34. Luna
Aslap to my face wakes me, and I blink the sleep from my eyes to find Mr. Rose in front of me once again. Personally, I preferred my hallucinations to the living, breathing lizard man.
I groan with every move of my neck. It’s stiff from having my hair yanked so much. Rolling my shoulders with my hands bound is a painful task, but it helps unfurl the tension bunched there.
“I’ll have you know, our demands were denied by none other than your father.” His smile screams, I told you so.
I snort. It’s no surprise. I’m not even sure he’d meet demands for my mother, and he’s in love with her. They always said Antonio was the unhinged, power-obsessed brother, but I’m not so sure that title doesn’t suit my father as well.
To be fair, I don’t take it personally. It’s the nature of Mafia life, like being pawned off in marriage.
“Too bad,” I say, the dried blood on my face cracking as I lift my lips into a smile of my own.
Funnily enough, I have no reason to smile. I’m as good as dead, and that’s if I’m lucky. More likely, I’ll be taken and used before I’m discarded. My best bet is to fight back hard enough they’re forced to eliminate me.
I have no real skills. I wasn’t taught to fight back growing up, only take what I was given and be a doormat. Well, I’m not going out that way. I hope.
“I believe your unharmed and untouched state just became null and void, Mrs. Balakin.”
He steps over and uses a knife to cut the bindings at my feet, then yanks me up by my hair. He throws me against the wall, my cheek meeting the cold metal. My hands are still bound behind me as he presses himself along my back and holds a knife to my throat.
The tip of his knife drags down my neck to my sternum, leaving a trickle of blood in its wake. I let out a muted scream, and he fists my hair even tighter as the knife descends lower, past my stomach. When he slips the blade into my jeans, I stiffen.
“Stop. Please, stop.” I jerk against him and try to squeeze away from the wall, but he forces me still.
“Careful, puppet. Would hate for the knife to slip before I play.” His tongue slides into my ear and I shriek. A fit of laughter rings from him as he pulls me back from the wall and slips the knife into his front pocket. “I’m taking you first, then you’ll service my men. They get lonely between our shipments of girls.”
Bile rolls up from my stomach, and I gag. They’re trafficking girls.
He drags me through the ship’s halls. My legs trip to keep up with his long stride as he pulls me by my hair. Eventually we come to a stop at a closed door. As he fumbles with the lock, his grip loosening on my hair, I take the opportunity to jerk away.
Running as fast as I can, I make it to the end of the hallway, but he catches me before I find an open door to escape into.
His foot trips me from behind and my head smacks into the metal floor, a quiver shaking my whole body. I try to stand without the use of my hands, but he grabs one of my legs and starts dragging me back to the room he was attempting to enter.
“No!” I cry, forcefully kicking my legs.
He chuckles and shoves me into the room.
It’s a large private cabin with a bed in the middle. Through the drugged haze, I notice suit pants and socks scattered across the floor. File folders spread out over a coffee table, where a sweating beer has left several rings. This is his room.
He shuts the door and I back away, looking for another way out. But there’s only the bathroom.
Think, Luna.
He lunges and knocks me to the floor. Straddling my hips, he slaps my face, once, twice, while I try to buck him off.
Don’t stop fighting. Don’t stop fighting, I repeat to myself. Don’t stop.
I buck again as he reaches for my jeans, pulling at the button until it pops open. “I’m looking forward to this.”
I try to roll, to ease the crushing pressure on my arms, still stuck behind my back.
He reaches for my chest, fingertips digging in so hard it hurts. “Stop!” I scream.
A loud siren pierces through my pleas, and Mr. Rose goes stiff.
“No,” he mumbles, and scrambles off of me.
Grabbing a nearby gun, he dashes out of the room, leaving me trembling on the floor. The door slams behind him, and I hear the lock click into place.
I finally roll over. Arms tingling with relief, I shuffle on my knees to the door. Using the handle, I stand and immediately become lightheaded. Probably hit my head harder than I thought.
I allow the dizziness to pass before attempting to force the door open. It doesn’t budge.
Another loud siren sounds, and this time gunshots accompany it. I scramble back, heart racing as I look around for anything I can use to cut my bindings. Every so often, I pause to listen for movement outside the door.
