Page 11 of Between Control and Chaos
She forces a smile as I buckle into the front seat, and she pulls onto the main road. “Where can I drop you off? You look lost. Did your car break down?”
She reaches into her purse and retrieves her cell phone, glancing at it briefly to unlock it before handing the device over to me.
“Thanks,” I say and dial Luca. He picks up on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Luca.” My heart leaps wildly and my hands tremble. I’m unsure if it’s the cold still raging through me or my anxiety rearing its ugly head.
“Harper! Where are you?”
My breath catches in my throat, and I hold back tears. Just hearing his voice offers me comfort. “I managed to escape. I’m in the car with—” I glance at the girl beside me. “What’s your name again?”
“Izzie,” she says, and her hands tighten on the steering wheel as she focuses on the road in front of her. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”
“She says her name is Izzie,” I whisper and glance at her, realizing I recognize her and now remembering from where.
I’d met her once, briefly, outside of the police station. She’d handed me a business card with the name Eagle Tactical, had tried convincing me to talk to her dad who owned the company. I’d tossed the card and made sure Dante never knew about it.
“Where are you?” Luca asks.
“I’m not sure—I see the Blue Sky Resort. You can drop me off there,” I say, glancing at Izzie, pointing at the bright lights and the resort in the distance on the mountain, wanting to be someplace public and safe.
Riding in the car with a stranger, after what just happened, I don’t feel particularly safe.
She turns onto Great Mountain Road, which winds us up along the mountain. We’re nowhere near the top, but it’s a heavily traveled road, paved, unlike the one I’d been on when I’d escaped.
“Okay, Moreno and Nico aren’t far. I’ll have them pick you up. When you get there, go inside and stay in the lobby.”
“I will. I love you, Luca.”
“I love you too.”
His words are like music to my ears, soothing everything inside of me. But I know I’m not safe, not yet.
Jayden is still out there.
Izzie turns left onto the private road for the resort and she glances at me, her brow furrowed. I hand her back the phone. “Thanks.”
“Listen, I didn’t know—I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry,” I repeat slowly, wondering why she’s apologizing. I shift uncomfortably in my seat as I glance her over.
Jayden had a partner.
There had been two people who’d grabbed me.
“You were there, with Jayden,” I say and unbuckle my seatbelt.
“I didn’t know—Jayden told me you were in on it. That you wanted to get away from the mafia. From Dante. When he mentioned your name, I believed him, because we’d met—outside the police station.”
My breath catches in my throat and bile rises to my lips. I swallow the burning sensation down and gulp air with it. “You were the one who told him I’d gone to the cops.”
Izzie shakes her head, slowing down but approaching the resort. I reach for the door handle, yanking it open.
“I swear I only told my father. I had no idea Jayden was going to do that. I’m sorry, please, Harper, believe me.”
“He abducted me, and you helped him.”
