Twisted Empire: Dark Dynasty Book 3 Read online

  I was a deer in headlights. Trapped, terrified, frozen in fear.

  The small clearing around the hollow was charged with dangerous energy, and my heart pounded so loudly I could hear it. I tried to run away but I couldn’t make my legs move, no matter how much I willed them to do my bidding.

  With the moonlight slicing through the trees, I could make out most of the new arrival’s face. I recognized him. I’d seen him at some of the Lodge parties, and I’d also spoken to him a couple of days ago as part of my hostess duty during one of the daily feasts.

  His name was Matthew, if I recalled correctly. He worked in some sort of financial field and had three kids. I thought he was one of the nicer ones—as nice as a high-level Crown and Dagger member could be, anyway—but I guess I was wrong. His eyes were glinting with pure malevolence as he looked at me.

  Elias stepped in front of me, shielding me from the man. “How did you catch up to me so fast?” he asked.

  Matthew grinned. “I guess I thought of the exact same thing as you.” He tapped the side of his head. “I figured she might head to the one place no one would expect her to go. For a girl who was about to be hunted in a forest, that one place would be the forest itself. Everyone else would expect her to run in the opposite direction, as far away from the woods as possible.”

  “Damn. I thought I was the only one who came up with that idea,” Elias said smoothly. If he was feeling any sort of worry over this situation, it wasn’t evident in his tone or posture. He seemed confident, strong.

  Matthew held up one hand. That was when I realized he was holding a knife. “You found her first. You want to do the honors?”

  “Yeah, I think I’ll have to.” Elias moved one hand around to the back of his jacket. When it lifted, I saw something I hadn’t noticed before. There were multiple knives in sheaths attached to his belt. He also had a gun.

  He pulled out a large silver dagger and turned to face me. “I think I’ll make this kill with a knife,” he said, a smirk stretching across his handsome face.

  A bolt of fear shot through my veins, and my stomach knotted. Then I realized he was saying it to me, not about me. He was still on my side all the way.

  I held my arms up and out in front of me, pretending to cower to avoid raising the other man’s suspicions. “Please, don’t do it!” I whimpered.

  “Aw, she’s begging. How cute,” Matthew said with a sarcastic sneer. “Go on, Elias. Do it.”

  “I will.” Elias whirled around and charged at him. With a roar of fury, he plunged the knife into his abdomen. The blade met soft flesh and made a horrifying squelching sound as it sank deep, shiny metal disappearing inside Matthew until the black handle was pushing against the broken skin. He lurched as he cried out, an agonized squawk mixed with guttural chokes.

  “Too bad this one wasn’t a trick knife, right?” Elias said, wrenching the dagger out and tossing it aside.

  Matthew sank to his knees and collapsed to the forest floor, convulsing and trembling like he was rabid, thick blood flowing freely from the gaping wound on his abdomen. I turned away as his pleas for mercy turned to strangled gasps.

  Elias returned to my side and took my hand. “Run!”

  I did as he said, my feet flying along the uneven ground as his flashlight lit a path through the woods. I kept hearing the sound of that knife sinking into Matthew’s flesh, playing in my head like a song stuck on repeat. It didn’t make me feel bad. I felt energized. Justified.

  “Why didn’t you shoot him?” I asked as we veered wildly off to the left. “It would’ve been quicker.”

  “Would’ve also been very loud,” Elias said, right hand squeezing my arm as he pulled me along the new path. “For all we know, some others could’ve had the same idea as him and headed into the forest. The sound of a gunshot would’ve led them right to us.”

  “Oh. Good point,” I said, sucking down a deep breath. Elias was much better under pressure than me. When I was this scared, my brain seemed to switch off entirely.

  We reached another clearing. Elias stopped abruptly and turned to face me, eyes lit with concern. “Shit. I should’ve thought of this sooner,” he said, one hand nervously rubbing at the back of his neck. “Are you supposed to run like this?”

  I nodded. “It’s fine.”