I flip my hair out of my face and scan the files on the table. A photo of Luka and Kate peeks out. My eyes go wide. There’s a picture of Isabella, along with several photos of Nik. One man’s photos in particular take up most of the pile. He has reddish-brown hair and forest-green eyes, and in many of the pictures he’s standing with a handful of other men.
Hearing footsteps in the hallway, I dart behind the open bathroom door and peer out through the crack near the hinges. Voices call out, metal-on-metal sounds, and the bedroom door bursts open with a bang.
A gun comes into view first.
“Luna?!” Nik’s voice whisper-yells into the room as he steps in
I nearly melt into a puddle when I see him. His all-black suit is made of some sort of neoprene fabric with holstered guns strapped around his waist. Black boots swallow his feet, and a large weapon rests in his hand. There are dark circles under his eyes, and one of them is nearly swollen shut. I push out from behind the door, bursting into tears.
“Nik …”
His head snaps to where I’m standing and his eyes go wide, nostrils flaring. He rushes over, ditching his gun and grabbing a knife from his wetsuit. He slices through my bindings before turning me to face him. Nik’s eyes hold mine, and god, I want to drown in them. In him.
He pulls me into a quick hug and then places a tender kiss on my forehead before his expression goes serious. “We need to move,” he whispers. “Stay behind me.”
He inches to the door, a finger going to his earpiece. “Moonbeam acquired. Proceeding back to home base.” He grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Be ready to run.”
I sway at the word, my energy drained, but I nod and focus on what we’re about to do. He clears left, then right, and proceeds to lead me down the hallway, back the way Mr. Rose brought me.
We round a corner and Nik shoves me back. His hand goes for his holstered pistol, and he fires two shots. A bullet whizzes by us, and he flattens me against the wall when I strain to see where it came from. He discharges three more shots, the bangs followed by a thump at the end of the hall.
Raw and chafed from the bindings, my wrist stings as Nik pulls me along. Moregunfire erupts on the top deck. The narrow passageways of the ship shrink around me the farther we move.
Fog blankets my mind and makes me imbalanced. I start tripping over every step, and Nik has to haul me up each time. Progress is slow. Too slow.
We finally make it to the top deck, and I’m surrounded by containers once again. Mr. Rose’s men dart in multiple directions, yelling out commands and barking orders.
Nik and I slump against a container, out of sight, to catch our breath.
“You okay?” he asks, eyes flicking to the raging red around my wrists.
“I’ll be fine.”
He narrows his eyes at me, and I can only imagine what I look like. Nodding, he grabs my elbow and ushers us to the next container. We pause in the shadows.
A loud BOOM sounds from the starboard side of the ship. Smoke rises from behind the freight and quickly engulfs the vessel in a cloudy haze. I cough and attempt to bury my nose in my shirt. My eyes sting, and I try to blink away the pain.
“We need to get over to that side,” Nik barks while pointing.
With only a few seconds of rest, he pulls me along with him. I run to keep up, but my feet are unsure. Each step is hindered by the smoke, my sight swirling with the gray fog.
“What was that?” I whisper loudly. I don’t know if it was Nik’s rescue crew, or Mr. Rose defending his ship.
“I’m not sure. Not us.” His words are clipped, and his eyes are trained ahead. Such focus and determination radiate on his face. It’s comforting, because focused and determined is the exact opposite of my mental state right now.
We rush toward the next several containers, the smoke quickly becoming thicker and more potent. Another explosion hits, and we rock back and forth. My eyes widen in fear as the containers stacked above us shudder with the thundering boom. I want this to end. I’m so tired.
As soon as my eyes leave the stacks, three men jump us.
Nik grunts as he’s knocked to the ground, and I scream for him before I’m punched in the side of the face. Landing on the deck, the ship’s metal bites into my knees. One of the men I recognize from when I was taken at the club jumps on top of me. I screamand kick, barely able to take in any air. The smoke burns my lungs with each labored breath.
“Luna!” Nik’s panicked voice vies for my attention. I kick some more and lunge forward, but the man easily keeps me pinned down. Another punch snaps my head to the side, and black dots line my vision.
