I really fucked up tonight.

Spending an hour sucking some damn prospect’s dick didn’t help shit. The asshole told me he could get me a key to one of the vehicles outside. After I got him off, he told me Skull and Torch had taken all the keys during lockdown. Bastard could’ve told me that shit before I swallowed his pencil dick.

I need to lay low until I can find a way out. There’s no way I can face Beast until I have a plan. He’s an idiot, but I doubt he’ll even buy that I was lying about it all. Now that I’ve ripped the blinders off, he has to know that Terry is Annabelle’s dad. Shit, I never even fucked Beast that night. I knew I was knocked up, and Terry and I drugged his ass so that when he woke up, he’d think he could be the father when I told him.

Terry was the love of my life, but he didn’t have a dime to his name. Beast was loaded, and Terry was already facing ten to fifteen in jail for attempted manslaughter. We needed Beast, so we used him, plain and simple.

And I still can’t believe I fucked it all up last night.

I freeze when I get to Annabelle’s room and find the bastard lying on her bed. He’s huge, way over seven-foot and he looks like the side of a house, he’s so fucking big. His dark hair is long and he constantly wears a beard—entirely too much hair. He can’t even carry on a conversation unless you count grunting. I hate him. He could’ve kept Terry out of jail.

I look at him lying beside my daughter and figure there’s a way I can make him pay. Finding the money and keys on the nightstand just makes it that much easier. I quickly pack the whelp’s overnight bag. She annoys me almost as much as Beast, but she’s the last piece of Terry I have. I grab the money and the keys and stuff them in my pockets. Beast is snoring loudly. Fucker always did—another reason to hate him.

I pick up Annabelle. “Mommy?” she asks sleepily.

“Quiet, Belle. You’ll wake your daddy,” I tell her, choking on the words. “We’re going to run out and get a surprise for daddy.”

“We are?” she whispers excitedly. “What are we gonna get? A puppy? Daddy likes puppies!”

“That’s it. Exactly. But we have to be quiet so no one sees or hears us. We have to sneak out so it will be a real surprise,” I tell her, and I could nearly laugh out loud when she does as I tell her. She’s going to have to toughen up in this world. She can’t be as stupid and clueless as a man. Women have to make their own way. I’ve depended on Beast, and he just kept fucking me over and holding me back. This will be a new start.

Annabelle’s car seat isn’t in the vehicle. Fuckers must have taken it out when they went to drink. I just buckle her in the seat without it. That’s good enough. I get in the car, start it, then drive through the lot. The tricky part is, there’s a gate up ahead. I slow down. That fucker I sucked off is manning the gates—him and another prospect.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks through my window. “Skull said no one in or out.”

“Beast gave me his keys. I have to take my daughter to the doctor. She has a fever.”

“They didn’t tell me. I think Beast would’ve said something, or else be with you. I’m going to have to clear it with them before I can let you go.”

Son of a bitch.

“What? Why? I just sucked you off! You owe me, you miserable fucker!”

“Please, you weren’t even that good,” he says, walking away and grabbing the phone inside the small guard shack.

He’s going to ruin it all. I can’t let that happen. I look over at Annabelle. “Hold on. Mommy’s going to drive through the gates so we can get out of here.”

“But mommy… daddy can go with us to get the puppy! We don’t have to—”

Her voice drones on, but I ignore it, jerking the car into reverse, then pushing the accelerator to the floor. It lurches backwards, then I brake hard. That stupid idiot jumps in front of the Durango like he can stop it. I jerk the lever back to drive, floor it again, then bounce him off the hood. Annabelle screams and even that makes me smile.

Yeah, I’ll toughen her up. She’ll learn what the real world is about.

We slam through the gates and they break away with the sound of crashing metal. Once we make it through them to the main road, I don’t slow down. I’m laughing louder than Annabelle’s crying. I’m free! I’m finally fucking free! I don’t let off the accelerator. It climbs to fifty, fifty-five, sixty, and then something strange happens. At sixty-five, there’s a loud click. I can hear it over everything else, even Annabelle’s screaming. The car loses power. There’s a loud boom from the back of the vehicle, startling me out of my laughter. Heat swallows us from all directions.

“Daddy! Daddy! I want my daddy! Take me to my daddy!” Annabelle cries, her tears and sobs racking her little body. Fear blooms through me. I look in the rearview mirror just in time to witness the explosion. Fire consumes everything—including us.