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“Well, I changed my mind.”
The woman’s voice sends a chill through me. It takes me a moment to recognize it, but I do. I’ve heard that voice before.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” the woman snaps. “I already told you about the new plan. Why are you still fighting it?”
“I don’t like it.”
My heart jolts. I know that voice. Luca.
“That wasn’t the plan,” he continues. “I don’t want us to kill her. Can’t we just let her go? She’s my woman. Just let us go. I promise she’ll be out of your hair.”
A sharp, humorless laugh comes from the woman. “You’re beginning to piss me off, Luca. What you want doesn’t matter anymore,” the woman says.
“The plan is to kill her, and you’d better get on board with it.”
Kill me. The words seem to echo inside my skull. No, no, no. My baby. My hand instinctively tries to move toward my stomach, but nothing happens.
That’s when I realize I’m not in the vehicle anymore. I’m sitting upright. On a chair, and my arms are pulled behind me, bound so tightly to the back of the chair that my shoulders ache.
My legs are restrained too, my ankles tied to the chair legs. I test the restraints, but even the smallest movement sends a pain through my wrists.
My head feels impossibly heavy, as though someone has filled my skull with cement. My eyes burn beneath the blindfold, and a vicious headache pounds behind them.
I swallow. Or try to. My throat is so dry it feels like someone has stuffed it with cotton. I need water. I need to breathe. But most of all—my baby. I can’t let them kill me. I can’t let them kill my baby.
Tears burn behind my blindfold, but I force them back. No. Now isn’t the time to cry. I have to get out of here. But how? I’m bound.
I hear the woman laugh softly, the click of her heels drawing closer across the floor.
“Huh. Look what we have here. It seems our Sleeping Beauty is awake.”
I feel her hands on my face as she works the blindfold loose. When the fabric finally falls away, I slowly open my eyes.
The room swims before me. Everything is blurred, reduced to indistinct shapes and shadows. I blink repeatedly, trying to force my vision into focus, but my pounding head makes it difficult to see clearly.
A woman stands directly in front of me. I know that face. Katerina! My breath catches.
She smiles. “Good of you to join us.”
“Katerina.” The name slips from my lips, barely more than a rasp.
Her eyebrows lift. “Huh.” She tilts her head. “Looks like your observation skills still work. And your brain, too.”
She takes a step closer. “Good. Because I want you fully awake for what I’m about to do to you.”
Her smile widens. “There’s no fun in torturing an unconscious person, anyway.”
A shiver travels through me. “What…” My throat scratches painfully. I swallow and try again. “What are you going to do to me?”
Her eyes gleam. “Oh, you’re about to find out.”
“Why?” I force the word out. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”
Katerina stares at me for a long moment, her expression twisting with something I can’t quite name.
“What do I want?” she repeats.
She gives a small, humorless laugh as she crouches slightly, bringing her face closer to mine. “How about you leave my man the hell alone?”
