I’m alone in the bed. It’s kind of sad. Jacob woke me up once more in the night. I still didn’t get to touch him like I wanted, but it was amazing. I can’t deny it, I was scared of the morning light, because last night was the single most perfect night of my life. Well, at least after Jacob got in bed with me. I stretch, my body is sore and well used. The house is quiet, which is odd. Since I’ve made the move to Kentucky, I don’t think Dragon and his men have ever left me alone. I shrug it off. I’m sure he’s around somewhere.

I sigh and get up. I’m hungry, so I’m going to have to get my butt moving. I take a quick shower, braiding my wet hair when I get out. It’s easier than worrying about blow-drying and fixing it. I don’t bother with makeup, because food seems more important right now. I’m starved.

I walk into the living room, expecting to see Jacob asleep on the couch or something, but the room is empty. I try not to let fear grab me. It’s silly. Before my parents died I never worried. Living like I have, has made me see shadows where there are none. I go into the kitchen. It’s a little after eleven, but surely that’s not too late for breakfast. I’ll make extra in case Alexander is still here, and him and Jacob are both hungry.

I scramble some eggs, fry bacon and make toast and still…nothing. I figured the smell of food would get their attention. I go outside and look around and there’s no one there. The Tahoe is missing too. I look around one last time and go back inside. I’m a little disappointed that Jacob didn’t tell me he was leaving, but I suck it up. He gave me more than I was expecting last night. I have to go with that.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” I laugh at myself, opening the door to go back into the kitchen.

“Do you always talk to yourself?” I jerk, looking towards the voice. Sitting at the table is a slightly over-weight man with dull, brown hair that has gray weaved throughout. He’s sitting calmly at the table, facing the door. He’s eating out of the plate I had put down for Jacob, like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

I hold onto the door and try to still the beating of my heart. I don’t know who he is, but the mere fact that he has shown up the way he has is not a good thing. I look at him and then towards the front door, wondering if I should take off running.

“I wouldn’t try that. You can’t see it, but there’s a gun in my lap and I’ll shoot you before you make it outside and besides my man would stop you as soon as you crossed the threshold.”

I turn at his words and notice the big, ugly man staring at me, with this leering look that immediately makes my stomach revolt. I fight to keep the bile from rising. The guy comes in and locks the door behind him.

Yeah okay. Now what?

“Come on in Sugar, let’s have some of this breakfast you took the time to fix. I do love a woman who knows her way around the kitchen.”

I don’t want to, like I really don’t want to? Still, I don’t have a choice.

I swallow trying to figure out what to do here, Jacob will be back, I just have to bide my time. Plus, Bull once told me that this whole house was monitored heavily. The cavalry will come, I just need to stall. Heck fire, I have rotten luck.

I take a few steps to the kitchen, but I don’t go all the way. That’s when he holds up the gun and uses it to motion me into a seat across from him.

I sit down, by that time I have to—my legs feel like jelly.

“Bacon?” He asks, still using the gun to motion. I grab a piece, because I don’t know how he’d react if I turn him down.

He stares at me, waiting. I take a bite of the bacon. It tastes like sawdust, but that seems to make him happy, because he places the gun back on the table beside him.

“Tell me Carolina, do you know who I am?”

“No,” I have a good idea, but I don’t say it. The fact is that he uses a name that I haven’t heard since I was old enough to demand no one use it, doesn’t exactly fill me with happiness. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know this is the man who killed my parents. I know it. He knows I know, but saying no seems like the best option right now.

“Carolina, I’m so disappointed. I thought you were smarter than that,” he says calmly taking another bite of food.

“Boss, we don’t have time for this shit. You promised you’d pay me as soon as you got your hands on this bitch. We need to get out of here before those damn bikers show up. I didn’t agree to this damn shit, to get my ass killed,” the thug still standing by the door states. He looks antsy. He keeps looking out the window by the door and everything about him screams fear. While this is good, I figure it could also be bad. Having someone with a gun, who is operating on fear and adrenaline, doesn’t sound like a good thing.

“Did you make sure we won’t be disturbed?”

“I put the idiot out of commission. He never knew what hit him.”

