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and forth. How strange that Maddie wouldn’t hesitate to help another captive escape but refused help for herself. She didn’t believe it yet, but when the time came to put this place in the rearview mirror, Maddie would be buckled in beside Roni.
    But first to find a vehicle to make a break in.
    There had to be a slew to choose from. What high-class criminal didn’t brandish a showroom full of souped-up horsepower?
    She looked at the area on the map with all the guards, the place the cars were kept. Every detail of the route would have to be memorized. She couldn’t keep the map lying around. If it was confiscated, Maddie would pay the price. Flushing it was the only way to prevent fallout and to protect her new friend.
    When she thought she had it imprinted on her brain, Roni made her way to the bathroom and watched it disappear. Oh, how she wished she could do the same. Press a button and poof, back in her own house on her mountain in Norcastle, safe from anyone who wanted to harm her. All she could do was be ready to run when the guards weren’t watching.
    A knock sounded on her door.
    Could this be her opportunity? The lock clicked over, and Roni had one second to make her play.
    She reached for a mosaic vase on the dresser and ran at the door. As it pushed wide into the room, she couldn’t see who entered behind it. At full force she barreled at the door and slammed into it with her shoulder, her arm raised high over her head with the vase ready to find its target.
    As she heaved her body at the door, she knocked her visitor into a stumble. It took her a second to realize it was Gunn and less than another second to bring the vase down.
    But before she could make contact, he turned his body, his arm reaching up to block her assault. He grabbed on to the vase. A battle of strength kept it high in the air, their face levels matched and close.
    “Roni, I’m here to help you,” he said, his eyes filled with the compassion he’d lacked back in the garage. Surely a trick.
    And she wasn’t falling for it. “My name is Veronica Spencer. Roni is for friends only .”
    Gunn pulled the vase from her hand with little effort and tossed it onto the bed. He grasped her wrist still above her head with his free hand. “Then Roni it is, because from where I stand, I’m the only friend you’ve got.”

FOUR
    “Y ou’re nothing but a criminal.” Roni spoke low, less than an inch from Ethan’s face. He could feel her rapid breathing brush his lips, the only sign of fear she emitted, and he would have missed it if he hadn’t closed in to protect himself from her assault. Not that he blamed her. Why should she believe him to be anything but a criminal?
    “I know what it looks like, but you need to trust me. I’m your friend.”
    “Friends don’t kidnap you and put you in danger.”
    Ethan slowly released her wrist and stepped back toward the door, his hands raised to show he meant no harm. He pushed the door ajar, just enough to hear the manpower out looking for him coming. He peered through the crack, knowing it could be any second. He’d raced down here as soon as Ramsey and Guerra left the office to join the guards. “Are you sure about that? Because from what I just learned you’re in this situation because one of your so-called friends put you here.”
    Roni came at him, her pointer finger raised to his chest. “I’m here because you put me here.” Her ice-blue eyes crystallized as she went head-to-head with him.
    The woman believed him to be dangerous, and yet, she didn’t let that stop her from defending herself. He would hate to be on her blacklist. Something told him she would be relentless in her revenge tactics.
    Perhaps it wasn’t a friend after all who put her in this situation.
    “How many enemies do you have, Roni Spencer? I’m going to need the list.”
    “The only thing you’ll be getting from me is my dust. And a slammer in your face. And you can tell your so-called friends the same thing.