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Iawoke on a dirty floor in a strange room. Panic surged through me, making my heart gallop. Memories of a hospital, gunfire, and sapphire eyes riddled with pain flashed in my mind.
Louie!
I jerked to sit up, only to fall back to the floor. My head spun and my hands felt like they were restrained around something behind me. I blinked rapidly to clear away the dizziness. The Aryans had drugged me.Bastards.
The more things came back to me, the more clearheaded I became. That helped slow my racing heart. I went to sit up again. This time, after some wiggling and shifting, I was successful. Metal bit into my wrists, evidence that I was handcuffed. I leaned back against something cold and hard. With a quick glance up, I saw that I was bound to a steel structural post.
I scanned my surroundings. I was in a small living room. By the size and feel of the space, I’d say I was in an apartment. A fucking junkie’s run-down apartment, by the looks of it. The carpet was dirty and stained. The air was stale and faintly smelled of piss. Directly across from me was a mustard-colored couch that I assumed used to be tan. The upholstery was ripped in many places and the cushions were as flat as a pizza box. To my left was a window with newspaper taped over it. Spots of light dotted the carpet where pieces of the newspaper had peeled. Right under the window was an old metal radiator. By how cold the room was, I doubted it worked. To my left, within touching distance if I’d had access to my hands, was a round wooden dining table that only had one chair. I craned my neck to look behind me and saw that the other side of the room was taken up by a filthy, tiny kitchen. A beaten-up refrigerator, a stove, and a sink filled with dirty dishes lined the far wall. I tried not to shiver with disgust as a giant cockroach scurried across the countertop toward the sink. I knew cockroaches weren’t my biggest problem at the moment, but my entire body itched to get off the fucking floor.
Said floor creaked on the opposite side of the room from where I was. My gaze darted in that direction just in time to see a haggard-looking Amelia, Buck’s child bride, with her baby clutched to her chest, shuffle in from a hallway that led to the rest of the apartment. She was wearing a long tan peacoat over her hospital gown. My tan peacoat that I’d had on before they’d chloroformed me. There were dark bags under her eyes, sweat beaded her forehead, and each step she took into the living room seemed to cause her to wince. She was clearly headed for the disgusting couch. As if sensing me staring, her pain-filled eyes slid to me and she froze.
I found it ridiculous how easy it was to read the thoughts and emotions that passed through her. The panic, the pity, the discomfort, and the debate of turning around and going back from where she’d come from. I read it all with a blank face.
As if unable to hold my gaze any longer, she looked down.
“Pathetic.” The word tumbled from my mouth before I could think to stop it.
With a frown, she forced herself to look at me again. I didn’t let my blank expression waver.
She didn’t say anything as her eyes bounced all over my face, but her frown hardened into a glare. With irritation buzzing off her, she finished making her way to the couch.
Easily manipulated as well,I thought, but managed to keep to myself.
Pain quickly replaced the glare on her face as she lowered herself to sit on the couch. She released a shaky breath once she found a comfortable position on the flat cushions.
I should have felt empathy for her, or at least pity, but I didn’t. I wasn’t capable. Not when the memory of Louie being shot was playing in the back of my mind on repeat. “I guess your husband forgot to lift you pain meds when he picked us up from the hospital. Such a thoughtful and caring man you’ve chosen to spend your life with.” My words were venomous and each one faintly tasted bitter—easy to ignore, but nasty enough to serve as a warning that I might regret them later if I lived long enough.
Her glare returned, replacing the pain.
“I know from personal experience how painful it is to have surgery on your lower abdomen,” I continued my verbal assault. “Every move you make seems to tug on your incision. At the time, my baby wasn’t as big as yours when the doctors pulled her out of me. So I’m sure your cesarean incision is hurting like a bitch.”
The guilt that overcame her face made me scoff.
“Does it make you feel better to know that I’m in pain?” she finally said. Her voice held a hint of a tremble.
I stared at her for a breath, then another, knowing what I was doing. I was chasing the rabbit. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. I am your captive and you’re going to kill me.”
“I’m not going to—”
“You’d be a fool not to,” I cut her off.
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “So what you said in the hospital was a lie?”
“You mean when I offered to send you and your son somewhere safe?” I glanced around and shrugged. “I can’t do anything for you tied up in this shithole, now can I?”
It was apparently her turn to stare at me for a breath or two. “Is this your way of trying to convince me to help you escape?”
I held her gaze as I dropped my schooled expression and let show what her husband had unleashed. Memories of blood-soaked hands pulling away from my belly, screaming as I dragged my bleeding body across the floor, the fear in Stefan’s eyes when he’d found me, the rage that could rival mine in Jamie’s, and Louie collapsing to the ground as more bullets rained down around him overwhelmed my mind. “No,” I answered in a calm, dark voice. “I have no intention of escaping.”
Her hand fisted a little bit of the pale blue blanket she had wrapped around her baby.
Good.She should be afraid.
* * *
I couldn’t tell for sure what day it was or the time, but if I’d had to guess, I would’ve said it was midafternoon. Which I assumed meant I had been taken a little over twenty-four hours ago. Undoubtedly, Stefan knew I was missing by now. I leaned my head back against the post I was cuffed to and squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t afford to think about him, Jamie, or anyone else and their worry. I needed to stay focused.
With how numb my ass was from sitting, it had been hours since I had woken. Within that time, it had become obvious that Amelia, her baby, and I were the only ones in the apartment. Buck and his remaining Aryans had yet to make an appearance.
