Page 146 of Scarlet Thorns

A rough cloth bag is yanked over my head, plunging me into suffocating darkness. Strong hands grab my arms, and I’m thrown forward like a rag doll. My knee hits the car frame hard, sending pain shooting up my leg. The door slams shut behind me, then locks, trapping me inside.

Kidnapped.

You’re being kidnapped, Ilona.

The engine roars to life, and we’re speeding through the night. I’m pressed between two bodies— both larger than me, both silent except for their harsh breathing. The car reeks of cigarettes and something else. Something metallic.

Blood.

My stomach lurches, and not from the pregnancy. These aren’t Osip’s men. I know his security detail, know their scents, their movements. These men are strangers.

Which means they don’t know I’m pregnant.

Which means they don’t care if they hurt the baby.

Panic claws at my throat as the reality crashes over me. I’m completely alone. Cut off from everything and everyone. The phone call to Dr. Varga was cut short— he probably thinks we just lost connection. No one knows where I am. Melor never saw me leave; he probably thinks I’m safe in bed. By the time anyone realizes I’m gone, I could be anywhere.

I could be dead.

“Please,” I whisper through the bag, my voice muffled and desperate. “Please, I—”

A sharp blow to my ribs cuts off my words. Pain explodes through my torso, and I double over, gasping.

“Shut the fuck up,” one of them hisses. “You speak when we tell you to speak.”

Tears sting my eyes as I curl into myself, one hand pressed against my ribs, the other instinctively protecting my stomach.

The baby.

Oh God, what if that hit—?

What if it hurt—?

I can’t lose another one.

I can’t.

The car takes a sharp turn, throwing me sideways. My head hits something hard, stars bursting behind my eyelids. Everything spins, and I taste blood on my tongue.

I think of Dr. Varga’s words.

This little one seems determined to make it.

“Hold on,”I plead silently to the life growing inside me.“Please, just hold on.”

But as the car speeds into the unknown, carrying me further from any hope of rescue, one terrifying truth takes root in my mind.

I’m completely and utterly alone.

Nobody’s coming to save me and my baby.

And we might never see tomorrow.