22. Wolff
My head throbs like someone’s hammering a spike through my skull. I taste blood. Copper thick on my tongue.
I blink hard, trying to clear the blur. Pain lances through my left shoulder—dislocated, maybe worse. I go to move and metal bites deep into my wrists. I’m chained to a chair bolted to the concrete floor. Arms wrenched and cuffed behind me.
My blood turns to ice.
Soft, muffled cries jerk my head up.
AJ.
She’s strapped onto another chair in the center of the room, completely naked.
Wrists bound to the armrests. Ankles shackled wide to the chair legs. Blood streaks down her face, across her chest, between her thighs in thin red lines that make something inside me twist viciously. A filthy rag is tied across her mouth so tight that her lips are stretched pale around it.
Our eyes meet.
The second she sees me, she starts screaming my name through the gag.
The sound hits me like a blade under the ribs.
Fuck
I rip against the cuffs with enough force that the chair screeches at the bolts. Steel bites deep into my wrists. Skin tears. Blood runs warm down my forearms, dripping off my elbows.
My left shoulder erupts with pain.
I don’t stop.
“AJ—”
Her whole body is shaking. Tears mix with the blood on her face. She keeps making those strangled sounds through the gag, terrified eyes locked on mine.
My chest feels too tight at the sight of her like this.
“Did they hurt you?” It takes everything in me to choke out the next question. “Did… Did they rape you?”
“Not yet.” The voice comes from behind us as a steel door groans open.
The sound slices through me like a blade. My entire focus fractures. I was so locked on AJ, I didn’t even register the door. I turn my head.
The man filling the doorway is fucking huge, with bulky muscles, buzz-cut black hair, and pale, scarred skin. He grins the second he sees AJ, and my fingers twitch to slice it off.
“But the fun is just getting started.”
My pulse pounds in my ears as he walks straight to her, boots heavy on the concrete. AJ jerks against the restraints, sobbing harder. He runs a thick, dirty finger down her cheek, then lower, cupping her breast and squeezing hard enough that she whimpers.
“Get your fucking hand off her!” I snarl.
Laughing, he pinches her nipple until she screams around the gag.
“Mmm, she’s sensitive.” He leans in to lick a long, slow stripe up her neck. “I bet she screams real pretty when taking it up the ass.”
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I roar, yanking so hard the chair bolts creak. Pain rips through my shoulder.
He turns to me, still grinning, hand still mauling her tit.
“I think I’ll keep her for a while. Akim and I have some unfinished business.” Eyes never leaving mine, he undoes his belt slowly. “You can watch. Maybe you’ll learn something.”
His cock is already hard as he shoves his pants down.
AJ’s scream tears through the gag, her whole body jerking against the restraints, the chair rattling across the concrete. The second his hand closes around her throat, panic detonates from inside her.
She’s clawing at the armrests, crying out, features contorting. Blood smears across the metal as her bound hands convulse against the straps.
He forces her head back farther.
The tendons in her neck stand out sharply under his grip. Tears stream down her face, mixing with blood, her entire body racked by violent spasms as her mind fractures.
“I’m gonna take my time with her. Then I’ll let the boys have their turn.”
The fury that consumes me is blinding.
I rip my arms forward with everything I have.
The cuffs shred through my flesh. Blood sprays.
I don’t feel it. I lunge, chains dangling from my wrists, and wrap them around his thick neck from behind.
He drops to his knees, grabbing at the metal, face turning purple.
AJ’s screaming, rocking her chair so desperately it scrapes farther across the floor.
With a grunt, he flips me over his shoulder.
My head slams into the concrete. A white-hot shock wave of pain knocks the breath from my lungs.
Pushing through the haze, I roll away as his boot stomps where my skull was.
I swing the dangling cuffs like a whip before he can react.
Metal cracks against the side of his face. Bone shatters. Blood sprays.
He staggers.
I don’t stop.
I hit him again. And again.
His nose caves with a wet crunch.
His cheekbone collapses under the next blow.
I grab the back of his head with both hands and slam his face into the concrete floor over and over and over. Blood and teeth scatter across the floor. The wet, meaty sound of bone shattering fills the room.
I’m not done.
I turn him over and rip the knife from his belt, severing both wrists. Discarding his hands next to his body.
That’s for fucking touching her.
His garbled, barely alive moans fill the air. I look down at his exposed, half-hard cock, and renewed rage flood my senses.
