“Be a good girl and open your mouth, Serenity. Don’t make me get rough.”
“No, please… please let me go.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. This was never how I imagined things would end. When I decided to fight for my life, I never imagined it would lead me to a basement with a predator.
“Open your mouth and suck. If I have to ask again, it’ll be with slaps. Then I’ll shove it in myself. Open up.”
I turned my head, still resisting, refusing to let him have what he wanted. I’d rather die than give in. I fought hard, and when I found an opening, I spat in his face.
“You’re just a disgusting piece of trash.”
He slapped me so hard the sound rang in my ears.
“You fucking—”
A loud bang echoed outside. Seylan froze, panic flashing in his eyes as he yanked up his boxers and pants. The door flew open and Eleana stumbled in, wild and breathless.
“Seylan, what the hell are you doing? We’re under attack!”
“Shit. I’ll rally the men. Stay here with her.”
He ran out, leaving me with Eleana, who shook so hard her gun rattled in her grip. I heard the chaos outside and hope bloomed in my chest, fragile but alive. Maybe someone was coming to save me.
I screamed again. “In here! Help! I’m locked in here!”
Eleana bared her teeth, panic blazing in her eyes. “Shut up, you bitch! If I’m dying tonight, I’m not dying alone. I’ll kill you right now before I see what happens to me.”
She raised her gun, aiming it straight at my head. This time, I knew she would pull the trigger. I had no doubt.
I needed a miracle.
God, please, let someone save me.My heart was pounding as I begged for mercy and Eleana’s finger tightened on the trigger.
“Say your prayers, Serenity Veylor.”
Chapter Twenty
KONFLICT KORVEN
The helicopter blades turned in the air, getting ready to approach the cottage. I was ready to torch this place, burn everything to the ground because the rage in me was stronger than anything I’d felt before. I’d been furious during the war with the Veylor’s and caused my share of destruction, but this was different. The Sawyer’s were stupid enough to keep my wife inside that cottage, and they had no idea what kind of hell was about to rain down on them. This was the dumbest move they could’ve made.
We’d spent hours searching for Serenity and every second felt like a lifetime. I hadn’t known a moment’s peace since I found her letter, the divorce papers, and her wedding ring this morning. My first reaction was to lock down the entire city. We searched every corner of Emberwick—airport, seaport, bus stations, nothing got by us. Surveillance cameras, patrols. Wewent on full alert.
Everything pointed to her slipping out by bus, hiding in the crowd. I almost wrung Valery’s neck to get her to give me a lead, but Krash stopped me before I lost my mind. She swore she didn’t know a thing.
It took Hollister and Crowhurst to finally spot her on a bus heading for Saskatoon. From there, we tracked her every move. Crowhurst had eyes everywhere. He noticed she never got back on after the Canmore stop, and seeing Seylan Sawyer around that same time told us exactly what happened. He’d kidnapped my wife and brought her to a cottage just minutes away.
In less time than it takes to breathe, I was in Draven’s helicopter with my crew. It took everything I had to stay calm, anger and fear crashing through me. God help Seylan if he laid a hand on Serenity. He better not have touched a single hair on my wife’s head.
“We’re going in. Kusch, put us down farther out and come back for us in fifteen minutes. The rest of you, in and out. Shoot anything that moves except my wife. They’re probably holding her in the basement. I’ll go for her. Cover me,” I ordered, already stepping out first.
The second my boots hit the ground I let off smoke grenades to block their sight. Mask on, I advanced, firing ahead. Kalash and Krash took positions to my right and left, circling the cottage, while D covered my back.
Kusch piloted the drone from where he landed, dropping a bomb at the back of the cottage, forcing their people out front and to the sides, right where we wanted them. Gunfire rang out.
“Guys, no mercy.” Rage burned in my gut as I spoke.
Seylan and his men were a dozen strong, but it didn’t matter. They weren’t ready for what we brought. Draven’s latest guns spoke for themselves. Every scream and every body falling just fed the fire in me. D and I moved forward, stepping over thedead.
