Page 17

From what Killian told me, the Italians dropped me off while I was unconscious, so their plan must not have been to keep me. I don’t recall them taking me from the warehouse, though. They must have done that after knocking me out. Because the last thing I remember is them laughing as I pleaded for them to stop. Then something heavy connecting with my head.
“Thank you,” I murmur, giving Lance a watery smile.
He gives a curt nod, the tendons in his jaw working with silent agitation.
“You sure I can’t do anything?” Killian asks.
I shake my head and flinch as my brain throbs inside my skull.
With a last, resigned sigh, Killian pulls me in for another gentle hug. Then he presses a kiss to my forehead before rising from the edge of the bed.
“Killian?” I ask as he reaches the door.
He turns to face me, hesitating on the threshold.
“Will you leave the light on?”
“Of course,” he says, flicking it on.
Then he and Lance slip silently from the room.
Settling back into my pillows, I stare blankly up at the ceiling, searching for the courage to close my eyes. But eventually, the weight of exhaustion starts to weigh down my eyelids, and I slowly let them close as I drift off into oblivion.
My skin prickleswith that sense of someone watching me as I make my way swiftly down the sidewalk, and I hug my textbook close to my chest as I pick up the pace. I shouldn’t be walking alone. It was a stupid idea. I’m exposed. Vulnerable. And my next class is a five-minute walk across campus.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I spot the man I sensed watching me. And he’s doing more than that. He’s following, his long strides slow and steady, and yet somehow, he seems to be gaining on me.
With a gasp, I turn to run.
And slam into a solid wall of muscle.
“There you are.”
Terror races up my spine. I know that voice. And when I snap my eyes up to look at the face attached to the solid chest, I find cold brown eyes and a cruel smile.
“No,” I gasp.How did he find me so quickly?
“No?” my nameless captor sneers, his fingers wrapping around my arms with bruising force as he jerks me against him. “Did you think you’d get away that easy, princess? We had so much fun last time, I thought I’d come back for more.”
“Let me go!” I scream, yanking back as hard as I can to try and get away.
But he just turns me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pressing my back firmly against him as his hand covers my mouth. His lips brush the shell of my ear, and he whispers, “Maybe this time I’ll give you a thorough pounding with my cock too.”
I flail, screaming bloody murder as I fight with all my might, but the harder I struggle, the more futile it feels. And no one around me stops to help. No one even looks up.
9
LANCE
Ijolt upright, adrenaline flooding my veins as Quinn screams. And I can’t take it any longer. I have to help. Throwing my covers off, I yank my jeans up over my hips and pad across the hall to intervene.
If I hoped to get a wink of sleep by staying at the Kings, I was wrong. But just the thought of leaving Quinn’s house tonight solidified my decision. I couldn’t bring myself to go when I know she’s suffering. I’ve never seen her so afraid.
In truth, I’ve never seen Quinn scared of anything.
So seeing her fall apart tonight nearly broke me.
And as I lay awake into the early hours of the morning, listening to Quinn’s fitful sleep, it drove my fury toward the Agosti men to new heights. Every whimper, every soft plea for them to stop slowly felt like they might drive me insane.