Page 186 of Steel Queen

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up at me. “I’m so, so sorry, Noah. You got hurt because of me. Caleb and Corey will never forgive me.”

“What are you talking about? They’d be glad you’re okay.”

Blinking hard, she swallowed hard. “How did you get here? Is no one watching us?”

“No one’s around,” I said in an urgent tone, glad she was still aware of our situation. “Let’s get out of here.”

She gave a nod. “If we take the stairs at the end of this tunnel, we can escape through a door that leads out of the house.”

“I’m glad one of us knows the way,” I said with a flare of hope. Hobbling forward, I got to work on the knots binding her.

My fingers refused to cooperate. They shook and trembled and hurt terribly when I tried to force them to move.

Those bastards stomped on my hands so hard, they nearly crushed my bones under the soles of their boots. They didn’t even spare me a bloody finger.

“You should go,” Milla said after a while. “Before they come back, just go.”

“I’m not going without you.”

“It’d take a long time to get me out of this chair,” Milla said in a desperate voice. “You’re wasting precious time. Don’t worry about me, Noah. Luke and Bill won’t hurt me yet. They need me to sign a shit ton of documents in court and they need me to look unhurt, so no one thinks I’m being forced and coerced.”

“What documents?” I asked, gazing at her.

“They want me to marry Luke and give away my shares to him,” said Milla. “They’ll make it look like I’m doing everything willingly. People will think I’m in fucking love with him or something. They’ll use the ruse to control me into handing Amhurst Co. over to them.”

She took several deep breaths before continuing. “They’re holding you hostage so I’d follow their every instruction without protest. If you’re gone, they can’t use you against me. Do you understand now? You’ve got to get away from here.”

“If they take you hostage, they’ll demand the same thing from us. If we give up our shares, they’d be able to get control of Amhurst Co. that way too. I’ve got to get us both out of this shithole.”

“Noah!” she hissed, struggling against the ropes binding her. “Just go! And no. You won’t hand over anything to them. You’ll protect our parents’ legacy. We can’t let assholes like Bill destroy what our parents built.”

“I told you a long time ago. Nothing is more precious to us than you.”

Sobs escaped her. “Please stop talking nonsense and go. Get help. Call the cops. Just stop wasting time.”

I grit my teeth against the pain and pulled out a knot. Sweat beaded my forehead from the effort. I felt faint from blood loss and exhaustion, but no matter what Milla said I wasn’t going to leave her here.

The rope loosened slightly.

Hope surged through me.

Little by little, the other knots started coming off too. Within minutes, the ropes loosened enough for Milla to squirm and wriggle, freeing herself from her bindings.

Getting off the chair, she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

A groan escaped me. My ribshurt.

Milla quickly let go of me, looking at me with concern-filled eyes. She gently laid a hand on my cheek. “I’m so sorry.” Tears splashed down her cheeks as she kept apologizing.

“I’ll be fine.”

A sob escaped her as her eyes took in the state of my face. “They hurt you so badly.” Swallowing a choke in her throat, she added, “I’ll make them pay for hurting you. I swear it, Noah.”

Warmth spread through me despite the pain burning in my body. Milla truly loved me now.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”

She gave a nod. Moving closer to me, she helped me wrap my arm around her shoulder. “Put your weight on me. Slowly...that’s it...”

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