Chapter 24 Jamie
JAMIE
My heart was pounding fiercely inside my chest as the car pulled to a stop in front of a small cabin just about forty minutes away from the city.
The picture I received on my phone just an hour before was burned into the back of my mind.
Reign was in trouble.
I pulled up the message and looked down at the sight of his face, bloodied and bruised and tied to a chair. Tears filled my eyes.
They told me to come here alone if I wanted him to live, but I just didn’t see how we would be able to make it out of this alive.
I had called Caine, and perhaps he was on his way, tracking me through my phone, but I wasn’t so sure, considering my phone had stopped working the moment I set foot inside this cab.
I looked up and met the cab driver’s eyes through the rearview mirror before pulling out a wad of cash and handing it over to him.
He took it without saying another word, and I got out of the car. I looked up at the cabin in front of me, my stomach feeling as if it were carrying two tons of lead. Unease hit me all at once, and there was something that told me not to go in there.
But Reign was there.
I was still looking at the cabin when I realized something odd. The cab hadn’t pulled away yet.
Shouldn’t the man be driving off now that I had paid him?
I turned around to see him getting out of the car. His dark eyes glinted with something malicious. I took a step back, but I was caught by surprise and fear, and he quickly ate up the distance between us.
He smiled.
“You make this too easy, girl,” he said, leaning down until his lips touched my ear.
I shivered with disgust. “He’s not even here.”
I didn’t think Reign was hurt in the first place, but that photo…
It looked real. And despite the blood and bruises on the face, Reign’s features were unmistakable.
He chuckled softly against me, wrapping his arms around me. Fear kept me immobile. “Why don’t you come in and see for yourself?”
He picked me up from the ground, and I struggled in his arms then, trying to get away. He only tightened them around me and started to walk toward the cabin.
I swung my legs, trying to throw him off-balance.
He squeezed me to him painfully. “Stay still, little bitch. Or it’s going to get really unpleasant for you once we get inside.”
It was already going to be unpleasant, no matter what. I didn’t listen to him. It didn’t matter. He still managed to bring me inside the cramped, damp space.
It didn’t look like the cabin had much of anything. No running water, no furniture, except for a chair in the middle that I was sure had been set out for me, and four other men.
In the corner was a small lamp. It was that and a small open window as the only source of light coming into the space.
I tried to fight my way out. One of the men stepped forward and grabbed my legs to keep me from struggling. He said something to his partner in… Russian?
Was this a Bratva man?
But the cab driver… he didn’t look like he belonged to the Bratva, but rather to the Italians.
Was the Bratva working with the traitors of the Caparelli Famiglia now?
They pushed me toward the chair and tied me to it. They weren’t gentle. I grunted when I felt the rope dig into my skin, and one of the men caught my eye and smiled at that, as if he was getting satisfaction from seeing me in pain.
I bit my lip to keep from making any more sounds. Once they had me tied up, all five men stood in front of me, staring at me like a pack of hyenas eyeing their prey.
I swallowed, but my throat caught.
“Wh-what do you want?” I asked, hating the way my voice shook from fear. The men looked at each other and then laughed.
I had never been more terrified of a laugh before in my life.
Then they all turned and walked away from me. I frowned in confusion. Not that I wasn’t grateful they were leaving me alone for now, but… why were they leaving me alone?
Were they waiting for someone else? Someone even worse than these men?
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to stop myself from shaking. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me scared.
It wasn’t long before I heard wheels on gravel outside. My ears strained as I tried to listen, trying to figure out what was happening. One of the men looked out the window and said something in his native tongue. How I wished I had listened to Caine when he suggested I learn Russian.
I could hear the door slam shut and then footsteps. The door opened again, letting in some of the natural light inside and blinding me momentarily. I blinked, letting my eyes adjust until I could see the person standing in front of me.
“Tito?”
He sneered at me. “Did you really think I would let you go that easily?”
He was working with the Russians now?
I shook my head, unable to say anything. He walked over to me, and I could only stare up at him as fear kept me immobile. Then he pulled his hand back and slapped me on the same side he had punched me when he took me from my apartment.
Stars danced behind my eyes, and I jerked to the side from the impact.
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me up until I was looking at him. I winced from the pain.
