The impact hit hard and fast, and for a second, I didn't know which way was up. I landed on my side, the breath knocked clean out of me. My skull rang. My vision blurred, split, and tried to reassemble itself. The sudden movement made the ties bite in deep, and I felt the burn of the plastic cut into already raw skin.
When things finally stopped tilting, I caught my breath and blinked to clear my sight. My wrists throbbed with a sharper edge now. They were bleeding. I could feel it. Cold air stung the places where the plastic had sliced through.Something warm trickled down the side of my face, curling toward my ear.
"You don't get a say in this," he snarled above me. "You're just a loose end."
I forced myself to sit upright, but every movement threatened to tip me right back over. My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat. The world pitched sideways more than once, and I had to close my eyes just to keep from throwing up.
When I finally got my balance under me, I leaned back against the cold stone wall and let it hold me up. The chill bled straight through my coat, but it helped snap me back to reality. At least a little bit.
That was stupid. That wasbeyondstupid.
I was hoping to throw him off long enough to stop this from becoming a spectacle. But I wasn't thinking clearly. All I did was piss him off more. And now I knew he couldn't be goaded. His grip on reality was too warped.
He wasn't playing power games anymore or looking for leverage. He was past that. He'd already decided how this was going to end.
And Eli was walking straight into it.
The thought brought the panic back in full force. I tried to slow my breathing, but every inhale of freezing air scraped my lungs raw. My wrists throbbed where the plastic had cut through the skin. Blood tickled its way down my hands, sticky against my numbing fingers.
I clenched my jaw and pressed harder against the wall, as if that would be enough to keep my insides from shaking. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when we were so damn close to being free.
I blinked against the sting in my eyes and swallowed around the knot forming in my throat. I finally had Eli. I wasn't ready to give that up. A few weeks weren’t enough. Not even close. There had to be more than this. There had to be a wayout.
My thoughts scattered when I noticed the tremble that had taken over completely. I couldn't tell what was doing it anymore. The fear, the cold, the pain, maybe all of it. But I couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't feel my fingers anymore, and when I tried to move, the ties dug even deeper. I hissed through my teeth.
I drew my legs up, slow and stiff, until I could rest my bound hands in my lap. At least this way, Marcus wouldn't see the way they shook. But it didn't actually help much. I could feel the tremors in my knees now, in the way my muscles twitched and threatened to seize up if I moved wrong.
Come on, Rowan, think.
Every plan I came up with cracked apart the second I tried to picture it. I couldn't fight him. I couldn't run. I had no leverage and nothing to trade. But something had to work. I just hadn't thought of it yet.
Marcus's pacing picked up, each step more erratic and uneven than the last. I heard him muttering again, but I couldn't catch the words. I did hear Eli's name more than once, though.
"He's takin' too long," he snapped suddenly, his voice rising without warning. "He's takin' too fuckin' long."
I coughed. Just once, dry and rough. My throat felt rough from the cold and tension. I tipped my head back against the wall and shut my eyes for half a second.
That was all it took.
"You think this is funny?"
I blinked back to find Marcus turned toward me, eyes blazing. He stormed forward before I could even process it.
"No, I'm not – " I started, but I didn't get any further.
The gun slammed under my chin, the cold metal biting into my skin. I froze. Every muscle in my body locked up.
"Ya think I'm bluffin'?" he hissed. "Ya think I won't do it? Eh?"
The gun pressed harder. I didn't move. I didn't even blink. My heart hammered in my ears and chest. I thought I might black out just from the pressure.
Then, just as suddenly, he yanked it back. A smile spread slow and bitter across his face. "Nah. I want him to see it." He stepped away, almost casual, to watch the path again.
I finally exhaled. The breath left my lungs too fast, and the dizzy rush that followed nearly knocked me sideways. I stayed upright only because the wall held me up. My heart wouldn't stop slamming against my ribs.
Jesus Christ.
Eli
