Present
The cameras flashing and people shouting my name have my heart throbbing with excitement. As I walk down the red carpet, I wave and shake hands with eager fans, taking selfies with them as I go. Many of them ask for an autograph, which I’m happy to dish out. I love my fans, and I’d do pretty much anything for them. The spotlight is where I come to life; in the darkness is where my secrets lie. Here, I am something, someone special, someone to admire, and someone they adore. I prefer living a lie to the truth. Keeps me sane.
I squint when the flash aims at my eyes. Suppressing a yawn, I turn toward a different crowd. God, I’m so tired; it’s as if I didn’t sleep at all last night. Not only that, but I felt watched. As if someone was lurking in the corners, waiting to sneak up on me. I could swear I even felt hot air brisk along my chest.
Except, when I opened my eyes, there was nothing. No one. I must’ve been having a freakishly realistic nightmare of some sort, but it sure kept me awake half the night.
I return my attention to the crowd, trying hard not to let anyone notice my fatigue.
“Mrs. Starr! Mrs. Starr! Can I have your autograph?” a fan begs, while others beside her squeal when I approach.
“Of course,” I say, smiling as we take a picture together. Then I scribble something on her shirt and walk to the next in line. A fan up ahead catches my attention. Though not because of the abundance of excitement, but rather, mostly the lack of it. The fan is wearing a hoodie, and from what I can see, he’s facing downwards at the ground, not saying a thing.
As I come closer to this person, my skin begins to crawl. Is this the same person from the bar? Or am I just imagining things?
But the closer I get, the shorter my breath becomes. His hands rest on the fence in front of him, and I can clearly see the distinct tattoos running along the back. Just looking at it gives me the shivers.
My pace slows down as I reach him, unsure what to do. I can’t skip this part; all the fans surrounding him would be disappointed, and I came here just for them. Well, and for the award, of course. But I’m not leaving them without giving them what they want.
So I step in front and pose with a few fans and give an autograph. Only when I lean in too far does he groan.
I stop in my tracks and look at him. There’s a face under that hoodie, but I can barely see it, as he won’t look up. It creeps me out so much that I step back. His grip on the fence tightens the more I back away, fear holding a steady grip on my heart.
I shriek when I bump into someone.
“Mrs. Starr, are you okay?” I turn around and notice it’s my bodyguard.
I nod shakily. “I want to go.”
“All right,” he says, and he signals the others to come.
I look up and glance at the man standing behind the fence. The devious smile plastered on his face is not as unsettling as the cold, harsh look in his pitch black eyes as he looks up to show me his face.
“Phoenix …” I whisper.
And then I’m whisked away by the bodyguard pulling me ahead across the carpet.
I look back at the fence, but the man in the hoodie is gone. No matter how many times I blink, there’s no one there. It’s like he vanished right before my eyes.
I shake my head, thinking to myself that I’m imagining things. I must be losing my mind.
I get into the limo and let the bodyguards close the door for me. I’m still staring at the same spot where the man stood, even though he’s no longer there. An icky feeling follows me wherever I go, something that makes me want to wrap myself in a warm blanket and pretend I don’t exist.
But I can’t escape what’s coming. It’s only a matter of time before he’ll come for me.
The note that he sent me a while back is scorched into my mind. I can still see the words in front of me as if he wrote them yesterday. He knows what I’ve done, he wants revenge … and he won’t stop until he’s ripped my heart out of my chest.
I can only hope that when the day arrives that he’s let out of jail, I’ll be ready for him.
When I get back home, the first thing I do is check my surroundings. Every step I take, I fear someone might leap out of the bushes and attack me or something. It’s ridiculous, but I can’t help feeling the way I do.
I try to shake it off as I walk toward my door and put the key in the lock. From what I can hear, the television is on, so that must mean Arthur is already home. I hope he’s in a better mood.
I get inside and hang my coat while closing the door behind me. “Hey, honey,” I say.
“Hey,” he replies, but his voice seems distant, like he’s focusing on something else entirely. “Can you come here for a second?”
I frown, walking toward the living room. “What’s the matter?”
“I think you should take a look at this.”
Passing the wall, I look inside and see him sitting on the couch with the remote control in his hand, pointing at the screen. The moment I look at the news broadcast, my handbag drops from my hands onto the floor, the noise ringing in my ears. My breath falters in my throat, a sudden choking nausea taking over.
Phoenix Sullivan and a bunch of other criminals have escaped prison and are on the loose.
He’s coming for me, right now.
Maybe he’s already here, lurking, waiting to strike.
And I’m not prepared.
***
PHOENIX
Two days ago
Rain comes pouring down on our heads as we run across the courtyard in the dark of night. We hide behind the walls and bushes, trying to remain invisible to the guards in the towers and the ones patrolling the area. The one guard who’s on our side thanks to bribery had left the prison doors unlocked and left a key in our pillows so we could use it to escape. We’ve been tiptoeing around the halls ever since, knocking out guard after guard, even stealing their clothes to pull them on ourselves. We can use that as an excuse if someone spots us.
DeLuca keeps tabs on the back while I focus on the front as we rush to the hole in the ground. It’s not visible to the naked eye, but I know exactly where it’s at, and the first thing that I do when I get there is slide away the fresh patches of grass and push aside the wooden board.
