “That makes you important to me.”

She stared back at him and he met her gaze. There was no anger, none of the disapproval she’d grown so used to in his eyes. She swayed in his grip, suddenly so fatigued that she would have fallen if he hadn’t reached his other hand out to steady her.

“Let me take you back, Sophie. You’re tired, you’re hurt and you have no business running like you’ve been running with you carrying a baby.”

“I can’t.”

Her voice turned pleading, and she stared imploringly at him, hoping she could sway him.

“I can’t go with that Resnick guy. Don’t you understand? I’m expendable to him. I’m nothing in comparison to what they gain by taking down my family’s network. They won’t care about me or my baby. I want her to have better than I had. Please, just let me take care of my baby.”

Garrett’s entire face softened, but he didn’t let go of her arms.

“I swear to you, Sophie, Sam will never allow Resnick to take you anywhere. That was never his intention. Not only that, I won’t allow it. You have my word.”

“You aren’t really offering me a choice,” she said dully.

He sighed. “No, I’m not. I’d like you to come back willingly, but if you don’t, I’ll be forced to bring you back by whatever means necessary.”

Her chin dropped and she closed her eyes.

“All right,” she accepted quietly.

WHEN Garrett pushed into the cabin, Sophie saw that she and Garrett were the only two occupants. He closed the door behind them and shot her a look that suggested she not think of running again.

He gestured toward the table. “Have a seat. I’ll get you something to eat and drink.”

She sank wearily into a chair and folded her arms over the tabletop so she could rest her head. When Garrett set a glass of milk in front of her, she drank greedily and then returned her head to its perch. She closed her eyes and rested while Garrett rummaged around in the refrigerator. She was hungry, but she was too tired to eat.

A moment later, the door burst open, startling her from her lethargy. She bolted upright to see Sam stalk in, his eyes blazing. She barely had time to register her alarm before he was in front of her.

He yanked her to her feet, cupped one hand around her nape and then dragged her to him. He kissed her long and hard, his mouth molded so tight to hers that neither of them could draw a breath.

She inserted her hands between them and shoved as hard as she could. He didn’t budge. Instead he deepened his kiss, as if convincing her of his ownership.

His tongue flashed over hers. Warm, wet, tasting. His fingers rubbed firmly over the column of her neck and then up into her hair, tangling with the strands.

Finally he drew away, but he kept a hold on her nape as he stared down at her through half-lidded eyes.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he said in a low voice.

She tried to pull away again, but he cupped his other hand to her cheek and smoothed his thumb over her swollen lips.

“I know I hurt you, Sophie. I’m sorry. Sorrier than I can say. I don’t have time to explain everything to you now. I hope you’ll understand that.”

With that, he turned and strode toward Garrett. She listened in horror as he told his brother that Frank had had a heart attack and that their mother had been abducted from the hospital.

She swayed and had to brace herself against the table. She didn’t chance looking at either man. She couldn’t bear to see the rage in Garrett’s eyes. Rage that would be directed at her.

Nausea boiled in her stomach like acid, and she gulped breaths through her mouth. Her chest heaved, and she closed her eyes before finally sinking back into the chair.

All she wanted to do was bury her face in her arms and weep.

“Sophie, we need to go.”

She raised her head to see Sam standing by the table, his expression grim. Beyond him, Garrett was already striding from the cabin.

“Where?” she croaked out.

“Back home. To my father. I need to see him and then we have to find my mom.”

She shakily rose, nodding her agreement. Of course they had to go. She went out ahead of Sam and nearly ran into Garrett at the bottom of the steps. He grasped her arm to steady her before Sam took over and ushered her to the truck.

The ride was silent and tense. The two men didn’t speak. Garrett stared moodily out the window while Sam’s gaze remained fixed on the road.

She alternated feeling guilty for bringing her uncle to their doorstep and feeling angry for feeling guilty. Her uncle going after Sam and his family was inevitable. Once Sophie had been caught, her uncle would have taken steps to eradicate the Kellys.

But now she needed to give Sam all the necessary ammunition to take the fight to her uncle and hopefully rescue his mother in the process. She prayed that Marlene would be kept alive. If her father were still in charge, Marlene would have already been killed and left for Sam and his family to find as a message. Her uncle wasn’t as ruthless as her father, though. Not that he didn’t try to be. He was just weaker. He wanted to be seen as someone who was strong and as capable of running a criminal empire as her father, but not many men were. Alex Mouton had had no conscience when he was living, and Sophie could only hope he was consigned to hell in death.

She pressed her lips together and inhaled deeply through her nose. Then she straightened in her seat and pushed away from the window so she could readily see both men from her position in the back.

“My father is dead.”

Sam’s head came up to look at her in the rearview mirror at the same time Garrett whipped around to stare at her.

“You’re sure of this?” Sam demanded. “This is important, Sophie. We have to know for sure. We can’t afford to assume anything.”

“Did you see his body?” Garrett cut in.

“I saw,” she said softly. “I’m the one who killed him.”

Sam braked suddenly and pulled onto the shoulder. He shoved the truck into park but left the engine turning. Then he rotated around so he too could stare back at her.