Page 92 of Run

Elle couldn’t help but smile. The drive, and everything on it, was in police custody. Even the cops Tommy had in his pocket couldn’t get to it now. Chain of evidence was sacrosanct. There were systems in place to ensure no one could tamper with any of it. The drive was out of Tommy’s reach.

And it was all down to pure dumb luck.

If Megan hadn’t chosen a laptop with an easy access drive that didn’t require a screwdriver to remove it, or if Elle had still been using her original machine, she wouldn’t have been able to get to the hard drive. So, frying her baby had been worth it, as it meant she’d been carrying a laptop with a removable hard drive. One she’d decided to leave behind after their car was struck. If Megan hadn’t gone shopping and Elle hadn’t hidden the drive, everything that’d happened would have been for nothing. Megan would get a kick out of this for sure.

Tommy ended the call with a furious stab at the screen and tossed the phone back to Cutter.

“What do we do?” Cutter asked.

For once, Elle kept her clever comments to herself.

“We’ve got some time before they access the drive,” Tommy said, still staring at Elle as his own phone began to ring. He took it out and glanced at the screen before silencing it. “You think you’ve won, don’t you?” he said to her.

“I never thought this was a game,” she told him. “It was never about winning or losing. It was about stopping you.”

“See?” Tommy spread his hands. “That’s where you went wrong. You can’t stop me. Nobody can stop me. You think the cops are gonna come in here and arrest me? I own the fucking cops.”

“Not all of them,” she pointed out.

“Enough. And even if they do come for me, I’ll just shift countries for a while and conduct business elsewhere while I work on my tan. You’ve achieved nothing here—except for getting Marcus killed.”

It was pointless arguing with him. “Ticktock, Tommy. Better run away before the cops get here. Hurry along now.”

“I wish I could spend weeks taking you apart.” It was clear he meant every word. “Instead, I’ll let Cutter here have some fun for a while before he finishes you off.”

Elle let her disgust with him show. “You should have left me alone, Tommy. I left you alone.”

“That was your mistake.” He turned his back, dismissing her. “I need a minute to think, and I can’t do it in here with this smell.” He glanced down at his suit and winced. “I’m going to change. When you’ve finished with her, meet me upstairs. She’s no use to us now. And, Cutter,” he said as he reached for the door handle, “don’t take too long. We got to pack.”

“I don’t need a whole lotta time to make her pay,” Cutter said as he slid one of his many knives from its sheath.

The cold light from the bulbs above Elle’s head glinted off the blade as a calm acceptance stole over her. She was going to die. It would be painful, and it would cause someone else joy. But there was nothing she could do about it.

Was this how Marcus felt at the end?

Was this the same acceptance she’d seen in Ryan’s eyes before he collapsed?

As Tommy swung the door open and stepped out of the room, Cutter bore down on her. Elle wasn’t proud; she shut her eyes, not wanting to see the glee on his face as he tortured her. Steeling herself, she waited for that first cut.

But it didn’t come.

Instead, there was a soft thumping sound, and then something heavy thudded to the floor.

Elle’s eyes flew open to see Abasi bearing down on Cutter, his gun aimed at the man as he backed him up against the wall. Meanwhile, David stepped over Tommy’s body and into the room, coming straight for her.

“Is this real?” she asked, fearing it was a hallucination brought on by pain she could no longer feel. Had she tuned out Cutter while he used his knife on her? Had she gone to a happier place, one where David saved her and all was right with the world?

“Yeah, Blue, this is real.” He clasped the back of her head and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“If this was a dream, you’d totally say that, so it doesn’t help convince me,” she said as he crouched in front of her and worked on releasing the ties from her ankles. “Say something I couldn’t imagine you saying.”

“When this is all over”—David finished with her legs and moved around her to unlock the cuffs. Was he picking the lock? She needed to learn to do that. It would so come in handy—“we’re getting married.”

Elle’s heart skipped a beat, and then she started laughing. “Youarereal.”

“And I’m serious. We’re getting married.”

“You can’t ask me to marry you while I’m being tortured.” Her brain wasn’t working as well as it should have because it took her another second to realize he hadn’t asked at all. He’d just told her.