Chapter 49 Jade
Motherfucker.
I peel my eyes open, looking around, only to find myself in a run-down house.
If one more person knocks me out, I’m going to lose it. Somehow, knowing it was coming didn’t make it better. Building a tolerance to sedatives wasn’t enough of a precaution, clearly. I’ll have to rectify that later, though. For now, I have other shit to handle.
Like Ivan.
I know he’s here.
Dom and Leo warned us that Ivan was smart, but somehow I still underestimated him. I let my emotions get the best of me.
Seeing Ashlynn wasn’t something I even thought possible, and that’s why it worked so well. How does one prepare for something they believe is outside the realm of possibility?
They don’t. Something I bet Ivan was banking on.
I’m not sure what he wants with me. I’d thought he only wanted me dead, but I know he had me brought here for a reason, and I intend to find out what it is.
Looking around, I find myself in a long-abandoned house. I don’t see anyone around, no traps or anything out of the ordinary.
Why bring me here and leave me? I’m not sure what’s stopping me from running, other than myself.
I can’t let this keep going.
No, this ends tonight. One way or another.
Everything about this place screams abandoned, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not alone. My gut has kept me alive for years, and I’ve learned to trust it, even when I don’t understand.
“Hello?”
A voice echoes off the half-standing walls and run-down furniture, but it’s not at all what I expected.
I expected Ivan, but the voice isn’t his.
It couldn’t be more opposite. Whoever calls out is female, and from the quiver in that one word, I think it’s safe to assume she didn’t come here to sightsee.
No, she sounds terrified, and while the house is in terrible shape, I get the feeling she isn’t just afraid of being here.
She must be afraid of someone, whoever is here with her.
Ivan.
Everything about this feels like a trap. I know it. I feel it in my bones. Whoever that girl is, she’s Ivan’s bargaining ticket. His way of luring me to him. She’s what Ashlynn said he would dispose of, as if she isn’t a human being.
Too bad I planned to find him, either way.
He didn’t need her for that, though I guess it probably made him feel better.
Something in her voice pulls me to her, regardless.
I’m not sure if it’s the fear or something else, but I know I have to get to her.
The need to save her pulses through me like a tangible thing running through my veins.
All it did was give me one more reason not to die to him, and the list was already pretty damn long to begin with.
It doesn’t take me long to find the tunnel hidden in the kitchen, under what I believe was once the sink. The girl's scared voice echoes down it, like a siren's call drawing me to her, and I follow.
The smell of the tunnels is terrible; the air is stale. I’m pretty sure if I could see, I’d find something dead down here. Maybe even more than one something, judging by how strong the scent of decay is.
What I wasn’t expecting was how big the tunnel system is.
I’m not sure if it’s fortunate for me that so many of the connecting tunnels have caved in or if it’s a sick glimpse into my future, but I don’t have time to worry about it.
Instead, I keep moving forward, which is easier than it sounds.
Debris litters the ground, and I can hear the scurry of little paws every once in a while.
Why couldn’t he just come to the damn party and let me sink a bullet in his brain, or at the very least leave me a damn flashlight?
After walking for so long in the darkness, the tiniest hint of light up ahead catches my attention immediately.
The poor girl that Ivan decided to use to lure me here hasn’t yelled out again, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the state I might find her in.
The low light is just enough for me to get a better look around the tunnel, and while I can’t make out what anything is, I can walk faster, avoiding anything that might trip me up the way it could when I was walking blind.
The second I reach the end of the tunnel, I want to burst into the room, but I know better.
I need to take this slow, so I don’t let Ivan get the jump on me.
It’s not just my safety I’m worried about right now.
Ivan has a hostage, and even if I handed myself to him on a silver platter, that wouldn’t guarantee her safety.
It wouldn’t keep Leo and Dom off his radar.
Not to mention the guys would never just take that lying down, and the last thing I want to think about is them trying to take on the Bratva without me.
No, I need to do this right. And while this might not have been our plan, it might be better to let me handle him while they're safe back at the party.
They're going to be pissed. I’d never intended for it to go this way, but I’ll deal with that later. I just need to make it out of here alive first.
Creeping forward, I stand inside the tunnel, peering out into the large room.
I can’t see the whole room from here, but I can see enough to know it’s not in much better shape than the tunnels.
Sections of the ceiling have caved in, with large boards hanging down to the floor.
The remains of furniture are scattered here and there.
Some things are less weathered, but others look as if they have been here for decades, rotting to the point that I’m unsure what they started as.
Murmurs inside the room make me freeze, straining to hear anything.
The room must be bigger than I thought, though, because I can’t make out a single word.
What they’re saying isn’t really important, though.
What matters is that I can make out two voices.
One, I assume, is his hostage. The soft female voice sounds shaken, but not as if they're in pain.
The other is a deep, rough male voice, thick with what I can only assume is an accent, even though I can't hear his actual words.
Ivan.
I have no choice but to enter the room to get a better look at what I’m dealing with. Slowly, I move to the edge before hopping down. I’m on guard even before my feet hit the ground, searching the room to find them.
There.
Across the room, my eyes land on the man I assume is Ivan. He stands behind a simple chair in which his victim sits, their head down as he creepily caresses the side of her face.
“Ah, there she is,” Ivan says, pulling away from her to spread his arms wide in greeting as if we’re old friends. At least she doesn’t have to deal with his nasty fingers on her anymore.
“I knew you wouldn’t leave your friend behind. You always had a thing for saving people, didn’t you, Svetlana?”
His words don’t have a chance to sink in before he drops his arm, his fingers fisting the girl's hair. He yanks her back so that I can see her face.
My world stops as I meet her blue eyes. Tears running down her face, which is pinched in pain as he keeps a hold of her hair even as she tries to pull away.
“Let her go, you piece of shit!”
I’m moving before I even realize it, racing toward her as my world narrows down to this one thing.
Saving Hazel.