Secrets and Scars: A Gripping Psychological Thriller (Fatal Hearts Series Book 3) Read Free Page B

question that burned at the back of my mind.
    “Why are you doing this? If you knew he could be dangerous, why come all the way here to risk your life? Why didn’t you wait for the cops to do their job?”
    “Like I said earlier, they weren’t moving fast enough.” His voice was strained. “Let’s not waste time. We’ll talk later, I promise.” He tightened his fingers around mine. “We have to be more careful. He probably left more traps like that one.”
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    Owen was right. We did come across more traps, but he was able to detect them in time. He made sure to walk slightly ahead of me so he could assess the danger before it was too late.
    It had been a while since we’d had something to drink, and my mouth and throat were drying up fast. Hunger wasn’t much of an issue. Thanks to Alvin’s one-meal-a-day policy on his yacht, my body had become somewhat accustomed to holding on without sustenance. We still had one bottle of water in the sack, but we’d made a pact to hold on for as long as possible before drinking again.
    After at least two hours of walking, we sank onto a fallen tree to take a break.
    Owen turned to me, squinting, his blue eyes shrouded with worry. “I think I know why he trapped this mountainside.”
    “Isn’t it obvious? He wants to stop us from getting off the island.” Though the traps had probably been set for me long before Owen entered the picture.
    “That’s part of it, but there’s more.” He shifted his weight and turned toward me. His knees touched mine. His touch was comforting in a way I couldn’t explain. “On my way over to Miles’s yacht, I spotted some kind of farm or village on the far side of the mountain.”
    “You think Alvin is trying to keep us from getting to it?” I dropped my pounding head into my hands.
    “I’m sure of it. If we make it there, whoever owns it could hide us.”
    “And you think we should stop there, not head straight to your yacht?” I lifted my head and ran a hand through my tangled ponytail.
    He looked down at the map again and folded it. “It might be a good idea. This journey seems to be taking longer than I expected. We need supplies.”
    “It could also be risky, though. What if the land belongs to Alvin?”
    “At this point we don’t have too much of a choice. If we run out of food and water, we’re done. We don’t know what lies ahead.” He swept a hand across his forehead. “But you do have a point. There’s a chance the land is his, but I doubt it. On the map, he had circled part of this island. That land was not included.” He shrugged. “To be safe, we’ll try not to come into contact with anyone. We’ll get there, grab whatever we can find, and run.”
    I pursed my lips and nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.”
     

Chapter Seven
     
    The sun hung high in the sky now, its heat beating down on us. The last bottle of water we had was empty.
    I glanced at Owen. He was trying to be strong for both of us, but exhaustion had wrung him out. The tension in his features was unmistakable, and his shoulders slumped forward as he walked.
    We both slowed down with each step we took. My feet barely moved anymore. But stopping before we reached the village was not an option. The thing that worried me was the distance. Would we make it there before dehydration killed us? Would we need to spend the night in the jungle again? My stomach cramped at the thought.
    Owen had long stopped assuring me about the proximity of the village. I figured he had miscalculated the time it would take us to reach it, and he did not want to disappoint me.
    The thought that it would be a long while until we got there weighed me down, but I could not give up. I would not let Alvin win.
    On several occasions we stopped to rest, leaning our backs on rough bark, panting as we dropped onto fallen tree trunks, boulders, or dry earth.
    At one of our stops, I closed my eyes and rolled my head, loosening the tension in my neck,