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It couldn’t have been that long. Brooks was on the feed and he would’ve alerted all of us if he’d seen something. It had to have happened very recently. But they’d already done a number on her.

I just hoped…

“I don’t know,” she said wetly, choking on her tears. “Please help me. Please get me out of here Whitney, I promise I’ll do anything you want if you just get me out of here!”

She was so pitiful like this that it was hard to believe she was the same person I knew all those years ago. But there was no denying it was her.

I hurried back to her and cut through the tape on her wrists with the scalpel. “Where did you get kidnapped? And why the hell are you even here right now?”

Valentina cried out when her hands were finally separated, slowly bringing them to the front of her body and massaging her wrists. “We’ve been looking for you for years. You put me in a fucking coma! I saw you on the news and just—fuck, to think you’ve been here all this time? Five hours away? I went to that store to see if—I wanted to ask—to—” She leaned forward, crying into her lap. Agonized sobs racked her entire body, and the sound of them was so awful that I set my hand on her shoulder.

Nobody—not even my enemy—deserved to suffer through something like this.

But holy shit. I’d convinced myself she’d died.

“Hey,” I said softly. “Whatever happens, I’m gonna get you out of here. Okay?”

“Do you promise?” Her voice was so small, full of equal amounts of hope and despair.

“Yeah. I promise. So let’s go because the guy who kidnapped you could come back at any second.”

“But what about the other one? He was just here, he—he—” Her breath hitched, and I moved around to face her, crouching in front of her.

“He’s dead. I killed him. So while the coast is clear, we need to⁠—”

She lifted her head, frowning at me. “Why are you even here? Who are those people?”

“They’re monsters who rape and murder women. They were going to do the same thing to me, but someone saved me first. Okay? Come on.” I stood and held out my hand. She stared at it warily, then clasped it tightly, letting me help her get to her feet. But the strain that put on my side sent an agonizing shock of pain flaring through me, and I paused, breathing deeply through my nose. I was sweating, my hands were clammy, none of this was looking good.

For the first time, I noticed she wasn’t wearing any pants, and after a wave of nausea came a raging anger at Thorne and Tom.

“Did they touch you?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice barely there.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then exhaled through my nose. When I opened my eyes, Valentina was shaking. I took her hand and placed it on my arm. “Stay behind me, okay?”

Clutching the scalpel in one hand, I sacrificed my other arm for Valentina.

A sudden thunderous boom from above shook the entire bunker. It was followed by a deep rumble, but before I could even process the sound and what it might be, something clicked loudly out in the main room.

Panic and adrenaline surged through me, and I grabbed Valentina by the arm. “Hide. Now!” I whisper-hissed. She must have heard the fear in my voice because she let me drag her to the bed and shove her underneath it. “Don’t make a sound,” I whispered, staring into her frightened eyes. “Just be quiet.”

She nodded, pushing herself back against the wall until I couldn’t see her in the shadows. There was nowhere for me to hide in the tiny room.

Shit.

Gripping the scalpel in my right hand, I moved to stand against the wall behind the door. It was half open, and if they came in here it would still hide me enough to let me get the jump on whoever it was. I had no other options, so that would just have to be good enough.

A voice said something, and then there was a loud bang. If Thorne had come back, where was Court? Wouldn’t he have stopped him?

“What the fuck, you useless piece of trash.” That was Thorne. “I give you one fucking job and you can’t even do it properly.”

Was he talking to… Tom? He was talking to his son’s dead body like that? What a disgusting human being.

I thought I heard the low click of a gun being cocked. My heart beat harder at the sound, my ears straining to pick up anything else.

There was nothing but silence for so long that I had no idea if Thorne had left or not. But we couldn’t just wait down here forever. If something had happened to Court…