She hit Georgie’s number on her phone, but it rang through to voicemail. Then she typed in a text. How do you know if you’re in too deep?
Georgie was never one to respond right away. Eve didn’t expect an immediate answer, and she didn’t get one. Passing under the scaffolding that spanned the sidewalk, she opened the text from Jack. She jabbed in the start to about a thousand replies to his text:
Your ex is a bitch.
I can’t talk to you right now.
Maybe this was a mistake.
I can’t lose you, too.
She groaned. There it was. The truth. She’d just typed it out in black and white. She studied the words, thought about going back to her lonely apartment with no Jack in it, and shuddered.
With a soft curse, she cleared the screen then, hands shaking, began jabbing in something about how she would talk to him tomorrow.
She couldn’t be honest with him.
Tell him she was afraid of losing him, and the next thing she knew, she’d be showing up at his apartment in nothing but a jacket and calling his next girlfriend terrible names.
She was in too deep, way too deep, and she had no one to blame but herself.
She shivered as a familiar sense of disquiet enveloped her. She’d promised herself never to get wrapped up in Jack, and yet here she was, in so deep that she’d lost track of time and place. She looked up to see whether she’d gotten to Leonard Street yet, cursing her stupidity.
Hadn’t she just been chased by a stranger earlier that day? And now she was walking alone through the dark, oblivious to the outside world? Antonio would—
Suddenly, heavy arms wrapped around her, dragging her toward the street. She shrieked and dropped the phone, her vision blurring before something came down over her head, shrouding everything in blackness. The suffocating stench of oil clouded her lungs and she kicked out at the cause of it.
Another set of arms grabbed her feet, holding her legs immobile. Two sets. A sinking feeling clenched her stomach; she would never be able to fight them off.
She remembered something. When she was a child, her father used to sit her down to watch videos about how to protect herself during a kidnapping. Scream, fight, kick, do whatever you have to do, but don’t let them get you into the car, he’d told her. They get you in the car, and it’s all over.
Summoning every last bit of strength, she wrenched her body hard, but it did nothing. Her father’s words spiraled through her brain as she heard a car door open. She could almost feel the seconds of the clock ticking away her life. Too late, too late, it’s almost too late.
She opened her mouth and screamed with all her power.
The trick didn’t work.
The men holding her deposited her on a carpeted surface, and she fell face first against something hard. Doors slammed shut with great finality behind her, and the idling motor roared. She tried to move, but tires screeched under her. Sliding with the motion of the car, she felt hands on her ankles, binding her legs together.
She couldn’t breathe. It was all over. They were going to kill her.
Chapter Fifteen
Jack
Jack kept his eyes trained on the busy sidewalks as the cab cruised through Eva’s Tribeca neighborhood, hoping to catch a glimpse of her heading to her apartment. She couldn’t have gotten that far, considering she’d taken the subway. The traffic had lessened considerably, and his cab ride had proven a lot smoother.
Maybe he’d even beat her to her door so he could be waiting for her when she arrived.
He already knew what he’d tell her. I’m sorry. Lucy is a vicious witch who is not worth one hair on your head. What happened in the past is in the past. Please, let’s forget we ever ran into her tonight because…
I can’t lose you, too.
That was it. She would think he was insane, but the fact was he’d lost Pietro and Antonio, and he wasn’t ready to lose her, as well. Jack liked spending time with Eva. He liked fucking her; hell, he loved that. In fact, he liked every single little detail about her in a maddening way that made him feel almost empty now that she was gone. But whatever was happening between them was secondary.
Above all, he had to keep her safe.
A scream pierced the air, shattering the usual city roar.