As quick as I can, I pull her toward me, toss her over my shoulder, and walk straight past Mark and Evan’s lifeless bodies lying in her parents’ yard, heading straight for the Suburban. Blair thrashes against me, silent panic flooding her system.
She’s kicking and screaming the entire way, her intentions clearly indicating that I’m ruining her big chance of being chosen. That I’m ruining her future. That I’m the villain.
Fuck. If you only knew what I’m saving you from. If you only knew, you wouldn’t be screaming.
Instantly, the screaming stops.
I don’t know why. I don’t care why. Because all I can do right now is toss her in the back seat of the Suburban. She’s fighting me the entire time, but her human strength and speed are nothing compared to mine.
I fucking hate that I have to restrain her with rope I snagged from the trunk to keep her secured in the back seat. Hate that I’m having to do any of this right now. Hate myself a million times over. But I’m doing it all anyway.
Because I don’t have a choice.
Because I can’t let anything happen to her.
Because Ihaveto protect her.
Because Blair Windsor is mine, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
Blair
Oh my God, I’ve been kidnapped!
My wrists are restrained—not painfully, but firmly—with something soft, and no matter how much I thrash around in the back seat, I can’t get loose.
“You have lost your mind!” I scream. “Let me go! Let me fucking go!”
But he doesn’t flinch. He just keeps driving.
Long fingers, strong wrists, and thick, corded veins visible beneath the skin, his hands are steady on the wheel. Those hands just picked me up as if I weighed nothing. They look like they can crush on demand.Those hands just killed two men!
“Ahhh!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Oh my God! Stop the car! Let me out! I don’t want to die! I’m too young to die!”
The world is moving too fast.
Trees blur past the windows in streaks of brown and green. The sky is bleeding from gray to pale pink, and I am in the back seatof an SUV with a man who just kidnapped me—and killed two freaking people and will probably kill me next!
“Ahhhhhh!” I scream again. And again. And again. And I don’t stop screaming until my sobs roll one into another.
“Blair,”he says. “It’s okay. I promise. You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you. I’d never fucking hurt you.”
“Do not say my name like you know me!” I shout at the top of my lungs, tears flowing down my cheeks. “You don’t know me!”
“I do know you,” he says. “I fucking know you more than I know myself.”
“What does that even mean?” I shout. “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I have to protect you.”
“Protect me?” I cry. “You kidnapped me!” I lean as far forward as the restraints allow. “You took me against my will!”
“I rescued you before they could take you.”
“What are you even talking about?!”
“I’m talking about fucking Holland. I’m talking about the fucking elites. I’m talking about Damien. I’m talking about what I just saved you from.”
My body stills, and I stare at him in the rearview mirror. His green eyes are just as recognizable as I thought they were when he first showed up in my driveway. “Itisyou! You were at the preview, weren’t you?” I yell at him. “You were there! I remember you!”
