Taking The Fall: the Complete Series(49)

“So good to see you, my lovely daughter,” my father says, walking towards me. When he reaches me, I can smell the vodka on him. It’s seeping from his pores. I go to take a step back, but he grabs me by the hair.

“Is that any way to greet your father?” he says, leaning into me. I take the opportunity to spit in his face. I immediately regret it when he backhands me. I can taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth as I fall to the ground.

“Put her in the car,” he snarls and turns to head towards the sedan.

The driver pulls me to my feet by my hair and I feel the sting in my eyes. I grit my teeth in an effort to stop myself from crying out. I won’t give them the pleasure.

“We got interrupted the last time we were together. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen this time,” the driver says, and licks the side of my face. I feel the vomit rise in my throat.

“Carter is going to gut you!” I growl at the man.

“Well I’m going to fuck you. Let’s see who gets what they want first,” he sneers, grinding his hard-on into my ass, then pushes me towards the car.

When I hear the squeal of brakes, I turn to see if Carter has found me. No. He can’t find me yet. I have to find out where Justin and my mom are. I may not be close to my mother, but she’s my mom. Who knows what my father has done to her.

Then I see Jeanette come flying out of the car. I can see on her face that she notices the mess she’s in a fraction too late.

“Take her too!” my father barks.

The driver pulls a gun out of his jacket and points it at her. Jeanette raises her hands and looks at me.

“I’m going to kick your ass,” she says, talking to me and not the man pointing a gun at her.

“Move it,” he says, motioning for us to head towards the car. The trunk pops.

“Get in.”

I crawl in and Jeanette squeezes in next to me.

“We do everything together,” I hear her whisper. I can’t believe I’ve pulled another person into this. I brought her to the warehouse to keep her safe but it looks like I just brought her into the lion’s den.#p#分页标题#e#

The trunks slams shut, and everything goes dark.





CARTER

“Fuck!” I scream.

“What just happened?” Saint asks in a panic. He knows if I’m losing my shit, that something just went wrong.

“Something happened. Layla is leaving the house. Check the tracker on her phone,” I growl as I turn the car around and head back in the direction of the warehouse.

“Jeanette,” Saint whispers, and I know he’s thinking the same thing. She wouldn’t have let Layla go alone. “Step on it.”

I’ve gotta get to my girl. My heart is in a panic, and I don’t know what to do other than drive as fast as this car will go. My Layla.

It takes Saint five minutes to pull up the info I need, but it feels like years. “She’s at the library? What the fuck? That doesn’t make sense.”

I turn the car in that direction, screeching tires towards the exit. It’s been too long. I can feel it. The time has gone by too fast. “We aren’t going to make it,” I say.

“Shut your fucking mouth and drive, Carter,” Saint bellows.

I fly around the corner, hoping I don’t flip the car and I jump out with my gun drawn. I see two of the cars from the warehouse sitting in the parking lot with no one else in sight.

I fall to my knees, throw my head back, and let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. “Layla!”

A moment later, Saint runs over and grabs me.

“I think I’ve got movement on her tracker. It’s fading in and out, but wherever she is, she’s moving.”

I check the tracking and see they’re headed to the desert. “O’Leary’s got her, I know it. And he won’t kill her. Not until he gets what he wants. If you want out, now is the time to speak up. I’m going in prepared to not walk out.”

“You gonna drive or you want me to?”





LAYLA

I close my eyes to the light that floods the inside of my cramped compartment when the trunk pops open.

“Move your asses,” a gruff voice barks. I try to shield my eyes from the blinding light to see where we’re at.

Jeanette climbs out first, and I watch the man run his hungry eyes over her. I hadn’t noticed what she was wearing before, but it’s clear she didn’t have time to change out of her pajamas before she went running after me. She’s wearing a white tank top and really tight red cheer shorts, which show off her extremely long legs. She probably put it on earlier to piss off Saint, but now she clearly has someone else’s attention.