AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My next call was to Anton, a brief inquiry into his progress. First, he informed me that Audrey is at Vanya’s now and then that the investigation was still underway, I ended the call with a sense of urgency.
My mind wandered to Audrey, and my desire to see her rose, with the hope of quietening my nerves. On a whim, I decided I needed my dose of Audrey before continuing with the rest of the working day.
As I made my way to Vanya’s house, the same odd foreboding sense of unease gnawed at me. Even the neighborhood and road to Vanya’s home was unusually still as a cemetery and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
The scene that greeted me as I pulled closer to her home was one of chaos—guards slain, the house in disarray. It was a scene similar to the attack on my compound. My heart raced as I rushed inside, the air thick with tension, fear, and smoke.
“Audrey! Audrey!” I called out as I moved through the rooms. Judging by the inchoate flames and the absence of any fire service on the scene, I could tell that the attack had taken place only a few minutes ago.
“Audrey!” I continued yelling, but there was still no response. The house appeared desolate and I cursed myself for not arriving sooner. “Vanya! Vanya!” My thoughts also went to my sister, terrified of what had become of her in the aftermath of this assault.
My gaze scanned the room until it fell upon Vanya, unconscious but alive. Relief washed over me, doubling as I recalled her her children must’ve been in school at this time of the day. I dragged her out of the smoke-filled building into thefresh outdoor air. Now that I was certain Vanya was safe, my attention immediately shifted to Audrey, who was still nowhere to be found. Panic surged within me, a rush of adrenaline igniting a fire in my veins.
Vanya’s awakening brought with it the truth—Audrey had been taken, kidnapped by Salvatore Bianchi. My world narrowed to that singular revelation, a sharp focus that drowned out all other concerns.
This had become personal, a matter of honor and vengeance.
As I absorbed the weight of this new reality, a torrent of emotions surged within me—anger, determination, and an unrelenting resolve to bring Audrey back safely. The clock was ticking, and I knew that every moment counted in the battle to rescue her from Salvatore’s clutches.
Chapter 26 - Audrey
In the netherworld of dreams, my consciousness ebbed and flowed like a wisp of smoke carried by the wind. Swirls of hazy figures waltzed before me, flickering like distant stars in a cosmic ballet. Fuzzy lands emerged from the depths, only to dissolve and reassemble in a surreal mosaic of madness.
These scenes resembled the wild dreams born from the minds of a deeply troubled Salvador Dali or an insane Zdzislaw Beksinski. Reality twisted, contorted, and unraveled, inviting me to lose myself in its kaleidoscopic embrace.
Colors melted and morphed into one another, a symphony of impossibilities played out in every shade imaginable. I rode waves of emotion, my heart soaring with elation one moment and plummeting into the depths of despair the next. Amidst this surreal chaos, there was an inexplicable familiarity that tugged at the edges of my mind, a sensation of longing and recognition that I couldn’t quite grasp.
Yet, as swiftly as the dream had taken hold, it began to fade. Darkness emerged from the periphery, an abyss that swallowed the fantastical scenes whole. The brilliance of the dreamscape dimmed, replaced by an all-encompassing obsidian void that pressed against me from all sides.
Just as panic threatened to consume me, a form materialized in the darkness—Ivan Zolotov.
His image danced before me, a radiant specter amidst the great enveloping dark. My heart surged with a mix of relief and yearning, his presence a lifeline in the abyss. I reached out, fingers brushing against the edges of his ephemeral form, a bittersweet ache welling within me.
Words formed in my throat, a name perhaps, or a plea, but before they could escape, a deafening crash shattered the reverie.
The world fragmented, splintering into a thousand fractured shards of sound and sensation. The dance of dreams dissolved, torn apart by the intrusive intrusion of reality. A sensation akin to falling seized me, a freefall through nothingness until my awareness landed with a jolt. I was jarred into wakefulness, my mind still ensnared in the daze of the surreal visions.
Blinking against the residual remnants of the dream, I struggled to piece together my surroundings. The air hung heavy with an oppressive scent—that of mold—and it wormed its way into my nostrils.
The memories of Ivan kidnapping me flooded back like a torrential storm, drowning me in their dark undertow. The night he had spirited me away, the terror that had gripped me, and the inexplicable bond that had formed amidst the chaos. But this time, it wasn’t Ivan’s face that greeted me when I fully awoke—it was a new tormentor.
Salvatore. The name formed a bitter taste on my tongue.
I scanned the surroundings, the moldy stench now mingling with the rank odor of fear. Cold walls closed in, and I realized with horror that I was a captive, trapped in the clutches of the man who had endangered my life and attacked my home. The realization tightened a vise around my heart, constricting with each beat.
I struggled to push back the panic clawing at my throat, forcing my breaths to steady. My mind raced, a whirlwind of thoughts colliding in a frantic cacophony. How had this happened again? How had I fallen into this abyss of captivity? And what did Salvatore want from me? The questionsreverberated as unanswered echoes in the desolate chamber of my thoughts.
The scent of mold lingered and as my groggy consciousness began to claw its way back to reality, I found myself in a night-shrouded world that seemed pulled from the fringes of a macabre tale.
I shifted uncomfortably in the chair, my movements restricted by coarse ropes that bounded me tightly. Yet, as I strained against my bonds, a glimmer of resolve ignited within me. The surreal dance of dreams had given me strength, an unwavering belief that I could face even the most nightmarish of scenarios. For the tiny human inside me.Yes, I can do this.
As I wrestled with the chaos in my mind, the room seemed to tremble with an unfamiliar energy. A cacophony of disjointed murmurs reached my ears, a symphony of madness that sliced through the air like shards of broken glass.
I turned my head slowly, my eyes widening in disbelief as the figure of Salvatore staggered into view. His appearance was a disheveled canvas of hysteria, a portrait of a mind unhinged.
Salvatore’s hair now hung in wild disarray around his face like a halo of chaos. Its appearance was unkempt, unlike the stylish messy hair he usually sported when he and I would meet at the bookstore. His eyes, wide and bloodshot, darted around the room in fevered frenzy, as if seeking answers from the very air itself. His clothes were rumpled and stained, his once-impeccable attire now a reflection of the turmoil that consumed him. The man who had appeared so composed before was the one who had orchestrated my captivity, and he now stood before me in a state of utter disarray.
He paced the room in agitated strides, his steps uneven and frantic, like a marionette jerked around by invisible strings. Incoherent words tumbled from his lips, a stream of consciousness that made no sense to my ears. It was as ifhis mind had fractured into a thousand shattered pieces, and now he was trying to glue them back together with delirious ramblings.
