Chapter 26 #2
I’m so fucking weak, so tired and hurt that I feel my strength ebbing with each second that passes by. I can’t take much more of this.
One of his punches gets through my forearms and he hits me directly in the nose. That hit wakes my brain up, sending me back to a sparring session with Nico.
“If you’re on the ground, get control of their legs and roll them. Nine times out of ten, your opponent will be more focused on hurting you than distributing their weight.”
Remembering what he taught me, I turn to the side, making my captor think I’m giving up and curling in on myself.
“Fucking asshole!” my captor yells as he punches me in the side of the head again. “You think you can kill—”
I cut him off by hooking my ankle around his and rolling him to his back. He yelps, but I caught him off guard and he ends up landing heavily on his side. I knee him in the stomach, making him double over.
Managing to get behind him, I wrap my arm around his neck and pull, trying to cut off the air supply to his brain.
I avoid his reckless punches and yell as I pull with all my might. This has to work. I don’t have anything left.
After a few tense seconds, my captor’s hands pinwheel and his body weight gets heavier against me. Just a little more. A little…more…
Finally, he relaxes as if he’s passed out, a huff of breath leaving his lungs.
I remove my arm, then wrap my hands around his head and jerk, breaking his neck.
Vision swimming, I lean back and try to pull in lungfuls of air. My body is on fire, screaming at me to fucking rest, but I can’t. If I rest, I die.
With strength that comes from thin fucking air, I push the man off me, able to pull in a deeper, fuller breath. Turning to the body, I search him and find a gun, safety off with a full clip.
“Fucking idiot,” I mutter to the dead man, spitting in his face. Had this asshole remembered he had a gun, I’d be dead instead of him, so I guess I should thank him for being so fucking stupid.
I struggle to my feet, weaving back and forth as I walk to the stairs. When I get to the base of the steps, I lean against the wall, trying to get my swimming vision to chill the fuck out.
There are two possibilities when I get upstairs. One, Austin and Maskless will be there, waiting to kill me when they realize I won the battle in the basement, or two, neither of them are here and I’ll be able to get away.
Agony radiates through my limbs as I stumble back over to the bodies.
I check the man with a hole in his throat’s pockets and find a set of keys.
I can drive far enough away to get some fucking help.
If I’m still in Jersey, I’ll figure out where I am.
If not, I’ll find a phone and call my family.
I check the phone the first fucker had and the screen is cracked all to hell and it won’t turn on.
Keys in hand, I inch over to the stairs. I head up slowly, listening for any noises from the floor above me.
When I get to the top step, I press my ear to the door, trying to catch even the faintest sound from the other side.
Hearing nothing, I push the door open, my right hand holding the gun up and at the ready.
No one is here, at least not in the living room.
I walk as quickly as I can in the front door’s direction, ignoring the pain racing through me. I’m almost there, almost free.
Gun still raised, I burst outside for the first time in what I think is a week. It’s almost dusk, the sun setting in the west. The clouds are an amalgamation of purples, oranges, and blues. I almost tear up at the sight, finding it more beautiful than I ever have.
While he was torturing me, Austin revealed that the three men that were helping him were his cousins, family from his dad’s side that weren’t in the life but were all brutal motherfuckers.
My throbbing limbs and broken bones could attest to that.
He’ll find two of them in the basement, dead by my hands.
I’m three for three with his family.
He also told me that Donny was in on the plot, planting letters for me to find, and grabbing me outside of the club while one of his cousins helped set up the safe house they held me in.
I will kill that motherfucker when I find him.
Breathing in the cool, naturally scented air makes me want to break down in tears, but that can wait until I’m safe.
Climbing down the porch stairs, I move as fast as my injured limbs will carry me.
Using my bleeding left hand, I aim the car remote to the two in the driveway and almost cry out in relief when lights flare on the one parked on the street.
When I’m behind the wheel of the car, I don’t give myself time to think—I simply start it up and peel away from the curb.
I’m on a cul-de-sac, not on a street I recognize, but I make the first left.
When I run into a streetlight, I take a right, not sure where I am or where I’m going, but needing to put some space between me and my torture chamber.
Adrenaline is pumping through me, but it’s starting to wear off the further away I get from the house, and all of my aches and pains scream at me.
The steering wheel is coated with blood, my left hand looking as if it’s dyed red.
