Chapter 56
My neck throbs.
A dull, heavy ache is present, like I slept wrong, except the pain runs deep in my bones. I try to lift a hand to rub the stiffness away, but my arms don’t move the way I want them to. The chair jolts beneath me instead, and a sting licks across my wrists.
I hiss in pain.
The skin there is torn and hot—blistered. I wiggle my fingers. They seem to move okay. My thumb brushes against rough fibers.
Rope.
I blink, struggling to make sense of my surroundings until my vision clears. Cold air pricks my skin, an icy chill that doesn’t match Brax’s house. The dim glow from a few floor lamps reflects off steel walls, panel after panel of gray stretching around me in every direction.
Am I in a shipping container?
Memories collide together. The necklace, the thud, the needle, and the voice in my ear.
My breaths come faster.
Brax.
I try to move my feet, but they’re restrained. Not as tight and brutal as my wrists but still held in place. The rope bites into my flesh. I ignore the discomfort and keep rocking the chair inch by inch.
My core screams, and my muscles ache. By the time I’ve dragged myself a few feet to the left, I’m shaking and trembling. I make a mental note to get myself to a gym pronto if I make it out of…wherever the hell I am.
A loud metallic clang cuts through the silence.
My pulse skyrockets.
Metal scrapes, slow at first, and then a high-pitched screech echoes through the space from behind me. I can’t twist far enough to see, so I stare ahead, holding my breath. Footsteps sound against the steel, and a body slips into my peripheral vision before moving in front of me.
My eyes land on dark hair streaked with gray, a hard jaw, and piercing eyes the same shade as liquor.
The man of my nightmares from my birthday stares back at me, that familiar tattoo etched on his skin.
“It’s you,” I say, sucking in a breath.
“Hello, Lucia.”
My stomach plummets as he smiles and a different memory slides into place from months ago at Hendrick’s Bar.
Sebastian Emerson.
“You’re The Octopus?”
Sebastian smirks. “Now, now, mija. Try not to sound so disgusted. We’re family, after all.”
“Family?” I choke.
“That’s right, mija.”
He steps closer, his body exposed to the light. “I’m your father.”