  “Are you sure?” His eyes traveled down my front, coming to rest on my stomach. “It seems like it could be unsafe.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure. I read about it in some sort of health magazine they had lying around in my old doctor’s waiting room. It said pregnant women are fine to do their usual exercise routines in the early stages, as long as they feel up to it and don’t add anything new or anything too vigorous. I’ve always been a runner, so it’s fine.”

  His shoulders slumped with relief. “Okay. As long as you’re sure.”

  I smiled and rubbed his arm, touched by his concern. “I am. I’ve been running on the treadmill in the gym nearly every day since I’ve been here, and before all this, I used to go jogging around Roden every morning.”

  Elias nodded. “I hope you’re up for a long run, then. We won’t reach the road for at least an hour.”

  “Really?” I cocked my head to the side. “Last time I tried to escape, it took me around three hours to get to it.”

  “You probably headed directly south. The road curves around, so if we cut across southwest, we hit the road way quicker.”

  “Oh.”

  “Ready to go again?”

  Adrenaline burst through my veins, making me feel invincible. I tightened the shoulder straps of the little bag I was carrying on my back and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  We ran in silence for what felt like forever. Elias was stronger and fitter than me, but I followed his grueling path through the woods without complaint. My clothes and hair soon clung to my skin, slick with perspiration, and a metallic taste filled my mouth.

  By the time we reached the road, I was exhausted. My lungs felt like they would burst and my throat was as dry as a desert.

  “Don’t worry, we’re nearly at the car,” Elias said, halting by the tree line to give me a chance to catch my breath.

  I nodded, the tension draining from my body as my breathing turned normal again. “Okay. I can go again.”

  “We’ll just walk now. Keep an eye out for headlights. They might be looking for us already.”

  He led me a few hundred yards up the tree line, and then he peered out and checked the road, making sure it was clear. “This way,” he said a moment later, beckoning for me to follow.

  In the bright moonlight, I could see dark skid marks on the road, veering off to the opposite side where more trees rose into the cool night sky. We crossed over, and Elias led me into a large clearing. “Here it is.”

  When I caught sight of the dark red car, all the breath went out of my lungs again. The front half was smashed up against a wide tree trunk. The bumper had been totally crushed, the hood was mangled, the windscreen was cracked, and one of the front windows was shattered. Glass littered the leafy ground, and a burnt chemical smell permeated the air.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked, my eyes wide as saucers. There was a hard lump of fear in my throat.

  “I crashed it on purpose earlier this morning, before I went to get Mellie. Not an easy task, believe me.”

  “Why? We can’t drive it in this condition.”

  Elias chuckled. “Exactly. This is the decoy car.” He held out one hand. “Pass me your bag.”

  I did as he said. He walked around and tossed it through the open front window of the passenger side. “Wait, that’s all I have!” I said.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got everything you could possibly need in the other car,” he replied in a soothing tone. “We need to make it seem as if we were in this one. It’ll look like in our haste to escape, we wound up skidding off the road and crashing into those trees, forcing us to try and make it on foot. I have a history of crashing cars, as you know, so it’s not exactly
unbelievable that this might’ve happened to us.”

  “Oh.” He’d thought of everything.

  He surveyed the damaged car, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. “I crashed it this way to make it look like we were heading north. That should throw them off our scent for a while.”

  “So we’re heading south?”

  He nodded. “For now.”

  He reached into a pocket, and I gasped as he pulled out a cell.

  “Elias! Is that your phone?”

  “Yup.”

  “Can’t they track that?” My eyes widened fearfully.

  “I turned off location services. Once the society realizes I’m involved with your escape, they can probably get some sort of super-hacker to figure out where it is without it switched on, but that’ll take hours. So we’re safe for now, and I’m leaving it here, anyway.” He dropped the phone right in the driver’s seat. “More evidence that we were in this car.”

  I let out a huge breath. “You’re too smart for your own good,” I said with a relieved smile.

  He winked and took my hand. “Let’s go.”

