Chapter 57
Alessa
Everything fucking hurts.
My head hurts from whatever they dosed me with, my arms from being strung up over my head with my toes barely touching the ground, and the bullet wound that they roughly came in and patched up earlier.
They wore masks, so I can’t tell who they are, and they never spoke.
I repeatedly asked about Gage and Zane, but none of them would fucking answer me.
I saw the hits Gage took and felt my soul leave my body. Is he dead?
A sob escapes my throat before I can stop it. I can’t break down now. I have to believe they’re both still alive, or I won’t make it through this. I need to figure a way out.
I test the chains on my wrists, which are attached to solid chains wrapped around a steel beam.
Someone’s making sure I don’t escape, so it’s someone that knows what I’m capable of.
I go over my options. I can dislocate one of my thumbs to slip out of a cuff, but I can’t get the other one out without dislocating them both.
They’re cinched so tight they’re pinching the skin.
I look up at the chain, thinking I can pull myself up and over that beam that will get the chain to fall, hopefully giving me more options.
“Fuck,” I whisper desperately. I have no idea what to do. I hear coughing, and my head snaps to my left. “Who’s there?”
“Hey, Beautiful,” Zane answers before coughing again. He’s on the other side of a raggedy curtain. What the hell is he doing here?
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he answers, coughing again. “I think they broke my fucking ribs.”
“You got shot,” I point out dumbly. Of course, he knows that.
“I had a vest on,” he answers, and I can hear him shift and groan. “Why the fuck didn’t you?”
I close my eyes, feeling stupid as hell that we didn’t think about it. “I don’t know.”
I hear him shifting again, stopping when he starts coughing again. The cough sounds wet, like he has a punctured lung. I hear him groan in pain then the curtain is pulled back with a jerk.
He wrapped his leg around it because his arms are tied behind his back. I feel tears prick my eyes at the sight of him. His lip is split, his nose has been bleeding, and you can see the pain in his whiskey-colored eyes. “Tesoro,” the old nickname falls from my lips easily.
He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the pole.
“I didn’t think you would ever call me that again.
” He opens them, and I can see him checking me for injuries.
“They hit you,” he grits out when he sees my own bleeding lip.
He almost knocked me out from the pain of hitting me almost directly over top of my black eye.
Zane almost had a mental breakdown when he saw it when we first dropped Nina off.
The only damn reason he followed us was that Gage convinced me I needed to talk to him.
Gage would cover for us until we worked through whatever this is.
I pulled Zane into whatever shit I got myself into.
This doesn’t feel like a Viktor attack, but I don’t know what else it can be.
And why the hell would he take Zane? A fucking cop and not Gage?
The thought of Gage brings the panic rushing back.
I can’t lose him no matter what happens to me; Gage deserves a place on this earth.
I can’t stop the near hysteric laugh from coming out. “That’s the least of our problems,” I say, jerking against my chains.
Zane tests the bindings on his wrist and grimaces. “They’re tight.” He jerks against them again and starts coughing all over again.
“Please stop moving,” I beg.
He spits blood from his mouth. “I have to get us out of here,” he says, jerking harder on his wrists. I can see the muscles in his arms bulge and flex. He coughs the whole time and never stops. I know he has a punctured lung, and if he doesn’t stop, he’ll drown in his own blood.
“Zane,” I say quietly. “Zane!” I whisper shout. I don’t want to bring any attention to the fact we’re awake yet. “Tesoro,” I say desperately, and he freezes. “Please stop,” I cry because I can’t stop it now.
“They have you tied up, Beautiful,” he says, lifting sad eyes to mine. “I have to get you out.”
I smile the best I can. “We will get out.” I don’t know how true that is at this point or if we do get out if it’s going to be in a body bag.
I look up at the chains again and decide the only way out is to see how these chains are attached. I have a little wiggle room with my wrists, so I hook my hands on the chain and pull myself up.
“What are you doing?” Zane asks in a desperate tone.
