Page 14

Hailey

I bite my lower lip, fighting back tears as I focus on the trees blurring past the car window.

This can’t be happening. I can’t go back to that place.

Images of Miranda struggling to mop the floor flash through my mind.

Maybe I deserve this for how I treated her and everyone else I hurt in VOE, for letting myself get so brainwashed.

I sniff and glance at the rearview mirror, anxious Kaiser might catch me crying, but he seems lost in his own head.

Stabbing his friend probably complicated his day.

A blue pickup truck overtakes us slowly on the left. I glance at Kaiser again, still brooding, and stare pointedly at the man in the truck, trying to catch his eye.

The driver, a middle-aged man in a Lions hat, is likely heading to work or running errands—mundane compared to the nightmare I’m living.

I don’t know if he’s distracted or just indifferent to the traffic building behind him as he crawls past, but this could be my only chance.

Look at me. Look at me.

I risk waving my hand, hoping he notices from the corner of his eye. “Hailey!” Kaiser’s voice cuts through the air.

I gasp, meeting his gaze in the mirror. His rage melts away, replaced by his signature sadistic smile.

“Remember my rules?”

The threat is clear: cause any trouble and I’ll end up hogtied in the trunk, punished however he decides when we return to VOE’s enclosure.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I promise. Please.” I lay on the pleading thick, desperate to be left alone.

Kaiser sighs, redirecting his gaze from the mirror.

I try once more to get the driver’s attention, more subtly this time, my head barely turned.

If I can't escape during this drive, I don’t know how I’ll ever flee VOE.

I’m sure they'll lock me up the moment we arrive. I’ll have to act brainwashed at a believable pace, gathering strength to try again—assuming they don’t cripple me first. Kaiser laughed earlier, threatening to break both my feet.

Waving at this driver might worsen my chances.

A horn blares from the car behind the truck. Using my peripheral vision, I see the driver flipping off the car behind him, then brake-checking them.

Kaiser glances in the mirror. "What the hell? "

Tires squeal as a red sports car speeds past on the shoulder, merging dangerously close in front of the truck, forcing it to slam on the brakes. The truck driver's face flushes red as he punches the steering wheel, continuing to flip off the car with one hand.

The red car brakes harder, aligning itself with ours. I lock eyes with Max and cry out in relief.

“Do you know these people?” Kaiser snaps.

I don’t bother replying, glancing behind to see Nick tailing us closely.

Max speeds up slightly, positioning half his car in front of ours, and steadily begins to merge into us.

Kaiser jerks the wheel, veering us into the right lane.

Max aims to hit us again. This time Kaiser swerves over the rumble strips, then floors it, and I feel my body slam back into the seat as my heart thunders. I'm praying Max's plan works.

Max matches our speed. I look back and notice Nick straddling the shoulder and right lane, mirroring our movements.

We’re boxed in.

Kaiser’s only viable option is to speed up, but by the look of Max's car, it's clear who can go faster.

Kaiser snarls curses out the window, as Max edges closer, targeting the driver’s door.

The car inches nearer, my eyes widening as the impact draws closer. The crash comes swiftly, throwing us violently.

An airbag slams against me, and Kaiser yells—it's more pain than anger this time .

As the shock ebbs, I check myself over, relieved I'm not hurt. My door flings open. A gun passes my face, pointing at Kaiser.

“Max?” I sob.

He unbuckles my seatbelt, relief written across his eyes. The look melts my heart. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Good.” He gently pulls me from the wreck. “Go wait in Nick’s car. I’ll be right there. We have to go back with this asshole, but I won't let him talk to you.”

I stumble out, Max steadying me, his focus still on Kaiser. The red car he drove is in worse shape than ours. If anyone had been in his rear passenger seat, they'd be crushed.

“You okay, kid?” Nick asks as I move past him to the untouched car behind the others. I think I nod but can't be sure.

Cars slow as they pass us in the left lane, eyes glued to the scene, quickly averting as they note Max’s gun.

I sit in the passenger seat, hearing Nick say, “Get the plates,” before the door shuts.

Time feels skewed as I come down from the adrenaline high. Relief floods in at the thought of getting out of Kaiser’s control. I rub my hand over my leg. The pain is setting in from the airbag hitting it, but I don't think anything is broken.

Nick opens the back door, shoving Kaiser in, sprawled across the backseat. His left leg looks broken as Nick rolls him onto the floor .

Kaiser groans in pain.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nick snaps, taking a seat over his legs. Noticing my panic, he adds, “If you say anything to upset her, you’ll lose your balls.”

Kaiser mumbles weakly, teetering on the edge of consciousness.

I pretend he’s not there as Max returns, a license plate in hand. He throws it into the empty seat behind him.

“Can that be traced back to us?” Nick inquires while Max fastens his seatbelt.

“No. It was stolen from fucking Arkansas, or somewhere.”

I glance at Max as he winces, testing the movement of his neck. “Are you injured?” I ask.

“My neck’s sore from whiplash, but I’ll live.”

He merges into traffic, making a U-turn in the median. Once we cruise at a steady pace, he looks over at me. “Did he hurt you?”

“He hit me then strangled me unconscious. That’s all.”

Anger tenses him up. He attempts to look back, though his neck protests. “You’ll be begging for death when we’re done with you,” he growls at Kaiser. “You hear me?”

“He’s out cold,” Nick says.

Max exhales heavily. His anger should terrify me, yet I feel safe. I realize I stopped crying as soon as he got in the car.

“Call my father, fill him in,” Max instructs Nick. “We’ll regroup at Tiny’s, but we need cleanup crew for the body in Savannah’s kitchen. ”

I swallow hard, haunted by the memory of stabbing the man. He was a monster, yet it’s surreal to think I killed someone. “Did I...?”

Max’s face softens. “No. We finished him off. That’s how we found you.”

His hand crosses the center console, enveloping mine, his thumb brushing over the back of my hand. Overwhelmed, words escape me, but I’ve never felt safer.

“No one’s ever done anything like this for me,” I say softly. “I thought I’d spend my life in that place.”

“I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

Cops speed by us on the opposite side, sirens blaring.

Exhausted, I close my eyes, feeling Max’s strong hand in mine, and drift off, hoping to rest before we reach our destination.