vnNeSsa1 (19 page)

Chapter 26

Liam takes in the cell and the expression on my face in one glance. He leaps for me as I lunge to throw the phone in the toilet. He catches me around the waist and the phone misses its mark, skittering into the corner. We both dive for it. I get it, but he clamps my wrist and squeezes until I let go. We stay on the floor, breathing hard.

“Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I
, Savannah?” Liam’s face is flushed from our struggle. He’s smiling, as usual, but there’s something about his smile that turns my stomach to ice. “Let’s see who you’ve been calling.”

I make a grab for the phone. He swats my hand away
as if it’s an annoying fly. It takes him seconds to look up the number and the texts. His smile broadens.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we, Savannah?” Liam says, gripping my arm too hard and hauling me to my feet. “Let’s listen for the sirens and see if your knight in shining armor rescues you.” He shoves me roughly out the bathroom door and into the main room where Gabe waits. He’s pulled his shirt and jacket back on and is shifting from one foot to the other.

“Here’s your phone back,” Liam says, tossing the cell to Gabe. “That’s all she wanted, of course. Do you really think a girl like her would look twice at your ugly face? By the way, you’re fired.”

Gabe gives me a look of pure hatred as he walks out the door. Once the door has slammed, Liam turns to me.

“How does it feel to kill a man, Savannah?”

“What are you talking about?”
Oh, please God, don’t let him be talking about Victor
.

“Gabe’s a liability now. You don’t cross me. Listen carefully, Savannah. You don’t cross me.” Liam has my jaw clamped in his hand. My jaw feels
as if it’s going to break.

I feel horrified and relieved at the same time. Victor may be all right, but that I’m responsible for someone’s death is unthinkable.

“I came back early because your appointment has been moved up a half-hour,” Liam says in my face, squeezing my jaw even tighter. “You have five minutes to pull yourself together. If you don’t do exactly what the man wants, you’ll never see Tink again.”

He releases me and leaves. My face feels tender where his fingers have been.
My mind goes over the last few horrible minutes. Oh God—Gabe. Don’t think about that now.

Liam was way too unconcerned about the text to Victor. He didn’t seem worried at all that Victor might call the police. And this worries me. I’ve got to get to Tink.

My appointment lets himself in with his key card.

How far will I go?

I’ve got to get to Tink. It looks like I’m on my own.

How far will I go?

I stare at the man by the door who’s staring at me. It’s the bald man who bought out the house. The dancer who looks like the country singer disappeared shortly after he watched us dance. He’s smaller than average, but something about him fills the room. He gives me a long, slow look, starting with my face, ending with the pink shoes.

I know then that I’ll never let him touch me.
I’m so sorry, Tink. I can’t do this. Not even for you
. It’s not him. Kissing the guard to contact Victor is as far as I can go. There’s only one person I can be with.

“Don’t come near me,” I say, my voice sounding flat, resigned, tired. The man’s eyes widen,
and then he smiles.

“Resistance,” he says, checking an expensive-looking watch. “Nice touch. I have time for a few minutes of that.”

“I mean it. Don’t come near me.”

His advance takes me by surprise. In a few short steps, he is inch
es away. Then, he grabs the front of my dress and rips it to the waist, exposing my sheer bra. He reaches for my breasts. I push him back roughly. He lunges for me and is met by my knee in his groin.

The contact must be perfect because his eyes bulge and he makes choking sounds and staggers toward the bed. My brain registers the fact that there’s no guard at the door.
Find the stairs. Sneak by the front desk. Go to the police. Hope like hell they can find Tink.

I race for the door. Jerk it open. And there’s Liam, lounging against the wall, arms crossed, regarding me calmly.

“Giving me trouble, again, Savannah?” I try to run by him, but he strikes like a snake, clamping me in his arms, dragging me back into the room.

“She’s a crazy bitch,” the bald man says, standing now, straightening his clothes. “You owe me, Liam. I want my regular girl back by noon tomorrow, sick or not. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” Liam says, his mouth a tight, white line. “It won’t happen again.”

The man doesn’t say anything else; he just leaves the room, letting the door slam.

“Get your jacket.” Liam’s face is even more pale than usual. I try to tuck in the torn ends of my dress behind my bra straps. Then I put the jacket over the thin dress. We go out into the hall to the elevator.

The punch is completely unexpected. It would have knocked me off my feet, but Liam has a hold of one arm while he swings his other arm into my stomach. It feels like my middle has collapsed. Or like I’ve fallen from the hotel window onto a car below. But the worst part is I’m scared he’s going to kill me.

He’s watching my face. Sick bastard. I’m trying to breathe normally, trying to think, trying not to cry.

“You need discipline, Savannah,” Liam says, his color returning. “I’m far from finished, but, don’t worry; I won’t hit you where it shows.” The elevator dings its arrival. His face glows, probably in anticipation of the beating to come. My aching stomach tightens in fear.

The lobby’s a blur. It’s freezing outside. He gets a cab, sits very close, and strokes my arm on the ride through surface streets. His cold fingers feel like lobster claws to me, and I keep inching away until I’m in the far corner of the seat. All the streets are numbers. We battle traffic and pull up to an apartment building on 44
th
, or 55
th
—I’ve lost track.

“Where are
you taking me?” I aim for defiance, but my tiny sounds shrivel in the air. Liam doesn’t bother to answer.

His words, “I’m far from finished” keep
running in my head. I’m getting more nervous and upset as Liam leads me to an apartment on the tenth floor.

The door opens on a large open room of a dimly lit apartment. It
seems empty. Then I see Tink sitting at the dining room table, her head in her hands. She hadn’t even bothered to look up when the door opened.

“Tink!”