In my peripheral, two shapes fight with each other. I shift my head, the picture of Nik and one of the men slowly becoming clearer. The man lands a hit to Nik’s stomach, and he buckles over.
Tears pool in my eyes.
Something grates my wounds. Ropes wrap around my wrists, pulling excruciatingly, and I cry out in pain. When I turn my head, I find a man looking at me with a smug smirk on his face.
Moving quickly so he’s on top of me, he pulls out another rope and adds it to my bound hands. I squirm and try to buck him off, sobs coming out in short bursts as I struggle.
He backhands me before yanking me to my feet, and then he’s pulling me toward the thicker smoke, away from Nik. The fumes surge into my mouth.
They’re going to tie me to this ship and leave me.
Fear rages inside me and I plant my feet, but all it takes is one pull from the muscular man to tug me out of place, and I fall to the deck. He doesn’t stop, just continues to drag me. I scream. I feel every rivet, every jagged edge of metal.
A gunshot goes off and I crane my neck to try and see behind me. To know if Nik is okay. The man pulls me farther into the maze of cargo, and I gasp when I see the fire.
The flames dance, mesmerizing but devastating. They leap into the sky, engulfing several stacks of containers. The yellow, orange, and red hues roar with life, the sheer intensity of the blaze creating a searing, blistering heat.
I never thought much about the sound of fire, but it’s thunderous—echoing among the incinerating storage.
The acrid scent of—whatever’s in the containers—fills the atmosphere, stinging my nostrils and choking my breath.The once clear blue sky has turned dark and eerie with a reddish tint. The ship groans as the fire consumes everything in its path.
The destruction is consuming.
The man fumbles with my rope, attempting to tie it to the shipping container’s locking rod handles.
“Stop!” I yell. “Please don’t!”
He shoves me into the front of the container. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. I can feel the fight leaving me. Is this what my father had in mind for his legacy? To have his daughter sold off, kidnapped, and burned alive?
My thoughts quickly turn to Nik while the fire continues to burn. These stacks won’t hold much longer.
This isn’t how I want to die, and Nik …
Fight back, Luna.
Dizzy, I pull myself away from the container I’d been shoved into. Concentrated on tying a knot, the man doesn’t see me coming. With the smidgen of strength I have left, I lower my shoulder and ram into him.
He topples over, losing his footing, and hits the deck. I pull at the rope, clawing at the almost knot. My fingertips ache as I scramble to free myself before he’s back up.
A CRUNCH sounds from above me, and I don’t recognize the scream coming from my own mouth. I yank hard on the rope, finally freeing it from the container.
Cursing at me, the man moves into a crouch, but before he can come at me, I turn to run.
Desperately, I flee back toward Nik. Each stride is a struggle with the tangle of rope tethered to me.
Determination fuels me, but it’s not enough. The rope draws taut, and with a gasp, I’m jerked backward. I look behind me to see the man wrapping the rope around his forearm. He gives a fierce tug, and I collapse. Letting out a sob, I twist and mash my hands against the ties, trying to undo them.
When the man finally pulls me back to him, he straddles me and reaches down?—
No. As hard as I can, I bring my knee up and kick him in the balls. He grunts and buckles backward with a wheeze. I roll over and push to my hands and knees, crawling a few inches before wobbling to my feet.
“You’re going to pay for that, you little?—”
A gunshot rings out, slicing the air with a sharp crack, and the bullet whizzes past me.
A limping figure emerges from the smoke. “Nik,” I breathe out.
He rushes over and pulls me to him. “You’re all right, Luna. I’ve got you.” He draws a knife from his black pants and works on cutting the rope around my wrists.
Over his shoulder, I catch a glimpse of the man who was chasing me. His body is crumpled onto the ship’s deck. Blood pools around his dark hair, and I follow the crimson trail to the hole between his eyes.
I shudder.
“We gotta go, Moonbeam.”
I nod, guilt crushing me. He had to come after me—save me. Again.
He saws through the remainder of the rope and starts to pull me with him right as a nearby container free-falls from its stack and tumbles into the sea.
