Chapter 12
ADRIANNE
Ithought it was the haziness that clouded my vision, but after rubbing my eyes a couple of times, all I saw was white beyond the glass where ice crystals formed on the edges.
I was in a moving car, looking through a window and seeing nothing but a stretch of snow that blended with the sky, erasing the horizon as if it never existed.
My mind was slow. Confused, as I tried my best to catch my bearings. I looked to my left and saw a man sitting beside me, gazing out his window just as I was a second ago. I recognized him from that goddamn abandoned tunnel. He was one of Nikolai’s men.
The one behind the wheel was new to me. His profile was harsh, brows furrowed as he concentrated on the road ahead. Even his voice was foreign as he spoke in rapid Russian to the other broad and dark figure that sat in front of me in the passenger seat.
“Ostrozhneye!” Careful! That deep voice that haunted my nightmares boomed from the seat in front of me as the back wheels of the car drifted on the icy road.
From the aggressiveness of his tone and the way the man driving almost sank into himself, Nikolai was berating him for sure, and despite that tone, something inside me fluttered as soon as I heard his voice.
He’d kept his promise. He’d come for me.
Why that realization made my heart beat faster was a mystery.
I had no idea how he managed or what it took to make it happen, but Nikolai had taken me out of that hellhouse. He’d saved me from a fate I couldn’t even dare to picture.
Granted, he had been the one leaving me there like a trading item instead of a human being deserving of mercy.
He left me. Delivered me to be ruined and broken beyond repair. He doesn’t deserve my gratitude.
Just like that, whatever relief coursed through me evaporated, giving way to rage and hatred instead.
Remember who he is, Adrianne. He is not your savior. He kidnapped you, humiliated you, hand-fed you like a damn dog, and delivered you to the devil himself.
A right doesn’t erase a wrong. He’d made a choice by leaving me there. He’d made that choice knowing the monster behind the bespoke suit.
So why was it that instead of a full-blown panic attack, my body sank deeper into the leather seat of this stupid car as if this was the safest place I could be?
Because you’re insane, that’s why.
The last thing I remembered was Vladimir Volkov pulling on my collar, his voice in my ear promising unspeakable things while that predatory smile stretched across his face. Then someone interrupted him, and before I could process what was happening, the world went dark.
Nothing but pitch black and scary vulnerability.
I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat ached like I’d swallowed broken glass. My tongue felt too big and uncooperative from whatever drug they’d pumped into my system. I swallowed the thick saliva before trying again.
“Where are we?” I croaked, my voice coming out small, ragged, and broken.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Nikolai said, dismissing my question. “It took you long enough.”
“Maybe ease up on the dose of whatever it was you gave me next time, and I’ll make it quicker for your convenience.”
The man sitting beside me spun his head towards me as if I had committed the worst of atrocities with what I’d just said, his eyes wide and cautious as he regarded me and then Nikolai in the front.
“You were already unconscious when we got there,” Nikolai replied, his voice carrying that familiar edge that made my stomach twist. He turned in his seat to face me fully now, those pale blue eyes studying my face with an intensity that made me want to shrink back into the leather.
Funny how Nikolai’s gaze burned me while his father’s chilled me to my core, even though they shared those same scary eyes.
“Russia,” he said, answering my first question before turning back to face the road.
“Russia?” I tried to sit up straighter, but the heavy winter clothes made every movement clumsy. “What the hell are we doing in Russia?”
I was wrapped in thick winter gear I’d never seen before. Heavy boots that went up to my knees, insulated pants, a jacket so bulky I could barely move my arms.
“Keeping you alive.” His voice was cold and clipped, as if I were annoying him with my questions.
“For what? To hand me over to the next bidder? Did your psychotic father not pay you enough? Or maybe you’ve got your bones already and moved on to something more alive.”
Nikolai spun towards me again, and I almost prayed this seat could swallow me whole from the way he looked at me alone.
“Watch it. I will more than gladly turn this fucking car around and dump you at his doorstep again.” His jaw clenched tightly, hardening his already sharp features while he stared at me with those piercing eyes. I kept my gaze on his, not cowering away like I felt the need to.
Men like Nikolai preyed on fear. It’s what fed their superiority.