“C’mon,” I say to DeLuca, as he keeps looking behind the wall to make sure nobody’s seen us. “Let’s go!”
I jump into the hole, which is at least one-third filled up with water. My clothes are soaking wet as I trudge through the narrow opening until the hole is no longer in sight. When I hear a splash, I look behind me and see DeLuca tailing me.
“Fuck, it’s completely drenched,” he mumbles.
“Fucking rain,” I mutter.
“Couldn’t have picked a better day, huh?” he says, laughing a bit.
“Too bad. We’ll just have to deal with it. There’s no going back now,” I say, pushing forward. The hole is narrow and barely has enough space to fit a whole body through but squeezing myself together seems to do the trick.
Suddenly, I hear another splash behind us and then DeLuca is gurgling. I turn around and see the same goddamn inmate I beat up a couple of days ago. He has DeLuca in a chokehold.
“You ain’t going nowhere without me,” he growls.
“Shh!” I whisper. “Keep it down before the guards hear you.”
“Like I care. I won’t let you two fuckers escape without me.”
I look at DeLuca who’s kicking and punching to get his attacker off him, but the man has pushed his head underwater. I take a step forward to see if I can rescue him, but the man only pushes him down further.
“Ah-ah, make a move and your friend here is dead,” he says, crushing him.
Damn, he’s even stronger than DeLuca. That’s a first.
“What do you want?” I ask, swallowing my pride.
“I want to come with you.”
“Is that it?”
“And you’d better not rat me out or throw me to the wolves, or things will get ugly,” he adds.
“Fine, yes,” I say.
“Is that a deal then?” He plucks DeLuca from the water, allowing him a much-needed breath.
“Yes! Deal!” I repeat. “Now let him go.”
He releases DeLuca from his grip, who barely manages to catch himself before he falls headfirst into the water again. I help him up in the narrow space as the man tries to push past me in an effort to get out first.
“Stop,” I say. “If you force your way through, the whole thing will collapse on top of us.”
“So? I just want to get the fuck out of here.”
“We’ll be trapped, or worse, we’ll die,” I repeat while I help DeLuca stand.
The guy muffles a laugh. “So you dig out a cave, only to have it bury us alive?” He frowns. “Son of a bitch.”
“At least I did something to get us out of here,” I say, narrowing my eyes. “What did you do? Nothing.”
“I can still kill him, you know.” He cracks his knuckles. “So either you let me tag along, or you’re both dead.”
As if he could kill me. I’d have jammed his own fucking teeth into his skull before he’d had a chance to come near me. I’m the fastest motherfucker they’ll ever see. However, I won’t let him touch DeLuca again. DeLuca is supposed to be one of the strongest men in the organization, and yet this fucker got him weak. I’ve never seen this shit before. Damn.
DeLuca’s lost way too much energy from that chokehold just now, and carrying him through the narrow passage doesn’t give me enough time to react should the guy decide to attack me again.
So I opt for the easy route. “Fine. Go on ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”
He smiles. “Good. Name’s Drago, by the way. Just in case you have something to say.”
“Charming,” I say, as I drag DeLuca along.
“I’m fine, Nix,” he says, coughing a little. “You can let go now.”
“Fuck, no. I won’t have you drowning in this shithole.”
“I can stand on my own legs,” he says, but then he’s almost choking on his own saliva again. Drago really did a number on him.
“I won’t let him get away with what he did,” I whisper to him.
“I know you won’t.” DeLuca looks at me. “But you won’t get him before I do.”
We both smile and laugh, continuing our journey through the hole until we get to the other side. The cold water has caused us to shiver, and by the time I’ve lifted DeLuca out on the other side of the fence, I can barely feel my own feet anymore.
Right at that moment, an alarm sounds and lights flood the premises.
“Shit!” I yell, as I pull myself out of the hole.
“They’re on to us,” DeLuca says.
I glance back at the guards streaming out of the facility. Rifles are being prepared. The lights zoom in on us.
Panting, I scream, “Run!”
The alarms screech louder and louder as we leg it toward the nearest forest. It’s not too far ahead, but the grasslands are completely empty, and we’re like targets with a bull’s-eye on our backs out here. DeLuca still has trouble running, so I help him along as Drago runs on ahead. We’re almost to the forest as they start shooting. I can hear the bullets ricochet off the ground behind us.
“Don’t look back,” I say, running as hard as I can.
DeLuca shakes his head. “Go, go on.”
“Not without you,” I growl, pulling him along with me.
The bullets are so close, I can feel them graze along my skin, leaving a track of blood in their place, but I’ll stop at nothing to achieve my goal. Three more steps. Two more steps. One big jump and we’re behind the line of trees.
Into the darkness we go, rushing across the fallen leaves deeper into the forest. The further we get, the less I can hear the alarm, and the bullets have ceased. We keep running for our lives, never looking back, but sticking close together like a pack of wolves let out of their cage for the first time.
I’m free. I can feel it in my bones, taste the freshness on my tongue, hear it in the rustling of the leaves, and smell the freedom. It’s heaven.
Until I realize that I had only one goal. One reason. One purpose.
It’s why I wanted out of that prison, and it’s the sole reason why I was in there in the first place.
That woman … she’s mine for the taking now, and I’m coming for her.
The hunt is on.
