Page 17 of Scorch

What are they going to do to me?

As we speed away, I glance out the window, the city lights blurring past.

They have to be the enemies of my fiancé. I have no idea where we’re going or what they’re doing, but I have to stay calm. I have to take in every detail so I can plan my escape.

But, he said Vera would explain?—

I have to remain calm until I talk to my sister.

Even as we drive away, my mind races with thoughts of escape and the fear of what these men might do to me.

I’ve never seen these men before. I quickly assess the situation. It’s three strong men against me, alone, and none of them look easy to get away from. The big guy, the one who carried me to this car, with the scar across one cheek, has a look in his eyes that tells me he’s no stranger to violence. I shiver.

The tall one with black hair and those blue, blue eyes is the one driving, the younger one in the passenger seat. He looks over his shoulder at the man beside me. “I don’t trust her. She’s unpredictable.”

I gawk. “I’m not going to do anything,” I lie because I was absolutely planning on getting the hell out of here as soon as the car slowed down. But my words are already slurred, and my limbs feel as if they’re weirdly detached from my body. Panic rises as I realize I’ve been drugged. My vision blurs, and a heavy numbness seeps into my muscles, making it impossible to move. The interior of the car spins, and I struggle to keep my eyes open, my mind racing with thoughts of escape that now seem hopelessly out of reach.

They drive in silence, the speed terrifying me. My head lolls. I fight to stay awake, to keep my eyes open.

“Who are you?” My voice trembles, the words barely coherent. I will it to stop. I want to stay in charge of myself and my emotions. I don’t want to be a helpless, overpowered female. “Where is Timur?”

“Good fucking question,” the driver growls. “I’d like to know that myself.”

The driver and the man next to me look at each other in the rearview mirror.

“We are friends of your sister, Vera,” one finally says. “Call her.”

Vera.

When the men don’t respond, I realize he’s talking to me.

“I don’t have my phone.”

“Shit. You lost your bag in the crash?”

I look around me wildly as if it’s somehow going to spawn into the interior of the car. Of course I don’t have my bag.

“Yes.” I don’t tell them Timur threw my cell phone away before they came. It feels foolish to give them more ammunition against him when they already tried to kill him. The world goes in and out of consciousness as if someone’s shutting the lights on and off.

It’s warm in here, a stark contrast to the cold fear that had gripped me earlier. The man who captured me holds me against him with a tenderness that defies his rugged exterior, an unexpected gentleness that catches me off guard. I tell myself to be wary. No one is here to protect me.

My head rests on his shoulder, and instinctively, he wraps a protective arm around me, cocooning me in his embrace. I blink against impending sleep, but the warmth is soothing, a balm to my frayed nerves. I can’t think beyond the threat of sleep lulling me into a reluctant surrender.

I can’t… think.

Yet one word surfaces, intense and surprising in its clarity: safe.

CHAPTER FIVE

Viktor

I’ve got her. She’s with me. I feel like I’m dreaming.

Lydia Ivanova is asleep in my arms.

“I’m going to beat the fucking shit out of you once I’ve got her safe,” I tell Lev. I can’t believe the asshole had the nerve to drug her against my wishes. I haven’t raised my hand to Lev since he was a dumbass teen who thought he was invincible, and I saved his ass from a rival gang he thought he could take. That was years ago.

Lev swallows. “I know.”

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