His (27 page)

“At least I’m warm,” she says. “And safe.”

I just nod. Inside, I’m fuming. Twenty thousand dollars and this is how they’re living. I wonder where the money’s actually going.

“Let’s go walk on the beach,” Bethy says.

“When will Bean be back?”

“Usually, he doesn’t get here for another couple hours.”

It’s only a couple blocks to the soft white sandy beach. Even though the sun is down, I can tell this is a beautiful place. The sound of lapping water and the salty smell in the air make me feel rejuvenated. I’m so glad I listened to my gut and came here.

“Tell me about Andrew,” Bethy says as we walk arm in arm.

I smile. “He’s a hard man to know, but now that I’ve gotten closer to him . . . I’m in love.”

She squeezes my arm with excitement. “Really? Oh, Quinn. You deserve it.”

“He’s very protective. So handsome. Supersmart. A little impatient. Generous. Sweet.”

“I’m swooning here.”

I bump my shoulder against hers playfully. “This is what I get for raising you on romance novels.”

“He sounds like Mr. Darcy.”

Her statement makes me laugh. “You know, there is some resemblance.”

“Did you allow him to tell you how ardently he admires you?”

“Oh, most definitely. He wanted to come here with me, actually.”

“Why didn’t you bring him?”

I look out at the dark ocean waves. “I just wanted to do this myself. I still worry about us being found.”

“I know. Me too.”

“Do you miss home?”

She says nothing for a few seconds. “I miss some things, but I think we were right to leave.”

“Do you really? Do you feel that in your heart?”

“I do. We both know what would have happened if we’d stayed.”

I stop and sit down on the beach, taking off my shoes and squishing my toes into the sand. Bethy sits down beside me.

“You know,” I say, “I used to keep things from you to protect you. When we were in New York. It was never anything big, really. I just never let on how scared I really was. But I think it’s time we agree that we’ll share everything with each other. Even the scary, ugly stuff.”

“I promise.”

“Me too.” We sit in silence for a few seconds. “Andrew’s willing to take us to another country to live. I imagine he’d need some time to get his business stuff in order, but . . . it’s an idea.”

“I’d love that,” Bethy says softly. “I’d live with you guys?”

“Yes. I think you and I will go to another country from here, and then I’ll contact him. It’s best if no one knows where we are or where we’re going.”

“What about Bean?”

“He’s not coming.”

She sighs softly. “I think we should go get our stuff and leave before he gets back. He’ll be mad if we tell him.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

We dust the sand off our clothes and head back. Much as I’d like to confront Bean about the money, I know Bethy is right. What really matters is getting her out of here safely.

When we walk back into the apartment, though, Bean is there. As soon as he sees me, his expression morphs into disbelief.

“Quinn?” He grins and jumps up from the rickety kitchen table he’s eating at. “You came back.”

He embraces me, and I immediately smell alcohol on him.

“You’ve been drinking,” I say flatly.

He steps back, his brow furrowed. “Yeah, I have a drink at the end of a long workday. What’s it matter?”

I feel Bethy tensing beside me.
We just need to go
, I remind myself. The money doesn’t matter.

“Bean, I can’t thank you enough for taking care of Bethy. I just missed her too much, so I came here to get her.”

He narrows his eyes. “You’re leaving?”

“Things are going well for me in New York. I’m staying there.”

Bean lunges toward me, forcing me to step back.

“You still want to be that rich guy’s
whore
? What the hell is wrong with you? I’ve been here waiting and taking care of Bethy, and now you’re just gonna ditch out?”

“I’m sure you’ve still got some of the money left,” I say. “Keep it.”

He shakes his head and stalks closer to me, forcing me against the wall. “No fucking way. $60K. That was the deal.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

He punches the wall right next to my head, and I hear pieces of it crumble to the floor.

“You want to fuck me over after all we’ve been through and take her with you?” he yells in my face. “Not without my other forty grand.”

