Page 29 of Break Me Not

Wait.

She wouldn’t… would she?

“Send two more guys after her. I'm pretty sure I know where she's going. I'll meet them there.”

I hung up to see that Sloan was already giving me a pitying look. She waved her phone in the air, showing me a text from Lillian.

She knew my job was not the easiest. I had run away from many of our meetings in a rush to get to a client or attend to some urgent matters.

But this one felt different.

I won’t let her get hurt before she can even give us a chance.

“Duty calls. We can discuss more later, especially given that Lil was there and you have some answering to do about putting my girl in danger. But for now I’ll let you do what you need to do. Go.”

I jogged to the door, opening it, but froze as soon as I saw Sloan's bike, parked out front.

“Hey, can I borrow that?” I asked, looking back at her.

Sloan let out a chuckle, reached into her pocket, and threw me her key.

“Bring her back without a scratch. Both of them.”

I gave her a two-finger salute.

“You got it. Thanks.”

I turned around and got on the bike, taking the helmet she’d left on it and putting it on. Seconds later, I was speeding away from the club’s driveway and toward Liz.

By the time I got to my destination, the sky was dark.

She wasn’t here yet. Luckily for me, Sloan’s bike was way faster than Liz’s car.

I pulled into the quiet neighborhood slowly, looking for the exact house I knew she'd go to. It was a nice place. The type of neighborhood parents would move their kids to in order to live a simple life and go to a good school.

Something I thought someone like me would never have. After bouncing from foster home to foster home until I finally found a place where I belonged, I’d seen just how little grown-ups thought of me. Especially when I wasn’t “theirs.”

Some of the rich kids were teased, although very lightly, about how much their parents poured into their education. They pretended to act embarrassed, but I was always there, on the sidelines, wishing I had parents who would do the same.

They didn’t know how good they had it.

I shook my head.

I had no time to relive my traumatic childhood.

My eyes scanned the area, and I saw Liz pulling up in her obviously electric car.

I could see her inside the vehicle, getting ready to step out and likely storm the house. She looked fine—thankfully. Though I didn’t have time to rejoice. She was already on the move.

I parked right beside her just as she was getting out of the car, so I was able to block her.

She looked at me with a shocked expression. Her red hair was slightly messy, likely from the gallery incident. Her clothes were intact, but I knew she had to be a bit cold out here at this time of night.

“Who are you⁠—”

“Get back in the car, Liz.”

Recognition flashed across her face, and her mouth turned into a straight line.