Page 90 of Betraying Family Vows

The door opens and his footsteps fade.

I sag against the chair, the bag hot and suffocating. Every muscle in my body aches. Thirst claws at my throat. Fear gnaws at the edges of my mind.

But I cling to the one thought that keeps me from breaking:

He's coming for me.

And when he gets here, when he finds me, S is going to learn what real fear looks like.

Even though I can't see anything through this suffocating darkness, I can feel the storm approaching. I can taste it in the air like electricity before lightning strikes.

You should be afraid, S.

Because when he gets here, there won't be a place left in this world for you to hide.

29

DIMITRI

Iwalk.

My legs burn, but I don't stop. Can't stop.

I don't know how far I've gone. I just put one foot in front of the other, moving in the direction they took her.

Blood crusts down the side of my face, drying in a line that itches when the wind hits it. Each breath is like swallowing glass, and my ribs scream in protest. A dull, grinding agony that tells me something might have cracked when they pulled me out of the car.

But I don't care about any of that.

It won't stop me.

Every few seconds, I hear her voice in my head. The way she screamed my name as they dragged her from the car.

"Dimitri!"

Raw. Terrified. And there wasn't a fucking thing I could do to stop it.

It hits me harder than the impact of the car slamming into us.

I tuck my gun under my jacket as a car passes, gripping it so tight my fingers ache.

I try to look in the car as they pass, but my vision blurs, and I blink away what might be blood or sweat or both.

The road stretches ahead, sparse with cars. I have no idea how far I've walked. Somewhere behind me is our mangled car, a fucking monument to how badly I failed to protect her.

And then, four black SUVs materialize out of thin air. They're moving fast, weaving between cars with no signs of slowing.

I stop walking and wait.

The vehicles roll to a stop in a staggered line. Doors opening almost instantly as soon as they stop.

Theo climbs out of the first one, his expression blank except for the flicker of relief in his eyes when he sees me standing. His gaze sweeps over me, cataloging injuries, damage, risk.

Ares steps out of the other, a rifle slung across his chest. His eyes land on me, and his jaw is tight, a muscle flickering beneath his skin.

He's angry.

Behind them, men spill out of the other SUVs, fanning out to secure the road.