She looks up at me and her face instantly lights up. She’s out of her chair and smacks into me hard as I crush her in a hug. We stand there, laughing and crying and holding each other.

“Savannah, you shouldn’t be here,” she says, getting serious, hanging on tight
ly. I’m about to respond when I see her, eyes wide, looking over my shoulder in terror.

“Savannah, watch out!”

Chapter 27

Liam’s punch to my kidney is so painful the whole world narrows to that branding iron area of heat on my back. Tears stream down my cheeks. Tink screams and grabs his arm.

“Stop!” she cries. “I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt her anymore.”

Liam reverses her hold with a flick of his wrist and slams her against the wall. S
he bounces off it like an old chew toy and lands on the floor, looking stunned.

“I’m happy you’ll obey now. But wildcats like Savannah need taming. Watch and see what will happen to you if you step out of line again.”

Tink scrambles into the corner. She rolls up into a ball and lies there whimpering. It’s so unlike her.

“Good girl, Lynette May,” Liam says to Tink, as though talking to an obedient dog. “Now stay in your corner
….Good, Baby.” A cruel smile curves his lips.

My head explodes. He’s broken her. I want to kill him.

I whirl around him, jump onto his back, and start pounding him and scratching all the exposed skin I can find. When he laughs, my nails dig into his flesh more savagely.

“Sick bastard,” I pant. “Feel all powerful, do you? You cleaned up your language. Probably even got an education.” I yank back his hair to get close to his ear, making my voice all silky, just like his. “But you’re still just a dirty
little street slut inside, aren’t you?” Liam stops laughing. He grows very still. I let go of his hair.

He slides me off his back and gently brings me around to face him. I know I’ve pushed him too far because he’s ghost white. His grin is cadaverous. His pupils have dilated.
Back away toward the door. He’s come completely unhinged.
But, in mid-move, he catches me in a bizarre embrace, lowers me to the ground and then straddles me.

“Change of plans, Savannah,” Liam breathes almost lovingly into my face. “I’m going to have to mark you to bring you to heel.” He keeps staring into my eyes as he holds my wrists with one hand and unbuckles his belt with the other.

Terror and rage battle inside me. I break a wrist free and hit him, but he keeps me pinned to the floor with his body weight and loops the belt around my neck with his free hand. He tightens it. I can’t breathe and gasp for air. He tightens it again and watches me fight for each breath. His lips are parted and his cheeks are red. He’s breathing hard, taking all my air. Then he lies flat on me to crush out the final molecules, his lover’s embrace fatal.

“You know it’s hard for me to stop,” he says, looking into my eyes
as if he loves me. His pupils are so fully dilated, his once blue eyes are now completely black. He presses against me. He tightens the belt some more. All air is cut off. Can’t see him. Spots. Can’t breathe.

A sickening
crunch
sound. No sound, and then a thud. A sack of sand on me. Then no weight.

Fingers at my throat, fumbling with the belt.
Air. I’m gasping in as much cold air as my lungs will hold, then coughing raggedly.

“Savannah! Are you OK?” My vision clears. Tink’s face
—anguished, fearful—comes into focus. My legs won’t hold me and I slide to the ground to join Liam’s slumped form. His head, inches from mine, is all bloody. I can smell the blood. Tink obviously slammed him on the head with the metal thing near his shoulder.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. “I’m OK.” My voice sounds croaky.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Tink says, helping me to get up and step around Liam’s body.

“Yeah, OK,” I rasp out. Time to think fast.
Think. Think
.

“Grab a change of clothes and throw it in a bag,” I say, rubbing my neck. Tink immediately heads for the bedroom.
I want her out of the room before I check to see whether Liam’s alive.

The body looks cold and dead.
Kind of like always
. My feet are completely unwilling participants in my edging back to Liam’s side. Bending down, I feel for a pulse along his neck, half afraid he’s going to grab my arm. There’s a weak beat there.

Can’t tell
whether it’s relief or disappointment that floods me.

Time to think. No telling the back
-up Liam might have.

I’m praying Liam brought my carry
-on with the money in it here to the apartment. Got to find it. My legs feel shaky but they respond well enough. My suitcase is in the entry closet, first door I open. I’m sure it’s relief this time, as sweet as the air I’m still gulping.

I run the suitcase to the front door
and then sprint back to Liam’s body, checking again for a pulse. For Tink.

“Gotta go, Tink!”

She comes running out of the bedroom with a bag and gives me an anxious look when she sees me by Liam’s body.

“We’ll call an ambulance the minute we can,” I assure her. Liam wouldn’t have a landline in the apartment. He also would have taken Tink’s cell.

“I don’t care if you call an ambulance. I just want you away from his body,” she says, her face turning hard.

We stare at each other for a moment. Me, crouching on the floor. Tink, eyes so full of pain, my heart aches. Then, by some unspoken agreement, we bolt for the door. We’re through it and at the elevator in a heartbeat, baggage in tow. My brain is working double
-time on the ride down the elevator. We’re almost at the lobby when I break our silence.

“Listen, Tink. We’ll go to LaGuardia and take a flight out of the country. Maybe South America. People are hunting me, but we’ll cover our tracks, move around, hide.” My already raspy voice starts to crack. When I think of leaving Victor, I want to cry. I take a breath and keep going
. “If anything happens to me, there’s money in the lining of this suitcase. There’s also a hotel room key where we work. Under the mattress in room 4207, there’s lots more money. What’s the room number of the apartment we were just in?”

But Tink doesn’t answer. She’s staring at me, open-mouthed
, and I have to repeat my last question before she says anything. Once in the lobby, I go to the desk and tell the clerk there’s a man hurt in room 1023 who needs an ambulance. The clerk looks panicked. I turn and walk away before she can ask questions.