Desperate Lies (Lies 2)

I give her a ten percent chance of coming back on her own.

I won’t go hunt her.

I’ll wait and let her make her move. I’ll let her decide her fate. If she comes back, I’ll be more lenient on her. But if she runs…my brain fills with all the things it wants to do to her.

I won’t be doing any of them. I’ll do the smart thing. The thing that hits her where it hurts and gives me what I want.

I should get up and go talk to Phoenix. Just five more minutes of relaxing and then I’ll go to her.

A lightbulb goes off in my head.

I know what Liesel’s going to do.

I pull out my phone and stare at the names of all the contacts Liesel knows in our dangerous world.

Enzo.

Kai.

Zeke.

Siren.

Who would she call for help?

The answer is obvious. She knows me better than anyone, but I know her better than anyone too.

I dial Siren’s number.

“I’m not going to help you keep Liesel hostage. If you want to talk, you can talk to Zeke. I’m not talking to you until you let her go,” Siren huffs into the phone.

“Wait!” I say before she can hand the phone off to Zeke.

“You have three seconds.”

“Liesel is going to call you for help.”

There’s a silent beat before she answers. “What do you want me to do?”

“Help her.”

3

Liesel

“That fucking bastard! I’ll have a plane there in two hours,” Siren says when I finish telling her everything.

I let out an audible breath.

I’m getting rescued.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. And don’t worry, Langston is going to get a mouthful from me next time I see him. He’s an asshole for thinking he can just kidnap you like that, even if he

’d never actually kill you. He’s just trying to bully and intimidate you into doing what he wants.”

I can’t wipe the smile off my face.