Page 97 of Locked in Wonderland

At first, I paid them no attention. Other people lived in the building. I’d never actually seen any of them, but I heard doors opening and closing occasionally. It would’ve been absurd to assume an entire apartment block existed solely for Nico’s use, no matter how important he might be.

When the voices lingered, I muted the television.

Something about them had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I crossed the room quietly and had only made it halfway to the front door when something slammed into it.

Hard.

I froze.

A boot?

A battering ram?

Did people even own battering rams?

Instinct took over, and I backed away, my heart pounding.

The door held.

Another impact followed.

Then another.

And another.

On the fourth strike, the door surrendered entirely—wood splintering and hinges tearing free. It reminded me of Warren’s apartment, which had never really been his.

I almost laughed as the remains crashed inward to reveal two familiar men standing in the ruined doorway. Of course, it reminded me of that door.

The men responsible for this one had probably been responsible for that one too, even if it had only been set-dressing to lull me into swallowing their little drama. They’d done it prior to bundling Victor into a van as their abduction pièce de résistance.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” I asked. My voice sounded remarkably steady, considering the panic clawing at my chest.

“Funny guy,” one of them said as he stepped inside. He wore a black T-shirt, his muscles bulging. The other followed close behind, cracking his knuckles in a gesture that didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence. Perhaps I was going to be sold again.

“The Harts want to meet you,” the first man announced. “And whatever the Harts want, the Harts get.”

My stomach dropped.

Funny how something could sound worse than being sold.

I backed up.

They advanced.

It made me feel like a hyena being stalked by a pair of lions.

Every escape route I considered fell apart almost immediately. The bedroom had no lock, and there wouldn’t be time to pull something across as a barrier. There was nothing nearby that qualified as a weapon. Even if there had been, there were two of them, and I doubted my ability to stab someone.

That left me with nothing but words. “You need to speak to Nico,” I blurted. “You can’t just come in here without his permission.”

For the briefest moment, I thought I’d uttered the magic words. Then Black T-shirt laughed. Actually laughed. “I didn’t realize some tragic accident had wiped out the entire Hart family and left Nico in charge.” He turned to his companion. “Did you realize that?”

“I did not,” he said with a smirk.

They kept coming.

When the wall met my back, I had nowhere left to go.