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“A friend of your father’s sent to find you. Are you too weak to walk?”

“No. But wait. Why should I go with you?” Of course she was in shock, but the way she’d come out fighting indicated she’d be alright. A quick survey told me she had some cuts and bruises, her face showing signs of blunt force trauma, but otherwise she was unharmed.

Thank God for that.

“Because you have no choice if you want to return to safety.”

She processed the information as precious seconds ticked by. “Okay.”

I snatched the flashlight, taking another look at where she’d been held. Fuck the assholes. If I could kill every last one of them, I would.

While she was able to keep up with me, her exhaustion was making it slow. At least she managed to continue as we crawled our way through the foliage. Only when we were close to the fence did she falter, dropping to her knees.

“Hey. We’re getting closer,” I told her, suddenly becoming aware I’d heard noise. “Come on. We need to go. Now.”

Sensing my urgency, she stumbled forward, rushing with me the rest of the way. Once we were at the fence, I tugged the barbed wire, ushering her out first. She yelped and I immediately hissed. Every sound could draw attention to us.

“There’s a killer dog.”

“That’s Tank. He’s with me.” Tank was wiggling, immediately greeting her as soon as she crawled through. She was shaking and I knew she wouldn’t be able to go on that much longer.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, nodding to Tank. We were barely a hundred feet away when an excessive number of lights were turned on at the compound.

“Shit. They know you’re gone. Do not look back.” We raced together through the trees, using other walls hiding the estates inside as cover.

Tank barely made a sound as we continued our path, but soon the sound of engines could be heard in addition to several foreign voices. What the hell? Who were these people? There was no time to analyze or ask questions. I had to get us back to the airport.

We were almost where I’d hidden the Jeep when she collapsed.

Shit. I scooped her into my arms, taking off running again. Once at the Jeep, Tank waited as I eased her onto the backseat. At this point, keeping her out of sight could help.

After scanning the side mirrors, I started the engine. This could end in one of two ways.

And right now, I wasn’t in the mood to die.

CHAPTER 7

Juliette

Who the hell was this guy?

Oh, my God.

My skin prickled with fear, every synapse in my brain screaming that I could be hallucinating.

“Stay down!” he barked as soon as I rose to a sitting position.

By instinct, I slouched down in the seat, trying to get my bearings. My head was killing me. Every muscle ached. My stomach was rolling. Breathing was difficult. I took a few shallow breaths, finally comprehending that I’d been freed from my prison. But at what cost?

And who was this huge man sitting in the front, driving like some maniac?

A strange sensation pulled my attention to the right. Startled, I jerked away from the massive beast, panting until the sound turned into an anguished cry.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.