I shifted, my muscles screaming from the strain and the discomfort of the position. The wood creaked beneath me, the sound echoing through the room.
Nolan’s head snapped toward me.
We stared at each other, his body going rigid. Nolan’s expression twisted into something sharp and frantic.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered, dragging a hand over his face. “Of course he didn’t give me enough of that tranquilizer shit to keep you down longer.”
My pulse roared in my ears. The pieces refused to fit together. My thoughts scrambled wildly, trying to make sense of how I had gone from leaving the bed-and-breakfast to waking up like this.
Why was he here, and why was he talking to me like that?
The panic surged, and I started to struggle, twisting against the ropes that bound my wrists and ankles.
The movement only made everything worse.
The ropes bit deeper into my wrists as I pulled. My chest heaved as I tried to breathe through the gag, but the cloth blocked everything, pressing against my tongue.
I couldn’t take a full breath.
My lungs burned as I tried to inhale, desperate for air that wouldn’t come. The rope connecting my wrists to my ankles kept my arms pinned too low to reach my mouth, but I tried to lift them anyway, my shoulders straining in protest as the muscles stretched.
Air.
I needed air.
My heart pounded faster and faster as the panic spiraled out of control. The room spun, the factory floor beyond the windows blurring and tilting as my vision struggled to stay steady. My breaths came faster and shorter, each one scraping down my throat.
Pressure wrapped around my throat like an invisible fist.
A choked sound escaped me. The gag shifted deeper into my mouth and suddenly I was coughing around it, as my body jerked against the bindings.
Full-blown terror collided into me.
I was suffocating.
Nolan swore loudly. I barely registered the movement before the room tilted. One second, he was across the room; the next, he stood over me, his shadow falling across the desk.
“Calm down,” he snapped.
His hands moved quickly, tugging the gag loose and yanking it free from my mouth.
“Easy,” Nolan said, his voice lower now, almost reluctant. “You’re panicking. Take some deep breaths.”
It took several tries before the air stopped catching in my throat. My body trembled as oxygen started to reach my brain, the spinning easing as my breathing evened out.
My vision cleared, and I stared up at him.
“Why?” I croaked, my voice thick from tears.
Nolan’s jaw tightened, his gaze dropping away from mine. “It doesn’t matter.”
It didn’t matter? Of course it mattered. None of this made sense. I wasn’t even sure how I got here. No one was supposed to even know I was at the cabin.
The blood drained from my face. The only people who were supposed to know my location were the security team and the Ramseys.
“How did you find me?”
I flinched as he grabbed my coat and tugged, revealing some of the lining on the inside. His thumb touched the jagged place I’d repaired the silk.
