Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Niall tries to calm him while I keep my eyes trained on Mack, looking for a way out of this. But Mandy keeps dragging her further away while Donny looks for any excuse to unload his weapon.
“Everybody stay back!” Mandy orders again.
I glance at Niall and he and Viktor both order the lot of us to stand down. There’s no clear shot. Mandy’s taller than Mack, but she’s crouching down and using her body for protection. She’s almost to the door, and I can’t let her go.
She shot Ivan. Something I never would’ve guessed she’d be capable of. I’m afraid she could easily do it to Mack too. With Donny, there isn’t even a question. His sadistic smile tells me exactly what he plans to do.
I bolt forward, and Mandy pauses to thrust the gun towards me.
“Lach, no,” Mack pleads. “I’m sorry for everything, but this was the plan all along. We’re working together.”
I freeze on the spot, staring at her in confusion. There’s no way that could be true. But Mack’s expression is flat and cold. And Mandy’s smiling like she’s just pulled off her best performance yet.
I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. I move forward again when Niall and Ronan both grab me from behind. I’m fighting them off, but it’s too late. Mandy and Donny have slipped out the door, taking Mack with them.
Niall moves to my side. He’s holding his phone towards me, speaking, but I can barely hear him. I’m still looking at the door. Was Mack really lying to me about that too?
“It’s a message from her friend Scarlett,” he says.
Finally, I glance down, and realize I was wrong. It wasn’t Mandy. Mack was the one who gave her grandest performance yet.
To save me.
Ronan rips the phone out of my hand and gives me a shake to get myself together. Niall and Alexei hand us some extra ammunition, and then we disappear out the door behind them.
Chapter Forty
Mackenzie
Mandy opens the driver’s side door and shoves me inside before she climbs into the back seat. Donny is in the passenger seat, leering at me with all of the sick shit he obviously has in store. They both keep their guns on me the entire time Mandy barks out her instructions.
“Drive,” she snarls.
I turn the key in the ignition and fumble with it. I’ve only ever driven a car twice, but I’m not about to tell her that.
“Hurry the fuck up!”
I get the key turned and put the car in drive. I press the gas too hard and we burn rubber out of the parking lot. In the rear-view mirror, I can just see Lachlan and his men filing out of the building and running towards the lot.
Great. A car chase.
There’s no doubt he’s going to kill me now. But I don’t regret it. I had to protect him. I did and said what I had to.
Mandy directs me onto the interstate, and it isn’t long before a black SUV is right behind us. Ronan’s at the wheel, Lachlan in the passenger seat beside him. They are keeping a distance, and they aren’t shooting at us. I don’t know what’s going on, but I guess they figure we have to stop sometime.
I have no clue what Mandy’s endgame is here, but I know it can’t be good.
I glance in the mirror at her, and her crazy is on display for all the world to see. Her hair is a tangled mess, and she keeps looking at me with that same familiar hatred I can’t understand. Cars are whizzing by us, and my hands are so tight on the steering wheel my knuckles are white and my fingers numb.
“Faster!” she barks.
I press down on the accelerator, and the car surges forward. Donny’s free hand creeps over to my thigh and grips me so hard I cringe.
“I told you I’d have my way with you,” he says. “When this is all over, I’ll have fucked you six ways from Sunday.”
I’m fighting the urge to backhand the shit out of him when I hear the cocking of a gun. I glance over, and Mandy’s got her gun pressed against his head.
“Hand me your weapons,” she says. “Or so help me, I’ll blow your fucking brains out right here in the middle of the interstate.”
“What the fuck?” Donny snarls.
Mandy whips him in the face with the butt of her gun and his nose starts gushing blood.
“Fucking do it!” she screams.
Donny hands her the gun and holds his other hand up to stem the bleeding.
“The knife strapped to your leg too,” she orders.
He reaches down and pulls out the knife and hands it back to her. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him speechless. I’ve got no clue what’s going on here, but it’s obvious I was wrong about Mandy. She wasn’t the one being played in this situation at all.
After she stashes his weapons somewhere safe, she holds the gun between us, ready to shoot either one of us who tries to make a move. The car is silent for a long time, and the wheels are turning in my brain as I try to figure out what to do.
“You don’t remember me,” Mandy says out the blue. “Do you?”
I glance at her in the mirror again, and I can’t hide my confusion.
“Should I?”
She laughs and shakes her head. “I knew you wouldn’t. Donny didn’t either.”
Donny and I both look at each other, and we’re wearing matching expressions of confusion.
“It’s not surprising I guess,” Mandy says. “Considering she didn’t either. That’s three for three.”
“Who?” I demand.
“Who do you fucking think?”
“Talia?” I whisper.
“Yes, your precious fucking Talia,” she snarls. “And I’ve got news for you guys. I remember all of you just fine.”
I don’t know what Mandy’s talking about, but I know one thing for certain. The porch light is on, but nobody’s home. She’s fucking delusional and clearly in the middle of a psychotic break. Donny isn’t saying anything at all, which is nice for a change. So I try to ignore her and formulate a plan in my mind to get out of this, but Mandy just keeps talking.