  We walked several hundred yards south, well away from the road and deep into the forest. For a while, it grew so dark that I couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead, but then the moonlight sliced through the thick canopy, lighting yet another clearing before us. On the other side of it was a narrow track, presumably leading out of the woods to another road.

  “I found this spot on Google Maps,” Elias said by way of explanation. “Figured it was the perfect place to hide our real getaway vehicle.”

  “Thank god for the internet,” I murmured, squinting at a dark silhouette in the middle of the clearing.

  Elias switched on his flashlight again, illuminating a large navy blue van with ‘Jim’s Plumbing’ emblazoned on the side in chunky white letters.

  I turned to him, incredulous. “Where did you find this?”

  “Craigslist. A guy a few towns over was selling it.”

  “Elias King on Craigslist,” I said slowly. “Never thought I’d hear those words.”

  He smirked and ruffled my hair. “It’s perfect, right? No one would ever think I’d drive something like this. Plus it’s huge.”

  “Again, thank god for the internet.”

  Elias stepped over to the side of the van closest to us and opened the sliding side door. “Come and have a look.”

  I climbed inside as he shined the flashlight around the van’s interior. The far side was mostly taken up by a single mattress, covered in thick blankets and pillows. Near the front were several stacked boxes with clothes, shoes, toiletries and other miscellaneous items we might need—flashlights, burner phones, wads of cash, matches, cookware, crockery, utensils.

  Toward the back were more boxes, filled with food and bottled water.

  “You’ve been busy,” I said, marveling at the veritable treasure trove.

  “Yeah. Basically haven’t slept these last couple of days,” Elias replied. “I couldn’t exactly send one of my family’s PAs to go and buy all this stuff, as easy as that would’ve made things. I had to do it myself.”

  “Thank you,” I murmured. “You’ve done so much. I can’t believe it.”

  He reached down and stroked my hair. “You don’t need to thank me,” he said, a gruff note in his voice. “It’s my fault you’re in this situation.”

  I shrugged. “More like Crown and Dagger’s fault. You didn’t know what they were really like.”

  “But I should’ve known.” He went silent for a moment. Then he turned and rummaged through one of the boxes near the front. “Here,” he said, presenting me with a wig. “You’re a redhead now.”

  With his help, I fitted the wig onto my head. I expected it to be itchy, but it felt fine, and it stayed firmly put with the help of several clips on the inside which fastened it to my real hair.

  “How do I look?” I asked.

  Elias set the flashlight down so that it lit the whole van as he appraised me. “Still like you, only with red hair. I got more stuff to disguise you, though.” He turned around and rummaged around in the box again.

  A moment later, he handed me a small cardboard packet, and I squinted at the label. Brown contact lenses. “That should help,” I said with a nod.

  “There’s makeup, too, and bulky clothes to make you look bigger. I also got you some boots to wear if we ever have to be out in public. They look flat, but on the inside they have a stacked heel, so you’ll look a few inches taller than usual.”

  I shook my head with amazement. “You really did think of everything.”

  “Yeah. I even got you this,” he replied with an amused smile, handing me another packet.

  “What is it?” I frowned, opening it to find what looked like a pair of dentures.

  “They’re snap-on veneers. I got them from a joke store. That’s why they look so bad and uneven. But that’s a good thing, because we want you to look different. Plus it’ll change the shape of your mouth and make your cheeks look a bit puffier when they’re in.”

  “Wow. I would’ve never thought to try something like this.” I opened my mouth wide and carefully snapped the top veneer in. Then I bared my new teeth. “Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do I look like a chipmunk?”

  “Yes. But a beautiful chipmunk.” Elias chuckled.

  I snorted. “Thanks.”

  He ruffled my hair again. “I think this’ll work. They’ll be out looking for a petite blue-eyed brunette, and you’ll be a tall chunky redhead with brown eyes and shitty teeth.”

  “But what about you?” I asked, removing the veneers for now.

  “I have stuff for myself too. I’ll be blond with glasses. You can try and draw some fake freckles on me too, with all that makeup I got you.”

