Chapter 123
After dinner, Lindsay felt lightheaded from the carbs and let her guard down, drifting off to sleep.
She didn’t wake until the car rattled over a bumpy mountain road, jolting her
awake.
Blinking her eyes open, Lindsay was met with nothing but darkness outside the window. The air buzzed with the sound of crickets, and a chill ran down her spine. Instantly, she was on high alert.
Was this the danger Horace had warned her about?
Trying to keep calm, Lindsay reached for her phone to message Yves, only to realize there was no signal at all. Clearly, the driver had come prepared.
Catching her anxious expression in the rearview mirror, the driver let out a cold, derisive laugh. “There’s not a trace of signal out here. No one’s coming to save you.”
“Who sent you?” Lindsay demanded.
“I get paid by my employer-I don’t betray my clients. Blame your own bad luck.” As soon as he finished, he slammed on the brakes. Lindsay, sitting in the back seat, lurched forward, nearly smashing into the front seat.
Before she could regain her balance, the driver flung open the door, grabbed her by the shoulder, and dragged her out, throwing her hard onto the rocky ground.
The gravel dug painfully into her skin, scraping her palms until blood welled up from the cuts.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Lindsay looked up at the driver-or rather, her would-be killer.
He was built like a linebacker, skin weathered and dark, with a close-cropped haircut and harsh, flat features; the kind of man you wouldn’t trust alone in a parking lot. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs.net
She cursed herself for not noticing the danger when she’d first gotten in the car.
“How much is your boss paying you? I’ll double it,” Lindsay bargained, staring him down.
“In my line of work, loyalty is everything. You could offer ten times the money and I still wouldn’t turn on my client.” The killer drew out a gleaming hunting knife, the blade catching the moonlight and sending a chill through the night air. He looked at her with predatory hunger, like a lion circling wounded prey.
“We’re over seventy miles from the nearest town, deep in the hills. I could kill you and bury you here no one would ever find you.” He seemed to revel in the fear, completely unfazed that his victim was an unarmed woman; if anything, it only made him more excited.
Some people became killers for the thrill, to satisfy their own twisted desires.
Realizing negotiation was futile, Lindsay dropped the façade. She brushed the dirt from her clothes and stood up, her fear replaced by cold disdain.
The killer frowned. “What’s with that look? You think you’re better than me?”
Lindsay said nothing, but the sneer on her face spoke volumes.
“Looking to die, are you?” Enraged, he lunged, thrusting the knife straight at her chest.
In that split second, Lindsay twisted aside, dodging the blade. Her hand shot out, fist clenched, and she went from prey to predator.
She landed a punch squarely at the base of his neck. He staggered, eyes rolling as the world spun around him.
Before he could recover, she drove her knee into his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground, coughing up blood.
He wiped his mouth, eyes wide with terror as he stared at her. “You… you can fight? But… she said you were harmless!”
If he’d known his target was this dangerous, no amount of money would have convinced him to take the job.
Lindsay smirked, grinding her heel into his face. “I gave you a chance. You chose death.”
In her previous life, she’d spent her childhood mastering self-defense and martial arts, but after being drugged and controlled by Lester, her body had been useless she could only watch as life slipped away.
This time around, she’d learned from the past. Since her rebirth, she’d trained harder and kept her guard up-even with the food she ate.