Using her left elbow to balance, Olivia made her way back up to her feet. She’d just started to run again when she heard the man on the ground start yelling at her from behind.
“You stupid bitch! I’ll fucking kill you!”
This was quickly followed by Cetro’s loud bellowing voice.
“No!”
On reflex, Olivia turned around to assess the threats behind her. She couldn’t believe what she saw.
The man on the ground had his gun pointed directly at her heart. Cetro had his gun aimed, too...just not at her.
He was marching hastily from the barn’s large entrance, the barrel of his pistol pointed straight at the other man’s head. She’d just started to run again, when the two men fired their guns simultaneously.
One of the bullets tore through the dirt and gravel by her feet. Olivia screamed and nearly fell over trying to avoid it.
She looked back as the man who’d tried to shoot her fell to the ground. Cetro had shot him in the head. What the hell is happening?
Not wanting to stick around to find out, Olivia started to run again. Cetro, the crazy bastard, ordered her to stop as another bullet hit the ground next to her.
“Fuck you!” Olivia yelled over her shoulder, still running.
He was going to kill her anyway, and a bullet was probably a lot better way to go than whatever else the sick bastard had planned for her.
He fired his weapon again and she felt a burning pain shoot across the outside of her left shoulder. She stumbled. Shit, that hurt!
“The next one will go into your leg.”
Unwilling to give up, Olivia kept going, even though she knew he was gaining on her. Between the pain in her wrist, and the blood loss from the cut in her arm, Olivia was quickly losing steam.
She was hurting and scared. Even more than that, she was pissed. Enough was more than freaking enough.
If she was going to die—and this time it looked as if that was the case—she sure as hell was not going to make it easy on him.
“Go to hell!” Olivia yelled back, her voice shakier than she would have liked. “You want to kill me, then kill me. But, I’ll be damned if I let you take me into that barn.”
She stumbled, falling down to her knees again. Get up, Bradshaw! Don’t let him win! Olivia tried, but tumbled to the ground once more.
When Cetro was almost next to her, she fully expected him to hit her. Or maybe kick her, like he’d done while she’d been held captive.
What she didn’t expect was the snarling smile spread across his face as loomed over her.
“You will walk into that barn willingly. Then, you will do and say whatever I tell you to. You do this, and it all ends here. With you. If you do not”—he leaned down closer to her and yanked her up by her arm, causing her to cry out—“then once I am finished with you, I will find Jake McQueen and put a bullet between his eyes. After that, I will do the same to every man...and the pretty blond woman...on his team.”
Olivia couldn’t keep from gasping loudly. He knew about Jake? And the team?
Horrific image of Jake and the others, dead by this bastard’s hand, flashed before her. Dear God, this man was pure evil.
Staring into a set of cold, unemotional eyes, Olivia tried to determine whether or not he was lying. He could be. Probably was. Unfortunately, there was no way to know for sure.
There was also no way in hell could she take that chance. Jake meant too much to her. So did the team.
She was faced with the worst kind of decision. Either go willingly into that barn, and let this man dish out whatever torture he had in mind before killing her, or fight him and risk him going after Jake and the others.
He may still do that, but if there was even a chance that she could prevent that, Olivia would do whatever she had to in order to—
Oh, God!
Realization hit with the force of a wrecking ball. Everything Mikey and Trevor had said about Jake and why he’d lied to her came rushing back tenfold. Olivia choked out a low sob as it all sank in.
She finally understood, but now, it was too late. She was going to die with Jake believing she hated him.
Another sob escaped because she knew Jake would spend the rest of his life blaming himself. That thought alone was worse than any physical pain she was about to endure.
At least Jake will be alive. He’ll have a chance to move on. To be happy.
With that in mind, Olivia began walking back toward the barn. Her entire body hurt, but the jolts of pain were worth it if it meant saving Jake’s life in the end.
****
Jake sped into Olivia’s driveway. He slammed on the breaks, and put his truck in park behind Trevor’s.
A large dust cloud bellowed up from behind him, and the vehicle was still rocking when he opened his door and raced toward the house.
Trevor stood on the sidewalk at the bottom of the porch steps, the look on his face confirming Jake’s worst fears.
“Why the fuck haven’t you been answering your phone? I’ve been calling you for twenty goddamn minutes!”
His friend remained quiet, which pretty much gave Jake his answer. With his heart in his throat, he made a move to go inside, but Trevor’s palm slapped against his chest to stop him.
“She’s not here, Jake.” Jake’s boot hit the bottom step, but Trevor pushed harder. “You don’t want to go in there, man.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jake knew he was right. From the tortured look in Trevor’s eyes, he knew that whatever was behind that door was bad. Really bad.
Still, he couldn’t not go inside. Jake had to know. He needed to see for
