Chapter 27
Iblinked awake, trying to remember when I’d fallen asleep. My head was pounding and my arms burned. When I tried to shake them out, I realized that my hands were fastened to a handrail that lined the wall.
I am so fucked.
But as my wits slowly returned to me and my eyes adjusted to the dim red emergency lighting in the place where I’d awoken, things started to come back to me.
I’d gotten in a fight with Vaughn. Cassidy had kissed me—the jerk—which Vaughn had, of course, walked in on.
I’d discovered a cache of Elysian hidden in a wall panel, and when I’d been unable to find Vaughn to help me figure out what to do, I’d gone into the port to locate an encrypted line so I could call Darren instead. And that was where I’d run into Simon…
“Simon,” I cursed, my voice cracking, as my throat was completely dry. I was heading for his ship to make the call, and that was all I could remember.
Something moved beside me and I jumped. But then I heard a soft groan from across the room, and I realized the small hold I was in was full of bodies.
Perfect.
It appeared as though I had gotten myself kidnapped by human traffickers.
I couldn’t quite tell because of how low the lighting was, but I guessed there were a dozen or so other people in the hold with me. The sedative they’d given me had my temples pulsating when I tried to look around, but it seemed like I was the first one awake.
Inwardly, I scolded myself. I knew better.
I’d been trained better than this. Darren was going to kick my ass if I made it out of this alive.
Normally, I was so careful in places as seedy as Port Vesta, but I’d been completely distracted by everything that I hadn’t been checking to see if I had a tail.
And I’d been so close to making it to Simon’s ship. I recalled seeing the ship name printed on the side as I’d approached the slip.
Simon.
I recounted my interaction with him.
I had the weirdest feeling that the bastard was somehow involved in this.
Why hadn’t he asked me more questions about what my call was about or why it was so urgent?
He should have been far too concerned with how he would be perceived if he allowed a stranger aboard his consul vessel, but he’d agreed to my request without a second thought.
And then I remembered that he’d apologized to me for how things had ended, and my suspicions grew that much greater.
You see, Simon Westcott never apologized.
And I’m not hyperbolizing. He prided himself on that fact and used it often as a point of argument, especially when our relationship began to sour.
“I won’t say sorry.” He’d stand firm, regardless of how wrong he’d been. “I don’t apologize.” I could hear his obstinate voice echoing through my throbbing head.
Suddenly, I heard the scuffle of footsteps outside the door before it hissed open. Brighter light poured in from the hallway. I feigned still being knocked out to avoid drawing attention to myself.
The two men who entered the hold covered their faces, likely to avoid identification, which told me they had done this before, and narrowed down potential escape plans because if they were professional traffickers, they’d probably had their fair share of attempts in the past.
They surveyed the group. One of the traffickers kicked the foot of someone across the room. “Good lot,” he grunted.
Their footsteps neared me, and I both felt and heard one of them crouch near me. I trained my breathing to be slow and steady. “Can I keep this one?” the same man said.
My stomach curdled. I knew they were talking about me.
“Naw—that’s Simon’s girl. We’re supposed to make sure she gets as far from Vesta as possible before selling her,” the second spoke.
Motherfucker, I knew he was in on it.
Despite my rage, I remained silent and prone. But I swore to myself when I got off this bloody ship, Simon’s ass was mine, and I’d take that fucker down for what he’d done.
“We’ll come back in another hour or so; they should be awake by then,” the second man instructed the first. Clearly, he was the one in charge. Might be useful later, so I filed it away.
I only relaxed slightly when I heard the snick of the door sealing behind them. I had an hour to come up with a plan.
Frantically, I searched the immediate area for anything I could use to free myself, but there were only passed-out captives, and my hands were tied so tightly to the rail that I could barely feel my fingers due to the loss of circulation.
I felt panic rising in my gut, and I took a moment to center myself and work through a breathing exercise. Now was not the time to freak out, but this was bad.
Because I’d left in such a hurry and didn’t feel safe trusting anyone on the ship, nobody knew where I was going. Hell, I didn’t even know how much time had passed while I’d been drugged.
How far away were we from Vesta?
Had Vaughn realized I was gone?
Would he even care?
