Page 39 of The Bratva's Forced Bride
“There’s no one here.”
“There’s a backdoor leading to another cellar and tunnels.” One of my men yelled.
I massaged my temple, tapping the gun against my thigh. At the end, it didn’t matter. No matter how far she ran, I was going to find her.
Chapter 16 - Addison
“Revenge is best served cold.” – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
“Look behind you; are they following us?”
Instead of heeding his instructions, I turned my gaze on him. Beads of sweat were running down his face to his neck, his knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and he was glancing hastily in the rear-view mirror.
I’d never seen a man so scared.
“No, we’re not being followed. You can calm down now.” My voice was quiet, but he heard me clearly, and a broad grin appeared.
He smacked the steering wheel with a loud cheer. “That’s what I’m talking about! No one can fucking outsmart Logan Mercer. We did it, My Love. We escaped.”
His laughter was so deep that I thought it reverberated from his soul. It bounced against the car doors and made me slide uncomfortably in my seat. And the air conditioning wasn’t working, which made the heavy tension in the air even worse.
I eyed the maroon scarf around his neck and awful green sweatshirt he had stuffed with more sweatshirts underneath. I couldn’t say anything about it because I had dressed the same way. The disguise was the only way to slip out of the building two blocks away unnoticed and act like crazy people with terrible fashion style.
I tugged the zipper on my sweatshirt, but it didn’t budge.
He turned and scrutinized me for a split second before looking back at the road. “I promise you, we’ll get through this soon. I have a plan, it’s a bit risky, but it’ll work. We’ll have to take a few sneaky routes out of town to avoid Mark’s prying eyes. He has all the main routes heavily guarded.”
The heat in the car was suffocating as if I had put my face in a plastic bag. Frustration bubbled inside me like a volcano threatening to erupt. I felt like a hot air balloon with lots of warm air. I tugged at the zipper again.
Didn’t budge.
I snorted and...
“He’s that powerful, huh?” slipped from my lips.
Logan gave me a questioning look as he sped down the road. His lips twisted into a scowl and a thick line formed on his forehead. “You’re impressed with his influence and power, aren’t you?”
Another tug on the zipper and it moved. Then it got stuck. I let out a muffled growl. That was the last straw. The volcano erupted and hot, boiling lava spread with no hesitation.
“What I care about right now is for all of this to end, Logan.” I glared. “I am so sick and tired of running like some criminal on the loose. I did nothing wrong and, so far, you haven’t told me whether you are guilty of something or not. How long are we going to keep doing this? How long are we going to keep running?”
His jaw clenched shut and his gaze was now fixed on the road ahead. The sun's rays made the color in his eyes seem brighter, but I recognized the conflict brewing in them.
“Be patient with me, Addi. I swear, I’m not happy. I don’t like seeing us like this, unsettled and agitated. I miss the times when everything was normal; when you’d hug me and kiss me like you meant it.”
With an eyeroll, I glimpsed at the blurry buildings outside the window, avoiding his gaze.
“That’s why I want us to get out of here and go back to Chicago. I’m sure that if you talk to your family about the situation, they'll be able to give us the protection we need. As much as I would like to, I don’t have what it takes to provide you with that solid security, but I will do my best to protect you with my life.”
He put a hand on my thigh, squeezed it a little and smiled sincerely. It played with the strings of my heart and a lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him for long. It hurt. And every minute I felt more and more like I was going to burst.
Exhaustion weighed on me like a wet blanket. I needed to vent, to get rid of my pent-up anger at the ugly way things had turned out for us. He wasn’t the only one who wanted things to go back to the way they used to be between us. I did too. Or so I thought.
I had spent nights in that mansion, crying my eyes out, hoping that I would wake up and realize that I was trapped in a terrible nightmare. But no. Every time I opened my eyes, the reality in front of me became worse and more complex than the last time.
Sweat trickled down the back of my neck and with uncontrollable anger in my veins I tore the light blue scarf from my neck and puffed. Breathe in, Addison. Burning tears formed in my eyes and I gasped for air, taking small breaths over and over again.
“If we are doing this, Logan, we have to get it right, okay?” I inhaled. “I ... I don’t want to barge in on them with the news that I’ve got bad people on my tail. You know my dad isn’t doing well. Even the slightest trigger won’t be good for him. I’m thinking, it will be wise to give Robert a heads up, to prepare for us.” Exhale. “Please, I need to speak with him. I won’t tell him everything. But maybe he can help us with another car somewhere. One with a functioning cooling system.”