Just then, I heard a whistle. Sharp. Piercing. Too close to me.
I spun around, my eyes landing on another man who had stepped out from behind the dumpsters. I had not seen him in the dark. He had been obscured by the shadows.
He was tall. His face narrow. A scar slicing his jaw.
Scar.Scar.
My breath vanished. He was one of them. One of my kidnappers. The men from the warehouse who had kept me there silently and then auctioned me off in a room full of men, where Avgust had bought me and brought me to safety.
Avgust. I needed Avgust.
I should never have run away from him.
“Found you,” he murmured, an evil smile spreading across his ugly face.
The first man stepped closer from behind, and I clearly understood they were not strangers. They were working together, which meant they would capture me again.
Oh god. Oh god.
I stumbled back, though there was nowhere to go, nowhere at all.
“Don’t… don’t come near me.”
The scarred one’s smile was slow and poisonous. “Can’t have you running off. You would still give one hell of a price, princess.”
My whole body trembled. “Stay away from me.”
“We don’t want to hurt you,” the other said, hands raised mockingly as if offering me peace. “Not unless someone pays us to.”
A sob tore free.
Not now.
Not here.
I cannot cry now.
Run, Ilana.
I turned and ran, faster than I’d ever moved, heart slamming so hard it hurt. Gravel flew behind me. My breath ripped in and out as rain started again, cold needles hitting my skin. Footsteps thundered behind me, getting closer and closer, but I kept running, refusing to look back or stop.
I couldn’t breathe or think as my vision blurred. The road twisted and faded with it. A hand snatched the back of my shirt, but I screamed and tore forward, the fabric ripping.
“Get back here!”
I ran blindly, tears and rain mixing on my face. My chest burned, and I didn’t look where I was going. The only thing that mattered was not going back to them. They had auctioned me once, and I could only imagine what they might do to me this time. I had to get away from here.
Just then, I hit something solid. Hard.
Arms. A chest like a wall. A scent I recognized before I even saw him. Dark. Clean. Expensive.
Avgust.
My breath broke as my hands fisted in his jacket, my heart beginning to slow down already.
“They—they’re here—”
Avgust didn’t ask questions or look surprised. His arms came around me, one hand steadying my spine. He didn’t even look angry, his handsome face entirely expressionless.
