Suddenly, the pressure around my neck was gone.

Air rushed into windpipe, and I gasped, sucking in as much as I could and making my lungs burn. Grabbing for my neck, I looked up into the eyes of my savior. My stomach tightened with joy when I saw officer Reeves standing above Miguel’s limp body.

Douglas lifted me from the floor, and I latched onto him with a death grip. The fear that consumed me was raw, and it cut deep. Deeper than the plastic tubing, or what I now knew was IV tubing, that had cut into my neck.

One thing was for sure, I was done with Fulton. X had been pushing me to quit for a while now, but it was obvious I wasn’t safe there anymore. I packed my bags, called Dr. Giles, and put in my resignation all within the hour.

I drove home that afternoon with the pressure of an elephant on my chest. I left without saying goodbye to X, which I knew I could remedy with a visit, and I left without knowing where my next paycheck was going to come from. It was a scary thing, not knowing what the future held, but I knew I could do it. After all, I’d worked in a maximum-security prison, and I’d fallen in love with an alleged murderer.

I was no longer the girl I used to be. Fulton was famous for transforming their inmates—turning boys to men—and the innocent into criminals. No one ever talked about how it changed the staff. And after working there, I could honestly say I was a different person… a stronger person.

CHAPTER 23

x

I’D TRIED EVERYTHING to get her fired. I’d had Scoop set her up with the pills, and I’d even tried to set her up by slipping a knife in her pocket, yet she was still working at Fulton. I spent every day thinking it would be the last time I’d ever see Lyla, worrying every moment that I wouldn’t be there to protect her when some lunatic finally caved and went for the kill. It was enough to drive a sane man crazy.

Then again, I wasn’t all that sane.

I stayed away from the infirmary as much as I could, but I couldn’t deny it any longer, I missed Lyla when I wasn’t around her. Lying about my head bothering me got me a trip to medical, but I must have had her schedule backward because she wasn’t there. It was too early in the afternoon for her to be gone already, which meant she was either off or working the night shift.

I waited, pretending to have a headache I didn’t have, until finally it was obvious she wasn’t coming to work. I’d missed chow time, so I ate in my cell and fell asleep worried that something might have happened to Lyla.

The next morning when we were lining up for breakfast, Scoop grabbed at my arm roughly trying to get my attention. I almost decked him until I realized it was him.

“What the fuck, Scoop?? I asked, yanking my arm away and taking in his wide-eyed expression full of panic.

“Lyla got attacked yesterday,” he said in a rushed whisper.

His news came to me in a hushed tone, but it felt as if he’d hit me with thunder and lightning. It slammed me in the chest, sending icy cold into my bones. “Is she okay?”

I knew when I asked how desperate I sounded, but I didn’t give a fuck. I needed to know Lyla was still on this earth. Needed to know that there was still something good in my world. I wasn’t sure I could go on without her now that she was mine. Already I could feel myself breaking apart into tiny pieces just thinking about losing her.

“She’s okay.”

The tension in my shoulders loosened at those words, but still, the anger simmered in my stomach to a dangerous level.

“What happened?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know. My jaw ached from grounding my teeth so hard.

“It was Miguel, one of Jose’s boys. The Mexican Mafia is coming in hot on this green light, man. They’re hard up for that cash. I think Jose might have put him up to it.” He gripped the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable with telling me the rest.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know how he got in, but he wasn’t there for medical. He tried to strangle her to death with IV tubing. She was blue by the time Reeves and Douglas got to her. He’s in solitary now, but the talk is he won’t be in there long.”

We were in the cafeteria, but instead of getting food, I went to a table to sit. Scoop sat beside me, his eyes moving over the room, making sure no one was listening to our conversation. Some inmates watched in interest, but I didn’t care. Fuck them. I fucking dared them to come at me.

I hated the idea of anyone touching her, but maybe this would be the push she needed to finally quit. Over my dead body would she continue to work at Fulton. I hoped now she understood how serious I was about her leaving.