They yanked.
Pain exploded through my entire body.
A sharp, searing shock that ripped from my joints through every nerve at once.
My body was dragged across broken glass and twisted metal, the interior of the wreck cutting into me with every movement.
Fresh blood welled from reopened wounds, staining the inside of the vehicle in dark streaks.
Gauze tore away in strips, useless against the force they used.
I cried out.
I couldn’t stop it.
The sound tore from my throat, raw and involuntary.
But they didn’t slow.
Didn’t care.
Didn’t acknowledge my pain.
They handled me like cargo.
Rough. Mechanical.
As if I were nothing more than an object to be moved from one place to another.
Sharp voices cut through the air between them.
Spanish.
“Muévela rápido. El jefe quiere esto terminado antes de que Orsini se entere.”
Move her fast. The boss wants this done before Orsini finds out.
My blood ran colder than the air around me.
This wasn’t random.
This was targeted and timed.
They dragged me across the ground toward the nearest sedan, the gravel biting into my skin as my body scraped along the surface.
The trunk popped open with a dull mechanical click.
Without ceremony—they shoved me inside.
My head slammed against the metal interior, a sharp, sickening crack that sent a spike of pain through my skull.
My knees folded tightly against my chest, already bruised joints protesting violently at the sudden compression.
Then—the lid slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Instantly.