After ten minutes of reckless driving, my vision fuzzes out, but I force myself to stay conscious, at least until I can find—
My eyes snag on a street sign, and I blow out a breath of relief. I know where I am. I just have to stay conscious long enough to get there.
Five minutes later, I see the gates for St. Clair Construction, which are thankfully open. A feeling of triumph fills me as I pull almost flush against the building. There’s only one car parked here, but it’s not Kai’s. Maybe it’s his nervous assistant.
“Fuck,” I whimper as I push open the car door.
My legs give out under me as I try to get out of the car.
I allow myself time to get my strength up, panting as I tuck my broken hand to my chest. It’s not the only broken bone.
Even as I’m lying here, I feel like my ribs are brittle enough to puncture my internal organs and my elbow feels swollen, like it’s not where it’s supposed to be.
The sky darkens and a chill creeps into the air, so I roll to my side and push myself up on my right hand.
When I get my feet under me, I stumble up the steps to Kai’s company, cursing him for having so many damn stairs.
My bloody hand clasps the knob, and it takes two tries to turn it, but I manage. I yank the door open, the shitty fluorescent interior light bathing me in yellow.
Percy looks up at me, a shaky smile on his face. His smile drops and his normally pale face pales more and he stands shakily from behind his desk. “Oh, my god.”
“Nico?” I rasp, my knees giving out. I land heavily, then list to the side. I try to catch my fall with my left hand and cry out when the broken bone gives way. Tears I didn’t want to shed spill down my face, and I roll to the side, cradling my hand to my chest. “Kai? Carter? Someone?”
“God, hold on, Declan.” Percy runs out of the building and I call after him. I don’t want to be alone. I want to be safe. I want to—
A few seconds later, Kai comes rushing in. I look into his gray eyes and reach out to him, a sob bursting forth.
He rushes over and drops to his knees, gripping my hand tightly. “Hold on, D. I’m calling Carter and Nico. They’ll be here soon. Hold on for me, okay?”
As he makes the call, I fight back unconsciousness so I can see Nico. I’ve thought about him every day since I was abducted, hoping I’d see his face again.
I look up at Kai and feel a small grin stretching across my face. “Never thought…I’d be…happy to see you.”
Kai barks a laugh. “Same here. But I’m glad you’re okay.” He looks me over, his face morphing from joy at seeing me to anger as he chronicles my injuries. “Don’t worry. We’re going to rip Austin’s fucking head off. Everyone involved in this will fucking die.”
“Got…two…myself.”
He clears his throat and squeezes my shoulder. “Of course, you did. You know, Nico said you’d probably get yourself out.”
“Nico? He…good?”
“Not at all. But he will be.”
Percy kneels beside me with a first aid kit in his hand. It won’t do much, but I know he has nothing to do with his hands and all his nervous energy. He dabs at my face with an alcohol pad and I wince, the pain only adding to the other aches in my body.
Red and blue lights reflect against the wall. One of them must have called an ambulance.
“I need…Nico…” I tell Kai, holding on to his hand as hard as I can.
“I’m here, baby,” a warm voice says from the door and my eyes snap up to my man.
“Nico…please.” I let Kai’s hand go and reach for him, needing to touch him, needing to know this is real.
He kneels in the spot Kai vacated and rests his forehead against mine. “Baby. Oh god, baby. I thought I lost you.”
“Not yet,” I whisper.
“I love you. You need to know that. I love you, I love you. God, I’m so sorry I let this happen.”
I grunt and cough, the pain nearly blinding me.
“Sir, please back up,” a firm voice says, and a stranger kneels beside me where Percy was. He immediately turns my head to face him and flashes a bright fucking light in my eyes. I try to bat his hands away so I can see Nico, but they don’t stop fucking with me.
There’s a whirlwind of activity as I try to fight the paramedics off, but I’m weak as a fucking baby. I can barely keep my eyes open.
I’m loaded onto a gurney and pushed out the door, the paramedics shouting shit to each other.
“Nico,” I whisper. “Nico.”
“Here, baby.” He’s so close, his warm breath drifts across my face.
He’s here, really here. It’s not a dream, not a figment of my imagination. He’s warm and solid beside me.
I grab his hand and squeeze it tightly. “I love you too.”
Then I’m out like a light.