Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

Her hair swirled around her, and her breaths came in gasping almost-sobs of rage that she tried to rein in. The pressure behind her eyes, in her head and chest pushed out, nearly exploding from behind her eyes and teeth. If she didn’t hold back, she’d blow the truck apart, she could feel it. Kill herself and Lu and there wouldn’t be anything to find, just tiny bits of rubble and detritus carried on the wind.

She had to calm down. Breathe. Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Montessa held her hands to her face, her wrists bloodied and sore and raw. With her eyes covered, things seemed less pressing. She was here. She was safe. He had put her here to let her escape. She knew this and appreciated it on a level, too, of course. Of course she did. But at the same time . . .

I’m tired of being tossed away.

Abandoned by her mother. Used up until her body and soul ground into little bits by her father or at least the man that she had been trained to think of as her father. Used and lef