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“I’m going to take the other side,” I say, rounding the front of the car and using the open driver’s door as another shield.
I keep shooting until there are no rounds left in the gun. Several of the men are bleeding out on the pavement but there are still more coming. I hear Aria curse and I suspect that she’s out of bullets too.
“Well,” a man says as he strides toward me. “That was interesting. You know, you really should be armed better if you’re going to pick a fight.”
“Fuck off,” I say, pulling a butterfly knife from my pocket and snapping it open.
“Drop the weapon. I don’t want this to be any harder than it has to be,” the man says, holding his own hands up and letting his gun hang from the shoulder strap by his side.
“I have to disagree with that.”
The man stops walking as Aria is dragged to my side of the car by another man. He is holding a cloth and she is unconscious. I scowl and drop the knife. If we are going to be taken, one of us has to be awake just in case we get a chance to get away.
I will carry her if I have to, but based on the number of men surrounding us, I have my work cut out for me in order for that to happen.
All eyes are on me as I step out from behind my shield with my hands up. The man approaches me, shaking his head.
“You know, I was hoping for a bit more of a fight. It’s been a while since I got fresh blood on my hands.”
“Looks like it isn’t your lucky day,” I say as he stops a few inches from me.
His hand twitches by his side, his fingers grazing his gun. In that second, I know that I’m about to get hit and it’s going to hurt like a bitch when I wake up.
The man grins as he pulls a handgun from his holster before slamming it into the side of my head.
15
ARIA
Iwake up as I’m dragged through the halls of my father’s basement. My body feels like it’s numb and I have no memory of how I got here. The last thing I remember is a cloth being held over my mouth and nose before the world went black.
The white stone walls are stained with blood in several places and handprints mar the wall near the bottom where someone desperately fought for their life. I don’t want to think about who tried to stop the inevitable.
My eyes close and my stomach tosses and turns. This isn’t where I want to be. This is where the enemies of my father come to die. His basement is deep beneath the family estate and hidden behind several layers of security.
When I open my eyes, the men who are dragging me toss me into the elevator. I look around at the mirrored walls, wondering why I’m being sent back up to the estate instead of getting locked in a cell.
The men enter the elevator behind me. As soon as the doors close, one of their boots collides with my torso. I groan as pain blossoms along my ribs. When I take a deep breath, there is pain but it doesn’t feel like my ribs are broken.
“Your father is going to make sure that you don’t try a stunt like that again,” one of the men says before stepping on my hand.
When I try to stand up, I take another boot to the stomach.
“Staydown, bitch,” the other man says.
I look up at both of them, committing their faces to memory. When I’m free again, I’m going to make sure that they both pay for this. Because make no mistake, if my father doesn’t kill me the second I’m off this elevator, I will free myself, and these guys’ reckoning will come by my hand.
The elevator reaches the main floor of the estate. The men each grab a bicep, their fingers digging into my soft flesh as they haul me to my feet. I squirm in their grasp, trying to kick and hit them to no avail.
The men keep walking, climbing the stairs, and heading down the hall to my bedroom. They toss me inside before the door slams and several locks slide into place.
“Fuck,” I say, finally getting to my feet.
When I walk across the room and pull the curtains away from my window, all I see are bars. My father is doing everything he can to make sure I don’t escape again.
I sigh and run my hand through my hair.
There is a secret way out of my room that none of the men know about, but it would mean leaving Tyson behind, and until I’m sure there is no more hope for him, I’m not doing that. All I have to do is find a way to save us both before my father kills us.
