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“Harlow needs help with the ol-Vera,” Tamara explained with a big, fake smile, opening the screen door so that he could come in.

As soon as Klutz stepped into the room, our eyes met over the hand covering my mouth. In a split second, he reached for what I assumed was his weapon. Bronx pushed me forcefully into Klutz, knocking him off balance, and in the seconds that it took Klutz to move me aside, Bronx had his hand at Klutz’s throat. He chopped the gun from Klutz’s hand and pushed him up against the wall, burying a knife into his stomach. I screamed and ran toward Klutz, but Bronx grabbed me and kept me from reaching him.

“Klutz!” I cried out, watching him sink to the floor with a stunned look on his face. He hadn’t stood a chance. I turned toward Bronx angrily and went for his eyes, but he leaned away from my attack, and my nails scraped down his cheek instead. “You bastard!”

His laughter infuriated me. “Looks like I got a little wildcat on my hands. Maybe I will give your pussy a try.” He shook me like a rag doll. “Or maybe your sweet ass,” he threatened.

I’d kill myself before letting him touch me.

“Bronx, baby, maybe we should get out of here.”

If Tamara were Bronx’s girlfriend, she didn’t seem to mind his threatening to rape me.

“There’s two neighbors across the street looking over here.”

Bronx snarled and jerked me up against him, seemingly tired of my struggling. “You see how easy it was killing that fucking prospect?” He didn’t wait for me to respond. “Won’t matter to me if I add two more to the list. If you don’t want that on your conscience, you’d better walk to the car like you’re going willingly. You get me, bitch?”

A sob escaped me. I nodded, and when he released me, I wiped my cheeks. My arm was throbbing where he’d cut me, but it wasn’t deep. Maybe with a little luck the neighbors would see the blood staining my blouse and running down my arm and would call the police. The three of us walked outside toward the car. I shot the man and woman across the street a weak smile, receiving a wave from them in response. I’d seen them before.

“Oh, goodness! Are you okay?” the woman called out, her smile disappearing.

She’d noticed the blood.

Bronx wrapped his arm over my shoulder and hugged me to him. “Just a little nick, folks. “Takin’ her to the hospital now.”

They nodded but didn’t say anything else. Bronx opened the back door and practically shoved me inside before slamming the door behind me. Tamara crawled into the passenger side as Bronx slid behind the wheel. I heard the door locks engage, and I glanced down to see that the back locks were childproof. Great. I was good and trapped. I looked up and saw that Bronx was smirking at me in the rearview mirror.

“Just in case you get any ideas.”

Bastard!I ignored him and examined my arm. I needed to stop the bleeding. I was wearing a thin, silk blouse with long sleeves. It would be easy to tear at the seams. I reached up and tugged at the shoulder until the seam ripped and I was able to pull the whole sleeve away. Then I did the same thing to the other arm until I had both sleeves in my hands. I rolled one up to use as a bandage, and the other to use as a tourniquet to wrap around my arm. I used my teeth to pull one end tight.

Once done, I sat back against the seat and prayed.

Chapter 22

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