Read Online Lethal Consequences by Elisabeth Naughton - Free Book Online Page A

echoed through the corridor. Landon checked the hall, then dragged both bodies farther into the room so they wouldn’t draw attention. Stepping over the closest, he located both weapons and checked the magazines. Both were full. He shoved one into the back waistband of his pants and set the other at his side while he tugged the boots off the first guard and shoved his bare feet inside.
    Heavy, quick breaths brought his head up. He peered through the darkness toward Olivia, plastered against the far wall of the room, her eyes wide and alive with fear.
    Don’t think about what they did to her. Just get her the hell out of here.
    He pushed up. The boots were one size too small, but they’d work. For now. “Come on, we have to go now.”
    She didn’t move a single muscle. Didn’t say anything. Just continued to stare at him and the carnage on the ground with eyes the size of saucers.
    She was in shock. He’d seen it before. Didn’t have time to deal with it now. Stepping over the bodies, he reached for her arm, hauling her as gently as he could away from the wall. “Olivia. Focus. We have to leave.”
    “Those men . . . You just . . .” She swallowed hard. “You killed them.”
    The horror in her words cut to the very heart of him. This was a side of him he’d never wanted her to see. Tightening his grip around her elbow, he dragged her toward the hall. “Bad men, Olivia. Very bad. If I didn’t kill them, they’d have killed us.”
    “But they . . . They were only bringing me back here. They didn’t do anything to me. They only asked me questions. They weren’t—”
    He stopped and pulled her around so she could see his face in the moonlight spilling into the room. Her eyes grew even wider, and he knew he was scaring her, but he needed her to get it. Relief that they hadn’t hurt her yet trickled through his veins, but it was overridden by the fear of what they’d do next. “Look at the bruises on my face, Olivia. This isn’t a game. They might not have touched you yet, but they will. When they don’t get what they want, they’ll come for you and use you in any way they can to get at me. They’ll torture and rape you, and I’m not about to let that happen. I’ll kill as many of them as needed to get you out of here. Do you understand?”
    Her gemlike eyes darted back and forth, searching his for truth, for answers to questions she couldn’t ask and he didn’t have time to answer. But behind that he saw the fear, and the horror at the realization he wasn’t the man she’d thought him to be. Something in his chest squeezed tight. Something he hadn’t even known was there.
    He’d just lost her. Even though she’d never been his, somewhere deep inside he’d held on to the fact that maybe, someday, she could be. Now he knew that was nothing more than a dream.
    Center yourself.
    That’s what he did with every op. Zoned in on his training. Shut down all emotion. Locked away any vulnerability that could get them killed. Especially what he felt for her.
    “Do you want to live, Olivia?” he asked in a quiet voice.
    She didn’t answer. Her fear-filled eyes continued to search his. But slowly, she nodded.
    “Then you need to do exactly as I say and stay with me. If you do, I promise you’ll live. Nod so I know you heard me.”
    The muscles in her throat moved as she swallowed, and she nodded again, just the slightest jerk of her head, just enough to tell him she was still with him.
    “Good girl. In a few minutes this will all be over.”

     
    Olivia ducked down and followed Landon through the dim corridor as quietly as she could. Voices echoed in rooms around them, but no doors opened, and for that she was thankful.
    Her upper arm itched where they’d stuck that needle into her skin, and she raked her fingernails over the spot, wondering—for the hundredth time—what they’d given her.
    If it was truth serum, they hadn’t needed it. She didn’t know anything. Her mind raced back over