Page 104 of Beautiful Forever
Practically skipping to the door, Serena says, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Don’t expect a rescue from your new friends. They’re all dead.” She makes a finger gun, holds it to her head, and pretends to fire. “I do feel a teensy bit bad about the baby. Oh, well. Such is life.”
No.No.
Horror congeals my blood, literally stopping my heart from beating. “What the fuck did you do?”
She fiddles with the diamond choker around her neck, then smooths down her hair. “And I wouldn’t count on Drako Petrov helping either. Car bombs are a lovely thing. Nice chat! We’ll catch up more later. Toodles!” She blows me a kiss and sends me a jovial finger wave goodbye.
“Serena!Serena! Stop!” Panic imbues me with a strength I didn’t know I had left.
Struggling to get free, I inadvertently topple the chair over. The side of my head smashes against the unforgiving floor, and an explosion of stars fills my vision. Worse, I can’t breathe as I lay helpless, my arm wedged between the chair and the floor, pressing uncomfortably on my broken ribs.
The rage swiftly dissipates and welcomes the despair to take over. Fénix’s life was cut short because of me. The woman I love with every fiber of my being lost the child she loves with every fiber of hers because of me. Tristan died because of me. Drako. Hendrix. Constantine. Syn will be next. Dierdre and Pyotr. Viktor won’t stop until he takes everyone I care about.
I’m so sorry.
I’m so fucking sorry.
I lie on the dirty concrete, drowning in remorse and pain.
Get the fuck up, Aleks. You can still save Syn.
Aleksei’s voice is the catalyst I need.
Save Syn.
I let my mind go to the place where I don’t feel any pain. The place Nikolai taught me to find. “Never show weakness,” he would say as he beat me. “Never let them break you.”
Shifting my weight, the zip ties bite deep into my wrists, but I feel some give in the duct tape, the sticky adhesive slick with sweat and blood. If there was something with a sharp edge I could get to. I test that idea by wriggling around, hoping to use the friction of the chair against the floor to try and saw through my bindings, but all I manage to do is move across the room like a humanoid snail.
Think, dammit. There has to be a way.
A recollection pops into my head. What did Constantine say he did when Gabriel strung him up on chains?
Drawing in a ragged breath, I press down on my left hand, bending my thumb backward. There’s an audiblepopwhen it dislocates. Okay, that sucked, but it worked.
Using slow, incremental movements, I’m able to slip my hand out of the zip tie, and for the first time since I woke up in this fucking chair, I get my first taste of freedom. I just hope that I can pop the joint back into place just as easily.
The door scrapes open.
Going perfectly still, I hope that whoever came in doesn’t notice anything since the duct tape is still wrapped around the zip tie.
There’s a muffledthud, like a duffel bag being tossed onto the floor behind me.
“Watch the door,” one of the men says.
The other man replies in Russian. Something that sounds like, “Why do you get to go first?”
“Watch the fucking door,” the first man barks.
“Fuck you,” the second man replies in English and slams the door shut.
Facing the wall, I can’t see shit, but I’m pretty sure what’s about to happen. I just need to hold on a little longer. Get through whatever beating he’s about to bring. Wait for my opportunity. And kill the bastard.
There’s a distinctive sound of a zipper being pulled. With a chuckle, he says, “I can assure you that I’m going to enjoy this even more.”
If this asshole pisses all over me, I’m going to lose it.
A sudden grunt of pain shatters the darkness, followed by a sharp gasp, then a short, sickening crack, much like the sound a branch makes when it snaps underfoot.