Somehow, my brain told me that it was not the time to back down or I’d lose whatever dignity I still had left.
Despite the fear that glower of his shot through my body, there was something else alongside it that made me push him further towards that dark edge.
“Maybe second time’s the charm.”
“Maybe he’ll tape that smart mouth of yours instead of just gagging you.” His tone was dripping in menace, making my heart race. “Come to think of it, I’ll do exactly that when we get home.”
Home.
As if that existed.
The only time I ever had a home was when Mom was alive. I was trying to build that sense of belonging again with my newfound family before I got ripped from them and thrust into this strange life that I thought only truly existed in movies and books.
I wanted to argue, demand answers, or to be set free, pull the lever on the door, and run for my damn life. But there was no use.
The snow outside was relentless, creating a wall of white that seemed to go on forever. We were in the middle of nowhere, and judging by the tense set of Nikolai’s shoulders, that might not be enough distance from whatever we were running from.
“Keeping you alive.” As he’d said.
There was something different about him here in this winter wonderland. Something harder. Darker. More dangerous than usual, if that was even possible.
“How did I get into these clothes?” I asked, tugging on the heavy jacket.
Nikolai’s eyes flicked over my outfit before meeting my gaze again. That muscle in his jaw ticked a couple of times before he finally replied, “I dressed you.”
The words hit straight where they absolutely shouldn’t have.
“I’m sorry, you what?” I didn’t know what I felt at first: the heat of embarrassment or whatever this thing was that pulsed in my chest and neck from knowing he’d probably seen me naked.
Again. Touched me. Why didn’t it bother me?
Still, I kept to my fake anger. It was much easier than rationalizing the fact that I didn’t repel the idea of my captor undressing me and taking care of me.
“You dressed me? While I was unconscious?”
“Of course. It’s not like you could have done it yourself.”
“Of course?” Fury burned through the drug-induced fog still clouding my brain. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, of course? Someone else should have done it.”
His expression didn’t change at first glance, but then I saw the way his pupils dilated, covering most of the blue with black and danger.
“It means,” he started, his tone dropping seventy octaves and reaching hell as he spoke, “I would never allow any other man to see my gir… I mean, you like that.”
The raw ownership in his voice made my stomach flip in ways I didn’t care to examine. Heat crawled up my neck despite the cold seeping in through the window. Before I could form a response that wouldn’t give away my flustered state, a bullet shattered the rear window, making me instinctively duck.
Glass exploded onto the leather seats as more shots hit the side of the SUV. The man beside me threw himself across my body, shouting words in Russian while Nikolai barked orders to the driver.
“Blyat!” Fuck. Nikolai roared. “Vykhodi iz mashiny!” Get out of the car!
I had no idea what he was saying, but even if he was about to translate for me, the blast of the explosion swallowed the sounds coming out of his mouth.
The impact rocked us sideways, tearing the SUV off the road like a toy that weighed nothing, but the driver kept going, even off track.
Bullets rained down on us, flying in every direction, the sound of them hitting the car making me flinch and cover my head as if that were enough armor to keep me safe.
“Adrianne!” Nikolai’s voice cut through it all, sharp enough to make even my pulse obey. “On three, you jump out the left side. Roll when you hit the snow. Step on the gas.”
I nodded, fumbling with my seatbelt, my hands shaking from fear as I tried to set myself free.
The car was going so much faster now, and by the way the back wheels swerved from side to side, they weren’t worried about crashing, just escaping, so there was no choice but to actually jump out of a moving car.
Nikolai’s door cracked open even as bullets pinged against the frame, his hand darting out to shoot back.
“One! Two!”
I found the handle. My lungs burned as panic took over my body.
“Three!”
All doors flew open, and I did as I was told. Cold slashed through me like a blade. And besides my blind panic, I threw myself out of the damn car.
The world fell out from under me. One second, I was on solid ground, the next I was tumbling, snow swallowing me whole, spinning me until there was no sky, no earth, just cold and terror and the sound of my own screams.
Then, when I thought I’d be falling forever, I hit something. Hard, warm, and strong. Nikolai’s arms clamped around me, both stealing my breath away and saving me at the same moment. He hugged me flush against him. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.