Chapter 40

FORTY

Saylor

"Russell." Horror and fear rip through me with enough ferocity to make my vision blur, but I can't let him see it.

"Move away from the door," he says in a raspy voice. "Now. Don't make me hurt her."

He's the stalker.

Jesus.

How is this happening?

"This has nothing to do with Ally," I say, hoping my voice sounds steadier than I feel. "Let her go and you can take me."

He snorts. "You think I'm stupid? I've been waiting and watching for the perfect opportunity. Poisoning my stupid aunt worked out better than I dreamed. I just didn't count on the kid." He presses the tip of the knife against her skin. "I said, get away from the door."

Ally's eyes are wide with fear, fingers gripping his forearm as she tries to get him to let go of her neck.

"Okay." I hold up my hands in a placating gesture. "What do you want, Russell?"

"You." He gives me a sweaty, smarmy smile.

"All right. We can leave here together."

"Oh, we're going to leave. All three of us."

Ally meets my gaze worriedly.

"What are you going to do with an eleven-year-old?" I ask. "She's just going to slow us down. We can leave her here."

"Do you think I'm stupid?!" he yells. "The minute we leave she'll call for help and then they'll come after us. No, she's coming with us."

"Okay, but if you hurt her, then I don't have any reason to cooperate."

Abruptly, he shoves Ally away from him and pulls a gun from his pocket. "Fine. But don't try anything. Because you're mine now." His eyes are glassy, as if he's on something, and he's sweating profusely.

Gross.

I yank Ally forward and then push her behind me.

"Both of you—walk to the back," he says. "Move."

"Russell, can't we talk about this?" I ask, trying to buy time. Canyon has to be on the way by now, right? The game ended over an hour ago. And Rage was sending a replacement too.

"There'll be plenty of time to talk once we're on our way to Mexico. Now, move."

There's no way in hell we can get in a car with him. Once we do, it will be incredibly hard to get away, especially if he makes me drive while holding a gun to Ally's head.

If we're going to get away, or if I can at least distract him long enough for Ally to get away, then I might have a chance. But I can't let anything happen to her. Not after everything she's already been through.

I walk slowly, this time pushing Ally in front of me since Russell is behind us.

"What do we do?" Ally whispers to me.

"Shh." I squeeze her arm, wracking my brain to come up with some kind of distraction.

"Stop!" Russell follows us into the back room, where I can see the back door is unlocked. "Let me see your phones."

"I'm only eleven," Ally says glibly. "I'm not allowed to have a phone."

Well, score one for the kid.

Since I know her cell phone is in her back pocket.

"Shut up!" Russell snaps, holding out his hand to me.

I slowly hand him my phone.

"Russell, it's me you want. Let's just leave Ally here. We can tie her up, so it'll be at least a couple of hours before anyone finds her."

He seems to be considering it.

"No. She comes with us. She's kind of cute. We can let her watch."

Sweet Jesus.

I want to puke.

But I have to be strong.

For Ally, if not for myself.

"Watch what?" Ally asks in confusion.

Russell laughs gleefully. "Ohhh, this is going to be fun. Are you still a virgin, little girl?"

"Don't engage," I warn, pushing her behind me again. "He's just trying to get a reaction out of you."

"Oh, yes." He rubs his hands together, the gun dangling from one finger. "There will be many reactions going forward."

"Why are you doing this?" I ask quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't want to date you, but we didn't hit it off."

"We would have." He glares at me, a little bit of spittle flying from his mouth. "If you hadn't run off with the hockey jerk."

"I knew Canyon long before I met you," I say. "And anyway, we're just friends."

"Liar!" He grips the gun and points it at me. "I've seen you—in New York. Rutting in your kitchen like wild dogs. It's disgusting. But you won't be with him ever again. Now you'll be with me. Let's go."

I can't think about what he'd just said—or how he knew what we'd done in my kitchen—because we're almost out of time. Once we leave the gallery, I can't protect Ally. And she's the priority here.

No matter what he does to me, I'll survive.

Rage is coming.

Canyon is on the way.

Someone will find me.

But Ally has been traumatized enough in her short life.

