Page 64 of Redeem

Then, with the help of the others he dragged me to my feet.

I had no feeling in my extremities, could barely shuffle enough to move an inch, but I did as best I could, determined I would meet my destiny with something like bravery and pride.

I hadn’t done what I wanted to.

Hadn’t made amends. Knew now that doing so was impossible. But I had apologized, and somehow, had been granted the gift of loving her, and for however briefly, the gift of her love.

So I was ready to meet my fate.

I didn’t bother to pay attention to anything around me, knew I would have recognized the surroundings, abandoned, quiet, the type of place where one could work uninterrupted.

I didn’t care though.

In my head, I was back at the house, back with Dana.

A searing, excruciating pain that started in my shoulders, ran down my arms and to the tips of my fingers, back up again, painfully pulling me from that warm place in my head into the present.

A similar pain shot through my legs and feet, brought me to my knees.

I realized they had cut the zip ties, and my entire body tensed, dropped, as the blood flowed to places where it had been restricted.

“A while longer you might have lost those hands,” the driver said.

He didn’t sound too broken up about the prospect, and given my current situation, I knew the possibility of losing my hands, and other body parts, hadn’t yet passed.

Lifting my hand as slowly as I could, I twisted, trying to get the blood flowing back to my shoulder, adding in a little wiggle to my fingers when I thought the pain would crush my chest again.

I don’t know how long it took, me, there on the floor, body racked with near indescribable pain, but soon my limbs felt close to normal again, close enough that I could at least pay some attention to my surroundings.

I looked up, listened, and watched as a man approached.

I recognized him instantly.

Ioan had put me on my current path, however indirectly, but that didn’t seem like the time to mention it to him.

He looked at me scornfully, his expression veering between disgust and rage.

I understood both.

I couldn’t imagine how I would react if a man who had been as intent on killing Dana as I had been on killing his woman were in front of me.

Markov had had a grand time at Ioan’s expense, denigrating him because of the feelings he’d developed for the woman he’d saved. I’d not joined in, but I hadn’t understood it either. He’d risked life and limb for someone, for a stranger. It hadn’t made sense to me then, but it did now.

“You’re alive,” Ioan said.

“I am. That surprises you?” I replied.

He shook his head. “No. But others thought you were dead. I heard Markov shot you,” he said.

“He did. But I made it,” I said.

“Why?” he asked.

Instantly, an image of Dana filled my gaze. “I had something I needed to do,” I said.

He didn’t say anything, but instead stared at me, assessing.

“You landed on your feet,” I said.

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