Page 27

26

ISABELLA

I shake myself from a light sleep.

Footsteps echo in the hallway, dragging my groggy mind back to my aching body. They put me in a chair earlier, fed me some awful stew. I may have gotten a little feisty, so they tied my ankles to the legs of the chair.

I couldn’t have hoped for a better result. The knot was too tight for me to untie, but now my legs are apart, and a few hours of working the ropes have my feet ready to slip out.

I’m a filthy, sore mess.

This dungeon, over the past twenty-four hours, has dragged out the version of myself that Alessandro let loose. The fierce creature that will do anything necessary to protect her child and get back to her den.

These men are crude, vicious. They left me for so long that I thought I was safe, trying to wait it out. I was wrong.

Dissension in their ranks led to a fight, then I heard a gunshot.

Nothing happened for a few hours.

But they eventually came to taunt me. Throw ice cold water on me.

The one with my claw marks decided that they might get some answers out of me, some dirt that they could use to gain favor with their boss. So they roughed me up a bit, superficially, but it went on for a long time.

To keep my sanity, through the cold and harassment, I dove deep into that dark place.

I became like my lover.

Razor sharp focus drives me. Helps me ignore the pain in my wrists, rubbed raw. It sees me through the hours of waiting, worrying that they’ll come back. That one of them will go too far and cause enough damage to put my baby at risk.

The thought makes me bare my teeth in the dark. I will rip out their throats if they try.

Some commotion above drew most of them away moments ago. I heard shouting, arguing and guns cocking. Maybe Domenico has finally come to get me.

It must be late into the evening, although my internal clock is completely disoriented.

The silence in the hall is broken by a grumbling voice, the wretch who is seemingly in charge now. He’s muttering something, coming down the hall.

“Gonna get mine before they take her, damn right. I earned it.”

The door opens.

I stay slumped forward, my hair frazzled, hanging down over my face.

He shuffles in, licking his lips, the disgusting fucker. Leaning down, he nudges a strand of hair aside, checking to see if I’m awake.

“You really are a looker. Too bad you’re a disgusting mess right now.” He stands straighter, reaching for his belt. “But I’ve had worse.”

I wait for him to unbuckle it, reaching down to drag his hand up the outside of my thigh, hesitantly pushing up the hem of my ruined nightgown. My legs are parted, still tied to the legs of the chair and he’s completely engrossed in trying to get a peek.

That’s when I make my move.

I spray the mouthful of spit and blood I’ve been saving from biting my lip into his eyes. He shouts a protest, raising a hand to wipe away the mess. He’s blinded, but he’s enraged.

Staggering back, I unloop my foot, catching it between his legs, sending him tumbling. He rolls over, catching himself, pushing up to stand. “Damn?—”

I’m out of my restraints in a second, diving for him, looping the rope in my hands around his neck and cranking back as hard as I can. I’m exhausted, dehydrated, hungry. Weak.

But I will not die here. I will not let them keep me.

He’s so much bigger than me, but I got the drop on him. I feel his windpipe pop with a sickening, yet satisfying squelch and he goes limp, dead weight that I can’t hold up.

“There. You got yours!” I spit on him, stumbling over him, snagging his pistol.

Adrenaline courses through my veins, propelling me out into the hall, the gun raised in my cracked, bleeding hands.

No alarm is raised. Only distant noise reaches me.

The vertigo hits me suddenly, lightheadedness sending me slumping into the wall, gasping. I take a second, close my eyes.

Steady.

Making my way down the corridor, I hone my focus on silent steps, keeping my gun ready. If I can find a back way out, maybe I can send a signal.

“Should’ve searched the guy for a cell phone,” I mutter, my voice a croak. It’s too far to go back now, though. My energy is fading already and my sole focus is getting out.

At the end of the hall the walls open up to a sort of boiler room, bathed in blessed heat. A table is tipped over, cards and chips scattered on the floor. They all left in a hurry.

That’s when I hear the first gunshot above.

Screeching tires, an explosion.

Men scream far away, others shout, panicking up the stairs to my left. Lowering into a crouch, I creep up the stairs, one by one. Halfway up, I see the top of one guy’s head, standing guard. As I climb higher, I see that he’s dancing from foot to foot, nervous.

“Shit, shit. It’s them isn’t it?” he whines and I hear another rough growl bark for him to shut it.

Spotting the other guy, I aim and fire two quick pops, right through his chest. Headshots are too hard with my hands shaking.

The whining guard doesn’t have time to turn before I double tap him in the back. He goes down, dead before his head hits the ground.

Ears ringing, head spinning from rushing up the last few steps, I strafe to the right, ducking behind some machinery. Taking stock of my body first, I note the soiled mess of my gown, the filth on my skin. Blood spatters polka dot my arms and face.

But I’m intact. Just worn out. Scraped up.

The gunfire sounds closer, right outside the huge warehouse doors behind me. It sounds like an entire squad of soldiers are locked in battle out there.

I need to move, but before I can rise, a thug swerves around the corner, spotting the two bodies and then me. “What the?—”

His voice clips off to the sound of my gun.

I can’t stay here.

Snagging his knife and an extra clip I rush from cover, aiming for another massive generator, ducking behind it before the line of gangsters can spot me, a veritable barricade, a firing squad lined up just inside the warehouse behind heavy machinery and a wall of cars.

“Isabella!”

My heart stops at the sound of that ripping, raging voice.

Alessandro.

Adrenaline redoubles, fueling my anger and my need to reach him. It also sharpens my focus, realizing that I cannot let them come inside.

They’ll be slaughtered.

With no way to signal them in the chaos, I do the next best thing.

Resting my hands firmly against the tank hiding me, I steady my hands and take aim. One. Two. Three. Four.

I’m taking aim on my fifth when they finally notice someone flanking them. A few turn, pointing, raising their guns.

But most of them are locked on what they see through the bay doors.

Four silhouettes limned in hellfire cross the yard, unleashing death with an arsenal of shotguns and automatic weapons. Another explosion rocks the building, sending a car flying behind them.

He’s there, in the center, the tallest of them.

My warrior. Dark as Death himself.

“Give us the girl and you might live!” I hear his roar.

The shout gives me an opening, a chance to scramble around the barricade, trying to snatch another clip from one of the bodies. But I’m too slow.

I feel fingers lock onto the back of my neck, dragging me back. An arm circles my neck, the barrel of a gun pressed to my head as he shuffles me toward the doors.

“One step more and she dies. Surrender now and no harm comes to her!”

“Let her go, and maybe you get to die quick,” Alessandro bellows.

“Doesn’t matter. I got you here. Got you to leave your people unguarded. My job’s done. I just want to get paid and go home.”

It knocks the wind out of me. This was all a distraction.