Page 51

Olivia

M y skull throbs painfully, spots dancing across my vision as I slowly come to.

A plush pillow presses into my back. My hands are tightly bound to a wooden chair, and there’s the distinct smell of rose on the air. I blink, my vision adjusting to the orange light filtering from a chandelier overhead. The pain only spreads.

Where… the hell am I?

“I did tell them to be careful with you,” I hear a woman’s voice, and I swing my head to the right, my gaze settling on a woman in sage.

It takes a few moments for her long black curls and two eyes to settle into focus. Recognition slowly flutters through me.

Sofia Vercelli’s pretty, red smile stares back at me. Then it finally, truly hits me. The hospital is gone, and I’m tied to a chair in the middle of the Rebren hotel.

“The boys said you put up a pretty good fight.”

Panic has me tugging at the restraints, but the rope cuts into my wrists. “What’s happening??”

“Oh, please.” Her heels click as she strolls closer, peering at me curiously. “You should know that’s not how this works.”

“Why am I here?” I ask instead, doing my best to catalog the room. But I don’t recognize any of the cashmere furniture or the crawling greenery.

“Awlll…” she purrs, frowning in a cheap expression of pity. “Harvey didn’t tell you?”

“Didn’t tell me… what?” I spit.

She merely chuckles, strolling back toward a bar cart on the other side of the room. She pours a couple knuckles worth of the amber liquid into a crystal glass, watching me before taking a sip.

“Thirsty? I can imagine the last twenty-four hours have been rather trying.”

“Stop playing games with me. What is this?” I say, wincing at the ropes cut into my skin.

“You’re no fun,” she pouts. “I was at least hoping you’d be willing to play cat and mouse for a while longer. You were so close to putting the pieces together yourself that we just couldn’t wait,” She smirks at my obvious confusion. “The boys will be here before too long. They’re not nearly as nice as I am.”

I suddenly remember the men at the hospital. They drugged me and knocked me unconscious.

My stomach bottoms out.

Sofia chuckles again, the sound rolling off her tongue as she clicks toward me. “Don’t worry,” She tilts my chin up. “I won’t let Daddy hurt you.”

The words do nothing to soothe my worry. “What do you want?”

There’s a knock at the door, and Sofia breaks into another smile. “Looks like our plans are well underway. He might already be here,” she says before twisting to leave.

“ He ?” I say louder, but as she departs, I yell, “Who is ‘ he ’?”

The door shuts, leaving me alone with only my thoughts to satiate me. The panic is nearly overwhelming now, rising in my chest so fast that it’s an effort to swallow it down.

He might already be here.

I take a steadying breath, determination filling my veins. I tug on the restraints, but there’s not an inch of give. My ankles are strapped down just as tightly.

I search the room for any sign of something sharp. There’s a lounge chaise and a desk in the corner, and I sigh in relief when I see a cup filled with heavy silver pens and letter openers.

If I can just get my hands on one...

It will just be a matter of getting there before she comes back. I brace myself against the chair. I slam my weight forward, and the chair scrapes forward an inch.

Using my momentum again, I jolt forward another two inches. Four. Six, until I position the chair so that the back is in front of the desk.

If I leaned the chair back, I could possibly grab a letter opener with my teeth. Pressing the tips of my shoes against the floor for traction, I let the vague bubble of a plan form in my head.

I inhale slowly.

Then I push.