  I grinned. “I can’t wait to see what that looks like.”

  I knew I should be deathly afraid, given the circumstances, but with Elias here to protect me, it almost felt like we were on a wildly fun adventure, rather than on the run from a dangerous group of uber-rich criminals.

  “Before I get all that stuff out, there’s something else I should give you.” Elias moved to the back of the van and went through one of the top food boxes. “I know we haven’t really talked about this all that much, because there hasn’t been any time, but…”

  He trailed off for a few seconds as he handed me a large bottle of pre-natal vitamins.

  “Whatever you want to do about it, I’ll support you, but I figured just in case, you might need these,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I replied, my heart skipping a beat as I took the bottle. Elias was right: we’d barely had a chance to discuss my pregnancy over these last couple of days. Almost every moment had been taken up with planning or worry over our escape from the Lodge.

  He took one of my hands. “I just want you to be safe.”

  “I feel safe with you,” I said, my voice suddenly soft and breathless.

  “Good.” He tilted his head toward the mattress. “You should get some rest.”

  The thought of sleep made my limbs heavy with exhaustion. I swallowed a yawn. “You’re the one who hasn’t slept,” I said. “You go first.”

  “I’ll be fine for a few more hours. I want to drive us to another spot,” he replied. “This clearing was a good hiding place for the van until we got here, but it’s still within twenty miles of the Lodge. They could find it while we’re passed out, and I don’t want to risk that.”

  “Well, I’ll stay up with you to make sure you don’t fall asleep behind the wheel,” I said firmly. “Where exactly are we going?”

  “A spot near Litchfield where people go to camp sometimes. Anyone who happens to see us there will think we’re a couple on vacation.”

  “Is that where we’re going to stay?” I asked, my brows knitting.

  Elias shook his head. “Not permanently. Just a night or two until I figure out what to do next. I spent so long on all the escape planning tha
t I didn’t really have time to think about the rest.”

  “I get it. We barely had any time at all. But I know you’ll think of something.” I shook my head. “No, we’ll think of something.”

  He smiled faintly. “I hope so. Right now I have no fucking clue what to do,” he muttered. He squeezed my hand tighter. “Whatever happens, though, I’m gonna keep you safe. I promise.”

  I smiled. For the first time in all the tumultuous months since I met Elias, I truly believed what he said.

  8

  Elias

  I woke up without opening my eyes. I hadn’t slept more than a few hours of fitful dozing, and by the time I reached up and rubbed my heavy eyelids, my mouth was dry and my pulse was racing in the feverish, erratic way that always seemed to accompany insomnia. As usual, I’d stayed awake most of the night worrying about Tatum and what the fuck we were going to do now that we’d successfully extracted her from the Lodge.

  I was no closer to a solution.

  With a yawn, I finally opened my eyes and slung my arm over the other side of the narrow mattress, expecting to see and feel Tatum right beside me.

  She wasn’t there.

  I sat up straight and looked around, panic flooding my veins. She wasn’t anywhere else in the van, either. My eyes went to the box by our disguises, and my heart dropped as I realized my gun was missing. Some of the other boxes were in disarray, as if someone had knocked them over in a struggle to get out.

  “Fuck!”

  I put my shoes on and ripped the van’s side door open. There was no sign of a struggle outside, but that didn’t mean Tatum hadn’t been taken.

  A thousand terrible images filled my head as a sickly feeling of pure fear set in. Crown and Dagger could’ve tracked us down already, and one of them could’ve sneaked into the van and dragged Tatum out at gunpoint while I snored. They could be torturing her right now. Raping her. Killing her.

  My mouth filled with bile at the thought. This was my fault. I knew I shouldn’t have gone to fucking sleep for even a second.

  When we arrived at the rural camping ground late last night, we were both exhausted, and I figured it would be safe to get a few hours of rest. I’d scouted around a bit, and no one else was around aside from some teenagers getting high at a little spot down by the lake and the owner of the grounds who lived in a cabin by the entrance.