Leave Me Breathless

She laughs. ‘Whatever are you talking about? Don’t be silly!’

‘Darcy, please, for once in your fucking life, do what I say, no questions asked.’

She’s silent for a moment, probably registering my deadly tone. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I said no questions,’ I snap, wincing as soon as I’ve bitten her head off. ‘I’m sorry. Just do it. Tell me you’ll do it.’

She’s quiet again. But just for a beat. ‘I have a friend who lives an hour away. Alexandra is always nagging me about visiting. They have an assault course in the forest nearby.’

‘Sounds perfect.’

‘Ryan, are you okay?’ she asks, a genuine concern in her tone that I’m not used to. It also speaks volumes for how I sound myself. Murderous? Worried? Dying on the inside?

All?

‘You sound scared,’ she follows up quietly.

‘You know me, Darcy.’ I blink, realigning my focus. ‘Nothing scares me.’ I hang up on that lie. Scared. That’s exactly what I am. I’m scared to fucking death of losing Hannah.

My stiff hands loosen up around the wheel, my knuckles white. Scared and angry. So fucking angry.

The road goes on forever, my speed dangerous. It matches my mood. ‘Come on,’ I mutter, willing my truck to go faster, my eyes scanning the woods as I drive.

And then I get something.

As I’m swooping around a curve, I just catch sight of the back end of a truck off a concealed dirt track to my right, and I slam on my brakes. The stench of burning rubber is instant, and so is the smoke surrounding my truck. That was a Mitsubishi.

I sling my arm over the passenger seat and look back, reversing up the road. My heart is going wild as I yank the wheel clockwise, the back end of my truck swinging out. I pull onto the track, the divots and bumps slowing me down, as does my instinct. I find myself following the mud trail, scanning the dense overgrowth as I let down all the windows and listen for anything that’ll lead me to her. A scream? I flinch, batting away the violent thoughts trying to worm their way into the deepest, darkest corners of my mind.

Impossible.

No marks? Lucinda will be lucky.Chapter 32HANNAH

I’m restrained by terror.

He’s slowed down now we’re on the dirt road, but I’m still jolting around in my seat. My solid muscles are aching, my mind being blitzed by flashbacks of every time I was punished. They got progressively worse over the years. But this punishment is going to put them all to shame.

Jarrad is quiet in the seat beside me, but I’m not fooled by his silence. The few times I’ve dared look at him, I’ve sensed the storm building inside him, quietly contained until his temper explodes and he loses all control. I’ve seen it too many times. I gulp down my trepidation, glancing around the truck, frantically trying to think of a way out of this.

‘Be a good girl, Katrina,’ he says finally, with a silkiness to his tone that makes my stomach turn. That voice. Always so smooth and calm, but loaded with threat. He reaches across to me as he negotiates the road, resting the handgun in his palm on my bare knee, his finger poised on the trigger. I sit back in my seat, my eyes fixed on it. ‘We wouldn’t want any accidents, would we?’

‘How did you find me?’

He laughs. The sound makes my skin crawl. ‘The collector you sold your rings to died.’ He sounds so angry, and I close my eyes on a gulp. ‘His wife put up much of his collection for auction.’ His light laugh is loaded with evil intent. ‘Can you imagine my surprise when Curtis emailed me the lot details?’ Yes, I can imagine. But it was a rhetorical question. ‘I knew that if you were really alive, you would find your way back to your mother somehow.’ He casts a sick grin my way, and my jaw tics with anger. ‘You always were a mummy’s girl. Shame she still thinks you’re dead. And Pippa, who hasn’t changed a bit, but you know that, don’t you?’ He laughs. ‘Two peas in a pod, isn’t that what your mum used to say? She was right. Because you’re as dumb as your sister.’ His tone drops at the end, carrying disgust. ‘You always looked so lonely on your little bench in the park, Katrina. So sad and desperate to join your mother and stupid sister.’

I swallow, feeling so violated. He was there, watching me. And I had no idea. One of Jarrad’s favourite pastimes was to tell me I was stupid or make me feel that way. He’s as good at it as ever. Next he’ll be giving me every reason why I need him and not them. Why he’s good for me. Why he loves me. No. ‘What are you going to do, Jarrad?’