The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 417

Petty caught the flash of anger on Laura’s face, quick as lightning. So Laura knew the bracelet wasn’t her mother’s after all. Otherwise, why would she have yanked her hand back, pulling her sleeve down to hide it? If she was being her usual self, Laura would have rubbed it in Petty’s face a second time, no question.

“Why are we stopping?” Abbot paused, glancing back.

“It’s nothing.” Petty faced Laura, her voice cool and even. Laura’s eyes were icy, fury simmering just beneath the surface. “I was just thinking—Franco really treats her well. The bracelet’s nice.”

Laura’s gaze sharpened, cold and a little dangerous.

To head off any more trouble, Ned changed tactics, tying Petty’s hands in front of her this time and hauling her forward by the rope. Abbot’s men fanned out, keeping a close eye on the woods.

Rain had just fallen, soaking the paths and turning the forest floor slick.

They crossed the first barren hill and the land sloped south, getting greener, with thick weeds brushing their waists. Birds called deep in the trees.

Petty kept count in her head. Abbot’s man said there were five minutes. By now, three had already ticked by. Far off in the distance, a low rumble carried through the air. Not thunder, she realized, but the thump of helicopter blades.

Her heart pounded so hard it echoed in her ears.

This Ned guy must be good, she thought. Abbot wouldn’t trust just anyone for this. She was no match for Jay—he’d taken her down in two moves flat. But maybe, just maybe, a dirty trick would work. If she failed, she figured, Abbot wasn’t going to kill her…not right away.

Suddenly, she gasped and doubled over, dropping to her knees. “Ow! My stomach! It hurts!”

Ned scowled, walked back, and gave her foot a hard nudge. “Get up.”

“I mean it. My stomach really hurts,” she said, hands clutched tight over her abdomen. What Ned couldn’t see was the little shard of rock she’d scooped from the ground. She kept her hands moving as though massaging the pain, but was quietly sawing away at the rope around her wrists.

Ned snapped again, his patience running thin. “Up.”

His face tightened in suspicion, but in the same instant, Petty let go of the rope. She spun, reaching behind Ned’s waist and grabbed the gun in one fluid motion. Her speed shocked even herself—a surge of desperation and adrenaline, as if her whole body knew this was a fight for her life.

She pulled the trigger, right as Ned lunged for her.

Bang.

Bang.

The shots went off together. One from her gun, whistling past Abbot’s ear. The second ripped out from somewhere behind them in the woods, slamming into Ned’s arm.

A storm of gunfire erupted from all sides. Bullets zipped by, so fast and close it felt like some invisible barrier was shielding Petty.

The helicopters thundered overhead, their shadows blocking out the moon. Five of them, gleaming black, slicing low over the trees like a sweep of midnight wings.