27. Emily
27
EMILY
I feel like I’ve been asleep for hours, though I’m far from rested.
My back hurts, and my muscles ache, though that might have something to do with the fact that I’m shivering so badly from the cold.
I didn’t drink that much wine last night, did I?
I know I’m not that much of a regular drinker, considering the fact that I’m still under age, but I thought that my few illegal nights out had allowed me to build up some sort of tolerance.
The pounding in my head suggests otherwise.
“Danil?” I try to sit up, but the slight movement has me flinching as pain shoots through my temples.
I’ve never had a migraine before, but maybe this is what is happening… Hangovers really are a bitch.
I abandon my attempt to sit up and lie back against the cold floor.
Floor?
Was I so drunk last night that I didn’t even make it to bed?
I try my best to open my eyes, but I must have slept in my makeup as the remnants of my mascara have caused my eyelids practically sealed shut, and my actual eyeballs feel itchy.
How is that even possible?
I’m usually religious about taking off my makeup. My mother terrified me as a teenager by telling me that I would go blind if I slept in my makeup, and I always made sure to wash my face before bed no matter how tired I was.
Maybe she was right all along because my eyes are definitely open now, but I can’t see a thing.
What is happening?
This is the hangover from hell.
My throat is desert-dry, and the lingering taste of alcohol in my mouth is disgusting.
I desperately need to brush my teeth and perhaps drink some electrolytes to try and get rid of this headache. I hope Danil has a well-stocked medicine cabinet, otherwise we’re going to be in for one hell of a rough ride…
“Danil?”
I desperately need some water. I’m severely dehydrated, which is probably only adding to my headache, but it’s just so damn dark .
“Danil!”
Silence.
I knew he was a heavy sleeper, but this is ridiculo?—
Wait!
We never made it to Danil’s apartment.
It all comes flooding back to me, playing through my mind like some kind of horror film.
The last thing I remember is being in the park, wrapped in Danil’s jacket and looking up at his handsome face as Danil worked up the courage to finally tell me he loved me.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy as I did at that moment.
I remember feeling almost giddy with excitement at the prospect of finally saying it back. To finally tell him I love him too, more than anything.
And now I may never get that chance.
“Oh god.”
Is Danil even still alive?
I move to cover my mouth with my hand to help muffle the sounds of my sobs, but I can’t move my arms.
What the hell?
I try again, but the movement has me wincing in pain as something burns my skin.
It’s rope.
I’m tied up.
“Danil!”
I sob as I try pulling against the rope, hoping to weaken the knot.
I cry out as the friction causes the rope to burn my skin from being tied so tightly. Whoever tied me up knew what they were doing as there’s no way I’m going to wriggle my wrists free of these restraints.
They must have knocked me out too because I don’t remember being brought here, wherever here is.
All I remember is a terrible cracking sound and watching as Danil fell to the ground. I remember trying to scream, but hands were on me, covering my mouth to silence me.
But after that, I remember nothing.
For all I know, the blow to Danil’s head could have been fatal, and they left him in the park for dead.
The thought has a sob building in my throat, but before I can start screaming, I catch the sound of heavy footsteps nearby, and I slam my mouth shut and try to contain my emotions.
My heartbeat pounds in my ears and if I wasn’t so dehydrated, I’m sure I would have emptied my bladder all over the floor from fright. If my hands weren’t tied up so tightly, they would be shaking too.
This is it.
I’m about to stare death in the face because even if I could free my hands from the restraints, there’s no way I would be able to fight off whoever is waiting for me on the other side of the door.
My sister has faced a similar situation, and I remember her telling me how terrified she was. Though it was even worse for her as she had been pregnant with the twins, and she thought she was going to lose her babies.
She warned me to be careful. She and Dimitri have gone out of their way to try and keep me safe, even going so far as to let me move in with them despite having their hands full with the twins and now a new baby.
And how did I repay them?
By walking straight into the hands of Igor Ivanov.
I should have taken Lucia up on her offer to teach me some self-defense. Maybe I would have been able to fight off the men who took me to call Dimitri for help. Maybe he could have gotten Danil to a hospital in time.
If only I had been sensible, I could have given myself a fighting chance, and I wouldn't be tied up right now, feeling so damn helpless .
My life’s starting to slip through my fingers, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.
A quiet whimper escapes my lips as I realize the mess I’ve gotten myself into. But as much as my instincts are telling me to scream for help, the last thing I want is to draw the attention of whoever is on the other side of that door.
I need them to think I’m still knocked out, at least until Danil can come up with some sort of plan to get us out of here.
Because he is alive. And he must have a plan.
He has too.
He just has too…
“Danil,” I whisper again before glancing anxiously at the door.
I haven’t heard the footsteps again, which means whoever it was is still standing near the door.
Are they waiting for someone?
Igor Ivanov.
He’s finally going to make good on his threat, and the people I love the most are going to pay the ultimate price.
Suddenly, a sliver of light shines through beneath a crack in the door. It’s not much, but it’s enough for me to see that I’m in what looks to be an empty basement room. The floor and walls are nothing but bare concrete, and from what I can tell, there’s not even a single window.
