Luke shoves me to the ground, the slap of my flesh hitting concrete echoing around the garage as I choke back a groan of agony. “Hold him,” he barks at one of the thugs. “But make sure he can watch.”
Cold, rough hands grab my shoulders and yank my body over so I’m lying face down on the floor. A knee digs into the middle of my back, right over my spine. My entire bodythrobs, the pain causing my vision to waver for a moment. The next time I’m able to see clearly, Luke has moved across the room to Ollie.
My body goes cold.
No…
Her brave mask has slipped, and her face is pale with abject terror as she stares up at Luke. The man in question grins, bends down and rips the blanket from Ollie’s body, exposing her naked body to the ice-cold room. Her eyes widen and she wraps her arms around herself, making her look even more vulnerable.
I hate it.
“Don’t look so shocked, freebie,” Luke says with a chuckle. “I told you I was a feminist.” He glances over at his remaining thug and motions for him to come over.
He saunters towards her, lecherous smirks on their faces as they leer at her.
Ollie’s desperate eyes find mine, and she silently asks what she should do. As much as I hate to, I shake my head slightly, telling her to do nothing. At least not yet. We need to wait for the right moment to act otherwise it’ll only make shit worse.
However, that plan almost goes out the window when Luke roughly grabs Ollie’s arm and wrenches her upright.
She sucks in a sharp breath, the pain clear on her face, but she doesn’t make another sound. Instead, she stares at Luke, still terrified, but there’s a defiant tilt to her head and narrowing of the eyes. It’s the same look she gets when she’s about to do something incredibly brave and stupid.
I want to kiss her and punish her at the same time.
“Well, look at you, freebie. Youdohave some fire in you after all. How fun.” As quick as a snake, he strikes the side of her face with the back of his hand.
Ollie gasps and staggers from the force of the hit. Her cheeks turns a brilliant shade of red and tears shimmer in her eyes. I growl, the sound erupting from my throat before I can stop it, and my muscles bunch, ready to attack.
Not yet. Not yet, I tell myself, even though every part of me is screaming for me to stop this before he hurts her again.
Luke, hearing me, glances over his shoulder at me, a smirk on his face. “Well, would you look at that? It seems the big guydoeshave something to say.” He turns to the thug next to him. “Hold her and hit her when I say. No groping.”
The thug huffs in obvious disappointment, but does as he’s told like a loyal dog. With Ollie now in the hands of his thugs, Luke strides over to me and crouches, hiding my view of Ollie.
“Here’s how this is going to go. I ask a question, and if you don’t answer, she deals with the consequences. Understand?”
I glare at him, unable to hide my utter hatred for the bastard.
“Hart,” Luke says, unable to hide the glee in his voice.
There’s the sound of a fist hitting flesh, followed by a pained noise from Ollie. My heart clenches.
“Yes, I understand,” I say hastily as nausea burns my throat.
“Glad we’re on the same page,” Luke says, patting me on the head like you would a dog.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Think, asshole!
While I knew this would happen eventually, that they’d use Ollie against me, I’d hoped I’d have a plan for how to deal with it before they did. Or at least have more time. Unfortunately, that’s the one thing I don’t have. Not unless I’m willing to compromise Haven’s safety.
My mind replays Ollie’s pained gasp, making it the easiest choice I’ve ever made. Fuck Haven right now. She’s more important.
Luke grabs my hair again, wrenching my head so I’m forced to look at him. “First question: where are all the secret entrances to Haven?”
Fuck. My teeth clench as I spit out the three secret exits that the Council and the security team know about, keeping the one only Theo, Alex and I know about to myself. Not that it matters much, since they already know one, and them knowing the other two already makes protecting Haven almost impossible.
Luke grins down at me. “See? That wasn’t so hard.” He pats my cheek, causing the broken cheekbone to throb in agony. “Hart.”
Ollie yelps, the sound like a knife to my heart.
