Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“Davai!” the man beside me shouts.
The vehicle swerves again, throwing me against the door. Dust swallows everything, my fortress disappearing behind a towering gray cloud while the sounds of metal bending, glass shattering, and concrete giving way tear straight through me.
My life’s work collapses behind me.
My safe place.
My servers and mainframes. So many years of working non-stop.
Every wall I built to keep my family alive and safe.
My chin quivers, and for one broken second, I can’t breath past the heartache ripping through my chest.
The next instant, something is yanked over my head, and all the light is blocked out.
No!
My arms fly up, but strong hands easily restrain me, and metal cuffs are locked around my wrists, a chain rattling and restricting my movements as I continue to resist.
No!No!No!
I lurch to the side, trying to hit the asshole, but he uses his body weight to force me down, then pressure is clamped over my mouth and nose.
“Let me go!” I scream, my words smothered against whatever he’s holding to my face. Panic explodes through me, wild and violent, and I buck beneath him with everything I have. “Fucking asshole! My family is going to kill you.”
Enzo.
The fortress is gone.
Mom and Dad.
Adriano, Christiano, Georgi, and Augusto.
Gianna.
The fight lasts all of five seconds.
A sweet chemical scent floods my lungs, and I jerk my head from side to side, trying not to breathe, but panic steals the air from me. My chest burns, and I gasp, which is the worst mistake I could make.
The smell invades my senses, thick and sweet, stirring a wave of nausea deep in my gut while an ungodly fear crashes through me.
Don’t pass out, Rosie.
Whimpering, I cling to consciousness with all my might, but the strength drains from my muscles, and my thoughts begin to blur.
You have to warn everyone.
I keep fighting, or at least, I think I do. My arms don’t feel connected to my body anymore, and the roar of the engine fades in and out around me.
Enzo.
Voices blur, muffled and distant, as if they’re speaking from beneath water. “Easy, Rosie. Stop fighting. You’re only making it worse.”
Tears burn behind my eyes because being taken is the worst possible thing that could happen to me.
I can’t let this happen.
I can’t disappear.
Fighting to remain awake, I squirm and hit blindly at anything within reach, but consciousness keeps slipping away and time warps around me.
“I’m coming,” I hear Enzo say.
“No,” I mumble. “Don’t.”
“I’ll always come.”
“Enzo,” I groan.
“Shh…” The voice sounds all wrong, and I try to shrink away from it. “Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
Darkness swallows me.
When I resurface, the SUV takes a turn so sharp that I fall against someone. Arms lock around me, but they feel wrong. Too hard. Unfamiliar.
“Dad,” I croak.
Something is pressed to my mouth again, and as the chemicals flood my system, I drift back into the darkness.
The next time I surface, heavy sluggishness weighs down every part of me and nausea rolls through my stomach.
It feels like I’m being carried, and for a blessed moment, I think it’s Enzo, and I’ve overworked myself again.
“Don’t be angry with me,” I mumble.
Then a strange scent gets through to me. Sweat, gunpowder, and soot.
Not citrus, sandalwood, and spices. Not Enzo.
Not Dad either.
When I pry my eyes, and the blurry sight of a balaclava gets through to me, my body stiffens.
“Don’t fight, Rosie,” the man says, his tone professional.
I’m put down on something soft.
A chair?
I try to glance around, but then there’s a prick in my bicep. As I struggle to lift my head, everything wobbles around me.
Enzo.
The roar of engines gets through to me, and it feels like I become weightless.
Don’t come, Enzo. It’s too dangerous.
Stay away.
Stay safe.
I love you.
The world wobbles again, time warping and stretching until I can’t hold on anymore.
Then everything goes dark.
Chapter 12
Rosie
“That amount isn’t climbing,” someone with a heavy accent hollers, his tone threatening. “Do you want to die today?”
The words get through to my muddy mind, and I manage to turn my head to the side. Steel bars come into sight, but it takes a minute or so before what I’m seeing registers in my foggy mind.
I struggle to push myself up off whatever I’m lying on, and sitting, I stare at the bars, trying to make sense of my surroundings.
“Two million is not enough!” the same man snaps again. “I want to see a hundred million on the board by midnight, or you’re all picking who dies next.”
A whirring sound gets through to me, and as my mind clears, I realize I’m in some kind of prison cell.
What the hell?
I glance at the metal bed and thin mattress, then look at the stained toilet, sink and shower that’s sectioned off by a dingy plastic curtain suspended from a rail.
For some reason, I take in the bar of soap, a towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, toilet roll, and box of tampons.