36. Paige

36

PAIGE

God, I hope Kael gets here soon.

I'm so happy he picked up my call. His voice in my ear made me shiver. And then he said he'd come for me. Even after the beating my brother gave him, he's willing to come help me.

God, I love him so much.

But I still want to see Da. Now more than ever. I need to talk to him, need to tell him I'm in love, need him to get better so he can tell me what to do.

I need to calm down.

I head to the kitchen to get some water.

I expect to find Marisol here, but the kitchen is empty, and the back door that leads into the garage is open.

I look around. No one in sight.

What if…

I don't think. I run to the garage and get in my car.

All the cars always have the keys in the ignition because we never know when an emergency will happen, and who has time to look for car keys then, right? Which also works in my favor .

I start my car and look around. No one yet, so I gun it.

I use my remote to open the gate and in less than a minute, I'm out of the property, laughing my ass off.

I did it.

It's like I'm in a spy movie, and I almost wish there was some kind of dramatic background music playing, but the only music is the one coming from the car sound system.

As I drive, I keep my eye on the rearview mirror. I may be acting foolishly and taking unnecessary risks, but I really do need to see my da, and Kael coming to help me doesn't guarantee the other men will let him take me.

I don't want him to get hurt any more than he already has, and I have no idea what the men would do to him if he fought to help me.

No, this is much better. This way he won't get hurt, I'll see my da all the same, and I'll pay any consequences after. Better to ask for forgiveness than for permission and all that, right?

Besides, it is just a ride to the hospital, what could go wrong?

My eyes fly to the rearview mirror again.

Fuck. I knew it was too good to be true.

The black Escalade behind me is one of ours.

I sigh. I guess this is for the best. At least I have some protection now.

I keep driving.

I wish it had been Kael instead of my father's men behind me. Well, if it were Kael, I wish he were in the car with me. I'd feel safer with him.

In fact, now that I think about it, he's the person I feel the safest with. I know that my brothers would protect me, but something about the way Kael does it.. .

Maybe he'll come after me too. I smile and glance at the rearview mirror. Maybe he is on his way now.

There's another car behind the Escalade now. It's not Kael's car. Pity.

I focus on the road in front of me until a squeal of tires makes me frown and look into the rearview mirror again.

The second car is side-by-side with the Escalade and as I watch, they ram it. Like a scene from a movie.

The Escalade swerves but is able to get stable again and rams the other car.

But the other car is larger and apparently heavier because it hardly sways.

And then they ram into the Escalate again. Harder this time.

My eyes keep jumping from the road in front of me to the scene in my rearview mirror.

And then, the Escalade tilts, and as if in slow motion, it skids off-road, and the car starts flipping through the air like the most scary and freakish rollercoaster ride until it finally stops wheels up.

I open my mouth to scream, but a car pulls up in front of mine and one on each side.

Where did they come from?

I was so focused on what was happening with the Escalade I had missed them. A look in the rearview mirror shows me the second car stopped, and men are walking to the Escalade.

The car in front of me slams the breaks and out of instinct, so do I.

And that is my doom. All three cars box me in, and men pour out of them.

I lock my car doors, hoping it will buy me some time, and I can only hope it's enough to get Kael here. Because I know he's coming. He has to.

I start to pull my phone out of my pocket, but it's not there.

Fuck .

How will I call Kael or Declan?

I look around me everywhere, but I can't find my phone.

Where is it?

A thump comes from the passenger-side door, and my eyes fly there.

A man with a pickaxe is going at the window.

It doesn't last long.

As soon as the glass shatters, he uses his fist to open a big enough space to unlock the doors.

The man on my side, opens my door while the first man opens the passenger-side door and removes my seatbelt. I have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Kael, where are you? I'm sorry I didn't wait for you.

The man on my side rips me from the car and throws me on the floor.

Fear is clouding my judgment. I just want to crawl into a hole and hide until Kael comes for me, but I can't.

I hop onto my feet, take a long breath, and get into the stance that Kael taught me, praying with all my might that I can remember what he said.

Breathe out. Use your whole body weight. Put strength into that punch, little princess. Hit me harder.

The solar plexus, the throat, the nose, knees to the bollocks. Fight dirty, Paige. Don't let them take you.

It is not a fair fight, not by a mile. There's two of them and only one of me. But I won't go down without throwing a few punches .

I grit my teeth as the first guy approaches. He's wiry, slimmer than the other one.

This guy is smaller than Kael, and I've taken Kael down before.

You can do this, princess .

Kael's lightly accented voice in my mind calms me as I let the man get close.

When he's about to reach me, I move forward on my right foot, throwing a left hand up into his jaw. I connect, and his teeth snap together, sounding like they cracked.

As he stumbles backward, I pull up my knee and hit him right in the balls.

He squeaks, doubling over, and the other man's laughing, just waiting for his turn, I think.

"You're getting beat down by a little girl." The fatter man cackles as my attacker looks at me, hatred seething from him.

I punch him in the nose. Hard.

He grabs his face and turns away from me.

I look around, looking for an escape route. This is open field, nowhere to hide. I'm already starting to flag. I put everything I had into that punch.

I look at the Escalade, and both Aiden and Jeremy are down.

Oh god. Are they dead?

They can't help me. I only have myself now and the hope that Kael's on the way here. I just need to buy myself some time.

The fatter man growls as he approaches me, and I get into position again.

I have to hold on, I have to resist him long enough for help to come.

Hurry, Kael .

The fat man smirks. "Make this easy on me, cupcake, and maybe I'll leave you in one piece."

"In your dreams, fatso."

He shrugs. "Your loss."

I fight for all I'm worth, screaming and biting and kicking, but as I punch him in the rib, pain explodes high up in my right cheekbone, and I go down, hitting the pavement hard, skinning my hip and my palm as I try to catch myself.

My skin is already heating up, swelling, where he hit me, but I spit out blood and scramble to get on my feet again.

If I stop fighting, I'm dead.

The man smirks as his fist flies at me again. "Boss only said we had to grab you, didn't say we couldn't roughen you up, so if you want a fight, I'll give you one."

He hits me again, busting my bottom lip.

If I go down, that's it for me. No hope.

So, I roll with the beating he's giving me, and I give as good as I get.

I punch nose, ribs, solar plexus, I even go for the balls, but nothing works. He either deflects my blows or seems unaffected by them.

I don't care, I just keep hitting because I'll die fighting rather than be captured by Niall Murphy. That would be a fate worse than death.

I fight tooth and nail to stay conscious, kicking and screaming.

When his fist hits me on the side of the head, the world swims around me and goes dark for a second or two, but that's enough to seal my fate.

Both men jump on me and have fun kicking and punching me before tying my hands and feet up and dragging me back to their car .

I try to look at the Escalade again, but my eyes are so swollen not even light is coming through right now.

When they stop dragging me, one of them grabs me by the hair to force me to get up.

I scream.

And then I'm pushed into what I can only assume is the trunk of their car.

Where are you, Kael? This is your last chance!

Squinting up from the trunk, I kick my bound legs blindly, hoping to hit one of them, but they just laugh, slamming me shut inside.

The car takes off, and I force myself to relax. My body aches all over, my head bursting at the seams.

I need to keep my strength, need to keep my stamina, so that I can pick up where I left off the minute they open this trunk.

Murphy finally got me.

Tears stream down my face as I think of Da, Declan, Gray, Lara, Bree.

Kael.

He asked me if I had feelings for him. He wanted to know. And I never told him.

Now, he'll never know I love him more than life.