I scoffed at the nerve of him and crossed my arms tight against my chest. “I can’t even begin to fathom why you think you have the right to tell me to be anything right now , Davian Reed. You’re nothing but a liar .” His answering smirk made me want to punch him. “Don’t forget you pointed a gun at me to get what you wanted. I took a less violent approach. But we’ll straighten this out when I get back from ke eping my promise to you.” “You bet we will,” I grumbled. Davian’ s grin only widened. “I’m looking forward to it.” He followed the other two down the front st eps, and Vince closed the door behind them. I fumed, clenching my fists. How dare he trap me here while Bear was out there all scared and alone. And Davian didn’t know how to soothe Bear —he only liked the salmon treats when he was scared and never allowed strangers to pet him until trust was built. Now I was left with Davian’ s grumpy guard friend, who definitely hated me but was now scrolling through his phone and acting like today was just another day . “You’re Vince, right?” I asked, ke eping my voice casual—but not friendly . As I’d just learned, these men weren’ t my friends. He grunted without looking up from his phone. I eyed the familiar gun in his waistband and winced. “I see you got your gun back. Sorry about that, by the way . Desperate times, you know?” His answering silence was deafening. I cleared my throat. “So, how long have you and Davian been friends?” He just k ept scrolling, and I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. My eyes narrowed. Was he giving me the silent treatment? I glanced at the door, growing nervous. For all we knew, the Skulls could have dozens—or even hundreds—of members, but only two men had gone with Davian. “Is that all the backup he’s taking with him? Only two guys?” Vince finally gave me a sidelong glance. “He won’ t even need them.” The way my stomach twisted into knots was a surprise. Great. Now I was worried about my ex-hostage who’d turned the tables on me and trapped me here. “You don’t understand. Those boys are cruel . They could hurt Davian.”
Vince’s lips twitched like this amused him. “Trust me. Davian’ s a stone- cold killer . He can handle a few kids.” I wasn’t sure Vince meant the killer part literally , but it did nothing to ease my worries. It was my fault Davian was in this mess, after all, and I’d feel guilty if he got hurt. Even if he had just terminated our fresh crime- fighting partnership and abandoned me in a strange new place. I also thought of Bear and how alone he must feel. “I should be there. Bear needs a familiar face right now . He’s probably so scared.” Vince grunted again. “Y our dog is fine.” “How do you know that?” He sighed and put his phone away before finally looking at me head-on. The man was made of pure muscle, and the urge to flee hit me hard. “He likes all the shit dogs like, right? Squirrels? Birds?” Thrown by the question, I blinked. “Uh, yes. He loves squirrels.” “Those wannabe thugs, the Skulls, hang out at an abandoned car wash right by a park. Your dog is probably having the time of his life chasing more squirrels than he can handle right now .” Hope filled my chest, and I risked fishing for a bit more. “Which park? He’s picky about them —” “Acresfield. Trust me, he’ s happy as a clam. You’ll see him soon.” I barely refraine d from pumping my fist in the air. Did Vince think I was so little of a threat that he didn’t care what information he shared? I knew exactly where that park was—w e walked the dogs there all the time—and even if I didn’t know where I was now, my phone could lead me back to the city. Trying to still look upset instead of showing how happy this news made me, I wrapped my arms around my middle. “Is there somewhere I can go to be alone until Davian brings Bear back?” Vince didn’t even bat an eye at my poor acting skills. He believed me easily enough and led me up the wide staircase, passed a guard holding another gun at the top, and down the hallway to a tall shiny wooden door. The inside of the building was the complete opposite of the stark outside. There were hardwood floors and plenty of natural light. Intricate carvings covered the door , but I couldn’ t make out any distinct shapes. “You can stay in this guest room.” Vince opened the door and waved me in. I took a hesitant st ep inside. “I’ll be right out here if you need anything.”
