My fear spikes as they push me through the entrance. When they give me one final push, I slam right into a stack of unmarked wooden crates. They’re stacked floor to ceiling. The air smells like piss and whiskey. Where the hell am I?
Somebody wanted me brought up here, to this ruin, but what I don’t know is who or why.
I hear someone rattling around behind the crates. A male voice that I don’t recognize curses in a barely audible voice. When he rounds the corner, I recognize him by sight.
Darkness is an evil man. My gramps always said to stay away from him. His black eyes rake over me in the most possessive, obscene way. Darkness has to be the person behind all this.
“I see you finally got her for me,” Darkness comments dryly.
“Yeah,” Bran answers. “It wasn’t easy. You know those Ragers sit on top of their old ladies like mother hens. Those bastards made my job much harder than it needed to be.”
“Well, that means we can let the party begin.”
“I’m not partying with you. You have no right to bring me here.”
Darkness takes a threatening step forward, causing me to stumble back in terror.
“You’re a brave little bitch, mouthing off like that when your hands are tied behind your back.”
When I move back a bit more, he laughs.
“It’s good to see you have an ounce of self-preservation left in that tiny little brain of yours, girl.”
“You took the wrong person,” I tell him, lowering my voice. “You have to know that you aren’t going to get away with taking an old lady. Mica and his family are going to come looking for me. I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to you when that time comes.”
He tilts his head slightly. “No one’s coming for you, girl,” he says roughly. “They don’t know about this place. No one does.”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think burning my grandfather’s businesses and dragging me out to the middle of nowhere is going to end well for you?”
He steps closer. His movements are quick and aggressive. He’s radiating anger, like I’ve never seen before. “Nobody talks back to me, least of all a fuckin’ woman. You got a death wish or somethin’?”
I can tell that his hand is itching to slap me down, so I don’t provoke him further. The thing is, I’ve been listening to hard men say threatening things my entire life. I know when to push my luck and when to shut up. Whatever Darkness has planned, nothing I say will change his mind. He’s already decided my fate. Now, I just have to hope that Mica and the Sons of Rage will get here in time.
Hope.
That has to count for something. Because right now, it’s all I have.
Darkness studies me for one more long moment. Then he says, “Best shut that pretty mouth of yours, girl. That’s the only way you’re gonna live to see tomorrow.”
“I’m not as easy to break as you think I am,” I tell him.
“Time will tell,” he responds before walking off. He says over his shoulder, “Take her phone and destroy it. Those fuckin’ idiots didn’t search her before bringing her here. Then tie her securely to the fireplace.”
The man with his hand still wrapped around my upper arm jerks me to the side, almost pulling my joint out of its socket. I hate every damn thing about this situation.
Chapter 15
Mica
Iturn around to check on Nova and she’s not on the sidewalk where I left her. I look up and down the sidewalk in both directions, then search the crowd of onlookers. There are maybe a hundred people still hanging around the front of the building. I don’t see Nova anywhere.
Becoming alarmed, I pull out my phone and call her. It rings four times and goes to voicemail. I leave her a message asking where she is and asking her to call me.
In utter desperation, I cup my hands in front of my mouth and call her name. When she doesn’t answer, I begin to panic on the inside. Where could she be?
Mac’s still there, with phone in hand. When he hears me call her name, he starts looking around for her too. He begins walking towards me with a worried expression on his face.
“Mac, have you seen Nova? She was on the sidewalk a bit ago,” I say, gesturing to the spot.
