by Ella Miles
“Yes,” I say.
“Good. Let’s get the hell out of here and do something fun,” he says holding his hand out to me.
I frown. “I can’t. I have to work. I need the money.”
His face brightens and I know he is hiding something.
“What?” I ask.
“My uncle actually owns this bar.”
I smile. “So you just come in here and hit on the bartenders and tell them that you’ll make sure they don’t get in trouble when they play hooky?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Fine, my uncle doesn’t own this bar. Everything I just said was a lie, but I really think you should come with me. You look very sad, and you are far too beautiful and smart of a woman to spend her days sad.”
He holds out his hand again.
I stare at it. This is trouble. I shouldn’t do this. I need the money. I shouldn’t take a risk like this.
But I take his hand anyway.
The electricity that pours into me when I do is beyond anything I’ve ever felt before.
He grins. I grin.
“See, you’re happier already,” he says.
“So where are you taking me?” I ask.
He pulls me to him into his arms. I love being in his arms.
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
My heart speeds up again as he holds me in his arms. I haven’t felt this alive in years. It’s like he flipped a switch inside me.
“What are you doing to me?”
He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m falling in love with you and giving you the happily ever after you deserve.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You can’t fall in love with me. You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t. But I have good instincts and I know that you are beautiful, smart, and fierce. I know that you are running from something and I want to be the man that saves you from that if you’ll let me.”
I bite my lip. Heath can’t be real. A man like this doesn’t exist. I shouldn’t let someone else into my fucked up life, but I can’t resist his grin.
“I’ll let you fall in love with me,” I say because I’m pretty sure I’m already falling for him.
He fell in love with me just like he promised. And I fell in love with him. Call it lust. Call it insta-love. Call it my obsession. A distraction. Whatever others might see when they look at us doesn’t matter. Because right now, it’s real. Real love. We may not have been together long. But it doesn’t change how I feel about him.
I’ll give my life to save Heath because he helped me escape a lifetime of running scared. He let me find happiness again if only for a few days. He showed me I could love again. I’ll do anything to save him.
The door is open, and the stairs leading up to the plane are down. I quickly climb up, not thinking about anything but making sure that Heath is okay.
And then I see Heath. He’s sitting calmly in the second seat on the plane. I run over to him and throw my arms around his neck. He embraces me just as passionately, like we haven’t seen each other in years instead of only minutes.
I pull away enough to check him over. He doesn’t look hurt, not a visible scratch on him, and he isn’t tied up.
“Get out of here, Heath,” I say, trying to get him to get up.
“No.”
“Please, this isn’t your battle to fight.” I grab on to his neck, needing him to go. Needing him to be safe.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“Well, isn’t this sweet?” Arlo says from behind me.
I turn and see him standing in the doorway of the plane.
“Neither of you will leave without the other. And I thought you got married because of the free gifts.”
I frown. “Let him go, Arlo.”
Arlo grins and steps aside from the doorway, holding his arm out. “He’s free to go. A deal’s a deal.”
I grab Heath’s hand and pull him up. “Go.”
“Not. Without. You.”
Arlo’s eyes narrow, and I know he is growing impatient. If we aren’t careful, he won’t let either of us go. One of us needs to survive this.
I turn to look at Heath and kiss him like I’ve never kissed him before. A kiss to last us both a lifetime. A kiss to top all other kisses. I don’t do it to put on a show for Arlo. I don’t even do it for Heath. I do it for myself. I need to have something to hold on to, to get me through whatever is ahead.
When I stop, I look deep into Heath’s eyes, and then I pull him in for one last embrace. I say, “Go. If you don’t, he will take us both, and one of us will be dead by the end of the night. I need you to go. It’s the only way you have a chance at saving me later. If you come with us now, you’ll be dead before the night is over.”
I pull away and firmly look him in the eyes again. The words I said aren’t for me. I know he can’t come rescue me. He won’t even know where to start looking. The words I spoke are for him. To get him to leave. It’s the only way I can protect him.
Heath thinks about going, but it’s still not enough. He still can’t leave me.
“I love you,” I say as tears flow down my cheeks. “I won’t lose you. I wouldn’t survive it. I need you to go. It’s the only way I have a chance at getting through this.”
Heath kisses each of my cheeks, taking my tears in his mouth. “I love you, Nina. You’re strong. The strongest woman I know. Just stay alive. I’ll come after you. I promise.”
And then I let go of his hand. I take a step back, and I watch him walk down the aisle of the plane. Heath hesitates at the door.
Because I have no voice left to speak, I mouth, I love you. Go.
“I’m going to find you. I’m going to save you. I promise.”
Heath walks off the plane, and I’m alone.
I don’t move as Arlo closes the door on the plane after the pilots step on and into the cockpit. I don’t move as Arlo enters the cockpit to talk to them, leaving me by myself in the back of the plane.
I should move. I should make a run for it. There is no one stopping me. But I’m tired of running. I will not run anymore.
The only things that move are the tears dripping down my face.
