Chapter 13
Lucy
A queasy tang of déjà vu fluxes through my system.
Just like when the judge grabbed me earlier, I go still as the bald man from the club all but shoves me out into a service hallway. He claims he’s a talent agent who saw my audition, and I followed him out here to chat because I couldn’t hear him over the blaring music.
His thick arm wraps around my waist. I attempt to extract myself but stop when the cold tip of a blade pokes into my throat.
Icy fear seizes my muscles. I’ve made a terrible mistake.
The man shoves me down the corridor, sticking close enough to assault me with his garlic-scented breath. “If you keep your mouth shut, I won’t need to use this.”
I feel a pinch when he jabs me again with the knife. Then a terrifying discovery stops my pulse.
My attacker isn’t alone.
A second man, taller and beefier, with so many tattoos I don’t know where one starts and another begins—I mean, this guy is fully inked—leans against the wall beside an emergency exit stairwell.
“Hey.” Tattoo scowls at the man restraining me. “Let’s get her to the van before they notice she’s missing. And watch the knife! The boss says we gotta keep her in one piece.”
A whimper crawls out of my throat. My heart heaves against my rib cage, and my mind threatens to fracture.
No. This can’t be happening again.
I need to fight.
Planting my feet, I dig my heels into the cement floor.
The man with the knife nudges my numb legs forward.
I can’t let them get me out of this building. I need to escape. If they take me to a second location, I may never—
Something slams from behind, and music floods our way. Both men spin around.
Callum barrels through the back door and sprints for us with murder in his eyes.
Tattoo intercepts him first. Callum ducks a punch, rebounding to land his own fist in Tattoo’s face. He follows up with a solid knee to the guy’s balls and a gut strike that causes Tattoo to double over in pain.
My abductor shoves me against the wall, out of the way, and whips around to face Callum. When he raises the knife, my panic reaches a fever pitch.
They’ll kill him before taking me to only God knows where. I’m going to be assaulted again. Used. Held captive. No one will find me. Maya will be devastated.
A popping sound grounds me, forcing me back to reality. Two more pops follow in rapid succession. The knife wielder screams.
I stare at his elbow, which now bends back at an unnatural angle.
Callum just broke that guy’s arm and dislocated his shoulders. Both of them. So quickly that Tattoo is still folded in half, clutching his crotch and catching his breath.
My bodyguard shoves my would-be kidnapper’s head against the cement wall with a loud crunch. I’m almost certain he’s dead when he slides to the ground.
Even though Callum did all the work, we both stand panting over my attacker’s crumpled body like it was a team effort.
Out of nowhere, Tattoo straightens and lunges at Callum in one quick motion. My stomach swoops. “Callum, move!”
Callum reels back.
Tattoo shoves a blade through the air where Callum’s spleen was only a second ago. But my wicked fast bodyguard grabbed the guy’s wrist before the knife could slice flesh.
They tussle, Callum’s thick, strong fingers holding tight around Tattoo’s wrist to stop the blade from stabbing him through the cheek.
My eyes lock on a nearby fire extinguisher strapped to the wall.
I unstrap it and swing. The heavy steel connects with the other guy’s skull.
Tattoo grunts, shaking his head like his brain is vibrating.
Staggering as if he’s ingested one too many shots of whiskey, his gaze slides to where his partner lies sprawled on the concrete. He spins around and flees toward the emergency exit. His beefy body slams against the door as he stumbles out.
The fire extinguisher slips from my quaking fingers and falls to the ground with a clang. Tremors shake me, head to toe. Alarm rearranges Callum’s features.
“Are you okay?” His calm tone contrasts with the club’s pounding bass.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I wrap my arms around my waist. “Can we…just get out of here?”
“Not yet. We need to take care of Baldy here.” He glances at his phone. “Reinforcements should be here soon.”
The emergency exit door flies open.
I jump hard, flattening myself against the wall.
Veronika. And Darren.
“We caught the one trying to escape.” Darren strides to Callum’s side, dragging Tattoo by the neck. The man’s hands are restrained behind his back, and blood streams from his nose. “Ran into him by accident on our way in.”
“Are you all right?” Nika rushes over to hug me tightly. She’s like another older sister to me, though not as smothering as Maya. She squeezes me while I tuck my head into her shoulder, my nose buried in her low ballet bun.
“I’m okay.” I return her hug, thankful for the familiar touch. “Where’d you come from?”
“We were headed out to dinner when Darren got Callum’s call. Good thing we were so close.”
“It almost happened again,” I say in a low, shaky voice to Nika.
She pulls back to look at me while brushing tendrils of hair from my face. “We caught the guys. We’re taking them in for questioning. You’re lucky Callum was here, huh?”
I swallow the knot in my throat. “Yeah.”
Five minutes later, three of Darren’s guys arrive to haul off my would-be kidnappers, both of whom miraculously survived the encounter.
Darren and Veronika hang back with us as we exit the building.
We put The Black Box behind us and soon find ourselves headed down eighty floors in a high-speed elevator.
I’m in a daze and can’t stop thinking about Nika’s words.
“You’re lucky Callum was here, huh?”
He taunts me and then turns around and rescues me from a pair of goons in a back hallway.
Not because he cares, but because I’m a job to him.
I’m not suffering from any delusions about my value to him.
Despite knowing that, his words from earlier still hurt me, and his heroic actions still win me over.
My brain understands our dynamic, but my emotions aren’t following.
In the back seat next to Nika, I barely have enough energy to share with her that I advanced to the next round in the Runway Revolution competition.
She squeezes my hand while peppering me with questions and assuring me that I won’t have to worry about the men who tried to kidnap me tonight since they’re now in Irish Kings custody.
But I will anyway.
God knows those two thugs weren’t working alone.
Whoever sent them will try again. That’s what no one wants to say during the ride home in the XXL luxury-SUV.
Only an act of God could rip the target off my back.
An image of Viktor Roguilin’s face snaps into my mind. I still shudder when I think of him. The terror of trying to appease him, of disassociating from reality when he did unspeakable things to me.
When we finally pull up outside my apartment building, I swallow down the acidity of those awful memories and hug Veronika for dear life.
Darren and Nika say their goodbyes and leave me alone with my guard dog once again. I don’t speak or wait for him. I just hold myself tightly and head toward the entrance to my building, knowing he’ll follow.
We step into the elevator and stand like strangers during the short trip to the eighth floor. We walk in the same tense silence down the hallway to my apartment.
“You never answered my question from before.” A gentle hand settles on my back. “You okay?”
I jump at the contact. “I’m fine,” I lie. “And don’t pretend like you give a damn.”
I doubt he truly cares one way or the other. Apart from not getting a bad mark on his guarding record. I whirl to face him, the accusation on my tongue. But the first thing I spot is a growing red stain on his shirt, and the comment dies in my throat.
“You’re bleeding!”