I’m still wearing my dress from last night, which explains why I’m painfully cold, leaning up against a concrete wall. I must have lost Danil’s jacket in the park, and the thought has another wave of emotion hitting me so hard the air leaves my lungs.
“Danil?” I whisper.
My eyes roam around the room, and I have to swallow my scream when I finally notice the outline of a body in the corner of the room.
Danil.
My entire body starts to tremble as I notice the lack of movement coming from him.
He’s not breathing.
“Oh, god, please don’t be dead, please .”
My cheeks are damp with tears, and my heart is pounding so hard in my chest I’m about to pass out.
This can’t be happening.
The footsteps sound again but this time, they grow fainter.
They’re leaving.
I’m not sure how much time we have before Igor gets here, but somehow, I need to figure out a way to get out of here before he comes.
But even if I could get my hands untied, what then? The only way out is the door, and I doubt Igor’s men are stupid enough to leave it unlocked.
How could everything have gone wrong so quickly?
The night was so perfect. Like I had walked straight into a fairy tale, and now I’m ending it by being tied up in a basement with no idea if I’m ever going to see anything other than these four concrete walls ever again…
A faint groan sounds from the corner where Danil is lying, which snaps me back to the present.
“Danil?” I whisper.
I squint over at him and when I catch his legs moving slightly, tears spring to my eyes and start streaming down my cheeks.
He’s alive.
“Danil.”
A choked sound escapes me as Danil moves a little more, and his answering groan has me crying in relief.
If he can make noise, it means he’s alive.
“Emily…” he groans.
I sob. “I’m here. I’m right here, Danil.”
I desperately try to slide my hands free of the restraints so I can reach for him, but it’s no use. They’re so tight, and the skin of my wrists feels raw from pulling against the rope.
“I can’t get my hands free,” I whimper.
“It’s okay, Em,” Danil croaks as he tries to push himself into a seated position.
He hisses in pain as he does so and when he turns his head toward me, there’s dried blood down the side of his neck.
I try to keep my face neutral because I don’t want to panic him, but it looks bad. There’s a lot of blood caked onto the side of his head, but it doesn’t look to be bleeding anymore, which I have to take as a good sign.
He groans. “I’ll get… I’ll get us…out.”
“You need to conserve your energy, Danil.”
“It's…going to be…okay.”
I barely catch Danil’s words over the sounds of the footsteps once more.
My eyes flick to the door. “Oh, no.”
Whoever was out there before must have heard us and decided to come and investigate.
This is all my fault.
“Danil, I’m sorry?—”
The door slams against the wall, and the room floods with light.
I flinch as the brightness hurts my eyes, but then the basement is cast in shadow once more as two figures appear in the doorway, blocking out most of the light.
“Someone’s awake,” one of them grunts.
The other man steps into the room. “Time for us to continue our fun.”
Danil grunts as he tries to move, but his hands are also bound behind his back with rope.
The two men are enormous, so even if he could get his hands free, I doubt he would be able to fight them off for long.
The wicked gleam in the eyes of the slightly taller man has me fighting the urge to vomit.
“Don’t hurt him!” I cry out as they both lunge for Danil.
Danil groans as they force him onto his back, and the sound of a foot colliding with his body and Danil’s answering groan has me screaming.
“Let him go! Take me! Please!”
The two men don’t make any acknowledgment that they’ve even heard me. They carry on landing kicks to Danil’s body like he’s nothing but a sack of flour.
I furiously tug against the rope. “Please stop!”
But it’s no use.
The man I love is being attacked, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.
It doesn’t take much for Danil’s body to go limp once more.
I can’t tell if he’s knocked out or just playing dead as a way to get them to leave, but the two men glance at each other with satisfied looks.
I hope they burn in hell for what they’ve done to Danil, and if I ever get out of here, I’m going to make sure that they know what it’s like to experience pain.
Just as I think they might leave us alone now that Danil is quiet once more, they bend down and haul Danil to his feet.
His head hangs between his shoulders, and he’s not taking any of his weight as they haul him toward the door, so he really must be knocked out cold.
Or dead.
“Danil!” I scream as I catch sight of the fresh blood staining the concrete floor before the door slams shut and the light goes out.
“Danil!” I scream until my throat is raw. But even then I don’t stop.
Even when the tears eventually run dry, I don’t stop screaming his name.
I have no idea how long we’ve been here, but at some point, Zara and Dimitri are going to start to worry. I just have to hope that Danil’s brothers realize what has happened and can get us out of here.
But I can’t ignore the small voice in the back of my mind that is playing my greatest fear on repeat.
What if they find us, but it’s too late?
What if this is how our story ends?
I lean my head back against the concrete wall as the last of my hope starts to fade away. “Oh, god. Danil .”
I should have taken Igor’s threat more seriously. Everybody warned me to be careful, but I didn’t listen, and now my greatest fear has come true.
If I had never suggested that walk, we never would have been at the park, and Danil would have never gotten hurt.
I know if Danil were here, he would assure me that this wasn’t my fault, that there was nothing I could have done to stop this from happening.
I only wish he was right.