The door slides open into the garage and darkness greets me, a black fathomless kind of dark that freezes me on the spot. I know I have to step out to trigger the motion detector lights but it’s the kind ofdark where you can’t see your own hand beyond your face. My knees quake as I force them to move, a breath whooshing from my lungs when the first light strip flickers and then comes to life, illuminating just enough of the parking lot to help me see.
I try to ignore the stain on the ground where Sebastian bled onto the concrete, his car just beyond, the front crumpled, and my car is parked next to it. And that’s when I realize, I don’t have my keys. I haven’t driven it in months, I don’t even know where my keys are or if it’ll even start.
“My keys,” I breathe, “I didn’t get them. I don’t have my keys.”
“Okay,” Sebastian tries to calm me, “Run to the street, and keep running, get somewhere with cameras and call a cab, keep moving Red, don’t stop.”
I nod silently.
“Talk to me, Red.”
“I’m running,” My legs are slow but they’re moving toward the walkway that will bring me out onto street level. It’s chilly tonight and since I’m only in a pair of sleep shorts and a light cami the cold is seeping through to my skin. It’s a steady incline to street level, but I navigate easy enough until I hear the tell-tale sound of the ding the elevator makes when the doors have just opened. Someone else is down here with me.
“They’re here,” I cry into the phone, legs moving faster.
“Run, Willow!” Sebastian is moving too; I hear it or maybe it’s just me. I can’t tell beyond my own heavy breaths and pounding heart.
A sound beeps in my ear, and I move my cell so I can see the screen, a warning about low battery flashing red in my vision.
No, no, no.
“Bast,” I breathe heavily, “My cell is going to die. I’m running. I’ll get to Malakai’s.” I promise.
“Keep going,” He urges, the edge of despair in his tone making me want to cry.
“I am,” I promise but my words are cut off again by the low battery warning and before I can say another word, my cell shuts down.
I don’t dare look behind me, I can hail a cab without my phone, I just need to get to a busier part of the city, but I know if I see whoever it is that is after me, I might give up. I’m fucking terrified and I can’t figure out if the fear is for me or for my baby. Maybe both. All I know is that my heart feels as if it might jump right out of my chest.
I grab a lamppost to help propel me around the corner, seeing people right up ahead outside a bar. They’re too far away for me to call out to for help but they’re right there. I’m almost safe.
Arms band around my middle, pulling me to an abrupt halt.
My mouth opens to scream but a quick, hard palm settles over my lips, stifling the scream.
“Shut the fuck up,” They growl, “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
I kick and I fight, and I thrash, but it’s useless, they’re stronger than I am, less winded by the run and they’re dragging me back, away from the safety of the crowd and toward that pitch black underground lot I know will be the last thing I see.
They say to never let a kidnapper get you to a second location, but I don’t understand how I’m supposed to fight this, not when they’re so much stronger than I am.
They drag me the distance back to the garage, no matter how much I claw and fight and after he’s hauled me back beneath the apartment he stops at a large black SUV.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says.
“Then let me go!” I beg.
“I can’t do that,” He grumbles before he slams something into the side of my head.
A buzzing begins to ring inside my ears and my vision turns blurry but no matter how hard I fight, I can’t stop the black fog from descending.
The last thing I remember before it all goes dark is being lifted and placed onto a cushion and then the lights go out, and I’m all alone.
Chapter Forty-three
Panic roars through me like a freight train, followed swiftly by rage.
Not Willow. Not my Red.