“You are more trouble than you’re fucking worth, you know that? Does Davide know his precious little daughter is in bed with the Russians? I really underestimated you, didn’t I? How many of those men have you whored yourself out to, huh?”
There was only one reason why he was saying this.
He knew about Reign.
I didn’t answer him—just glared at him.
“Not going to talk, huh? Do you think these men can get you to talk?”
He looked back at the men, smiling. They all laughed.
I closed my eyes at the implication, shaking my head. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
He let out a harsh chuckle. “You don’t think so? Now that I’m working for the Bratva, and the pakhan is currently hunting down his precious son for sleeping with the enemy’s daughter, do you really still think that?”
Reign’s father was hunting him down?
I closed my eyes.
“No reply?”
I turned my head to the side.
He didn’t like that. He yanked on my hair in anger once again, and I let out a small groan in pain just before he stepped away from me. “Let’s see how well you can keep your silence when they take their turns with you.”
I opened my eyes, my heart feeling like it was about to drop as they approached.
One of the men smiled at me, his gold teeth glinting in the light and catching my attention.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.
Hands reached out and grabbed me. I opened my mouth and screamed.
The front door burst open, and Reign came charging in. But he was by himself.
For a moment, my terror shifted from myself to him, knowing he was outnumbered once again. But that quickly died off when he used his guns and fired four rounds of bullets, taking down four of the men furthest away from me. They dropped dead before any of them could react.
The one remaining man came at Reign with an angry cry while Tito moved behind him, trying to catch him by surprise.
The man managed to slap the gun from Reign’s hand, but he was ready.
I watched as Reign moved with a deadly precision I’d never seen before.
The man didn’t stand a chance. Reign sidestepped his attack, making the man stumble in surprise.
Reign took advantage of that and punched him on the side a few times.
I winced at the sound of flesh against flesh just as the man let out a pained groan.
Reign didn’t wait. He brought his elbow down hard on the man’s neck.
I heard a sickening crack, and the man crumpled to the floor.
Tito came up behind Reign and wrapped his arms tightly around him.
I screamed for him as the two men struggled against each other, pushing up against the wall.
“No!” I shouted when Tito got the advantage and managed to shove him down to the floor. He climbed on top of Reign and started pounding on him.
Reign took blow after blow, and I struggled frantically against my restraints. The rope burned against my skin as I twisted my wrists, desperate to break free.
“Stop it! Stop hurting him!” I cried, my voice breaking with panic.
Tito laughed, a sound that chilled me to the bone as he continued his assault. Blood trickled from the corner of Reign’s mouth, and for a terrifying moment, I thought the photo I received hadn’t been fake after all—it had been a premonition.
A cry burst free from my lips, and something shifted in Reign’s expression.
His eyes locked with mine for just a split second, and I saw a cold determination replace the pain.
In one fluid motion, he bucked his hips and threw Tito off-balance.
Before Tito could recover, Reign had flipped their positions, pinning him to the ground.
“You should have stayed hidden when you had the chance,” Reign said, pulling out a blade he had tucked inside his boot.
Tito’s eyes widened in terror as the blade glinted in the dim light. I couldn’t look away, even as my heart hammered against my ribs. This was a side of Reign I’d never witnessed—cold, calculating, deadly.
I had never seen a man kill before. Not before Reign.
I thought I was going to be sick.
He didn’t hesitate.
He plunged the blade deep into Tito’s neck, and blood instantly pooled beneath him.
So much blood.
And it kept coming and coming as a sickening, gurgling sound filled the space.
I couldn’t look away. My eyes were focused on my cousin, transfixed.
It would explain why I didn’t see Reign coming. I flinched when I felt his hands on me, a terrible sound coming from my lips.
“Shh, it’s okay, baby. It’s me. I’m just going to untie you, okay?”
I didn’t respond to him… I couldn’t.
The ropes around me loosened, and then I was being pulled away from the chair and into Reign’s solid form.
A strange sound filled the air, and it took me a moment to realize I was the one making the sound.
I was crying.
I was breaking.
Reign tightened his hold on me, keeping me safe. Keeping the monsters at bay.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s over. I promise. I’m here.”
It was over. It was okay. He was here.
I held onto those words as if they were my lifeline, and in that moment, they truly felt like it.