I couldn’t think too deeply on that last question or it would consume my thoughts, and I had to focus on escape and survival, both of which were going to be quite challenging.
Doing a short sweep of the top corners of the room, I didn’t see any security cameras, but it was so dark there was no guarantee someone wasn’t watching.
Slowly, I repositioned myself in a way that made it appear as though I was simply moving in my sleep so that my mouth was close to the ties at my wrists.
It was unlikely I’d be able to chew through them, given the experience of the traffickers and the easily accessible polymers that wouldn’t be prone to tearing, but that was the only shot I had, other than waiting until I was being transported to the next location to make a move, which had a whole litany of its own risks.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that chewing through my bonds was off the table. The ties weren’t going anywhere, and breaking a tooth wasn’t going to help anything.
Again, I began searching around me, but without the use of my hands to check in pockets and underneath the bodies nearby, I was pretty much helpless. I hated that my best shot was simply sitting still and waiting.
I was attempting to turn the body next to me over by nudging them with my foot when I froze, thinking I’d heard something outside the door. I waited a moment and, sure enough, that was definitely some sort of commotion farther down the corridor.
First, I heard what sounded like the familiar fizzle of a plasma gun, one of the more common weapons in space because they could immobilize humans without blowing through the hull of a ship.
Next, I heard what sounded like men grunting in a physical altercation, then yelling.
And over the clamor came his voice, angrily snarling, “Where is my wife!?”
I felt the air leave my lungs in a whoosh.
Vaughn was here.
He’d come for me.
“Vaughn!” I began screeching his name over and over again. “I’m in here! Vaughn!”
The noises moved down the hall, until the door shuddered as he banged against it. “Vaughn!” I called out again.
“I’m coming, Trouble!” he yelled, just on the other side.
My heart was pounding in my chest.
He was here.
The door slid open suddenly, again bathing the dark room in light. And silhouetted against the light was Captain Damian Vaughn, my exception, my salvation.
His expression was fathomless, but the moment his eyes met mine, his shoulders sagged in relief, while his chest still heaved from the exertion of his battle to get to me, a prostrate body lying in the hallway behind him evidence of the conflict.
“Vaughn,” I cried out, a sob tearing through my chest as I tugged on my arms, showing him I couldn’t come to him.
But I didn’t need to. He raced to me, slamming down on his knees in front of me, whipping out a pocketknife to cut through the ties holding me to the rail.
The moment my hands came free, he pulled me into the tightest embrace, burying his head in my hair as I nuzzled into his chest, unable to refrain from openly weeping, knowing I was safe in his arms.
“You came for me,” I whimpered through my sobs.
“I’ll always come for you, Trouble.” He squeezed me tighter.
I’d known before Cassidy had come into my office and messed everything up that I was already too far gone with Vaughn, but I hadn’t felt like this in anyone’s hold before.
Because when he held me like he wouldn’t be able to breathe without me, I felt the same.
Being with Vaughn was like finally coming home.
“I’m all in.” I sniffled against him, craning my neck to peer up at him.
A small smile caressed his lips. “Next time, don’t get yourself kidnapped to have that revelation.”
“I knew before,” I argued.
His smile broadened. “Did you?” Vaughn seemed to be amused at the thought.
“Cap?” a familiar voice came from the doorway.
Both of us turned to regard Ethan. “Authorities aren’t far.
I’ve disabled the ship and just have this guy”—he nodded to the body on the ground outside the door—“to lock up with the others, but we’ve gotta get out of here fast if we don’t want to be detained for questioning. ”
“They’ll trace the ship,” I piped up.
Ethan gave me his signature big, toothy grin. “Not if the Radiant was equipped with an illegal cloaking device.”
I barked a laugh.
Ethan moved to grab the ankles of the body, before dragging it down the hallway and out of view.
“What about all of them?” I asked, looking around at the captives who were still knocked out.
“Best to leave them as is and let the authorities sort it out.” He got to his feet before reaching down to help me. But my legs were much more unstable than I’d predicted, and when they wouldn’t cooperate, Vaughn simply swept me up into his arms.
“I can walk,” I squawked.
He drew me closer. “Not fast enough.”