Page 51 of Tainted Obsession 1

The world wavers around me, and my head aches. I shake it to clear away the ringing in my ears, but it doesn’t quite work. I blink, willing everything to stop spinning.

I cry his name again when I see the blood covering his beautiful face. His stunning eyes are closed, and his powerfulbody is slumped in the seat. The impact was on his side of the SUV, and he’s taken the worst of the collision.

Before I can reach for him, the car door is wrenched open beside me, and rough hands grab me. Strange men drag me out of the ruined SUV, away from Massimo, who is terribly still.

Is he breathing?

He can’t be dead. He can’t be.

I scream for him and twist against the iron hold of the men who are taking me away from the wreck.

“Calm down, you dumb bitch,” one of them barks.

“Let me go,” I insist, struggling to get back to Massimo.

We’re nearing an unmarked white van—not an emergency response vehicle.

“Who are you?” I demand, a fresh burst of fear punching my chest.

“We’re friends of your fiancé. He asked us to get you back for him. He didn’t say in what condition.”

I begin fighting like a wildcat, mindless with terror. George sent these men, and they aren’t with the DEA. They’ll take me back to him, and he’ll kill me to keep his corruption secret.

But I’m not strong enough to resist my captors, not powerful like my dark protector.

Massimo.

All that blood on his beautiful face…

I scream and kick, fighting to get back to him.

One of my assailants curses, and my world flashes white with a burst of pain across my cheek. He heaves my sagging body through the open door of the van, sealing my fate.

As soon as that door closes, I’m as good as dead.

Chapter 21

Massimo

My head swims, and the world blurs around me. A car horn blares in an incessant, unending wail. The grating sound drags me back to full consciousness. For a moment, I’m completely disoriented, the throbbing pain on my brow commanding my full attention and muddling my mind.

Then Evelyn screams my name, and fear I’ve never known before punches me, knocking the air from my lungs. Adrenaline surges, and the world sharpens with crystal clarity.

I’m alone in the wrecked SUV. To my right, the deployed airbag obscures the view out of the shattered window, but I can make out the grill of the white van that smashed into us. I must’ve been knocked unconscious at the impact.

How long have I been out?

And where is Evelyn?

The door to my left is open, and she’s no longer cuddled up against my side.

“Massimo!”

Panic claws at me, shredding rational thought and reducing me to my most primal, savage instincts.

I launch myself from the SUV, stumbling slightly as the ground seems to lurch beneath me. I will the dizziness to subside and barrel on, desperate to get to her.

The SUV is a smoking scrap heap, and I dimly note that the two men in the front seats are bloody and unmoving; I’m alone, without backup. And this vehicle won’t get us out of here anytime soon.