Page 117 of Built for Mercy

Sophie screamed.

I grabbed the back of her head, shoving her down just as another bullet tore through the leather headrest where she’d just been.

“Drive!”I barked, but she was already pulling out of my hold, weaving through traffic as sirens blared in the distance, closing in.

Fucking hell. This wasn’t just a chase anymore. This was a warzone.

“Hold on,” Sophie grunted, accelerating more. I gripped the headrest and looked over my shoulder with wide eyes.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I snarled as blinking red lights warned us to come to a stop.

“I remember saying that earlier this evening when you left me cuffed to our bed,” she snapped, her foot not letting up on the gas at all.

My heart thudded, and rather than watch her kill us, I leaned back out of the window to see the driver of the last SUV grinning maniacally at me, as if he, too, saw my demise flash before his eyes. I guess that made his job easier.

“Sophie.”

The bridge we were on was currently drawing back. The bright red lights were a beacon in the night to fucking stop, but she didn’t seem to care about those or the metal arm preventing cars from driving while the drawbridge was up.

According to my fucking wife, this was a way out.

I spun back around and grabbed my seatbelt, realizing too late that she was serious. She sped up more, the bridge not even connected anymore, and I felt overwhelming regret at not listening to her earlier.

There was no time left for words. I scrambled for purchase with my hands, bracing for the worst when the metal barrier hit the front of the car but didn’t stop us. Then we were over the edge, flying through the air like some action movie, and my heart was palpitating and the air left my lungs and my stomach threatened to heave—

But the car landed on the other side, the backside slipping as Sophie got control of the car again before hurtling through the other metal arm barrier.

I was panting, my pain forgotten as my brain struggled to keep up that she’d just pulled that maneuver off. Slowly, I swiveled to look at her, my pulse still running haywire.

“What the actualfuckwas that?”

“Us making it out of there alive.” She said it like it was so simple, a small smile on her lips. “We’re a team, remember?”

I exhaled sharply, admiring her with new eyes. She really had left her old life behind. She was disheveled and frenzied yet totally at ease with herself in this role.

“Team, huh?”

She tore her eyes off the road for a moment, her speed slowing. “Don’t give me those eyes. You’re on a sex ban.”

I groaned even as I grinned. “It’s cute you think you’re calling the shots. Now pull over, I can take it from here.”

She huffed, but I could tell she was amused. “Oh, did my driving scare big, bad Maverick?”

“If your goal was to show me what death would look like, then congratulations. You succeeded.”

Giggling, she made her way down back alleys to avoid traffic. “On a serious note, it’s evident now what your family’s intentions are, so we can’t assume we’re safe until they’re dead.”

“Right. So, what do you propose?”

“Now my opinion matters?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I owe you an apology. I should have listened to you, and I’m sorry.”

She stayed silent, clearly seething as she looked down at her phone and navigated the car through streets I didn’t recognize.

“What I did was wrong. I should never have done that to you. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

More silence. I didn’t know what to do. I’d fucked up badly and now I needed to accept the consequences. Problem was that I didn’t know what the right move was.