I could hear Anson screaming my name on the phone, but I couldn’t answer him.
As quickly as possible, I got the cord around his neck and choked him as hard as I could.
He tried to pull me off him, but I was a damn monkey on his back that wouldn’t relent.
I could hear Ani yelling in the background, louder, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I was too focused on my task. I kicked the backs of his legs, sending us both to the floor with a loud crash.
I cried out, but held strong as he grunted.
I’d kill him. I didn’t want to be a killer, but I had to protect myself. My family. My daughter needed me. Evan needed me. I promised I wouldn’t leave him, and I meant it.
He got back on his feet, his breathing ragged, and me still holding tight. He tried to grab me over his shoulder, but I wouldn’t let go. We spun in the bathroom, Anson’s shouts in the distance, before we crashed into the glass shower. The glass shattered around us, and I cried out as some of it cut into me.
It only made Anson yell my name louder on the phone.
I thought I was winning and really had a shot at freedom, but the man seemed to gain inhuman strength and got a hold of my arm as we fell into the shower onto all the broken glass.
I cried out as more of the shards bit into me.
With ease, he tugged me straight over his shoulder. I landed with a cry in front of him, my wind knocked out of me from the hard impact.
“Rosalie! LeeLee!” Anson shouted on my phone. “Baby! PLEASE!”
The man pulled something from his pocket, a square of material, it seemed. I squirmed beneath his hold, screaming bloody murder, before he pressed it against my nose and mouth.
I fluttered my lashes as he softly shushed me, his hand firmly over my face so I was forced to breathe in whatever he had on the cloth. The smell was sweet, but it burned my throat and made me nauseous. I tried to move my arms and kick my legs, but the ability soon dwindled away, my squirming dying down.
Slowly, the strength left my body until I could no longer move.
Paralyzed.
I was paralyzed.
Limply, I lay on the floor, bleeding, watching as he pulled a syringe from his jacket pocket. With gloved hands, he moved to my arm and found a vein. There was nothing I could do as he inserted the needle and let whatever it was flood my veins.
The warmth intensified as a tear slipped free from my eye.
“FUCK! Don’t you fucking touch her! I swear to god I will find you and kill you?—”
The man reached out and grabbed my phone, calmly disconnected the call, effectively ending my conversation with Anson, then threw the phone aside. It skidded across the tiled floor before hitting the wall.
Try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I let them fall shut as the man lifted me easily into his arms and carried me out of the room.
And that was it.
Everything went black.
32
EVAN
Icouldn’t breathe, but I forced the air into my lungs as the cops questioned me. I’d flown into Chicago only hours ago after Anson called me, frantic, barely able to speak.
Someone had gotten past security. They’d hurt Ryder. Rosalie was taken.
Dante had stepped in and arranged for Trix and Ellis to stay in his mansion over the underground for now. I didn’t like it, but it meant they were close, and I knew they’d be safe there, so I agreed. That new place was a fortress. Dante kept armed guards surrounding the place 24/7, Klaus said. And I knew Dante. He’d never let harm come to Ellis, but it still didn’t quell the fucking chaos in my soul at knowing where she was.
Klaus and I rushed to Chicago after getting the phone call. He looked like how I felt. Sick. So fucking sick.
