50. Mila
MILA
I pull to a stop at the old rundown warehouse in the middle of the Mount Baker National Forest.
The building is crumbling around me, the ceiling boasting large holes that allow what’s left of the sunlight outside to seep through. The floor is wet and covered in a bed of moss, and a faint scent of mildew hangs in the air.
I cried the entire way here. Hearing the pain in his voice. Christian called me three times after our initial conversation at the bank, where I told him I was leaving him, but I ignored each one.
Now, my phone sits dejected and silent in the passenger seat, nearly dead.
I look down at my wedding band on my finger. The one he carried with him when he left me for three weeks. I want to believe this will work out and it won’t break us, but I know better.
Our marriage has been fragile since the moment it was conceived. Hearing those words . . . I can’t imagine what it did to him.
What if I never see him again? What if I never get to make it right?
I force a deep breath through my lips. This is what I have to do. I can’t allow another person I care about to get hurt because of me.
I suck up the pain, letting the fear of what might happen to Bella take its place. There’s no room for tears right now.
Forcing my legs to carry me out of the car, I step out onto the muddy concrete, my sneakers scraping when I stand.
Looking around, it doesn’t appear that another person has been here in a hundred years. An eeriness hangs in the air like I’m being watched but not by something of this world.
Something inhuman.
That means he’s here.
“Hello?” I call, searching the shadows around me, but it’s too dark.
I’m met with silence. Deep, harrowing, echoing silence.
A shiver rolls through me, and I pull my jacket tighter around myself.
“Bella?”
I can’t mistake the sinking feeling that this is just like last time. That he’s lured me out here, and now he’s going to hurt me.
He won’t get the chance, though. I’m smarter this time. Stronger. I’ll fight to the death before I ever let him touch me again.
“You have five seconds before I’m leaving, asshole.”
It’s a lie. I refuse to leave without Bella, but it has the desired effect.
“Are you alone?”
The voice makes me jump, and I suck in a deep breath, swallowing past the thick lump in my throat.
“Yes.”
I’m met with silence.
Nothing.
“Where’s Bella?”
“Where’s my money?” he counters.
“Let me see her, then I’ll let you have it.”
“In case you forgot, you aren’t in charge here,” Sebastian growls. “If you want to see my precious baby sister again, I suggest you get me that money.”
Fuck .
“Fine.” I open the trunk, grab the two heavy bags, and pull them out.
Who knew two million dollars would weigh so much?
“Drop them.”
Gritting my teeth, I do, dropping them to the dusty floor on either side of me.
“Now, step away with your hands held up very slowly. “
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“I KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS!”
I jump at his echoing voice ringing in my ears and fall silent.
“Do as I say, Mila. You really don’t want to piss me off.”
Bile rises in my throat, remembering the feeling of his hands on my body. The sound of his voice mocking me. For a second, I’m back in that basement, and he’s the demon lurking in the corner, waiting to strike.
“Give me Bella, Sebastian. She wasn’t a part of this. She’s innocent.”
“Is she, really? Innocent? Are any of you? My father locked me away in that putrid asylum. His visits were like bread crumbs while they had his full attention.”
“Your father is a bad man. He didn’t deserve you. I know you’re hurting. People have been horrible to you. But you’re better than this. You deserve to be happy.”
He actually deserves the electric chair, but at this point, I’ll say anything if he doesn’t hurt Bella.
He’s silent for a moment. And time stands still while I listen to the sound of my own heartbeat.
“Please?”
Nothing.
“Mila?”
I spin, finding Bella behind me, her eyes wide and full of tears. Her lip is busted, and there’s a bruise on her cheek, but otherwise, she looks unharmed.
—Except for the gun pointed at her head.
“Talia . . .”
She rolls her eyes.
“As if you didn’t figure it out by now. Ratting me out with that stupid cell phone.”
I fucking knew it.
“Mila . . .” Bella whimpers.
“Just let Bella go.” Fuck, I don’t like how her finger is hovering over the trigger.
“Or what? You’re going to tell Christian?” Talia giggles—like a real, I will eat your heart giggle and presses the barrel of the gun tighter against Bella’s forehead.
“Talia,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm when all I really want to do is grab Bella and bolt. “Think about this. That’s his sister. You shoot her, he will never forgive you.”
“Christian never cared about me. Not the way he cares about you,” she sneers. “But Sebastian does. Sebastian made me feel whole when Christian left me high and dry when we were supposed to get married.”
Because you drugged him, raped him, and lied about a fake pregnancy . . .
“I saw the way he chased after you at the banquet. It was pathetic.”
Bella’s eyes flick to mine, and I nod my head ever so slightly. She stares at me a beat before her eyes widen, then very carefully, she adjusts her footing.
“It’s you he wants, Talia. He married me because he had to. Because he was forced.” I hate saying those words, but I can see by the vengeance in her eyes that it’s working. “If you deliver Bella to him, what kind of chance have I got?”
She cocks her head, grinning from ear to ear.
She thinks she’s won.
It’s at that moment the crunch of glass sounds behind me, and I only have a second to react.
“Bella, run!”
Bella stomps on the toe of Talia’s expensive riding boots and bolts right as someone grabs the back of my head and drags me back.
“Hello, Mila,” Sebastian fucking Cross greets, a wicked grin on his face that looks so much like my husband’s, it’s instantly unnerving. “Miss me?” He rears back, a syringe in hand, and bites the cap off.
“NO!” I screech, ripping at his hand in my hair, but he manages to sink the needle into the side of my neck, and an instant warm sensation washes over me.
Oh, fuck. This is bad.
Sebastian drops me to the ground, and the earth spins around me, the ceiling overhead coming in and out of focus.
“That should shut her up.”
“I was enjoying the screams,” Talia says, stepping closer. A tear slips down my cheek. My tongue feels weightless, and my legs won’t move. Whatever he gave me, it’s a whole lot stronger than what Christian had used. “What about Bella?”
“Let her go. Let her crawl back to her family and tell them I’ve got her.”
“And the money? I thought we were just taking the money?”
“Change of plans.”
Sebastian looms over me, smiling wickedly.
“Starting to kick in now, isn’t it, sweetheart?”
I open my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, but nothing comes out but a choked breath.
Fuck, I can’t focus.
The last thing I see before everything goes black is Sebastian lifting his hand and waving his fingers.
“Night, night, little whore.”
And everything goes black.