Arlo reappears. “Take a seat, Nina. We will be taking off soon.”
I sit. I want to fight, but I’ll have plenty of time to do that soon enough. For now, I need to mourn. I need to feel the pain of losing someone I wanted to spend my whole life with, but instead, I didn’t even get one night as husband and wife. I just lost the only man I’ve ever loved, and I need to deal with that first before I can handle anything else.
Arlo takes a seat next to me. “Buckle your seatbelt,” he says.
I don’t. I can’t move anymore. I can’t function. I just need to deal with everything.
Arlo stands up and reaches across my body. He buckles me in before taking his own seat next to me again.
I feel the engines purr to life. The plane starts moving forward, and it won’t be long before we are up in the air.
I lean my head against the window, looking out into the dark sky that is getting darker with every second that passes, just like the pain in my heart. I let the pain and darkness wash over me. I let it harden my heart, and then I push it out, so I don’t have to feel it.
And then I close my eyes as the tears continue down my cheeks. The plane takes off, and it all becomes real. Heath is my husband. I love him, yet I will never see him again.
But he’s safe. I saved him. And, if it was the last thing I got to decide in my life, it was the best choice I’d ever made. Because Heath deserves to live. He deserves to be saved. He deserves to be loved. And there is no greater way to show my love than by saving him.
I wake up with a startle.
It takes me a second to realize where I am. Kidnapped and on a plane with Arlo, headed back to Italy. Except, unlike my last trip to Italy, I don’t think this one is going to be as nice.
I look around the plane
and find Arlo sitting next to me, looking at me with careful eyes.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask, hoping we only have minutes left on the flight. Because, if we still have hours left, then it gives me too much time to deal with the anxiety and fear as I think about what is going to happen next. I want to be there now. I just want to figure out what my new life is and start fighting.
“A couple of hours,” he says.
I exhale deeply. We have several hours left.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” Arlo asks.
My eyes shoot daggers over at him. “I thought that kidnappers were supposed to be cruel to those they kidnapped.”
Arlo stands up and goes over to the small bar area at the front of the plane. I watch as he pours a glass of wine and picks up a meat and cheese tray. He walks back and places both in front of me on the table that he pulled out from the wall.
He then takes a seat across from me.
“I didn’t kidnap you. I kidnapped Heath. You chose to take his place.”
I don’t want to eat or drink anything that Arlo has given me, but I’m hungry, and the alcohol will help with the pain. I pop a piece of cheese into my mouth and then start on the wine. I frown the whole time, showing him how displeased I am with this situation, but the second the wine touches my tongue, I melt just a little. The wine is the most extravagant thing I have ever tasted. It’s delicious, and I know I’m going to drink the entire bottle before we get to Italy.
Arlo smiles, satisfied, as I drink the wine.
I hate him.
But it doesn’t stop me from drinking.
“Feel better?” he asks.
“No, I don’t feel better. You just ruined my life. You took me away from the only person I’ve ever loved. I hate you. I will never feel better until you are dead and I’m free again. When will that be?”
He continues to study me with his frigid eyes. “Sooner than you think.”
I narrow my eyes, not understanding anything.
Arlo takes a drink from his scotch. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”
I don’t want to tell him anything. He doesn’t deserve to know anything personal about me.
But I can’t help but answer his question, “Yes, I really loved him. I’ll always love him.”
Arlo rubs his neck. “Why? You barely knew each other.”
I look out the window and into the dark night. I know we are somewhere over the ocean, but I can’t make out the water from so high up. It all looks the same. One dark void that I will never escape from.
I shake my head. No. I will escape. I will find a way through what seems like the impossible. I will not let him win.
I hear Arlo stand up and walk the two feet toward me.
“Why, Nina? Why him? Did your obsessive tendencies get you into trouble again? Is that what this is? You’re just obsessed, not really in love?”
His hand touches my cheek, and I flinch. It was the lightest touch, and I already can’t stand it.
Arlo pulls back a second, and then he pushes harder. “Do you even know what love is, Nina?”
He strokes my neck, and I can’t help the shivers going up and down my spine.
He grins. “I don’t think you do. Whatever you and Heath had, it wasn’t love. It’s not going to save you.”
He lowers his lips, and I know he is going to kiss me. I can’t take it. I can’t just let him kiss me. Not tonight.
I know it’s stupid, but I do it anyway.
I pull the gun out of my purse, and I aim it at Arlo.
The fucker grins as he slowly puts his hands up, but he doesn’t move more than a few inches away from my face.
“I wouldn’t grin if I were you. I could blow your brains out in a split second. I might still have to face the wrath of your family when I get to Italy, but I can kill you now.”
He nods slowly. “I don’t doubt that you could, Nina. In fact, maybe you should. It would make my life a whole lot easier. But I promise you, your life would become much worse if you killed me. You would no longer just be in my family’s debt; you would owe my family everything. You would never stop paying with your life.”
I feel my arms shaking ever so slightly as I aim the gun at Arlo’s heart. Shoot him, I keep telling myself in my head. I squeeze my finger tighter over the trigger, but I still can’t make myself actually pull it.
