Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
She’d itched. That was one of the worst things – a full-body itch. When she’d looked down, she’d seen something moving beneath her skin, like a parasite, alive and seeking a way out. It had pushed against her, her skin rising and lowering as it moved around her. Every muscle had screamed in pain.
She remembered the feeling of doom. The need to exit the car. It had been so strong she’d managed to clumsily push the door handle. The driver had glanced back over his shoulder, a look of horror on his face at what he’d seen. Then she’d been flying out of the vehicle as it sped into one of the tight turns overlooking the sea. She’d been in another body, the cat leaping a good thirty feet and clearing the road to land in the grass on the other side. She’d turned briefly, crouching as the car blew apart, pieces of the vehicle raining down into the ocean below.
She’d been so scared as the leopard ran, going into the grass, instinctively heading for home. He has betrayed you. Sonia would never forget that either. Those were Gatita’s first words to her. That quiet, very calm statement. Making it a fact, one she hadn’t been able to dispute with the car in the ocean.
Gatita had taken her to the small guesthouse where Sonia had stashed the bag she kept with clothes and money, just as her mother had instructed her to have prepared. She had two ready now, one in her house and the other buried down the road. She’d gotten them to the Everglades and Gatita had taken over, telling her what to do and how to do it. Later, she’d caught a ride from a trucker, heading to Louisiana. That had sounded good to her. She’d ridden in silence, crying silent tears, but he hadn’t asked questions. When they’d stopped for gas, or a food break, she’d used the restroom, checking carefully first to make certain no cameras could catch a glimpse of her. She’d never gone inside to eat, just told the driver she wasn’t hungry. He’d brought her food without a word.
When she’d told him to let her off near the swamp, he’d objected, but finally pulled the truck to the side of the road. He’d offered her money, which she’d turned down, and then he was gone. He’d been nice, leaving her to absorb all that had happened.
“I heard them. My husband and father-in-law. My husband said the marriage wasn’t legal and then they talked about killing me.” The moment she’d overheard the conversation between Sasha and his father, she’d really stashed money, as much as she’d been able to get her hands on in preparation. She’d wiped out the accounts that morning and had hoped to get away from her driver at the mall where she was going shopping, return unseen, get the “go” bag and disappear for good. “I took my time planning how to leave, getting as much money together as I could. I wanted to do it before I left, so they didn’t have a starting point to track me.”
“That is so horrible. Couldn’t you go to the police?”
Sonia shook her head. “Like you, that’s not an option for me. He owns a few cops, and I don’t know which ones. He could get to me. It’s better that he thinks I’m dead. It’s safer.”
“Are you certain they think that?”
“I read all the papers, everything I could get my hands on. It was sad, my poor husband, a widower so early in his life. He was thirty-three and his young bride had died. They found pieces of her burned clothing, but not her body. My father-in-law loved me like a daughter, poor man. They really played to the press.”
Molly took a deep breath and let it out. “I really hate that men did this to us and we can’t make them pay. I have to live in fear for the rest of my life, and so do you. Why?”
Sonia forced a small grin. “Bad judgment? I think we’re in the same boat there. We went for the wrong men and now we’re in a mess.”
“I love that little accent, the way you twist your words. Has Joshua noticed it?”
Her heart reacted with a small thud. “He has mentioned it. Just last night.” What else had he found out about her? Her age. He’d been clever going about it. How long she’d been married. When her mother had died. He worked with Donovan in security. They had to investigate the people they were going to go after. That meant he had the resources to have her investigated. Were the things she’d told him enough to ferret out who she’d been married to?
“I bet he loves it.”
Sonia nodded a little absently. “That’s what he said, but he’s always saying things like that. He compliments me quite a bit.”