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He holds me for another moment and then drops a kiss to the top of my head. Letting go of him is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Without Malice and Victor by my side, I feel like I’m missing an essential part of myself, and the thought that I could lose Ransom too—could lose all three of them—makes terror shoot through me, so sharp and violent that it almost steals my breath.
But I meant what I said. This is the only way.
The skeletal frame of the building looks empty, but I can see a dim light shining inside as we approach, and there are two men with guns standing near a doorway that’s probably meant to be the main entrance.
“We’re unarmed,” I say as we approach, raising my hands. Beside me, Ransom does the same. “Just like Olivia told us to be. And I have what she wants.”
One of the men steps forward to check us for weapons while his buddy keeps his gun trained on us. The guard patting us down finishes checking Ransom first, then huffs out a grunt. There’s a ripping sound as he jerks the Velcro fastenings of the bullet proof vest off and tosses it aside, and my stomach flips over with nerves. Of course Olivia wouldn’t allow us inside with that kind of protection on.
When the guard turns his attention to me, sliding his hands over my body, I can hear Ransom make a noise low in his throat. He hates seeing this man grope me, even if there’s nothing sexual about it, and my skin prickles with an unpleasant awareness. I’ve overcome a lot of my fear of being touched in the aftermath of my abduction, but it’s really only where my men are concerned. Being touched by a stranger like this still makes nausea churn in my stomach.
But we need to get inside that building, and we’ll never make it if Ransom gets into a fight with the guards out here, so I catch his gaze and give him a subtle shake of my head, letting him know I’m okay and silently urging him not to do anything.
He clenches his jaw, glaring at the guard as the burly man rips my Kevlar vest off too. Then Olivia’s hired muscle nods.
“Alright, they’re clean. Let’s bring ’em in.”
His friend steps forward, and they grab our wrists and zip tie them together before marching us deeper into the building. I twist my wrists a little as we go, subtly testing the strength of my bonds, but these men clearly know what they’re doing. There’s no chance I’ll be able to slip these.
The guards lead us down a series of hallways and through a few half-finished rooms. The building will eventually be at least twelves stories tall, but most of the floors above us aren’t finished yet. All that’s there is the framework, looming above us as I glance upward. It looks like only the first two floors have had any substantial work done on them, and even down here, the walls are unfinished and the foundation is showing.
“Through here,” one of the guards grunts, giving me a little shove. “Keep going.”
He and his friend usher us into a large empty space. There are several pillars spaced around it, and the ceiling is mostly open, revealing the framework above us. The floor is cement, rough and unfinished, and there’s a gaping hole on one side of the space, wide and deep. A cement mixer with a spout is situated near the hole, as if one of the next things the contractors will do is pour concrete to fill the hole.
A muffled sound comes from the depths of the hole, and my heart lurches. We step closer to it, and a voice calls out from below.
“Willow?”
“Vic!”
The hole is at least nine feet deep, and it’s even darker down there than it is in the rest of the space, which is dimly lit by a floodlight attached to a large extension cord. But even in the shadows, I can see Vic’s face, and Malice’s beside it.
Relief floods my body, despite the fact that they’re trapped down there. At least they’re actually alive. Olivia wasn’t lying about that.
I suck in a breath, but before I can say anything else, Olivia steps out of the shadows, flanked by several more hired bodyguards.
She looks out of place in this dim, unfinished building littered with construction materials. She’s dressed in a pale gray pantsuit, her hands clasped in front of her, not a hair is out of place.
Her chin lifts, giving her a look of superiority as she meets my gaze and smiles. “I knew that, one way or another, your attachment to these men was going to be your downfall.”
“Loving people who love me back was never a mistake.” I square my shoulders, my arms unconsciously straining against the zip ties. “Your mistake was believing that blood matters more than that. That blood means anything at all. It doesn’t.”
Olivia snorts, and her expression shifts from that cool smile to something bored and a little disgusted. She snaps her fingers. “Show me the paperwork.”
I look down at my bound hands and then back up at her as if she’s stupid. My grandmother huffs a breath before gesturing to one of the guards who escorted us in. Stepping around me, he grabs the papers from my jacket and brings them over to Olivia.
There’s a metal table near the floodlight with some blueprints laid out on it, and the guard spreads the papers out there for Olivia to go over. She reads through them quickly, muttering under her breath as she does. Then she looks up.
“Good. It all looks to be in order. Thank you for this, Willow.” She nods at her guards. “Take care of them both.”
Before I know what’s happening, rough hands shove at me. I stumble, losing my footing as I’m pushed into the hole.
There’s a sickening feeling of falling, waiting for the hard concrete to rush up to meet me, and I hear Ransom cursing as he falls in too.
Luckily, Vic moves fast, managing to use his body to cushion my fall so I don’t go straight into the concrete. Malice does the same for Ransom, keeping him from landing too hard.
“Are you okay?” Vic murmurs, setting me on my feet.
