It’s fine. We’ll work it out.
After talking myself out of my mini-fritz, I take a moment to wash my hands, splashing a little water on my heated cheeks to cool them off. Reaching over, I grab a towel and press it carefully to my face, trying to avoid ruining what’s left of my make-up.
And a damp, hot hand smashes over my mouth.
I’m yanked backwards as my hands reach up, scrabbling at the fingers gripping my face. A terrified noise slips out, but it’s muted, and my eyes fly up in the mirror.
Erikkson sneers at me. His face is thinner than I remembered, his weeks on the run clearly having taken a toll. He smells like he hasn’t showered since I last saw him, and I gag as his fingers shove into my mouth.
“You little bitch,” he hisses. “You’ve caused me no end of trouble, but that ends tonight.”
Still gripping my mouth, he starts tugging me backwards, and my heels scrabble on the tiles.
He pushes open the large window that leads out onto the grounds.
A terrified moan leaks out.No.
They won’t know what’s happened to me.
Erikkson clearly knows how to stay hidden, and I’ll be shipped back over the wall within an hour.
I retch into his hand, and he grabs a section of my hair, pulling it back until I’m gasping, my head swimming as I try to take in air around his hand.
Think, Sienna. Fuckingthink.
My heel catches in the edges of the ornate tiling. Desperate, I lift it up and slam it as hard as I can into the top of his foot.
He screams like a little girl, his hand releasing my mouth, and I lurch forward, flying across the room towards safety. My hands wrap around the door handle before he catches back up to me, his hand winding into my hair and trying to drag me back.
But my hand is still attached to the handle, and it opens.
Pulling in the deepest breath I can, I scream out into the hallway.
“TRISTAN!”
“Fuck!” Erikkson shoves me forward, my head banging into the door before he scrambles back to the window. I shuffle back against the wall, gasping as the door splinters, and Tristan comes flying through.
His eyes move straight to the open window. “Jax,” he snaps. “Gray. Go.”
Logan’s arms are around me, his voice speaking urgently into my ear, but it’s all I can do to wrap my arms around him tightly.
He came. They all came.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, over and over again as he holds me.
Tristan drops to his knees next to me, his hand going straight to my swollen mouth as he inspects it. His eyes turn to flint. “Tell me what happened. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
I shake my head. “I’m okay. It – it was Erikkson. He said I was causing him trouble.”
Tristan looks grim. “Jax and Gray are going after him.”
“What?” I struggle out of Logan’s arms. “They can’t. Tristan – those men have guns. If they’re with Erikkson—,”
My panic is making it hard to breathe, and Tristan cups my face. “They are not helpless,” he tells me firmly. “And there are security guards all over this place, Bonded. Erikkson slipped by them because he knows the layout, but he’ll have a tough time getting back out.”
As my breathing slows, there’s shouting from outside the bathroom. Gray strides in, a long scratch across his cheek. His eyes move straight to mine.
“We got him,” he says grimly. He kneels next to Tristan, his hand stroking my hair. “You hear that, sweetheart? It’s done. We’ve got him. Plus two of the men who were looking for you in Herrith, I think.”
