Dimitri stays silent, and I think that might be worse than him telling me the truth.
Suddenly, I begin to question and second-guess everything. Was I wrong about Dimitri all along? Was this all truly just a game for him? Was everything a lie, a ruse? It feels like my entire world is crumbling around me, and I feel that phantom pain in my chest once again. “Was I just some kind of conquest for you, Dimitri? Did you have money riding on the fact that I would try to sleep with you or something? Did you make some sort of bet that you could make me fall in love with you?” I ask, my voice in near hysterics. “Because I did. I love —”
Suddenly, he grabs me roughly, shaking me once to force me to be quiet. “Don’t finish that sentence,privighetoare mica.”
“Why? Because you don’t feel the same?” I question, needing to know. And when he simply stares back at me without saying a word, I think I know his answer. Sniffing, I pull away from him, and he lets me go. “Okay, I get it now,” I say quietly before walking out of the room. Tears cloud my vision as I run down the hall. Clearly, none of this ever mattered to him.Ididn’t matter. Because if I did, he wouldn’t just be able to wash his hands of me after all of this. He wouldn’t just simply want to disappear into thin air without a word like a ghost.
I run faster, harder, wanting to run away, wanting to somehow escape. In my haste, I run straight into Darby, almost taking her out. She grabs my arm, but I pull away from her grip. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Savina, what’s wrong?” she asks with concern lacing her features.
“I need some air. I need…” I’m choking on my words and having trouble breathing. I just need to get the hell out of here. I take off towards an exit, leaving her behind. Pushing through the door, I breathe in the fresh air and only hesitate a moment before I’m running again, wanting to put some distance between me and this horrid place.
“Savina!” Darby calls after me.
My best friend is on my heels, yelling at me to stop, but I don’t. I keep on going until it feels like I can’t run anymore. Out ofbreath, I finally slow my steps, staggering along the sidewalk with tears running down my cheeks.
Vehicles pass by me as I openly sob on the sidewalk. I’m so distraught that I barely hear the squealing of brakes behind me.
“Savina!” Darby cries out, and I can hear the piercing, undiluted panic in her voice.
Turning, I see her wrestling with three guys, who are attempting to pull a hood over her head. “Darby!” I shout. I start to run towards her, but I suddenly feel a pair of large hands grabbing me from behind. Then, my whole world goes dark as a black hood is pulled over my head and drawn tightly around my neck. I fight for my life, but one set of hands turns into two and then three as I’m dragged and then carried to an awaiting running vehicle. I’m tossed inside, my body colliding with someone else’s.
“Darby?”
“Savina!” she cries. “What the hell is going on?”
I open my mouth to tell her what I know, what I fear is happening, but I can’t seem to form the words. I don’t want to scare her, but we’ve been kidnapped. I don’t know why or who is behind it all, but I have a feeling we’ll find out soon enough.
Before I can tell her to just comply with whatever they say, I hear one of the men grunt in pain, followed by several other grunts, and I know that Darby is fighting back. Normally, I would cheer her on, but I know she’s only making it worse on herself. “Darby, please!” I beg.
Suddenly, she screams, and it sends a chill up my spine. “Get off of me!” she shouts.
“It’s going to be okay,” I lie to her. “We’re going to be okay.”
My hands reach out in the darkness, desperately searching for my friend. I manage to find her hand and am able to hold it for only split second before she’s ripped away from me. “Please! Let her go!” I plead.
I’m so focused on Darby that I barely register the sudden, sharp prick in my arm. It’s only after the man pulls away from me that Irealize what just happened. “What did you…” my voice trails off as my tongue instantly becomes heavy in my mouth.
“You’ll be sleeping soon enough, lass,” a voice with a thick Irish accent tells me.
I scream and kick until my body grows heavy, and my limbs no longer want to work on their own. The fight slowly leaves as I succumb to the complete and total darkness swallowing me whole, and my last thought is I wish Dimitri were here right now, because I know he wouldn’t let anyone hurt us.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Dimitri
I’M NURSINGMY third whiskey when I hear Mr. Cipriano sneer, “Where the hell is Savina? We were supposed to start fifteen minutes ago!”
Her stepmother stands and says, “I’ll go check.”
I hear her high heels clicking slowly, methodically along the hardwood floor as she ventures down the hall. A few minutes later, Cosette reemerges, and they are clicking in double-time as she shrieks, “Savina is gone!”
My heart skips a beat inside of my chest at her words. Fumbling for my cell phone, I unlock it and quickly bring up the tracking app. It says Savina’s phone is still here in this building, so where is she?
Adrenaline has my feet carrying me swiftly down the hall to the women’s dressing room. I find her phone within a few seconds, along with her purse and belongings. A feeling of dread washes over me. Savina wouldn’t just leave everything here, would she?
I think back to our argument an hour earlier. Savina thought I was using her, and I didn’t deny it. I let her draw her own conclusions about me rather than telling her the truth about how I really feel. She was going to tell me she loved me.Savina fucking loves me.And I pushed her away, because I’m a fucking coward. That look on her face, the last look she gave me; it will haunt me until my dying breath.
Savina had left in a hurry after that, and the last thing I remember is seeing her running down the hall with Darby close behind.