I wrap my hand around the blade of my knife and he sneers at me, then shoves my wrist against the wall. He presses his arm with no hand against my chest to keep me in place.

“I
know
you,” he says in a low, ominous tone. “I taught you to use this blade, remember?”

“I remember you saying you’d take care of Bethy, too, and look at this place. Where’s the money really going, Bean?”

His expression darkens. “None of your fuckin’ business.”

“My sister was nothing more than a meal ticket to you. You’re a disgusting pig.”

He knees me in the stomach then, and I double over in pain.

“She’s safe, isn’t she?” He bends down to yell in my face. “Huh?”

I look up just in time to see Bethy raise something in the air and bring it down on his head with all her strength. He stumbles and falls to the floor but stays conscious. I climb on top of his back to restrain him.

“Ties,” I say frantically. “We need something to tie him with.”

“You bitch,” Bean mutters. “I’m gonna knock your ass out.”

Bethy races into her bedroom, and I twist Bean’s arms around his back until he howls.

“Move and I’ll break one,” I say in a steady tone. “Seriously, do it. I want to break one of your arms so bad right now.”

He twitches, and I twist a little harder. He groans through gritted teeth. Sweat drips from his brow to the stained tile floor.

Bethy returns with the clothesline.

“Perfect,” I say.

I hold Bean in place, and she wraps the cord around his torso and arms. After it’s wrapped around him several times, I pull it tight, making him wince. We tear several T-shirts into strips, and I use them to tie the cords at his back around a leg of the kitchen table. I wrap a few around his mouth as a gag so he can’t scream as soon as we walk out and attract help from neighbors.

There’s a murderous gleam in Bean’s eyes as he watches me. I’m so angry about what he did that I’d like to stab him and let him bleed out right here, alone. But I can’t forget the good he did for us in New York.

Bethy gathers the gifts under the makeshift Christmas tree and waits wide-eyed by the door.

I bend down and look into Bean’s eyes. “You’ll never see us again. And if you try, I’ll kill you.”

He chuckles through the gag. I draw my knife and rest the tip of the silver blade against his throat. He goes still.

“You come close to my sister ever again, and I will kill you, Bean.”

His silence is all the acknowledgment I’ll get.

“Got my keys?” I ask Bethy.

“Yes. And your purse.”

I walk backward to the door, my knife still drawn.

“Have a nice life, Bean,” I say as I close the door.

I hear him struggling to break free as Bethy and I bolt for the car. I start it and drive away, leaving a cloud of dust behind us.

“Oh my God,” Bethy says. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

I take a deep breath. “I know.”

“I’m scared, Quinn. He has connections down here to a lot of bad people. I think it’s a cartel.”

“What the hell?” I turn to her. “Why were you keeping this from me? Do you know what might have happened to you?”

“I was trying to be strong,” she says defensively. “I knew you could get through it, so I told myself I could, too.”

I take a few more breaths. “Okay. Okay, so let’s think. He’ll be able to get untied, and then what? Will he know which way we went?”

“I don’t know. How could he?”

“Fuck.” I slam my hand against the steering wheel. “The car has Pennsylvania plates. We’re like sitting ducks in this thing if he has connections. We have to get rid of it.”

I try to scan the scenery around us, but it’s too dark to see much. We’re on a dirt road, and there’s a small café nearby.

This isn’t like New York, where there are so many people we can easily hide in plain sight. And if Bean finds us, I have no doubt he’ll hurt me. The rage in his eyes was unmistakable.

I park at the café, and we get out of the car. My hands are shaking as I take my purse and small travel bag from the car and dig through them in search of my phone.

It’s buried at the bottom of my purse, still powered off. I clutch it in my hand and look up and down the road for approaching traffic. There are no cars in sight.

“Let’s go behind the building,” I say to Bethy. Her eyes are wide with fright, but she jogs around to the back of the building and tries to look unafraid.

Leaning my back against the wall, I turn the phone on and dial Andrew. He picks up on the second ring.

“Quinn? Everything okay?”

