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“No, he’ll come. They all will.”

I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation. There were no clues to who he could be talking to.

“The place is wired. We won’t be here when they get here.”

Wired?

I guess I won’t be buying this place then.

Ok, Lucille, you said I wouldn’t be hurt? I know what wired means!

I watched the confusion mar Brian’s face. He heard what I heard, but it seemed as though this was the first he was hearing about it.

“Once they’re gone, Sean is next. If Bellamy doesn’t fall in line, then she’ll go, too.”

Who is Bellamy?

“Once we leave, I’ll send him a message. I’ll set a trip wire in the doorway. As soon as they rush in, they clip it and BOOM! They’re all gone.”

“Miss Malpas, I didn’t know what Tyran was planning. He said you wouldn’t be hurt,” Brian whispered.

“Brian, he kidnapped me from the airport. Did you really think he meant to hide me for a while, then let me go? Do you understand what Duncan will do when he learns of this?” I whispered back, trying to keep my voice low so Tyran didn’t hear it.

Brian looked over his shoulder frantically, then back at me. “I don’t know what to do. I’ll have to leave with him. I won’t be able to come back and get you out.”

“Cut the zip ties. I’ll leave once you do.”

“He’ll never leave you unbound.” Brian chewed his fingernail as he kept sliding his gaze to the door.

“Cut the bottom, I’ll stay still, and he’ll never know I’m not tied.”

Brian pulled his knife and quickly severed the ties that held me to the chair. I struggled not to pull my hands to my chest and rub my wrists. Instead, I wrapped my fingers around the end of the armrests.

“Brian, let’s go,” Tyran called from the doorway. A few seconds sooner, he would have seen Brian cut the ties. He looked at me with a salacious grin. “Too bad I don’t have more time. I’d love to see what the fuss is about.”

Tyran walked forward as if he meant to touch me, and Brian stepped in front of me. “You said she wouldn’t be hurt. We need to go before they get here.”

Tyran hesitated, and my hands tightened on the chair. He must have agreed with Brian, because once they left the room, Tyran kneeled down and set the trip wire.

Then Tyran turned back to look at me. He stepped over the wire and walked to the side of the room. I heard something tear, and Tyran stood behind me and placed a piece of duct tape over my mouth.

He licked the shell of my ear, and whispered, “Can’t have you warning them when they come up the stairs.”

I held my breath until he made it across the room. When he stepped over the wire and disappeared, the sound of his footsteps trudging down the stairs signaled my brain to breathe again.

The front door slammed, and I listened for the vehicle to fire up. I waited a moment before I allowed myself to move. I had to be sure they wouldn’t come back.

Tentatively, I reached up to remove the tape and took a deep breath through my mouth. I slowly stood from the chair, placing the zip ties on the seat.

Gathering my skirt around my waist, I moved to the doorway. The wire wasn’t easy to see and if I hadn’t seen him place it with my own eyes, I never would have noticed it.

Taking a high exaggerated step, I cleared the wire and ran down the stairs. The air outside was chilling. Or maybe that was me. I looked around, not sure where to wait. I knew Sal would be on his way. But I didn’t want to take a chance that a rat would trip the wire, so I moved down the street and waited.

I didn’t have long to wait before multiple SUVs came barreling down the road. When the doors opened, men piled out and ran for the building.

“WAIT!” I screamed, and they all froze. I gasped for breath. They moved so quickly, I almost missed them. I should have stayed within eyesight.

“Freyja?” Braesal O’Malley, head of the Boston Mob, pulled me into his arms. “Fuck. Check the building!”