Page 86 of Casino King

I try and move my arms and legs, but they’re restrained.

Panic starts to set in and my heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of my chest.

I can’t move and I can’t see.

Forcing myself to calm down, I can finally hear voices speaking in another language when the blood stops pounding in my ears. The voices get louder, and closer. I think they’re speaking Chinese.

The blindfold is ripped off of me, taking a few strands of hair with it, and I hold back a whimper of pain. Everything hurts.

“She’s awake,” a man says with an Asian accent.

Staying silent, I look around and notice that I’m being held in what I think is a warehouse or an abandoned building.

The floor is cement and covered in oil and dirt stains. Dirty windows are punched out and half-covered up in black fabric that blows in the warm breeze while others are completely boarded up. There’s also a faint smell of chemicals in the air that makes me think this used to be a factory of some kind.

Four men stand before me, looking down at me like they want to eat me alive.

“I see why he’s taken such an interest in you,” one says, looking me up and down with eyes so dark, they feel like death caressing my skin.

Another one, bigger and scarier with a scar running down his jaw and cold eyes that send a chill of fear through me, grips the front of my dress and rips it down, tearing the thin fabric with ease.

“Such pretty skin,” he says, his voice as eerie as his appearance. Raising his hand, I see a dagger in it, and he runs the edge of the tip across my collarbone and down the center of my chest. My shoulders move, trying to get out of his reach, but my efforts are futile. I’m tied to this chair and can’t move.

“We don’t touch her,” another says. “She needs to be alive for the deal to take place.”

A deal? What deal?

“Time for proof of life,” he says, holding up his phone, and the one with the scar steps behind me. He yanks my head back by my hair, and I bite back the pain and stare straight ahead, refusing to give these men anything. “Smile for your dear Alec.”

Chapter 30

Alec

Leo and I are on our way to our meeting with the Triads, and instead of shutting down my emotions like I need to do, all I can think about is Tessa.

I need her light. I need her to take the sins that stain my hands and heart and replace it with her purity before I become nothing but those sins. Before there’s nothing left in me that’s redeemable or worthy of her.

I told myself to give her a little more time, but after tonight, I fully intend on going to her and telling her her time alone is over. She’s fucking mine.

“Alec, we’re almost there, get your head on straight.”

“It is,” I snap.

“I can see you haven’t even been listening to me for the past five minutes.”

“Because you’ve been repeating yourself for the hundredth time.”

I feel Leo’s eyes on me, but I ignore him. “After this, you can do whatever you want. But we have a lot on the line here.”

“I know. It’s my city they keep coming for.”

“Exactly. So focus.”

A few minutes later, our car pulls up to the agreed upon location. Leo and I take our guns out to double check that they’re loaded and pat our concealed knives in the hidden padded lined pockets in our pants. We’re going into this knowing we may have to fight our way out.

We’re meeting at one of our shipping warehouses at the Red Hook Terminal, and we’ve had it set up with men in place since yesterday. They’re running surveillance from a few of our shipping containers that have been transformed into safe houses if ever needed.

Both Leo and I hesitated slightly when Lin Chen agreed to meet us on our territory, which is why we’ve had men in place in case they thought they could surprise us or set us up somehow if we thought we had the upper hand and got cocky because it’s our territory.

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