Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I thought about Victor. What was going through his mind? Was he happy? Angry? Pissed off?
I felt sick to my stomach, and the fear was running riot within my body. I didn’t know what to do or say.
“My fake dad,” I said. “He hates me, but he’s not my real dad. It’s complicated, but I’m a close relative to a very scary and dangerous guy. They all know, and he put a hit out on me. I guess he’s now going to pay to see me die.”
“I’m sorry,” Emily said.
They all had stories. No one else told me theirs, but Emily was closer to me.
I still laid curled up in a ball, running my hand across my stomach, trying to soothe my baby. It had all happened so fast. The crash, the explosion, being taken. I had fought so hard, and yet it hadn’t been enough. What more could I have done? All I wanted was to be with Victor. To wake up, run to the bathroom and deal with my morning vomiting. That is all I wanted to do. None of that was going to happen.
I needed Victor to find me. I needed Ivan to make this right. I needed The Butcher.
And in that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder if they needed me.
No.
It was as simple as that. No one needed me. I was a waste of space, useless. What was the point? Tears slowly fell from my eyes, but I didn’t sob. I didn’t panic. It was like, slowly, my body had started to accept the fact that I wasn’t leaving. This was my life now. I was not getting away from this. I was as good as dead.
The cruelty never ended as the light suddenly came on, and it was so bright and sharp, I had no choice but to close my eyes. Rapidly, I blinked, getting accustomed to the light, and I sat up. Rubbing at my eyes, I turned to look in the direction of Emily, and she held up a hand, trying to cover part of her face. It was the same hand that only had a couple of fingers, and a thumb, the other hand ... was gone.
Slowly, she lowered her hand, and along with her missing eye, she had several scars. She looked so empty. Desolate.
Looking around at the cages, I saw everyone was not in a good way. One of the men had a missing leg. Another had an arm. Scars—some looked like they were rotting, so that explained the smell. I figured it was just the open toilets.
Six of us in total.
Fear crawled down my spine, as the man who had taken me from my husband’s house stepped into the room. He was holding a baton in his hand, and the smile on his face was filled with wickedness. He made me sick to my stomach. And I had already vomited.
There was no way I was drawing attention to myself. I stayed perfectly silent in my cage. I didn’t even move, and I also noticed no one else did either.
One of the men that had held onto the cage bars, the man with the baton, slammed the butt of it between the bars, winding the man, forcing him to grunt and fall down.
We were nothing but animals.
He came toward my cage. I kept looking at the ground, not wanting to cause a fuss. That fear didn’t leave me and only mounted up as the door to my cage opened. The two men that were with him, came in, and I got to my feet. Squaring my shoulders, I finally looked up.
“So, the fight hasn’t left you at all,” he said.
I looked at him, and I just knew I was not getting out of this alive.
“Do you really want to do this?” I asked.
He cocked his head to the side, as if he couldn’t believe I was still talking to him. I don’t know why I was still talking either.
The truth is, I didn’t know if hurting me was going to come as a great risk to him, because Ivan, Victor, and The Butcher wouldn’t stop until I was back home, safe and sound. I hoped that was the case. Or, right now they were back home, having a victory dance because I was gone.
I liked to think the first was the better choice.
“Why? You got a bargain for me?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“I’m Freya Abdulov. I’m also Ivan Volkov’s sister, you already know that. They are going to come for me, and when they do, you’re going to wish you had never heard my name,” I said.
He reached out and grabbed me around the throat, pulling me in close.
“They’ve got to find me first.”
Chapter Eighteen
The Butcher
I needed to get some air.
Fear is not something I have dealt with in a long time, but I wasn’t afraid for me. No, fear did not bother me. I feared for Freya.