I clicked back into the room around me. Whimpers ghosted through the room as Ethan shoved the smoldering rebar into the girl's abdomen. His back was to me. I wasn't the object of his focus. He was fully involved in his torture. I forced the cold analytical side of me to the front, demanded she watch, learn. Anything and everything she saw, I wanted to know about it. I spoke with the emotional side of me while she was busy. We're going to do this. We're going to get out of here. We're going to stop him. Even if it kills us, this ends now. My conscious ripped open as the colder side of me thrust me back to the forefront of our mind. Ethan was watching me, a calculating look on his face. "You're still watching, aren't you, Willow? I'd hate to think that you were working against me in these experiments."I blinked once. He smiled. It was sweet-one of the first features I'd fallen in love with all those years ago. A mischievous little boy who just wanted me to join him in h
I was this close to throwing these assholes off my forty-story balcony. So far, I'd been electrocuted, stabbed, stitched up, stabbed in a different place, and been mocked and insulted. If this was the family Willow had chosen, I shuddered to think how awful her biological family was. "Again. Ping it again," Massimo said as he laid his knife point between my first and second knuckle. "You damage my hands, I won't be able to help you." I hit the series of keys that would send the signal to Willow's phone. "You'd come up with a way, I'm sure. Losing your hands would be the best of your options of what I'd really like to cut off." He slapped the flat of the blade against my knuckles. I added something else to the list for retribution. Forgive me, Willow, but I'm going to maim your brothers. How you thought I was an asshole in light of their behavior, we need to discuss. But they are awful, I said to her mentally. Talking to her, even knowing she couldn't hear me, kept me san
When I surfaced through the haze of worn off sedatives, I had no idea what time it was. In my old life, I could have listed the minutes and seconds. But since the new paralytic serum had reacted differently, I had no clue as to when I was right now. All of my straps had been removed. Ethan didn't like the idea of me getting bed sores, so he made sure I could get up and wander around my space between each experiment. A small en suite bathroom was nestled in the left corner of the room. That dry burning ache of a newly removed catheter had me forcing my thoughts to just getting into what little privacy I had in the tiny bathroom. I pushed through the door, did a quick check to make sure no new cameras or listening devices had been installed since the last time I was here. It was clear. I guzzled down a large cup-plastic, of course-of water. I forced myself to drink so much that my belly hurt from the rapid expansion. I pulled my pants down, did a quick check to see if any new ma
"Fucking now," I shouted at the computer, thankful I'd had the wherewithal to put my end of the phone call on mute. When the ping had come back as her phone being on, I'd prayed like I'd never prayed before. Listening to Willow pee had been a unique experience, but if hearing her tinkle was the least of my problems, I could live with that. A hysterical laugh built in the back of my throat. I squelched it with ruthless control. No. I still had a job to do. A woman to find. My woman. The blinking blue dot on the screen turned a solid blue. "Got her." I pushed from the desk, ignored the sharp piercing pain in my side. I sent the location to my phone and deleted the results. These fuckers weren't leaving me here while they went in and rescued her. No. This was mine. "Give it to us," Domenico snarled as he got in my face. "You're staying here. With Massimo.""No." I pushed by him, limped as fast as possible to my elevator. "You're more than welcome to join me, but you're not l
My knee smashed up into Ethan's balls as soon as the words registered in my brain. Using one of Tali's favorite tricks, I elbowed him in the throat and pushed him away as he tried to figure out which injury to nurse first. I raced from the room. Nothing was the same. I wasn't in my old house. I'd told Ryker the wrong place. I was on my own. I shot forward, cursed the rough flooring and Ethan's habit of stealing my shoes. I gathered the pain in my feet, held it close to me. Nurtured it in my brain as I darted around corner after corner. He'd built a maze. And I was his rat. I ran and kept turning corners. As long as he couldn't get his hands on me, I would be fine. I could hold out until Ryker came. Until that grouchy, bossy bear found me. I was going to slap him silly. Make him hold me through the nightmares that would undoubtedly keep me awake for the foreseeable future. His fault, he could help clean up the mess. "You can't run from me, Willow."That long, low cut on
"You have arrived at your destination. Your destination is on the left," the car announced. "What the fuck are you playing at, Penn?" Turo demanded as we searched the empty field. There was nothing here. Not even a hint that there had been. The ground was yellowed and undisturbed. Rafael slid up between the front seats. A glint of metal in his hand. "Stop." I slapped his hand away. "For fucks sake, you guys don't really know how to do business do you? What the fuck is wrong with you?" I grabbed my phone and limped from the car. I pulled up the feed from my geosynchronous orbiting satellite. I scrolled back through the seventy-two hours of footage. Prayed that asshole had come back here within that amount of time. If he hadn't, if he'd somehow managed to clone her phone and lead us off on another goose chase?I shook my head. Forced those thoughts out. No. I couldn't think like that. I had to find her. Had to hold her in my arms. Tell her I was sorry. The driver's windo
Sucking in a deep breath, I set my nails to my skin and pushed against the butterfly bandaged flesh. Sliced. Clawed. Anything and everything I could do. I had to remove that electrode. I wouldn't let him win. Not like this. Not when I was so close to freedom. For myself. For those other women and girls. The pain suffused my mind as the white noise of blessed overstimulation curled around me. I broke the skin. Kept digging. My fingers slipped and slid over my skin as blood rose to the surface. I breathed through my mouth to keep any sounds from drifting. From pulling the monster any closer to me. Head starting to spin, I pushed my fingers deeper. I just needed enough space to hook my nail under it. Grab a wire and yank. A shoe scuffed the floor near where I sat. I bit my lip as my middle finger grazed the foreign material. I sank my nail under the edge of the wire and pulled up. Bright, brain-scorching fire shot through my finger as the electrode went off as I was t
I shook my head. "There's no way," I said again. Even as we passed underneath the canvas, I didn't believe it. It had to have taken a fortune to go to these lengths of concealment. "Shut the fuck up or go back to the car," Massimo said softly from behind me. I zipped my lips and pulled up the tracking data on the phone again. The solid blue dot was still in the same spot. "The phone is still here," I whispered to Domenico. He nodded and pulled a gun from his waistband.I rolled my eyes. Really? Wasn't that just a little cliché, even for the mob? Amateurs. We continued in a single file line down bunker-like hallway. Where the fuck had Errington found an abandoned bunker? Why were there even bunkers in New York? Let alone in New Trenadie?"Bossman, I think I found something," Nik said over my earbud. I rolled my eyes. "Pretty sure we already found it. Send it to me. Encrypt it. Forget about it." I could have sworn I heard her grinding her teeth. "Expect a lengthy co