“Excellent. “Now my dear,” he says putting his fork down. “Let’s try this again. Do you know who I am?”

“Not really, no,” I answer, worried they’ve hurt Jacob. Where is the damn cavalry? As for the asshole in front of me, up until this point he has only ever been a shadow to me. I’ve never seen a face. I’ve heard Dragon and Alexander refer to him before, but right now I must be too far into panic mode, because I can’t even remember the name.

“Boss, damn it! You know this place is under surveillance, even if Shorty did disable the actual alarms before he left. We have to get out of here.”

“In due time.”

“Due time nothing. If you want to be stupid, fine. Give me my money and you can stay here if you want. I’m not staying to be target practice for the Savage boys.”

The man at the table lets off a fake sigh, which is overly loud and heavy. He picks up the gun and aims it at me.

My body instantly breaks out in a cold sweat. I never thought about dying. How strange is that? Even with all the close calls I’ve had? Even with the way I lost my parents, I’ve been stupid and never gave myself time to think about dying. I pushed it all to the back of my mind. When there is a gun pointed at you, staring you straight in the face, there is no denying it. There just isn’t. When I die, will anyone miss me? Will anyone mourn me? There’s so much more I wanted in life. I’ll never have that now. I’ll never get another minute with Jacob. I’ll never be able to try to help him further. I’ll never have his lips on mine again. I’ll never feel his hands touch me. Just the thought of never having that hurts physically.

I hear the click of the hammer from the gun and I figure that’s it. I can’t stop the tears that fall. I wait for the shot. The bacon in my hand drops to the table, my eyes on those of my killer.

I watch as his finger presses against the trigger, as if it is in slow motion. At the last second he moves the gun up and to the right. I can feel the breeze of a bullet as it whizzes past me. I jump and scream at the sound of the blast. My ears ring so loud, I can barely hear the laughter of the madman. His face is blurry from the tears in my eyes and they only increase with the near death experience I’ve just survived. I take the back of my hand and try to wipe away the tears. I’m mad they are there, but I can’t stop them. I turn to see that he has shot the man behind me. The man falls immediately, his white t-shirt becomes soaked with blood. It’s so dark, thick and horrific that I can’t seem to look away. When I finally do, it is to see hollow eyes staring back at me. Dead. I knew he would be, but something about those eyes, so lifeless and stark, seems wrong.

“That was such fun, but alas a gun is not to be your end, Sugar.” He tells me once he stops his laughter. He tosses me a napkin from the table and I pick it up, trying to dry my eyes.

I hate crying in front of him. I hate that my hands are shaking even more, because I know he is enjoying that. I take a breath. Jacob will save me. I try to ignore the coppery odor of blood and death that have invaded the room. I go back to my original plan. I have to give Jacob enough time to rescue me. I know he will, I just have to keep this monster talking and delay whatever plan he has.

“Jacob will be back any minute. You won’t get away with this.”

“Oh but I will. He left you in the care of another to run errands for his boss. I hope he does come back soon though. To be honest I’m actually waiting on him. I just needed to make sure I had you first to hold over him.”

“Why would you…”

My voice freezes as he moves his jacket to the side and reveals a bomb. Well, I’m pretty sure it is. It looks weird compared to the way they are portrayed in the movies, but there is a small digital timer counting backwards on it. It looks like a stop watch. There are no glowing large numbers counting down my doom. No, these numbers are small and hard to see because of my tears. I strain to see. I have just a little over sixteen minutes.

“Why?” I ask again. “Why would you do this? What am I to you?”

“To me nothing, but you mean something to Mr. Blake. You mean something to him and he took away everything from me. Killing you is not the complete revenge I wished for,” he pauses, seems to think it over, and shrugs. “That damn club has frozen my assets and I have nothing. That’s just another reason I had to kill my friend over there. Thanks to the Savage Brothers I couldn’t pay anyone, even if I wanted to. No, that damn club has me by the balls. I know it’s just a matter of time before they find me. I’m a marked man. I figure if I’m going to die, I shall get revenge for my son’s death in the bargain. So you see dear Carolina, you’re all mine. Whatever shall we do?”