Julian.
“Viktor came to me,” she continues, words tumbling out fast and desperate. “At the hospital, when you were all gone. He said all he wanted was you. Just you. And if I cooperated, he’d leave therest of us alone. He promised, Si. He promised he wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”
“And you believed him.”
“I was scared!” Her voice breaks completely. “I love Julian more than anything in this world. More than my own life. I couldn’t let them hurt him again. I couldn’t.”
I understand that kind of love. The fierce, irrational, burn-the-world-down kind that makes you do stupid, desperate things. I felt it when I saw Julian in that hospital bed, tubes and wires everywhere, machines beeping out the rhythm of his fragile existence.
But understanding doesn’t make this hurt any less.
“I’m your family too.” My voice wavers despite my best efforts. “Julian’s sister. Your sister.”
Harper’s face crumples. “I know. God, I know. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
The van slows, makes a sharp turn, and then stops.
My heart hammers against my ribs hard enough that I’m surprised everyone can’t hear it. This is it. Whatever Viktor has planned for me, it starts now.
The door slides open, letting in harsh fluorescent light that makes me squint. Two men grab my arms and haul me out before my eyes can adjust, and my bare feet hit cold concrete. I lost my shoes somewhere during the struggle at the house, and the chill seeps up through my soles as I blink rapidly, trying to get my bearings.
I immediately recognize where we are.
The Dixon Shipping logo painted on the wall. Pallets stacked on industrial shelves. A forklift parked in the corner. The faint smell of cardboard and diesel that I’ve known since I was a little girl visiting my dad at work.
This is one of my family’s warehouses. Why the hell are we here?
The men drag me forward, past a semi trailer with our company logo on the side, into a wide open space in the center of the warehouse. And Viktor is waiting for me.
He looks exactly like he did on our first date. Expensive suit, perfectly styled hair, charming smile.
“There she is.” His voice echoes off the concrete walls, warm and welcoming, like he’s greeting an old friend instead of a woman he had kidnapped on her wedding day. “My beautiful darling. I’m so glad you could make it.”
The men release me, and I rub at the fresh bruises on my arms, trying to keep my voice steady. “What do you want, Viktor?”
He tilts his head, studying me the way a cat studies a mouse it’s already caught. “Nice wedding dress. You look stunning, by the way. White suits you. Virginal. Pure.” His smile sharpens into something cruel. “We both know that’s not quite accurate anymore, don’t we?”
Don’t react. Don’t give him anything.
“What. Do. You. Want.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He spreads his hands, gesturing at the warehouse around us like he’s showing off a new home. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you, Sierra. From the moment I saw you behind that bar, mixing drinks and smiling at strangers like they were the most important people in the world.”
“Then you should’ve tried not being a violent, stalking psychopath.”
His smile doesn’t falter. That’s what’s terrifying about Viktor, the absolute certainty in his eyes, the way nothing seems to touch him.
“I gave you everything,” he says, taking a step closer. “My attention. My affection. My protection. And how did you repay me? You ran. You hid. You let another man put his hands on what belongs to me.”
“I don’t belong to anyone.”
“No?” Another step. Close enough now that I can smell his cologne, the same expensive scent he wore when he first kissed me. When he first hit me. “Then why are you here, darling? In this warehouse, wearing a ruined wedding dress, with no one coming to save you?”
Matteo will come. He will.
Viktor reads my face and laughs, soft and almost gentle. “Ah. You’re thinking about him. The enforcer. Matteo Rossi.” He says the name like it’s poison. “I’ll admit, that stung. Watching you parade around the city with him, posting your little engagement announcement, acting like you’d forgotten I existed.”
“I was trying to.”