I grab his dick with one bloody hand, yank it taut, and saw the knife through it in one savage motion. Blood sprays in thick arcs. He screams—a high, gurgling sound. I drop the mutilated cock on the floor next to his twitching body.
That’s for trying to rape her.
He convulses, eyes wide with shock and agony, blood pouring from the stump between his legs in pulsing gushes. I watch him bleed out for a second, then drive the knife into his throat to finish him off, twisting until the light goes out of his eyes.
Chest heaving, I stand over the mess, blood dripping from my torn wrists and arms. My left shoulder is throbbing. My head is spinning.
I turn to AJ. “Are you okay?”
She doesn’t answer. Just stares at me, eyes wide as she trembles.
“AJ! Are you fucking okay?”
She finally gives a shaky nod.
I cross the room and start ripping at the shackles around her ankles, my blood smearing everywhere. The second her legs are free, she throws her naked body against me, arms wrapping tight around my neck like I’m the only thing left in the world. She’s sobbing so hard, her breaths shuddering.
My good arm goes around her, covering her as much as I can.
Fuck. Fuck.
Knowing what I need to do, I reach across my body, grip my left wrist, clench my jaw, and yank hard. The pop is loud. White-hot pain explodes through my shoulder as the joint slams back into place. I roll it once, testing it, fresh blood welling from the torn skin around the cuffs.
“Wolff!” she cries out.
My gear and weapons are gone, but I spot her clothes nearby. I grab them and shove them into her arms. “Get dressed. Now.”
Her hands are shaking so violently that she can barely get her pants on. I scan the room again, listening for footsteps, looking for anything to use, trying to ignore the way the room is tilting.
My head is fucked.
Vision fuzzy at my peripherals. Ears ringing. Every sound feels jarring. A goddamn concussion…a bad one. The room keeps shifting like I’m drunk.
“Listen to me.” I grab her chin, forcing her eyes to mine. “We are getting the fuck out of here. You stay with me. No matter what. You hear me, solnyshko?”
She nods frantically.
“Good. Now move.”
I grab a gun and knife off the corpse, check the mag—only ten fucking bullets. What kind of dumbfuck walks around with half a clip. No wonder he didn’t last longer.
I shove the door open.
Cold air floods the hallway. It’s empty. For now.
Grabbing her wrist, I pull her left, down the dark corridor. Heavy boots echo somewhere ahead. We’re not getting out without a fight.
A door cracks open up ahead.
We freeze.
I shove AJ behind me and raise the gun. Two men step out. I fire twice—center mass. Both drop.
AJ whimpers, her hands gripping my waist.
“Keep moving.”
I grab her again, shoulder pulses as I drag her toward the stairwell. My head pounds so hard I can barely see straight. The floor feels like it’s tilting under me.
More boots pound from the other end of the hall.
Fuck. “AJ, run!”
I spin around and shove her toward the stairs, then raise the gun and fire down the corridor. Men scatter and return fire. Bullets slam into the wall beside my head, the concrete flying in our path. I back up fast, boots slipping in blood. The second I turn, something heavy slams into my side.
I’m thrown against the wall.
AJ screams.
The impact rattles my skull all over again. I clench my teeth to stifle a groan as pain bursts behind my eyes.
I twist, knife already in hand, and slam it into the gut of the motherfucker who tackled me. He grunts. Ripping the blade free, I stab it between his ribs—again, again, again—until he stops moving.
More men are coming. Too fucking many.
We’re out of time.
I shove the body off me and grab AJ by the arm, rushing with her toward the stairs. We stumble up two steps at a time. My boots keep slipping in blood, and my head is spinning so badly the stairs feel like they’re moving.
AJ is breathing so heavily she can barely stand.
I fire behind us blindly. Someone screams.
We reach the top of the stairs. A long hallway stretches ahead.
I push her forward. “Run!”
She doesn’t hesitate, and I cover her, firing until the slide locks back empty.
I take a breath and keep moving. But the walls are shifting before me. My feet are stumbling. I can feel warm blood running down the side of my face from a gash I don’t remember getting.
I’m slowing down.
Fuck.
I can’t slow down.
Not now.
“Wolff!” Her scream echoes down the hallway.
I force my legs to keep moving, even as they start to go numb beneath me. Every step is a fight to stay upright. My vision doubles, then triples, the concussion turning the corridor into a strobing blur of light and steel.
I hit the door beside her shoulder first.
It slams open into a massive warehouse—rows of stacked crates, rusted shipping containers, steel beams vanishing into shadow.