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I tried to discern their faces in the low light, but their features remained obscured, shrouded in the anonymity of the shadows.
A sudden panic gripped me as they surrounded me, trapping me in the narrow confines of the alley. Before I could protest or plead for mercy, a man stepped beside me and wrapped his arms around me, right before another stuffed a gag in my mouth. As I screamed, someone slipped a hood over my head, enveloping me in sudden darkness.
My breath quickened, my heart pounding in my chest as unseen hands lifted me off the ground. The rough jolt of being hoisted into the air sent a wave of disorientation through me, my limbs flailing as I tried to fight them off.
As the darkness swallowed my senses, I felt the cold bite of rope binding my wrists. Panic clawed at my throat, and I renewed my fight, but there were too many of them, and they carried me out of the alley until I heard the distinct rumbling of a car engine.
The unmistakable creak of the trunk opening reached my ears, and then, with an almost mechanical efficiency, they shoved me into the small, cramped space.
The vibrations beneath me intensified as the car began to drive away. The muted thrum of tires against pavement and the occasional blare of a horn penetrated the confines of my makeshift prison.
Minutes stretched into eternity as I fought against my bonds, my screaming muted.
No one heard, and no one came to save me.
My last thoughts were of Liam before I passed out.
CHAPTER8
KELSEY
Ididn’t know how long I lay on the bed, but I’d been here long enough to figure out that I was on a boat somewhere. The vessel swayed back and forth, gently rocking me as though I was in a cradle. I could hear the boat creaking and groaning as it moved. The damp air carried the scent of salt, and the occasional splash against the hull reverberated through the room.
I’d long stopped trying to fight the ropes that bound me tight. There was no getting out of them. The rough threads bit into my wrists and my ankles, but there was nothing else to do other than wait.
My mind had gone over every possibility, and I couldn’t come up with a single reason why Eduardo Ramirez would want anything to do with me. I knew the FBI had their sights on him too, but he wasn’t a part of my job, or at least he wasn’t supposed to be.
Then, the subtle cadence of footsteps met my ears. With my senses heightened, I strained to hear where they were going, and my heart quickened when I slowly realized that they were coming closer.
As the steps approached, I braced myself, listening intently to the sound of a door opening and the footsteps stopping.
The soft sounds drew closer, and with a delicate touch, the hood shrouding my vision was lifted. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, the silhouette before me gradually took form. It was then, in the midst of the disorienting revelation, that recognition struck with a visceral intensity.
It was Liam.
I opened my mouth to say something, but I closed it as he picked up a sheet of paper next to me. I watched his eyes as he read through it, and a bad feeling furrowed deep inside me.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
He turned the letter to face me, and I scanned over it with a sinking heart. My eyes met his as they burned into mine, and I knew that everything had changed in that single moment.
Liam reached for me and slowly pulled the gag free from my mouth.
“I can explain…” I tried.
In silence, he appraised me. He reached for something beside me and then I realized what it was with a sinking heart.
It was my dossier on the Murphys. Scanned documents. Receipts. Bookkeeping logs. Evidence of illegal gambling, money laundering and several shipments of guns overseas.
It was everything I’d gathered.
He flipped the folder open, and I closed my eyes. This wasn’t happening. This was just a dream. It had to be.
“Not here,” he said softly.
He didn’t untie me. Instead, he took several steps towards me, lifted me off the bed and tossed me over his shoulder. I blinked away tears as he carried me off the boat, my dossier in his other hand.
I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t.