“No.” My voice is choked. “I’m in trouble. I need you.”

“Where are you?”

I swallow hard. This is harder than I thought it would be. I trusted Bean with Bethy, and that was a mistake. But besides Bethy, Andrew is all I have now, and I know in my heart he’ll do everything in his power to help us.

“I’m . . . I don’t know for sure. It’s called Barra de Potosi. I’m not far from Ixtapa. And things went bad with Bean. I think he’ll be coming after us, and Bethy says he has connections to a cartel down here.”

Andrew exhales deeply into the phone. “Okay. Are you on the road?”

“I’m in a car with Pennsylvania plates. I’m worried about being easy to find in it.”

“Yeah, leave the car.”

“We’re in a pretty rural place. And we don’t blend in. I don’t know what to do.”

“You need to lay low. And don’t turn your phone off because I’m going to use it to pinpoint your location. Try to move and stay as hidden as possible on foot, okay? I’ll get someone to you as quickly as possible, and I’m on my way too.”

“Andrew?”

“Yeah?”

“If anything happens to me, promise you’ll find Bethy and help her.”

“Don’t even say that. Nothing’s going to happen to you, Quinn.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and fight back tears. “Just promise me. Please.”

After a pause, he says, “I promise.”

I breathe easier. “Okay.”

“Just stay hidden and don’t respond to anyone who doesn’t contact you through this phone, okay?”

“Okay.”

I hang up, put the phone back in my purse, and sling my bags over my shoulder.

“We need to walk,” I say.

As we move away from the café, the darkness makes it impossible to see more than a couple feet in front of us.

“This is good, right?” Bethy whispers. “It’ll be harder for anyone to find us in the dark.”

“Yeah,” I say softly. “It’s good.”

We move farther away from the road into rocky terrain. Bethy’s thin flip-flops hardly protect her feet, so it’s slow going.

I don’t want to get my phone out and risk the light being seen, so we just walk in silence for around an hour. My heart is still racing as I replay what went down with Bean. I feel a deep sense of betrayal I can’t even process right now.

I feel a squish beneath my shoe and I stop walking, getting a bad feeling when I hear a hissing sound.

“What the fuck is that?” I whisper, bending down.

It’s a lizard—and
not
a small one. The hissing and flailing make me wonder if I should let it out from under my shoe. Just as I draw my knife, it manages to wiggle free on its own and it crawls off into the darkness.

If I were alone, I’d sit down and cry for a few minutes. But I have to stay strong for Bethy. We walk aimlessly, and I try not to think about the fact that we have no water and could be walking away from civilization. If Andrew doesn’t find us before sunrise, we’ll be in a bad spot.

For now, all I can do is put one foot in front of the other. We find smoother ground and my heart rate finally settles. I know we’ve been walking for at least a few hours when the sound of my phone beeping with a new text makes Bethy jump into the air with alarm.

“It’s just my phone, crazypants,” I say, scrambling to get it out.

There’s a message from an unknown number.

Andrew sent me to help. I’m less than a mile away. Look for the lights and head toward us when you see them.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Andrew sent help,” I say softly. “Someone’s really close. We’re supposed to look for their lights.”

We stop and look in every direction.

“There,” Bethy says, pointing.

There’s a tiny speck of light in the distance, and we both walk toward it. Within five minutes, we come across a group of two men and one woman, all dressed in camo and outfitted with bulletproof vests and guns.

“Quinn?” the woman says to me, shining a small flashlight in my direction.

“Yes.”

“I’m Vanessa Giano, a friend of Andrew’s. We’re here to extract you.”

“I couldn’t be happier to see you,” I say with a weak smile.

One of the men gets out a radio and speaks into it. Within a couple minutes, I hear a helicopter approaching. It lands, and we all get on it.

I’m terrified of flying, but I don’t feel anything but relief as we’re flown away. I wish this was the end of the nightmare, but I know it’s not. As much as I want to get Bethy out of here right now, I’m also afraid to return to the States with her.