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The explosion thundered in her ears, and a scream ripped from her throat. Torn from Jericho’s grip, she tumbled, pain splintering her bones.

Acrid fumes burned her lungs. She lifted her throbbing head, arms quivering beneath her weight.

I’m alive?

Smoke billowed from the Mercedes’ charred and twisted metal, clouding her sight. “Jericho?” she groaned.

Motionless, he lay among smoldering chunks of debris.No!She’d survived because he’d protected her from the blast with his own body.

Across the parking lot, a man in a red vest sprinted in their direction, cutting a path through the chaos. Tires squealed in the distance, and an engine roared, moving fast. Beside them, a black van skidded to a stop.

“That’s them. Grab ’em!” the man shouted over the fire’s angry roar.

Footsteps pounded the pavement. Firm hands grabbed her, jerking her from the ground. Alex’s world spiraled in blurry streaks of fire and ash. Nausea rolled through her gut, and a moan pushed from her chest.

“Hurry up. We need to put the chains on him before he wakes.”

Panic spiked Alex’s system. Not rescued. Captured.

Jericho. She had to get to Jericho.

The van loomed, an ominous specter. Once they had her inside that thing, all hope was lost. She struggled with everything she had, which wasn’t much. They tossed her through the door with little concern, cracking her skull on the floor. Nauseating pain splintered her skull. Black dots swarmed her vision, darkness pressed in, then mercifully…nothing.

Twenty-Two

Alex wokewith her cheek smashed against a concrete floor. Her body ached, and a dank chill permeated her bones. She pressed her fingers to her throbbing forehead.Holy mother of goose eggs.

She sat up in slow, room-spinning increments, blinking as she took in her surroundings. Shadows wrapped the walls, defying the single light bulb at the center of the concrete cell.

Her memory returned in a jarring flash—a ball of fire, a black van, rough hands grabbing her.Oh God, the explosion.The cell was…her prison. Her chest tightened, and sharp, panicked breaths wheezed past her lips.

Metal clinked behind her. She jerked, glancing over her shoulder.

Sturdy chains secured Jericho’s sagging body to the wall.

“Jericho.” She gasped, lurching to her feet. The ragged skirt tangled around her legs, and she stumbled to his side.

Streaks of grime marred his bare torso, and a long gash oozed along his ribs, almost as though he’d been stabbed. The shredded remains of his shirt lay on the ground, and blood trickled into the waist of his pants, forming a thick puddle beneath his foot.

With trembling hands, she cupped his jaw. “Jericho? Can you hear me?”

She patted his cheek, and his dark head lolled, a harsh groan rising from his throat. “That’s it. Please, Jericho. I need you.”

His eyes slid open, locking on her as his pupils narrowed to pinpoints. “Alex?” He straightened, then frowned, pulling against the chains restraining his arms.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a raw, smoke-damaged voice. Her shoulders sagged, and she released his face. Thank goodness, he was lucid. It was more than she’d dared to hope, given all his injuries. She quickly filled in the blanks, though her memory had an enormous hole after they threw her into the van.

“How many men were there?”

“Four? Maybe eight. I’m pretty sure my concussion has me seeing double. I have no idea how many are in the building at this point.”

He cut a cursory look to their surroundings before scanning her from head to toe, taking a visual inventory. When he met her eyes again, rage flickered in his golden depths. “You’re bleeding.”

Alex grimaced. “My secret may be out, but I’ll live. Just some scrapes, bruises, and a knock to the head, thanks to you. You protected me from the worst of the blast.” A blast Alex didn’t see coming until it was too late. Her gut clenched. “How could I be so stupid? I was so focused on Marcus that I didn’t pick up on Helen’s intentions until right before the explosion. I don’t understand. Why would Helen kill Marcus?”

Grim shadows darkened Jericho’s face. “I don’t know. Helen was never on our radar. Zion must have gotten to her. Marcus mentioned he’d hired an investigator. Perhaps he got a little too close to the truth.”

Alex hugged her waist, careful not to graze her skinned elbows. “Seems Marcus wasn’t the only one who got too close.”