I swipe.
“You’ve been distracted enough, little rockstar. You work for me. Get in the car, or I go to the press. Or, I’ll take your little girlfriend. You’ve got enough kills under your belt that everyone would believe you did it.”
Micah gasps, staggering back a step.
Alexei’s voice echoes in my head. My hands shake so hard I nearly drop the phone. I delete the message the second it ends.
Micah steps in front of me. “You can’t—”
I shove him. Hard. He stumbles but doesn’t fall, his eyes widening in both terror and betrayal. “Keep her away from me, Micah. Don’t come looking for me, either. Stay the fuck away.”
“Consider yourself free from us,” Nolan says flatly, glaring at Micah. “Say anything about this, Jude dies.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. He’s finally free from them...but now, I’m chained to Alexei for good.
I grab my hoodie, sliding it over my head, the cloth annoyingly heavy against the bruises I’ve earned on my body and my soul. I give one last glance at my best friend to ensure he fucking heard me.Let me go.
Tears well up in his widened eyes, and I turn away from him forever.
The door closes behind me as I find Emma’s name in my phone and hitblock. I don’t look back. I slide into the back of the
SUV, Alexei’s men following close behind, Nolan and Adriana occupying the front. My phone rests on the seat beside me. I type quickly, the screen blurring through my adrenaline and dread:I’m so sorry, baby.
I hit send, and the message fails as expected. My hands shake, and I can barely breathe as I stare out of the window. The tires scrape against the driveway, and my body sinks into the seat.
“Where are we going?” I ask, my voice flat.
“New York first. The band’s performance is cancelled, but we have something else we need to do,” Adriana says, turning in the passenger seat.
I narrow my gaze, noting that she seems on edge. Which is new. “Then where?”
She swallows, her shoulders tensing. “Then, we’re going to Russia.”
Russia.
I taste bile. Helplessness swallows me. I have no control. No escape. And the last thread of light I had...that kept me tethered to any remaining parts of my soul, is being ripped away. I close my eyes. Try not to think about what comes next. Try not to think about her. I think about her anyway.
The world I knew, the life I almost had...is fucking gone.
