Chapter 15 - Sophia
Sophia
My hands were bound behind me, tape pressed over my mouth, a hood pulled tight over my head. Too tight. The fabric smothered me, clinging to my skin with every panicked breath.
The car jerked sharply. I tumbled like a ragdoll in the trunk, my shoulder slamming against the unforgiving metal.
Pain flared, sharp and immediate, but my mind barely registered it over the suffocating panic closing in.
My lungs pulled in short, useless gasps.
The air inside the hood was stale, humid with my own breath.
Breathing was hard. Staying calm was harder. Impossible. My chest burned, my pulse hammering so fast it blurred into one endless, frantic throb. My stomach twisted, my muscles coiled so tight they burned.
I had no idea how long we'd been driving, whether we were going in circles or heading straight toward whatever fate waited for me at the end of the road.
The engine growled, the tires squealing faintly against asphalt.
I tried to focus on anything—anything at all.
A change in speed, a sudden stop, the muffled noise of traffic or open air.
But my thoughts scattered the moment I grabbed onto them, slipping through my mind like water.
My body shuddered. My fingers twitched uselessly against the rough rope biting into my wrists, burning as I twisted against them, trying to loosen them, trying to do something. But there was nothing I could do.
The car began to slow.
No, no, no.
This was it.
A tiny, pathetic noise tried to claw up my throat, but the tape over my mouth strangled it before it could leave.
The car stopped.
A door creaked open. Then slammed.
Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
This can’t be real.
I braced myself, but it didn’t matter.
The trunk popped open, and harsh light sliced through the hood, searing into my already overloaded senses. A hand grabbed my arm, rough and firm, and yanked me out.
My knees hit gravel. Pain tore up my legs, but the fear swallowed it whole.
"You’ve been a bad girl.”
I didn’t move. Couldn’t. My body wasn’t mine anymore. It was just shaking limbs, burning lungs, a trapped animal caught in the jaws of something bigger, stronger, merciless.
Then, fingers hooked under the hood and ripped it off.
Blinding light. I flinched hard, but my eyes adjusted fast enough to take in the dusty boots. The cruel smirk.
Ivan.
A choked noise tried to rise up my throat, but the tape smothered it again. He looked me up and down, grabbed the end of the tape, and ripped it off in one motion. I winced, he laughed.
He looked down at my lips, then glanced at the man next to him.
“I love how the tape always puffs 'em up.”
The other man smirked, letting out a low laugh.
Two more men appeared, their hands closing around my arms..
"No!"
I thrashed, my muscles snapping to life, but I wasn’t strong enough.
“Bring her inside.” Ivan said lazily.
The doors opened before we reached them. Glass. Brass. Light everywhere. Too clean.
The foyer blurred past in flashes—marble floor, chandelier, white walls. It didn’t feel like a place for screaming. It felt curated. Wealthy. Sterile. But I couldn’t stop myself; my screams echoed throughout the mansion, returning to me, ignored by everyone.
We passed through a hallway, long and bright, lined with doors on one side and windows on the other. Pale floors. Curtains brushing the ground.
At the end, an open sitting area. Glass table. Roses in a vase. A large couch. None of it felt real.
They dropped me onto the black leather couch like luggage.
"Be good," one of the men said, his voice little more than a raspy vibration in my ears.
Metal clinked. A cold ring snapped around my ankle.
Then they cut the rope around my hands, and left.
And I...
I just sat there.
Shaking.
My breath was sharp, uneven, catching on every inhale. The chain bit into my skin. My whole body hummed with panic.
I swallowed hard.
I looked around, but my vision blurred at the edges, my mind clawing desperately for a way out, a weapon, something, anything—
Nothing.
I was trapped.
My mind spun out of control. My thoughts ran ahead of me, faster, faster, breaking apart into jagged, terrible pieces.
What would they do to me?
I squeezed my eyes shut, but it only made it worse. Darkness let the fear in deeper, let it breathe.
Would Gabriel come for me?
The thought hurt.
Would he even know where to look?
Or had I disappeared too cleanly, swallowed whole by this nightmare?
And even if he did come...
Even if he did find me...
What would happen to me before then?
Would he even want me after?
Hot tears stung my eyes, streamed down my cheeks. Long enough for the weight of everything to settle in my bones. Long enough for the panic to drain me, leaving only exhaustion.