Page 49 of Severed By Vengeance

He dared a glance at my face and forced a smile. I didn’t return the gesture. He needed to understand that his life was hanging precariously by a very brittle thread. If I decided I didn’t like what he had to say, how he said it, or how he addressed Eva, then he’d be dealt with.

“Rayne is your niece?” Eva asked, ignoring his statement. Skeletor nodded. But then he began to do something that had all my senses on alert. His dark eyes darted back and forth from Eva to the empty lot, as if he was waiting on something. Or rather, someone. Fidgeting nervously with his shirt, he unintentionally lifted the hem, exposing a bloodied undershirt.

A trap.

I lunged forward and grabbed him by his collar. “You have two seconds to start talking. And trust me, you don’t want to waste them.”

His eyes widened as he sang like a fucking canary. “They made me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Made you do what? Talk fast, because I’m running out of patience.”

“Derek, what are you doing?” Eva asked, her hand on my arm.

“This man set you up. So there are only two options here: he dies, fast or slow.”

A small gasp fell from her lips.

“Talk while you still have your tongue.”

“H-he told me that if anyone came asking about Rayne, to let him know. He killed Arnie and Russell to prove his point.” Tears ran down his boney face.

I gnashed my teeth, but before I could say a word, the sound of crunching gravel had my head whipping toward the parking lot.

“Eva, find somewhere to hide.”

“What? Wait—but what about you?”

“Now.”

She didn’t hesitate, and I watched her disappear behind a wall of crushed metal. Turning my attention to the asshole in my grasp, I flashed him a wide grin. “Today is your lucky day. Fast, it is.”

In one quick motion, I twisted him into my elbow, and the sharp snap of his vertebrae muted the strangled cry he’d readied himself to spill.

After dragging his body under some rusted shrapnel, I took off after Eva as the unfamiliar voices of several men reached my ear.

“Eva,” I called in a harsh whisper. “Where are you?”

A small hand appeared through a slim crevice of crushed cars. “Derek, there’s a bigger opening on the left side.”

We would have to discuss her definition of big once we were out of this shitstorm. Fuck me. The pointed edges of metal caught my skin, but I pushed through, finding myself wedged into a very confined space with Eva pressed up against me.

Maybe this wasn’t all bad.

“Derek, what’s going on? I called for backup, but a huge wreck is blocking the interstate. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

That must have been why those men were late.

“There’s a group of men here, probably Belov’s guys.”

“Derek, if they find us…”

“I’ll be dead. But you’ll be in a much worse set of circumstances, if you know what I mean.”

She shivered against me and rested her head on my chest.

“Shit, shit. This is my fault.”

Her anguish prickled places inside me I’d never been aware of.