Instantly, I feel like I’m drowning. Thick liquid invades my throat, and I can’t find the strength to roll on my side and expel the blood threatening to overwhelm me.
“Enough!” And suddenly the assault stops.
I groan, lying on my left side, my body quivering in an unmistakable broken mess as I lie on the ground in the alley, fading in and out of consciousness. The last thing I see is Vex’s face, staring down at me, while he wipes his hands with a white cloth.
“Youwillpay me back, Mercs, or next time this won’t happen to you… itwillhappen to Effa and that baby sister of yours. She’s so fragile, she’ll break easily, I’m sure. I would take great pleasure in watching her snap and shatter under my fingers. Just know, the price has doubled. You need to have that pretty little rock star pay me, and pay me soon, or it will triple.”
My body tenses, wanting to get one punch in at least, just one hit to his ugly fucked up face for talking about my girls like that. I groan out loud at the fact that I can’t get my body to work in conjunction with my mind, as he turns and walks away with his men in tow behind him.
Lying here on the cold ground, shivering from my injuries as I gasp for air, I wonder how it got to this.
I could have prevented it.
I should have been honest with Effa and told her the truth.
Now, I’ve put her in fucking danger.
I wonder if Raoul got Effa to safety in time, or if Vex is heading off to get Effa right now?The thought terrifies me. So I pull my body up, but shooting pain radiates through my torso so extreme that I scream out. Blackness hits my vision, and I can’tsee anything, and I collapse back to the ground, my head hitting the concrete hard, as everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty-One
EFFA
Raoul drags me down the alley toward the car while I pound my fists into his back and shoulders, screaming at him to take me back. I don’t care if I draw attention. I don’t care if the whole damn city hears me. Kaden is back there, and every second we’re moving away from him feels wrong.
“Stop yelling,” Raoul snaps, his breath tight. “You’re drawing attention to us. I need to get you in the car and to safety, then I swear to you, I will go back for Mercs. But you have to stop fighting me.”
“Like fuck I will!” I twist against him, trying to wrench free. “Take me back.Now.”
He jerks to a stop so suddenly that I stumble forward.
“Fuck! Fucking hell,” he mutters, clearly at war with himself. He sets me down but keeps hold of my arm, fingers digging in because he knows the second he lets go, I’ll bolt.
And I would have.
Except the sight in front of us steals the fight right out of me.
The hood of the car is pried open. Not just open—destroyed, with wires spilling out like guts, metal panels hanging loose. Whatever they did under there was deliberate and thorough.
We’re not driving anywhere.
A sick, almost hysterical laugh bubbles up in my throat.
Now hehasto let me go.
Now hehasto help Kaden.
Instead, Raoul grabs me around the waist and shoves me into the back seat.
I slam against the leather. “Are you kidding me?”
The door slams shut, and the locks click.
Final.
Fucking unmovable.
I lunge for the handle, yanking it over and over even though I know it won’t budge without the remote. The car may be crippled under the hood, but the electronics are intact. Bulletproof windows, a reinforced frame, it’s a security cocoon, and I am firmly locked inside it.