I can't even imagine what a kidnapping might do to her.

It's now or never.

Ally is closer to the back door. Russell is about five feet away from me on my right. If I throw myself at him, there's a chance I can knock the gun out of his hand. I can't overpower him, but I can kick him in the balls and stick one of my nails into his eye. All I need is enough time for Ally to run.

My eyes meet hers and I see a determination there that I recognize.

She's a fighter.

She knows we're in trouble, and though I don't know a lot about her life before she came to L.A., I recognize the wariness. She's been through something like this before.

"What do we do?" she mouths.

"Run." I mouth back as succinctly as I can. "Get help."

"I don't want to leave you." Her voice is barely a whisper, but I hear it.

"I'll be okay as long as you're safe. You're the priority."

Our eyes lock and I see she's afraid, but we don't have time for that.

I give her the slightest nod of my head and then I turn, launching myself at Russell.

"Ally, run!"

"Ugh!" Russell is stocky, but not tall, and we go over my desk and topple onto the ground when I tackle him. The gun goes flying—thank fuck—but Russell is pissed.

"Whore! You fucking little—" He smacks me in the side of the face, but my only goal is to find his balls. Because I'm going to knee them so far up into his groin, he'll need medical intervention to get them out.

I'm on my stomach on top of him, and he's wiggling like an oiled pig, so it's hard to get any momentum with my knee. He yanks a fistful of my hair, throwing my head back, but adrenaline is pulsing through my veins. I'm not going down without a fight.

Pain explodes in my jaw as he punches me, but I don't have the luxury of giving in. If I don't find a way to get away from him, he's going to hurt me.

"You little cunt!"

He still has my hair in his fist and I'm rapidly running out of strength, but I can't give up. I squirm, desperate to get away, but his grip on my hair is biting and painful.

Somehow, he flips us, so I'm beneath him and then he has his hand on my throat.

"Stupid whore—you think you outsmarted me? You belong to me! And if you won't come willingly, I won't hesitate to make you wish you had." He squeezes harder and I gasp, trying to breathe. My vision blurs and I realize I'm going to lose.

He's going to kill me.

At least Ally got away.

That's all I can think about as the blackness starts to overtake me.

"Motherfucker!"

A loud, familiar voice startles me, and suddenly Russell is yanked off me. I'm still half out of it, gasping as I take a breath.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Canyon .

That's Canyon's voice.

I try to move but my body is weak.

All I can do is continue to pull in slow, deep breaths.

There's the sound of bone crunching, someone cries out, and then a crash.

"Saylor." This voice isn't Canyon's.

Soft fingers on my cheek.

"Saylor, wake up."

Ally .

Oh, fuck.

She probably thinks I'm dead.

"Saylor, please wake up!" Her voice breaks, the sound penetrating my hazy thoughts.

"I'm…okay." My voice is a raspy whisper.

"Oh my God." She throws herself on me, hugging me tightly.

Then I hear the back door crash open.

"Saylor!"

That voice belongs to someone else.

"Who the hell are you?" Canyon sounds ready to kill.

"I'm from Westfield & Carruthers Security. What the fuck happened?"

I try to talk, but Ally is practically suffocating me all over again.

Canyon lowers his voice as he talks to Rage's replacement, and I lift a hand, gently stroking Ally's hair. "I'm okay, Ally. I need you to let me up."

"O-okay." She's crying, but she slowly moves away.

Then strong arms lift me off the floor, and I find myself against a warm, solid chest, tender lips against my temple.

"Babe. Did he hurt you?"

"I don't know," I whisper.

"I'm calling an ambulance," the security guy says.

"No. Please." I push against Canyon's chest to turn.

I recognize the guy.

He's worked for me before.

They call him Grim.

"Grim. I'll go to the hospital to get checked out, but no ambulance, please."

"Saylor, we need to call the cops. This guy—" He motions to where Russell is unconscious on the floor. "—tried to kill you."

I cough, still a little dizzy from when he'd choked me.

"Do what you need to do," I say, collapsing against Canyon's chest again.

Ally is safe.

Canyon got to us in time.

Everything else is just background noise.