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“Where’s your gun?” I hissed and lifted his jacket, feeling his pockets. “Valik, where is it?” My pulse quickened when he gripped my wrist, his eyes widening as he looked over my shoulder.
“Run,” he wheezed.
The hair on my arms stood up, and I didn’t need to turn around to know that someone was behind me. I glanced down at the knotted pillowcase next to me, and in one swift movement I grabbed it and hurled it around my shoulders like a helicopter blade with as much force as I could muster.
It smashed into Ryzen’s head, and he yelled out, stumbling backwards. “You bitch.” He lunged for me, and I swung again, but the ceiling was too low, the pillowcase too bulky. The air swooshed out of my lungs as we landed on the floor, him on top of me.
I was frantic, kicking, clawing, hitting him with all my might, but he had the advantage of being on top of me and blocked most of my blows. His fist made contact with my jaw, and the pain alone was enough to have me screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Shut the fuck up,” he roared.
I wailed on him as hard as I could, but he grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head against the ground. The pain was excruciating as it radiated up my neck and the back of my head.
“Thought you were so clever?” He leaned closer, his nostrils flaring. “Not as clever as me.”
He was so close, I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Blood filled my mouth from his punch, and I gathered as much of it as I could and spit it all over his face. He grunted, his mouth twisting as he wiped his face.
“You’re going to regret that.” He stood up and stepped on my arm, the one with the cast, and I screamed out, tears running down my face. The pain was too much to handle, my own sobs echoing in my ears. He grabbed me by my legs and dragged me. The cold concrete dug into my back, my flesh getting cut as he took me towards the stairs. I tried to grab onto the metal shelf, but he just yanked me harder. He moved up the stairs like I weighed nothing, whistling as he went. My head was hitting each step with such force that I started to lose consciousness.
No, Nova. Be strong. Stronger than this.
But at that moment, I couldn’t do it any more, and my eyelids drifted shut, a sea of darkness in front of them.
*****
I think I’m in heaven. Cian is there laughing at something Thora said, while Orin is in the kitchen yelling at Eros for burning the biscuits. Juliet sits next to me on the couch, showing me doodles of her latest and greatest dildo design.
Cian wraps me in a bear hug, kissing me deep until I’m almost out of breath. I push back, gasping for air, and his face twists and turns into Ryzen’s.
I’m screaming at the top of my lungs, then my eyes fly open.
Ryzen narrowed his eyes at me. We were back upstairs in the living room and I was sitting in a chair with my hands tied behind my back.
“There she is.” He chuckled and pulled up a chair, sitting down in front of me. He pulled the gun out and laid it on the coffee table next to us. “Tell me, dear fiancée, when did you get your memory back, hm?”
I stared blankly at him for a moment. He looked completely untethered, manic, his eyes drilling into me. His clothes had blood splattered across them, his fingers covered in dirt. But it was his smile that made me nervous. It was a smile of a madman, and I didn’t know how the hell I was going to get out of this one.
He reached up and smacked me across my face, tears welling in my eyes at the sting. “How long, Nova?”
“Just a few days,” I sputtered.
“Good.” He nodded and pulled out my phone. “Won’t be needing this either, now will you?” He threw it next to the gun on the table and laughed. “You know, it’s a good thing I was starting to get paranoid. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have seen that a little sneaky somebody”—he pressed his pointer finger against my forehead and pushed—“was out in the woods digging up my shit.”
‘Paranoid’ was probably an understatement. His eyes looked wild, and I wondered if he was on something.
“You have been nothing but a pain in my ass since we met in that elevator.” He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “If you had just played by my rules, Nova, you wouldn’t be here right now—tied up in a chair, death just minutes away. But you’re just like the others. A gold-digger. A whore. Good for only one thing, which surprisingly you never gave me.”
His eyes roamed over me, and every muscle in my body tensed up.
Fucking try it, asshole.
I let the blood dribble down my chin, and he scrunched up his face. Good. I wiggled my wrists, noticing he had tied the rope around my cast, which made it loose. My heart was in my throat at that moment. If I could get my hands free and grab the gun… or my knife… The switchblade handle dug into my skin where my cast was pressed, and a laugh escaped my throat with my excitement.
He glared at me, his face twisted in disgust as I let the blood flow. I just needed to keep him talking until I could get my hands free. Then I stood a shot. I didn’t want to die here. Not on this island and not at the hands of Ryzen. I wasn’t going to give up. Not yet. I would fight tooth and nail if I had to.
“I’m not a whore. I had real feelings for you at one time. Real feelings, Ryzen.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, really? When? When you were fucking Cian Blackwood?” He shook his head in disgust, muttering to himself. “He’ll get what’s coming to him too, don’t worry about that.”
