26. Chapter 26
Rosalina
How? How could he fucking do this to me?
I went along with it. Of course I did. This was what I’d asked for, just not the way I’d imagined.
How stupid was I to think that I might ever live happily ever after?
I trusted him, and now I’d pay for it. Tears pushed against the back of my eyes, my heart uncomfortably hollow.
My life was destined to be like this. One betrayal after another.
I thought he was different… I thought he saw me. I thought… Well, I didn’t know what I thought, but certainly not this.
He purred for me and cuddled me. All for what?
To throw me in the trunk of a car and send my best friend away with some masked maniacs?
What did he want? Ransom? Leverage over our families?
Well, they were all going to be in for a treat, because if he thought I was difficult, just wait until Claudia got going.
And where was my father? I hadn’t seen him all day. Surely he’d have made it to the venue by now. He’d be looking for me any minute. He’d find me, eventually. I knew he would. But then what? I’d be right back where I started.
Music kicked on, drowning out the muffled voices from the front seat.
There was no time to dwell, I had to get out of this fucking tiny ass trunk.
With enough twisting and turning, I got my hands around in front of me, but this poor dress was never going to be the same.
The satin probably had more runs in it than Usain Bolt.
Where was my phone? It was in the pocket of my sweats when I’d been at the spa, but they’d taken those when we’d changed for the massages. With that option long gone, I couldn’t call anyone for help. No phone, but I had an idea.
Weren’t trunks supposed to have some sort of internal release lever? It had to be around here somewhere. All I had to do was find it. After contorting myself into all sorts of pretzel-like shapes, it was nowhere to be found. Maybe being a psycho kidnapper meant removing that sort of thing.
That would’ve certainly made this all a lot easier, but there was another option.
I spun around, bracing my back against the carpeted wheel well, and with both legs, kicked as hard as I could against the seats. They didn’t budge. I had to believe they’d give eventually. With the music turned up as loud as it was, I might even break through before they noticed what I was doing.
After a few tries with no luck, the music cut off, and I heard Cruz.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” the other voice asked with a bored growl.
That voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Was it one of the other guards hired at the same time as Cruz? None of this made any sense.
I kicked the seats again. If I couldn’t break through it, I could use it to get their attention.
“That. Didn’t you hear that?” Cruz sounded annoyed.
I squirmed, so my head was closer to the carpeted wall. “Hey! I need to pee. Let me out,” I shouted loudly against the divider.
“She better not piss in my new car,” the unknown voice grumbled.
“Rosa, don’t fuck around. We aren’t stopping for bathroom breaks,” Cruz called out. His words were muffled but clear enough.
“I’m not fucking around, Cruz. I’m going to pee my pants if you don’t take me to a bathroom.” My bladder was protesting a bit, but I could hold it a while longer without any issue. They didn’t need to know that, though.
The silence was taking too long. “I’m serious! I’m gonna pee all over everything back here.”
The other someone growled, and the car slowed. “There’s no rest stops for the next fifty miles.”
It felt like we were getting off the highway, on to an exit ramp or something.
The tires crunched over uneven pavement and rolled to a stop.
I considered kicking whoever opened the trunk, but that wouldn’t do me much good.
I was going to need a hefty head start and a lot of luck if I was going to make a run for it.
When the lid opened, harsh fluorescent lights blinded me for an instant.
In that moment, rough hands fished me out of the trunk and stood me on my feet.
Cruz’s dark eyes took in my disheveled state as he unlocked the cuffs around my wrists.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he wrapped his jacket around me.
“Hurry up, hellcat. The boss isn’t a patient man.”
Cocooned in his warm sandalwood and amber scent, I could almost laugh this off as a dream. Or a nightmare. Definitely more like a nightmare.
The gas station was a bright beacon in a blanket of night. Other than the lights from passing cars on the highway, there was nothing as far as the eye could see. We must be in the middle of nowhere.
I tried to get a look at the stranger in the driver’s seat, but the tint was too dark to make out any features, so I shuffled into the gas station with Cruz following behind me.
I kept my head down and ducked through the grimy door. Cruz stayed outside with a scowl plastered on his face. Clearly unhappy, but unwilling to draw any more attention by following me into the women’s bathroom.
This tiny bit of privacy was a small win, but might’ve been just enough, because when I stepped in, a nicely dressed older lady walked out of one of the stalls. Thank god. Maybe she could help me.
The woman gave me a suspicious look before heading to the sink to wash her hands.
Keeping my voice low, I approached her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but my abusive boyfriend is right outside.
I really need to get away from him. Is there any way you can help me get to the next town?
” My wild hair and rapidly growing bruise from where Lorenzo had struck me helped sell the story.
The woman’s eyes softened. “Oh, my dear. You poor thing. Is that where this is from?” She motioned to my mottled jaw.
I nodded. “There’s not much time. He won’t leave me alone here much longer.”
“Of course, darling. Can you make it out the window there, and I’ll meet you in the back with my minivan.”
There was a small window above the furthest sink that I could probably shimmy through.
“Thank you so much.” I wanted to hug the woman, but there wasn’t time. I could do that once I was free of Cruz and his so-called boss.
She gave me a warm smile and walked out of the bathroom.
Cruz peered in, and I gave him a wave while making a show of washing my hands.
As soon as the door clicked shut, I jumped onto the sink and pushed the window open.
It was going to be tight, but I hoisted myself through the dirty opening.
Cobwebs and rat shit clung to my hair as I tumbled out onto the oil-stained pavement of the back parking lot.
I heard Cruz curse from inside the bathroom just as headlights swung around the side of the building.
I rushed toward the van when the side door slid open. My eyes weren’t adjusted to the dark, so when a warm hand pulled me in, I went along with it. A sharp sting pricked my arm as my eyes came into focus, and a rancid plume of omega perfume billowed over me.
The woman from the bathroom was sitting in the front passenger seat, twisted around, staring at me with a cruel smile curling her lips. “It must be my lucky day.”
She was still holding onto my hand from when she’d pulled me inside, but right next to me, in the first row of seats, was a man waving a syringe and smiling.
The last thing I saw before everything went black was row upon row of dirty, emaciated, unconscious omegas draped over the seats behind him.
What had I gotten myself into now?
Fuck.