The way he said it sounded more like a threat than an offer, but I needed to get him away from the door for a little. I used the first excuse I could think of, even if it made little sense. “Actually , I could really use a shower since it’ll be a while. Are there any spare clothes I could borrow?” Thankfully , his glare looked more annoyed than suspicious. “I’ll find something and put it outside the door .” “Thank you.” He waited till I walked further into the room before closing the door behind me. A quiet click sounded before footst eps echoed away . The doorknob didn’t budge when I tried it, and my jaw dropped. The lock was on the outside of the door? The nerve of these men. But I didn’ t have time to fume about it. I needed to es cape. I ran over to a window , rushed to unlatch it and let out a sigh of relief when it unlocked without setting off an alarm. I heaved it open and stuck my head out just far enough to see the ground. It was pretty far down. Thinking fast, I hurried to the attached bathroom and switched on the tub before skidding back into the bedroom. I flung the comforter off the bed, then stripped of f its sheets. I might love making yummy treats, but crafts had never been my thing. And there was nothing skilled about the knots I used to tie the sheets together . Racing back over to the window , I looked outside for any of the guards Davian had mentioned—but the coast was clear . Unless they were hidden? It was too late to worry about that. I quickly tied one end of my makeshift rope to the radiator before flinging the rest out the window . The end still hovered a decent height above the grass, but I was confident I could drop the rest of the way without hurting myself. Hopefully . Crawling out the window was the easy part, then I shuffled around until my legs dangled awkwardly over the ledge. If there wer e guards outside, they’d have a great view of my butt from this angle. I really should’ve thought this through.
But I forced myself to soldier on. With no experience in rappelling, I clung to the rope for dear life. It was slow going down the sheets. Sweat dripped down my back by the time I’d hobbled down to the end of the blankets. I glanced down, and the ground looked very far away. Much further than I’d thought it’d be. “Bear needs me,” I reminded myself, and it was enough to make my fingers unclench from the sheet. I dropped like a sack of potatoes and landed on the grass with a soft “ oof .” Looking around to make sure no one had seen, I scrambled to my feet and brushed off my overalls before making a dash for the garage—ke eping close to the walls. There wasn’t any sign of guards patrolling I could see, but that didn’ t mean they weren’ t there. Luck was on my side—Davian hadn’t closed the garage door, and it only took a little hunting to find Daisy’s keys on a row of hooks near the door. But I paused before getting into her . What was my plan once I got to the car wash? The gun had given me confidence earlier, but I doubted I could find another one here before someone noticed me. I cursed Davian for taking my gun. Well... Vince’s gun. Out of options, I grabbed a broom from a shelving unit and tossed it into the car, then hopped into the driver’s side. An extra leash from the shelter was in the center console, and I stuffed it into my overalls for when we got Bear back. Daisy was a little loud when I started the ignition. “ Shhh, ” I whispered soothingly , praying no one heard her. “You can do this. We can do this.” She seemed to agree. Backing out of the garage and zooming down the long driveway was a breeze all the way to the lar ge, menacing gate. There was just one tiny problem. It didn’ t open. I assumed it’d opened automatically for Davian, but maybe he’d hit a trick sensor or something. Oh. A call box stood next to my window , and I swallowed a fresh surge of panic before rolling down my window .
Her e goes nothing. “Hello? I’m leaving now. Can you please open the gate?” I asked, then held my breath. Static crackled before a de ep voice came through the call box. “Name?” My heart thundered in my chest, and I considered lying. What if Davian had warned them not to let me out? Was I a prisoner here? But I spent so long thinking about it that I worried they’d think I was trying to come up with a fake name, so I answered with the truth. “Sadie. Sadie Morris.” The following silence stretched while I waited for guards to pop out and ambush me. But then a be ep sounded, and the gate began to open. The burst of relief made my chest ache. I could finally breathe normally again, and I flexed my fingers on the wheel. “I’m coming, Bear,” I whispered, driving through as soon as the opening was wide enough. I pulled out my phone and quickly looked up directions to Acresfield Park. “Just hang in there, buddy .” With determinat ion in my heart and butterflies in my stomach , I sped Daisy down the dirt road away from Davian’ s compound.
D a v i a n Nothing made me feel older than a bunch of snot-nosed gangbangers thinking they could run shit when their balls had barely dropped. Sadie had no idea how far below my pay grade this was. It didn’t help that the kids had chosen one of the worst spots in the city for their headquarters. The foreclosed car wash had a huge overhead garage that took up half the parking lot, but the tiny shack of an office in the middle was falling apart at the seams. A dozen garage openings on both sides of the building allowed way too much visibility , and the boys were just asking to get ambushed. Malcolm and Shane hung back a few meters while I rapped my fist on the office door . The muffled voices inside went silent, but I hadn’t made out how many there were. There was no way the small box could fit more than five people comfortably . “Who is it?” a young voice called through the door , making me sigh. “Davian Reed,” I called back while signaling my men to retreat to the openings of the garage. “ Reed? ” he squeaked before clearing his throat and attempting to lower his voice. “What are you doing here?” “I just want to chat. There’s been a misunderstanding, but it shouldn’ t take long.”