“Shut up,” I grit out, pulling myself up further. Putting one hand as far as it will reach in front of the other, thanking Ryder and Dex for every grueling upper body strength training they put me through, the ones that I used to cuss them for.
Zane laughs, then coughs. “There’s the Les I know and love.”
I pause. “Don’t say that.”
“Say what? That I love you? It looks like this might be the only chance I get, Beautiful.”
“Tell me when we get out,” I grunt, moving again.
He snorts, then groans. “Fuck, that hurts.”
I get closer to the top and look at the rings holding the chains to the beam, they’re at least four inches thick and soldered together. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Zane asks, and I finally look down at him. I’m about twenty feet off the ground, and he looks tiny from up here.
“I’m not going to be able to get out of these chains or break them.”
“Get down from there then,” Zane demands, and I shake my head.
“Yes, Daddy,” I mutter.
“What did you say?” he asks darkly.
“Nothing,” I say quickly, lowering myself as slowly as possible.
I get about halfway and lose my grip, sliding down the rest of the way. I grab ahold before the chain can straighten back out so it doesn’t break my wrists.
I can feel the fire burn over my shoulder and down my arm. I know I tore something in my shoulder from grabbing the chains and jerking my body to a stop. I breathe through the pain to stop the scream.
“Fuck Les. Are you okay?”
I breathe in through my nose. “Yeah,” I answer raggedly.
“Look at me, Beautiful.” I turn my eyes to him, and I see the hopelessness in them. “I love you.”
I shake my head because he’s saying it like he knows we’ll likely die here. “Please, Zane.” To be honest, I think we will too.
“I love you,” he says more forcefully. “I love you so fucking much, Les. I hate myself for doing that to you. If we get out of here, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
I swallow the tears and guilt. “I love you too.” Finally, admitting it brings a sense of relief, and I hate myself for not saying it sooner. We’re facing the unknown, and I don’t know if we’ll ever get a chance to tell each other that again. “I always have.”
The door swings open, smacking the wall with a bang. “Well, isn’t that fucking sweet.” A man drawls from behind a white skull mask. I look to my right, where he walked in, trying to place that voice. It’s muffled with the mask, but I’ve heard it somewhere.
“Who the fuck are you?” I ask, drawing up as much bravado as I could.
“You don’t remember me? What a shame. I sure as hell remember you,” he comments, ambling closer. I listen closely as he talks and still can’t pick up from where I’ve heard him. I’ve been around too many people, and I’ve pissed off most of them.
He signals behind him, and three guys spill in wearing the same masks, heading straight toward Zane. “Can’t have you drowning in your own blood. I need you alive for the show.”
They roughly untie Zane and jerk him to his feet.
Zane moves before his feet ever find purchase, head-butting the guy in front of him, then swings a mean right hook toward the other.
The third guy punches Zane in the face, making his head snap back before they all grab him.
“Get him the fuck out of here. Make sure he doesn’t die.
” The guy, who I’m assuming is the leader barks, and they hustle Zane out, still struggling between them.
“Goddamnit! Let me go,” Zane growls, throwing his body forward and fighting their hold.
He throws an elbow back, catching the guy in the face and making him grunt.
The guy loosens his hold, and Zane swings the other way, hitting that guy with his elbow and then landing a solid boot on the last guy’s chest. He makes a beeline to me and slants his mouth over mine before they can grab him again, ignoring the blood on our faces.
His kiss fills me with butterflies just like it used to, and I pray to whoever listens to me anymore that we can share many more.
They grab him again, and he lets them this time. A fire is burning in his eyes now, and I know Zane hasn’t given up. “I love you, Beautiful.”
“I love you too, Tesoro.”
They shove Zane out of the room, and the guy that first walked in turns back to me. “You aren’t the only one with resources,” he says and reaches up and slowly pulls his mask off.
I can’t help the gasp of shock. Of all the people, I never thought it would be him.
“Jay?”