We keep going until we make it to the end of the ship that isn’t engulfed in flames and smoke. Warm sunlight hits my face, and the scent of salty ocean water enters my nose once again. Pausing to catch our breath, Nik scans the perimeter.
“Okay clear. Let’s go.”
He takes me by the hand and weaves us through several stacks of containers. As we bolt toward the back of the ship, running alongside the railing, waves hit the side and send mist spraying up into my face. It stings against my injuries.
Nik picks up a harness and hands it to me. “You need to step into this. I’ll guard you as you go down. Repel down the side and unhook when you reach the water using this.” He shows me a carabiner, but I just stand there, stunned and trembling. Nik grabs a pair of gloves from his wetsuit and shoves them at me. “Put these on. Let’s move, Luna.”
“Nik, I can’t. I—I don’t think I can do this.” I flinch at the sea over the railing of the ship. This is a relatively small vessel, but it’s still a long way down. He rotates me toward him and tucks my hair behind my ear before leaning his forehead against mine.
“You can, Luna. I’ll be right behind you.” He gives me the carabiner.
More gunfire erupts nearby and Nik spins around, aiming his gun toward it.
Come on, Luna. You have no other option.
I take a deep breath, clipping onto the railing. My knuckles ache as I curl my fists around the rope. It’s wet. Did Nik use this to get on the ship?
I climb over, tightly gripping the rail. Waves churn violently below, and I make the mistake of looking down. Oh god.
Nik fires his gun and then shouts over his shoulder. “Go, Luna!”
I lower myself over the edge, the harness pulling over my seated thighs as my weight tugs on the rope. The wind whips my hair and I shake it out of the way while I slowly descend.
Focus, Luna. Almost there.
I settle into a groove, sliding my hands along the rope followed by my shaking legs.
A yacht floating out to the side catches my attention, but yelling from above distracts me, and I watch as Nik uses the back of his gun to hit a guard in the face.
I resume scaling down the side of the vessel until I plunge into the water, the cold shocking my senses. Then I unhook and swim away from the sitting ship.
I glance over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of Nik struggling against a man. His form ducks out of view several times, and I panic. “Nik!”
Water floods my mouth as I bob there. Nik throws one last punch before he launches his gun overboard and follows it over the railing. I gasp as he plummets toward the water, his body submerging beneath the sea a moment later.
“Nik!” I scream. What feels like minutes pass. Finally, he breaks the surface, mouth opened to inhale a large breath.
He grabs for me. “Swim, Luna!”
A dinghy takes off from the yacht and moves toward us. Gunshots hit the water behind us as we swim, and Nik’s grip on my hand tightens, pulling me along.
A pulsing throb blooms behind my eyes, and I have to blink away the gritty blur. I’m operating on sheer will right now, but my legs are practically lead. If I live through this, I will never be this weak again.
A motor approaches, the dinghy going past us and swinging to block our view of the cargo ship. Two guards aim at the flaming vessel and open fire to defend us. The wakes buoy Nik and me up and down.
Someone snags my wrist, and I hiss at the contact. Chills prickle over my skin as I’m hauled out of the water and dropped into the small raft. Water drips over me as Nik is pulled in next to me.
Taking steady breaths is hard; I press a hand to my chest, trying to inhale deeply. My legs buckle as I try to stand and I fall back, but a man’s arm grabs me before I collapse completely. Forest green eyes meet mine, and I recognize his reddish-brown hair.
“You—pictures—the files,” I pant out.
“Why don’t ye sit down, love.” His mouth moves, but with the up and down bob through the water, the words barely register.
In a matter of minutes, we’re at the yacht. It glistens on the water, opulent and glossy. Nik lifts me out of the dinghy, and I grip the handles of the ladder leading up the side of the massive boat. When my feet are back on solid decking, I look around. Several men in tactical wetsuits surround us, many dripping wet as if they only just climbed aboard as well.
Eyes growing heavy, I stumble forward as all the adrenaline from moments ago crashes out of my system. I reach to the back of my head, probing a lump that fits in the palm of my hand.
“Luna?” Nik’s voice sounds like it’s underwater. The shaking in my limbs causes unsteadiness on my feet, and I try to take a step to—somewhere?—but I collapse.