My father was the only person motivated enough to go after a nobody like me. How he'd found me, I had no clue, but crossing paths with Avram Marku in that shitty club clearly had something to do with it.
Would Declan be looking for me?
Had he even noticed I was missing?
I had no way of knowing how long it had been since the man took me from the airport bathroom. It could have been hours.
The vehicle jolted over another pothole, throwing me sideways. My head slammed against something hard, sending a burst of pain through my skull, but I swallowed it down and made no sound.
Be more like Thea, I told myself as my limbs shook with adrenaline. What would Thea do?
Thea would have a knife tucked away in her shoe, or a gun. She never went anywhere unarmed. I almost laughed. The thought of me carrying any kind of weapon was hilarious. I'd be more likely to hurt myself than my intended target.
I forced myself to think rather than panic. Consider my options. Not that there were many other than jumping out once the van slowed down.
It was a terrible plan, but the only one I had.
My head pounded, but I gritted my teeth and reached for the door, trying to find the locking mechanism. There was a handle, but it didn't budge an inch when I pushed and pulled it.
All I could do was wait until the van stopped and then try to make a run for it.
A shitty plan, but I refused to accept my fate without putting up a fight.
The days of rolling over and letting life punch me in the face were over.
The guys had seen something in me nobody else had. Yes, they weren't in it for the long haul, but each time they treated me with kindness and made me feel like a million dollars, I grew a little taller.
The Verity who'd allowed Anton to knock her down repeatedly without fighting back was gone. The new me wasn't about to take that shit anymore.
Even if nobody came to help me, I could still help myself. Sure, I wasn't Thea, but I had the same blood running through my veins.
Our father might have ignored me my whole life, but he'd taught me some valuable lessons.
There was strength in learning to live in the shadows. Power in overcoming adversity.
If Thea could be happy after all she'd endured, well, so could I.
And the only way to achieve that happiness was figuring out how to outwit whichever scumbags had taken me.
The van slowed down and stopped. My body tensed, preparing for what lay ahead. Not wanting to seem too alert, I slumped down and closed my eyes.
A chain rattled, followed by the murmur of voices. Then the van moved again, albeit slower. It felt as if we were ascending, which meant we were in the hills above Catania.
I dug back into my memories. Where was our estate? I recalled Thea telling me the authorities had confiscated the house, land, and everything on it, but not whether they'd disposed of it.
The land had been in the di Luca family for generations. Losing it would have been a major blow to Dad's pride.
The van stopped again. This time, the engine cut out and footsteps stomped toward the rear door. A lock turned, and the door swung open to reveal two men, and behind them, a large building. I didn't recognize it, so wherever we were, it wasn't our old estate. Beyond the house lay dense forest. In the fading light, the place looked spooky as fuck. The sort of place where kids would come to play with ouija boards and smoke dope.
I pretended to be drowsy and confused while praying for a miracle.
"Where am I?" The sedative caused my words to slur.
The men ignored me. "Get her out," the asshole apparently in charge told the other. "The boss wants to make sure she's unharmed."
The taller of the two men climbed into the loading bay and grabbed my ankle. I yelped when he tugged me across the metal floor.
"Fuck, be careful, you moron! If you hurt her, the boss will fucking kill you."
