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Chapter One
Mari
Ialways knew I would die young.
No matter what I did or where I went, I couldn’t shake this notion that old age wasn’t in the cards for me. It lingered in the back of my mind as I had lunch with school friends as a teen and echoed in each fake smile I offered my allies. I would never know a peaceful or happy life, never grow old. I would die early, in my prime.
Knowing it my whole life meant I’d had time to accept it. That was why I wasn’t shocked when Cash left me alone to die. Cold and bleeding on the floor of the warehouse, with ribs that were desperate for a fucking break, I felt it. That inevitability. Fate was a hard press on my chest, forcing me to acknowledge the end with every tight breath.
This is it. There was no doubt about it. Everything had fallen into place exactly how I’d always thought it would. But for the first time, it didn’t feel right. The Mari destined to meet her maker early wasn’t me. I had too much to live for to go so soon.
It hit me like a sledgehammer as warm blood seeped through my fingers before dropping to the ground like sands through an hourglass. I didn’t want to die. I had too much to do to succumb. I had to survive.
Once again, I was grateful for the damn tracker. Sooner or later, it would guide my men to me. I just had to make it until they arrived. I could do that. While I did, I’d try to save myself.
Grief had shackled me for long enough. It was time to let the real Mari out again. The woman who’d taken the city and rebuilt it the way she wanted. She wasn’t the type to lie around and wait. She was a woman of action. I never wanted to forget her again. I wasn’t a damsel waiting for saving. I was a motherfucking queen, and I would claw my way home from hell if I had to.
Peering around the neglected warehouse, I grimaced at the state of it. The lights overhead were too bright and my head too foggy to make much out, but I could see dirt-covered floors and windows, while random reels of what looked like rusted wire lay discarded in the corners. That wasn’t even counting the dark mystery piles in shadowed corners that my eyes couldn’t quite make out.
Note to self, get a tetanus shot when you get home.
Squinting harder, I saw a door in the same direction Cash had left from and smiled. If I could get out there, the tracker would work better than it would inside the building. I was fairly certain the walls weren’t thick enough to stop it from working, but it would give Grey a better chance of finding me in time.
Plan in place, all I had to do was figure out how to get across the floor. My arms were still locked together, the metal cuffs digging into my skin with every movement. They latched my palms together, so I couldn’t do too much with them. I couldn’t walk either, not without risking even more injury.
“Thank god for leg day,” I murmured, wincing at the pain just whispering created. Pressing my legs to the floor underneath me, I shoved myself forward, trying to keep my core stable so I didn’t make my injuries worse. I had no other option, especially with my ribs still damaged from the first time Cash had ambushed me, but I tried to be as gentle with myself as I could. The last thing I needed was to end up with a hole in my lung because I got too cocky.
Every movement was agony, pure and simple, and I had to stop often.
Greyson won’t leave you here, I reminded myself every time. He’ll come. He always comes, and this time, Dominic will be with him. They’ll be here soon. They’re coming for you.
Except, I didn’t think they would. Or could. The longer it took, the harder it was to move, and the more my heart sank. Was Greyson even okay? Had Dominic even made it out? If Cash had been telling the truth, they both could’ve burned. And then there was Nate. Was he panicking inside my home after we didn’t return on time, or was it the first place Cash looked after he left? Did I damn Nate’s soul the first time we met?
I didn’t know, but I vowed to find out. And if anyone had hurt my men, I was going to survive long enough to make them wish they’d never met us.
Even though I mostly used my thighs to do the work, my fingers dug into whatever crevices and cracks they could find to help me on my way. Every inch felt like a mile, but I didn’t give up. Still, the longer it took, the harder it was to move.
Time hung in suspended moments I couldn’t measure as I grew cold enough that my fingers stiffened and shook against the concrete as I tried to find a handhold. My nails were broken and bleeding, absolutely ravaged from my attempts to help heave my body forward. To find help. To survive.
Black sharpened at the edges of my vision, and weakness weighed down my limbs like heavy boulders.
A break, I promised myself. Another short break and then I’ll get back to it. I’ll get out and find the guys.
I didn’t know how long I passed out, but I woke dizzy and exhausted, with no clue how I was still alive. A glance at the smeared blood trail behind me told me it was a miracle I’d survived this long, but my time was running out. If I didn’t get out soon, I wouldn’t make it at all.
No more breaks, I commanded myself. It’s do or die. Literally.
I was so focused on what I was doing that the scuff of shoes and the quick tap of footsteps startled me. Listening harder, hope brightened in my chest. At first, I was sure it was Greyson or Dominic, maybe both. The longer I listened, the more I realized how wrong I was. The tread was too heavy for anything my men wore. Ignoring the despair, I assumed it was Cash coming to gloat. He was just the type of asshole to do it.
I’m going to make him pay, I swore. I’ll use every last bit of strength to give him something to remember me by. However he grabbed me, I’ll make it work. Even a single scar on his pretty little face would be worth the effort.
“Back to watch me die, Cash? How clichéd of you.” Pain was evident in my voice, but there was no point hiding it. I hurt. I ached. I was dying. We both knew it, even if I loathed the idea.
I’d just decided to live, but my mind wanted what my body didn’t have the energy to offer. It was bullshit.
Silence was Cash’s only answer.
Not wanting to die on the floor, I hauled myself to my knees, breathing through the vertigo that threatened to flatten me again. My limbs were so weak, I shook hard enough for anyone to see, and my teeth were chattering.
