“Williams is a wannabe cowboy who couldn’t even tie you down. You played right into his hands, falling for him while you were supposed to be on assignment. I could choke the life out of you for betraying me.” The dark, sinister glint intensifies his true sentiment. He’d honestly kill me once he gets what he wants from me. “You were finally free of the burden the feds put both of us under, and then the prick actually had the nerve to show up to bring you home. I thought you’d let him go when you found her in his home.”
“So you sent her to break us up?” I hiss, sitting in the chair while slowly maneuvering my wrists to free myself, but he’s watching too intently to undo the zip ties.
“You’d be surprised what an out-of-work model with an ego and expensive tastes will do for a little coke and fake promises. Now, I’m going to destroy Williams by taking everything he loves. And trust me, the man still loves you. He’s been looking for you. My men sent him down the wrong path with a false lead. The yokel shouldn’t mess with a man like me.”
An overwhelming feeling of power fills my bones. A strength I didn’t know I had thanks to that information. “Thank you,” I say.
“Why?”
“For letting me know he still loves me.” I may appear calm, but my heart’s beating out of my chest, knowing that Cowboy still cares. That’s all I need.
He yanks my hair, glaring down at me. “What good will it do you? You’ll never see him again.”
Smiling, I nod and breathe in calmly, steeling my spine. He doesn’t remember that I’m an expert in MMA. I don’t just watch it for fun. As soon as he gives me my opening, I swing my leg around the back of his knee and twist, sending him off balance. I wrap my zip-tied wrists around his neck and squeeze. It’s a shitty angle that’s going to hurt later, but my belly is protected, and then I flip him over my back on his. With a nut shot, I stepped on his throat and then grabbed the knife that he ran down my face and throat and cut my ties.
I don’t have much time to get out of here before his help starts to wonder. If anything, they believe he wanted to stick it to me before killing me. I peek through the door and see that no one is around. Nervously, I creep toward the exit of the house they have me trapped in. It’s a plain farmhouse and nothing but fields all around. It’s almost sunset when I make my break for it.
I run throughout the night, but there’s nothing, and I stay off the main roads just in case his men come driving down the highways looking for me. It’s too cold and hot at the same time. I don’t feel so good. Fatigue is starting to set in as the morning light fills the sky.
“I’m sorry, Cowboy,” I sob as I feel myself being picked up off the cool ground.
Chapter Fourteen
Cowboy
It’s been three months and no fucking sign of her. If life on the ranch and Steeleville hadn’t kept me busy, I don’t know how I’d carry on. We went on missions after finding Rico was alive, rescuing three women in the process. Although, all I can think about is Phoenix and if she’s okay. There is no word on her location and all leads have come to a dead end.
“Baaa.” Her fainting goat nags me when I go out to feed the little guy.
“Hush up. Your momma’s not coming for you or me.” When she cut and run, she’d make sure we couldn’t find her. Cyber has been looking in his downtime, but he doesn’t have much. She left town, dumping her car off at a used car lot for cash, taking a fraction of what it was worth just to get the fuck out of dodge. It helps that she went into my safe and stole twenty thousand dollars from it. There was so much more she could have taken, but she left the other almost two million there. I’m not sure why, but something’s not adding up.
Did I spook her when I said that I loved her? Was it the sex? No. It couldn’t be that because it was fucking incredible. She creamed for me all night long and she promised me that she’d stay. I made sure there was no one here to fill her head with lies, so why did she leave me this time?
“Baaa.” I turn to her little goat and I’m reminded of how my momma raised a big fucking pussy. I fell in love and let it ruin me. The sound of a truck pulling up catches my attention. I step out and it’s a UPS delivery vehicle.