Hard Bastard(56)

“Easy there.”

I whirled around. Liam was standing near the entrance to the building, smirking at me.

“Don’t pull that piece,” he said. “Otherwise, my friends here will hurt you.”

I recognized the two men that stepped out next to him. They were the same men from the bar when I first saw Gage again all those weeks ago. It felt like years. One of them was fat and creepy, and the other had a large, hooked nose.

“Do as the Irishman says,” the taller man said. “Or else we’ll just kill you now.”

I slowly released the gun and put my hands up. The fat man came over to me and took the gun from my pants, but not before squeezing my ass with a creepy grin. A shudder ran down my spine.

“Well now, Alex.” Liam said to the tall man. “You got the girl and the boy. I’d like my money.”

Alex looked at the fat man. “Boris, pay the man.”

Boris grunted and walked back inside. He emerged a second later with a bag that he tossed to Liam.

“Pleasure, boys.” Liam gave me a little smile and then quickly walked away.

“Nice guy, that one,” Alex said. He walked over to me and grabbed my wrists. “You’re coming with me.”

“What did you do to Gage?”

“He’s alive. But he won’t be for long.” I watched as Boris climbed into the front seat of Gage’s car and started the engine. It roared to life. “Boris is looking forward to finishing him off.”

The car slowly pulled away. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run after it, but I knew that Alex would just kill me if I made any sudden moves. My mind was spinning uselessly and fast, working overtime, trying to figure out a way out of this.

But I knew it was useless. I knew there was no way out. Liam had betrayed us and the Russians had Gage. They were going to kill him and they were going to do much worse to me.

I felt broken. I let Gage down. He was going to die because he wanted to try and help me, but I wasn’t worth trying to help. I was a failure and I deserved whatever I was going to get.

I watched Gage’s car pull out into traffic and then began to speed down the road.

“Come on,” Alex grunted. “We have an important meeting to attend.”

I nodded, resigned, as Gage’s car turned out of sight.





Chapter 24





Gage





My head was fucking pounding when I woke up, but at least I woke up. I was groggy and it took me a few seconds to remember what had happened.

Liam had fucking betrayed me. He drugged that fucking drink and shoved me into the back of my own car. After that, everything went dark, and I assume I was unconscious all night. It was light out and I knew I was still in the car, though it was driving. I tested my hands and feet, but I was bound up, and there was duct tape over my mouth.

I took a deep breath, calming myself. I felt like shit and I was in a bad position, but I was still alive. That meant I had a chance, however slim it was. I looked up at the front seat, expecting to see Liam, but saw that fat fuck Boris instead.

So the Russians had me. This was probably his game all along. He planned on selling me out to the Russians from the start, and made a few thousand dollars on top of whatever the Russians paid him. Now there was nothing I could do about it, because I had walked right into his fucking trap.

I tried to get a look out the window but all I could see were trees and sky. That didn’t tell me much. I tested the bonds on my hands and feet. The rope around my ankles was solid and tight, but the rope around my wrists had a little give to it. If I worked it, I was willing to bet I could slip my hands free at some point.

I began to slowly tense and flex, tense and flex. I had to do it slow or else Boris would realize that I was awake and probably figure out what I was doing. He was a fat bastard, but he wasn’t completely stupid. I shut my eyes and slowly moved my wrists, ignoring the jolts of pain through my skull every time the car so much as hit a little bump.

I had no clue if Sadie was okay or not, but there was nothing I could do for her. If they had her, I was going to have to somehow survive the next few hours and get her back. If she was already dead, well, I’d burn down the whole fucking mob and get my revenge on them.

Assuming I could survive. That was all I had to focus on right now, just the next few minutes. Everything was riding on whether or not I could escape this.

The car continued driving for a while, and I continued to do my thing, loosening the rope bit by bit. Boris never looked back. He probably assumed that I was still out cold, or else he figured it didn’t matter either way. He had the music up loud and was humming along to some Bruce Springsteen song, and I wanted to beat his smug little pig face into oblivion. Instead, I kept working my bonds, slowly but surely.