Chapter 2

2.

Overnight, I lost the husband who loved me and the child I carried for ten months.

Marcus Kane shredded every scrap of love that night. All that remained was bone-deep hate.

Now, maybe God took pity on me. I woke up back on the day of the kidnapping.

I made the kidnappers wait an hour longer than last time before they called Marcus.

They wanted him to release one of their crew from county jail. They weren't killers.

Last time, they barely touched me. I was cooperative.

This time, I'd made them angry.

I watched Scarface's face flush red. I let tears fall.

"Just kill me. I really don't want to live."

Scarface slapped me again.

I wailed. Spilled my misery.

"Save me? He wants me dead. Our house. Our joint house. He mortgaged it. For that whore. Gifts for that whore. My baby. I lost them all. Because of him."

He was scum. He wouldn't come. God, what was the point.

The words poured out. Real grief bleeding through fake tears.

Scarface looked at Baldy. Uncertainty in his eyes.

Baldy's face was grim. He strode over. Kicked my chair.

"Shut it. Shut your mouth."

He kept dialing. Ten calls. All rejected. On the eleventh attempt, the line went dead.

Disconnected.

Marcus had made up his mind. I was lying. His precious Hannah was all that mattered.

Scarface was losing it.

"Is this guy brain-damaged? His wife is in trouble and he's not worried at all?"

Baldy stayed cold.

"Wait. The sheriff's office will notice by morning. Then they'll care."

They ate their microwave pasta. I sat in the corner. Rope biting my wrists.

Dawn came. No Marcus.

Baldy's composure cracked.

Then he kicked me in the stomach.

Agony. White-hot.

My vision swam. Scarface pointed.

"She's bleeding. A lot."

Baldy's face shifted.

"Hey. What's wrong."

I couldn't form words. Barely a whisper.

"Help. Me. Please. I'm going to die."

Sirens screamed outside.

Baldy looked at the blood. Looked at the cops.

"We leave. Now. Let Marcus deal with this mess."

The sirens closed in. My body was failing me.

Again?

I was going to lose my baby again?

Tears dripped off my chin.

Baby. Please. Just hold on a little longer.