Page 142 of Vengeful Guard

Don’t lose hope. Don’t. Fight. Da says to fight.

I look up at them.

“Murphy send two of you because one of you couldn’t handle a little girl?” I taunt.

Fatso clenches his fists. “I’m going to gag her again.”

They cut my zip ties, all of them, and when my muscles release, I cry out, unable to help it. They’ve been so tensed tied to this chair.

Fatso laughs. “Serves you right for being a bitch.”

Skinny stands me up.

I take the last bit of my strength, thinking of Da, thinking of Declan and Gray and Lara.

Thinking of Kael.

As I push him hard, he stumbles backward into Fatso, who gets pushed against the wall.

I sprint in between the two men and the door, and I manage to get out of their grasp.

Running as fast as I can through the warehouse, I dodge crates, my muscles aching, my vision doubling as I keep running.

They’re yelling at me as they run, but I can’t hear anything else over the rush of blood in my ears.

The double doors are wide open, and I run through them, high stepping to try and run faster, but Skinny is right on my tail.

As I make it to their car, I climb inside reaching for the door, but Skinny grabs my arm and drags me backward.

Screaming as loud as I can, I dig my nails into the leather seats, ripping them and one of my nails down to the quick.

I kick and kick and finally Skinny yelps when I hit him in the cheekbone.

Panting, I am finally able to get inside and shut the door of the car behind me, looking around for the keys.

As the door locks and unlocks without me touching, I know I’m screwed. I groan loudly as I lock the doors over and over as he tries to unlock them with the keys.

Why didn’t I let Gray teach me how to hotwire?

I’m not going to get away this way, so I scramble over the gearshift, opening the passenger side door just as Fatso grins at me through the glass.

Screaming, I change gears, flipping over into the backseat and hurting my neck.

“Jesus Christ, she’s squirrelly.” Fatso sounds almost like he admires it, and I scream again as he opens the back door and grabs me, tugging me out of the car.

He throws me over his shoulder, and I scream and kick until Skinny grabs me by the ponytail, dragging my head up so that I’ll look at him.

“If you don’t stop kicking, I’ll hogtie you and give you something to cry about.”

My throat feels full, and I don’t realize I’m crying until the tears stream down my chin to my neck.

Limp, I let them take me back in the room. I lie listlessly on the ground after they tie me up, and Fatso looks down at me.

“I think we broke her.”

I don’t look at him, just burying my face in the cool floor and sobbing.

“About fucking time,” Skinny pipes up, and then the door shuts, and I’m in pitch-black again.

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