“You better fucking not. Just keep me updated on your position. Vincent is on his way to the gym with all of our available personnel.”
“Found ‘em!” Finn shouts, jumping to his feet.
41
SERA
The world comes back to me in jagged snapshots. There’s a weird buzz from a half-broken fluorescent fixture above me, casting everything in a yellow light. I blink slowly, trying to keep my eyes open. Water is dripping somewhere. And a rumbling vibration is coming closer. A train?
My head is pounding, and my tongue feels like it’s too big in my mouth.
“You gave her too much.”
That voice again. My stomach lurches.
I hear Hannah’s indifferent response. “If this takes much longer, I want more money. I didn’t sign up for this. You already owe me for expenses from when my guy tracked her in New York and Chicago.”
I try to listen for more, to look around the room, but the darkness pulls me under again.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been out when a palm slaps my cheek several times. Hard.
My eyes scrunch, and I force them open. A monster stands in front of me.Aaron.
The left side of his face is a ruin. He looks as if he’s missing the bone structure needed to support his cheek, giving him aslack, lopsided appearance. His hair is cut short, missing in several large places, and a jagged scar runs around his skull in an uneven line from one milky, unfocused eye to the back of his head.
But the other eye... I know it. The same cruel, gleaming blue that haunted my nightmares for two years.
No, it can’t be.
My brain fights through the sludge, denying it.
He’s dead. Brady told me.
Terror surges, cold and visceral, freezing my blood. My heart stutters, then pounds wildly, each beat echoing in my ears.
Hannah's face is impassive, her arms crossed, as she leans against a long table covered in a variety of tools.
My stomach twists with fear. But anger flickers beneath it, hot and defiant.
Liev will come. And he will make them pay.
Hopefully he saves some for me.
As my senses come back, I’m aware of the burn in my shoulders. And now that I recognize it, the insistent fire in the muscles builds. My arms... Why can’t I move my arms? They’re pulled high above my head, wrists bound by something rough and unyielding.
My toes scrape against a dirty threadbare carpet beneath me, barely touching, just enough to take some of the weight off my arms, but not enough to totally relieve the strain.
“Hannah?” I croak, and Aaron grins at me. Or what’s left of his mouth does, anyway.
Bile rises in my throat, but I keep my attention on her. “Why?”
She lifts one shoulder. “Why do you think? Money.”
How could I have been so wrong?Again.
My throat aches, and I’m pretty sure it’s not just from whatever drugs she gave me.
“Well, well,” Aaron drawls, his voice gleeful, as he steps closer. The scar tissue twists with his smile, making it grotesque. “Look who’s finally awake. I’ve been looking forward to our reunion.” His eye glints, and he runs a finger over my unmarked cheek. “So sorry I missed you in Vegas.”
