Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Ariana
Something rumbled beneath me, deep and constant, like the growl of a caged animal. It pressed into my spine, vibrating through my bones. I shifted, but even the smallest movement sent a flare of pain ricocheting through my body.
Air hissed somewhere nearby, mechanical and steady, underscored by the faint metallic tang of fuel. The scent of it clung to the back of my throat, acrid and bitter, mingling with the coppery taste of blood on my tongue.
I forced my eyelids open, but the light that seared through my lashes was blinding, bright and harsh.
It stabbed straight into my skull, making the pounding behind my eyes throb even harder.
My vision blurred and doubled, then blurred again.
Shapes shifted in and out of focus, swimming like shadows on water.
Two figures stood a few feet away. Both tall.
Both shadowed. But they were too unfocused to make out details, their outlines jagged and wavering like heat mirages.
They spoke in low tones, muffled at first, like sound underwater.
I fought to tune in, every sense straining past the roar of the engine and the hiss of air.
One voice cut through. Unfamiliar. Urgent.
Hope flared so brightly it hurt. Maybe I’d been rescued. Maybe whoever had pulled me out of the Jeep was some stranger with a conscience. Someone who’d seen the wreckage and chose to act. To help.
I clung to that fragile thought, to the promise of salvation.
Right now, it was all I had.
But just as quickly, that small flicker of hope was extinguished when I heard him.
Henry.
The sound of his voice slid through the air like a blade. Deep. Rough. Familiar in a way that made bile rise in my throat.
A memory came rushing back. The stacks of cash filling his duffel bag. The burner phone buried beneath them. The string of texts. The photo of me, bound and gagged, as proof of a job completed. Henry had been paid to abduct me for the Bratva. I drugged him so I could escape. I thought I was free.
But I wasn’t.
He’d found me.
I tried to focus, shake off the fog that clung to me, weighing me down. And then I heard it. Something about my mother.
My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything else. Panic clawed at me. I had to move. Had to fight. Had to survive. If not for my sake, for my mother’s.
I started to sit up, but pain detonated in my ribs, white-hot and blinding.
My head split down the middle, nausea churning so hard I thought I’d vomit.
My knee burned as if someone had driven a knife straight through it.
But I needed to push through the pain. I refused to give up.
Not now that it seemed my mother had found her way into Henry’s crosshairs.
He could sell me to the Bratva.
I refused to let him target my mother, as well.
I drew in a ragged breath, bracing myself for the pain I knew would come. Then I forced myself upright. The world tilted sideways, my vision exploding with sparks of white and purple. Pain speared through me, intense enough to steal my breath, my knee buckling as I attempted to stand.
The voices cut off, and footsteps pounded toward me, sharp against the low drone of the engines.
“Stay away from her.” My plea cracked on my lips, weak and broken.
A pair of arms wrapped around me, dragging me back down to the bed. I thrashed, clawing, punching, but my movements were sluggish, uncoordinated. My hands felt like they belonged to someone else.
“It’s okay, baby. You’re okay. I’ll make sure she’s okay, too.”
That voice. His voice. It made my stomach roil, acid burning my throat.
I fought harder, my nails scraping against fabric, muscles trembling with the effort. My surroundings swam, the edges going gray.
“She’s confused and disoriented,” another man said, his tone calm. As if this weren’t his first abduction.
It probably wasn’t.
“I’m going to sedate her so she doesn’t injure herself further.”
Sedate? No. Not again.
I tried to shake my head. Tried to kick. Tried to scream. But my tongue was thick in my mouth, my body refusing to obey my brain.
A sharp pinch bit into my arm, and what little strength I had to begin with evaporated.
“No…” I begged, the word a whisper.
My limbs turned to sandbags, heavy and useless.
Strong arms closed around me, pulling me against a chest I knew too well. My head lolled against hard muscle, my body betraying me as it sagged into his hold.
Henry’s scent was everywhere, leather and wood and something darker I used to find intoxicating. Now it suffocated me.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to my temple. “You’re safe now.” His voice broke with emotion, which only confused me more. “I swear I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
The words tangled in my mind.
Safe? With him?
He’d abducted me. Planned to deliver me straight into the hands of the Bratva. And yet, he sounded like he was scared. Like seeing me this way tore him apart.
I wanted to scream at him, shove him away, tell him he was a worse monster than my husband. At least he’d never sold me to the Bratva.
But the darkness was already sliding in, thick and merciless.
The last thing I remembered was the steady beat of Henry’s heart beneath my ear…and the terrifying uncertainty of what awaited me the next time I woke up.