Page 28 of Ly to Me

“Course, boss. I’ll keep it locked tight.”

I ended the call, tossing the phone on the couch. Only a minute later, it started vibrating with a text and Jamie’s name on the screen.

Jamie: I’m about to send Leo home. He must be fucked up. Says you have a wife.

Carver: I do.

Jamie: So, you wager the facility and then went out and found a bitch dumb enough to marry you, for what? What game are you playin’ at?

I tossed the phone back down and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. Another text lit up my phone.

Jamie: Your read receipts are on. I know you’re ignoring me.

Let’s fix that.

Jamie: I still have a key to the house I paid to occupy. I still have thirty days there, remember?

I smirked as I tucked the phone into my jeans pocket and made my way back to my bedroom. The door was still cracked open, and as I stepped into the quiet space, my body turned rigid.

The window beside the bed was thrown open, and in the center of the bed was a pillow, propped up and dressed-up in a red lingerie set. I lunged for it and ripped the note that was peeping from the top of the bra.

Image of a note, which reads: Catch me if you can, fucker.

11

Lyra

The Escape

Running on foot through what was possibly over a hundred acres of private property seemed futile. But just because something seemed impossible didn’t mean I couldn’t at least try.Mama used to tell me that at the end of the day, sometimes runnin’ was all you could do.

Or maybe she taught me that by actually doing it and never coming back.

Seeing as Carver had taken my keys right in front of me, he either planned on me not running, or the opposite was true and he planned on the chase—by foot. And if the racks and horns on the walls were any indication—Carver still enjoyed the hunt.

But fuck it.

The moment he left, I dressed up his pillow, then threw on the first shirt I saw in his closet with a pair of boots I’d found beneath it and wrote a note. Then, I hightailed it through the window. Right as I ran past the barn, I heard a loud bang, followed by the rev of an engine.

Thunder rumbled in the sky as I kept running toward the woods, knowing his truck wouldn’t fit between the tall pines. I ran and ran until I could no longer hear his truck, and then stopped abruptly as a stream broke my path.

“Of fucking course.” I squinted and peered up through the trees right as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. Heavy oak trees mixed with tall Florida pines, creating shade with drooping moss further down the stream. “Well, Mama, if I die today, you get your wish.”

I dipped my toe in, testing the waters before I glanced back. The woods had turned more quiet than it’d been when I entered. A rush of cool water coated my calves, then my thighs, then ate my body nearly whole as the bottom of the stream dropped in the middle. Wading through on the tips of my toes, I let the stream guide me down slowly, edging me toward the heavier brush.

Something shifted above me, and pain seared my scalp as my head was yanked back. Fear clogged my throat.

No.

No, no, no.

A callused finger pointed up as my head crashed into his firm chest. Car’s breath was hot and heavy on the shell of my ear as he whispered, “See those?” I pinched my eyes closed, and his fingers wrapped around my throat. “Open your eyes and see why you’ll never escape me again.” My eyes fluttered open as I focused on one, no, two—

Fuck.

Lightning cracked in the darkening sky. “Those cameras pick up motion. You run, and I’ll know about it.” Rough teeth grazed my ear and I let out an involuntary moan. “You leave when I say you can. Not before, not on some false hope of fleeing the contract you willingly signed. You can leave when I’m done with you.”

“I want to read it,” I forced out through the hold he still had on my throat.