She wasn’t interested in that role, leaving me and Anya.
“Have a team look into tracking her,” I ordered, striding to the car to return to the building.
She’d asked me not to follow her, but that game was over. If she’d been taken before she could fly further away, I had to do all I could to make up for the misery—misery she wouldn’t have faced if she’d only stayed.
28
CLAIRE
The men tossed me into the back of the van without any care whether I’d get bruised. Slamming down onto the floor of the cargo van, I rolled face-up and screamed as loudly as I could. The sound wouldn’t carry. The thick gag around my mouth ensured that I was silenced.
Another door opened to the car and I breathed harshly through my nose, willing myself not to pass out from the fear. It had happened so suddenly, too quickly for me to keep up with the fact that I’d been captured. Those men surrounded me, but it was Jack who’d been closest to me when I stepped out into the traffic to get away. His fingers latched on to my sleeve and yanked me back to the sidewalk before I could’ve been hit by a biker or car rushing by.
“What’s the matter with you?” he demanded, breathing hard from chasing me and catching me just in time. Gripped in his hands as he shook me, I watched him snarl. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I wished I could’ve shouted the same at him. But I hadn’t. I couldn’t have said a single word or asked any question about why he was friends with criminals. The Italian mobsters caught up to us, and he handed me over. With a shove, he pushed me into the arms of one of the beefy men, a street thug just like the one who’d almost kicked me in the hospital a few weeks ago.
And that was it. I was turned away from the pedestrians and street. I was tied up, my hands smashed together behind my back. The telltale pressure of the end of a gun rammed at my back, and the smelly man ordered me to move it.
“Scream, and you’re dead, Doctor.” He prodded me with the gun once more, and I obeyed.
It was surreal that only ten minutes ago, I had been on my feet, free, and running to a safer location back home. Now, I was dropped into this dirty van.
It rocked as another door was opened and closed. Jerking and rocking with the weight of someone else in here, I craned my neck to see who was here now.
“I told you not to get involved,” Jack whispered, turning from the passenger seat to sneer at me.
You are too! You’re involved in this bloody mess!
It was the worst form of irony to be tied up and bound like this, helpless and about to be transported like a delivery while he got in the front seat. He was in on this, not only friendly with the Giovannis but assisting them. He wasn’t only familiar with them, he was an active participant to sit up there and not try to help me get free.
The realization that he had such a hidden and ulterior motive stunned me, but I didn’t let the shock paralyze me. Clinging to the anger and letting that hot emotion fuel me to stay sharp, I narrowed my eyes and watched as the tall Giovanni who’d pushed me with the gun got in the driver’s seat.
He tossed me one cruel glance via the reflection in the mirror. Then he grunted a laugh and started the engine.
“Let’s go, Doc,” he joked.
Jack had the gall to laugh along with him, like this was a prime comedy skit they found absolutely hilarious.
I rolled over the floor as the driver turned and sped up, but I tried my best to duck my head in and hunch my shoulders so I didn’t get a concussion. Sparing myself injuries was a critical goal in all this, and I feared that would be much more difficult to do once they stopped and let me out.
This wasn’t a joy ride. They hadn’t captured me in broad daylight for the hell of it like a prank. If I had the foresight to reflect on it, I would’ve been stumped to admit the concept of being safe in a crowd was a lie.
All those people, walking, jogging, leaving work and minding their own business. And not one of them could’ve noticed how I was forced away?
What else could I have done?
What other options were there?
He would’ve shot me—or someone else—if I screamed. I couldn’t have run and fought his steely grip on my arm.
Nowhere was safe. I’d gone to the hospital only to turn in my resignation and I had been taken right outside its doors.
I had rushed to the cops before, and that had backfired when they proved they were corrupt and paid for by the Popovs.
Nothing was as it seemed anymore. As I stayed alert and listened to the sounds of the van going over the streets, I shook off this stupid musing that coming here and landing in New York had set me up to live in a surreal dream world where criminals ruled and laws didn’t matter.
When the van stopped, I tensed up and awaited whatever would come next. The Giovanni driver exited, and through the walls of the cargo space, I caught the indistinct and muffled sounds of him talking and laughing with others.