“Shoot me.”
Damn it. I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have revealed my cards so soon. He didn’t know I had a gun. I could have killed his entire family in their sleep instead of just taking out Arlo.
Heath’s face flashes before my eyes. Kill him, he says to me.
I do. I squeeze the trigger and hear the pop of the gun as a bullet explodes out. I’ve spent the last seven years learning how to shoot a gun properly, but I’ve never actually shot at anyone before.
I feel the gun being ripped out of my hands before I even have time to react. And then I feel Arlo’s body on top of me, holding me down so that I can’t move.
We both breathe heavily as he pushes me down in my seat. I expect I’m about to be punished for what I just did. I’m going to be hit and beaten until I’m barely standing when we make it to Italy. But I welcome the pain. It will distract me from the pain I feel in my heart.
“Where did you learn to shoot?”
I frown. “Why does it matter?”
“You don’t get to avoid my questions anymore. Answer me. Where did you learn to shoot?”
“I hired several different men at various shooting ranges to teach me.”
He sighs. “Well, you wasted your money. That was horrible. I’ll have to teach you how to shoot properly.”
My eyes widen. Why would he teach me how to shoot? Why would he do anything for me?
He laughs at my expression. “Your new life isn’t going to be as bad as you think it will be, Nina, no matter how short of time you have left. You will still be able to do some enjoyable things.”
“I’m not going to survive my time with your family, am I? Even if you teach me how to shoot? Even if I do everything right, I’m still going to die, aren’t I?”
Arlo lets go of my body, releasing me. “That depends on you.”
He stands up and starts undoing his buttoned-down shirt. He’s going to shoot me and kill me right here. He’s just acting calm to keep me calm.
I watch as he removes his shirt, and I think his abs might be even more magnificent than they were seven years ago. He looks even stronger, more powerful. And I thought he was strong before. Now, he looks invincible.
I suck in a breath. He’s going to rape me. I know it.
And then I see the blood as he removes his shirt. It spills out of his left shoulder. He doesn’t flinch or even seemed fazed by the blood pouring out of his shoulder.
He doesn’t seem angry or afraid that he’s about to die from blood loss. He doesn’t go to the front of the plane to signal an emergency landing when we get back over land. Instead, he walks to the back of the plane as he throws his bloodied shirt on the floor. He opens the door at the back and disappears inside, leaving me alone.
I take a deep breath as I realize that I might have missed his heart, but I hit him. I shot someone. And it could still result in his death.
I spot my gun lying carelessly on the floor. I pop out of my seat and run over to pick it up. It’s still loaded. I still have a chance to take Arlo out.
I hold the gun in my hand and start walking toward the back of the plane until I get to the door. I hesitate, but I don’t understand why. He’s already wounded. I don’t have to shoot him clearly in the heart. I just need to wound him again. The blood loss over the next few hours would do the rest. And then I could be free of at least one Carini. The worst of them anyway. The one who got me into this whole mess.
I throw the door open, shocked that he didn’t lock it, and see Arlo lounging on the bed. I glance at his shoulder and see the staples that he somehow placed there, already closing the woun
d I’d created. It’s no longer bleeding. The only risk of death now is an infection. And that could take weeks to kill him.
I aim the gun at him as he smirks.
“Come to kill me again?”
“Yes.”
“You’re never going to kill me, holding the gun like that. You can’t even tell what you are aiming at.”
“I shot you once. I can do it again. And again and again. For as many times as it takes to kill you.”
Arlo sits up just a little. “What’s this fascination with killing me? I know you don’t like me. I know I took you away from your true love or whatever. But, really, have I done anything that horrible to you other than give you the best sex of your life? Because I know Heath never fucked you like I did. I know that, even at his best, you still thought of me when you fucked him.”
I’m angry. My blood is boiling. My heart is racing as I point the gun at Arlo.
“You’re evil. You think I spent the last seven years just running and living in fear? No. I studied everything I could about your family. I read everything. I know exactly who you are, and I know exactly how to take you down. I’m not a naïve, obsessed girl anymore. I’m a woman scorned who will not be defeated.”
Arlo cocks his head to one side as he lies back. “And what are we? What makes us so bad that we deserve to be killed before we even lay a hand on you?”
“You are traffickers. You kidnap women and sell them as slaves. You are the worst kind of people.”
Arlo purses his lips as he nods. “You’re right. We are the worst kind of people. But we aren’t traffickers. We would never sell a person to another. What enjoyment would we get out of that?”
“You would get money.”
Arlo laughs. “And what would we do with the money? We already have more money than we know what to do with. We don’t need more money.”
I feel my hands drop a little, lowering the gun the tiniest bit, and then I quickly force my arms to rise again.
He raises an eyebrow. “You maybe should have worked on your arm strength a little more along with your shooting skills if your plan was to smuggle in a gun and shoot us all to death.”
I ignore his remark. I’m stronger than he thinks. That’s all that matters. Not his goading.