Alyona
Metal screams somewhere in the distance, a sharp crash that ricochets through the empty building and jerks me upright so fast the cuffs bite into my wrists.
For a moment, I have no idea where I am. My heart sprinting ahead of my thoughts, but then the stink of mildew and old oil settles into my lungs and reality comes rushing back in a nauseating wave.
The dealership.
The abandoned one they dragged me into hours ago.
The space around me is cavernous; the ceiling high enough that every sound multiplies and echoes until it becomes something monstrous. The service desk I’m chained to is nothing but a stripped skeleton of metal framing and warped particleboard. Its drawers ripped out, its countertop sagging. My cuffs are looped through one of the supports, forcing my arms forward at an awkward angle that makes my shoulders ache.
Humidity clings to my skin, dampening the hair at the nape of my neck and making every breath feel heavy. The air tastes like rust and wet concrete.
Outside, thunder rolls low and constant, and every few seconds lightning flashes through the broken front windows,bleaching the world white for a heartbeat. In those bright stutters, I catch glimpses of the place around me. Support beams like ribs, empty showrooms yawning wide, old banners hanging in tatters from the ceiling.
It looks like the carcass of something huge. Dead and hollow. But I have no idea where it is in the city or if I’m even still in Savannah.
Hinto. I’m sure of his identity now; I've heard his men use his name. They forced a pill between my teeth that I choked on trying not to swallow. Whatever it was, knocked me out and kept me fuzzy until we reached this place.
Voices drift from somewhere deeper in the building, rough and careless, the kind of laughter that makes my stomach knot. I strain to hear them, stretching as far as the cuffs allow, the chain clinking softly.
“…told you he’d come,” one of them says.
My pulse slams into my throat.
He.
They mean Kaz.
Of course, they mean Kaz.
A strange, fierce warmth blooms in my chest despite everything, so sudden it almost hurts. Fear and love twist together until I can’t tell them apart. I picture him the way he looks when he’s angry, when his eyes go flat and calculating, when the world seems to narrow to a single point.
He’s coming.
Of course he is.
He always comes.
“He’s attacking,” another voice mutters. “Whole damn city’s lighting up.”
My breath stutters out of me, half sob, half laugh. I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t just sit still.
Lightning flashes again, and for one wild second I imagine SUVs tearing down streets, engines roaring, Kazimir at the front like a storm given human shape.
Then a third man snorts.
“Not here, idiot. He ain’t anywhere near the dealership.”
The warmth inside me falters.
“He hit Hinto’s place instead,” the man continues, bored. “Jefedidn’t expect that.”
My heart drops so fast it feels like missing a stair.
Before I can even process that, another voice erupts somewhere out of sight.
Glass shatters. Something heavy slams against metal.
