Page 97 of Hero's Heart

Jakob.

Nikola’s grip tightened on her face as he forced Sloane upright and pulled her from her bed onto her feet. Her flannel pajamas offered little protection from the feeling of Nikola as he slithered up against her from behind. His hand remained over her mouth as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pressed something metal and sharp to her ribs. He buried his face against the side of her neck and inhaled deeply.

Bile rose in her throat.Caught between a knife and a pervert.

“Time to go,” Jakob uttered.

“Let’s take a walk together,bábika.” Nikola’s tongue seemed to dance out of his mouth as if it were tasting the air near her face when he spoke. The arm around her ribs squeezed more tightly as they began a slow, awkward shuffle out the door behind Jakob with Nikola pressed up against her.

Tears burned Sloane’s eyes. How could this nightmare be happening again?

Fighting back wasn’t an option, not with a knife so close to her unborn child.

To Callum’s unborn child.Theirchild.

What would Callum want her to do? She knew without a doubt he would want her to do whatever it took to survive. To do that, she would have to stay calm and keep Nikola and Jakob appeased until she could find a way out of this hell.

Lights flickered on, and the exact opposite of Sloane’s plan to remain calm suddenly appeared in the embodiment of Joy jumping out at the bottom of the stairs, blocking Jakob’s path. Her trusty baseball bat was gripped tightly in both hands. Fury blazed in her eyes as she faced down the intruders.

“Let her go!” Joy shouted.

“You should have stayed in bed,” Jakob said, calm despite the potential threat.

“If I had known how hideous your face was, I wouldn’t have turned the light on!” she said, swinging the bat at Jakob.

He lunged forward before the blow could connect, slamming his own body into Joy and sending her crashing into the drywall. Dazed, Joy slumped against the wall but still kicked out violently at him, catching him in the knee.

“Fuck!” he screamed in pain as he limped back.

“Shouldn’t be surprised an ugly son of a bitch like you has to resort to stealing women out of their homes at night.” A toothy grin floated across Joy’s face, despite the danger.

Sloane wanted to tell her friend to stop. Not to provoke them. Joy didn’t know how bad this could get.

“Let’s see what that smile would look like without your teeth.” Jakob grabbed one of her ankles and dragged her away from the wall.He jumped on top of her. “Then we’ll see who’s ugly.”

Sloane sobbed against Nikola’s hand as Jakob began raining punches on Joy.

Joy’s hands shot up feebly in an attempt to block the violent onslaught. She kicked, clawed, scratched…but it did nothing to stop him.

“You know your smile would have made a wonderful trophy at any other time,” Jakob growled, punctuating his words with another vicious punch to her jaw. “It is such a shame.” Another blow snapped her head back. “To see it wasted on a corpse.”

The final punch echoed with a sickening crunch. Joy’s body went limp, all resistance extinguished. With a sneer of disgust, Jakob released his grip, letting her crumple to the floor like a discarded rag doll.

Sloane screamed, the sound blocked off by Nikola’s hand. She tried to dive for her friend, but his arms wouldn’t let her go.

“No, no,bábika.” Sloane stilled as she felt the knife pressed against the skin of her neck.

Her heart shattered, tears streaming as she gave one more helpless glance at her friend’s broken body, before Nikola dragged her out the door to a waiting van.

“We’re going to pay your boyfriend a visit,” Nikola whispered, his breath hot against her ear. “He owes us an apology. You are going to watch him give it to us.”

Callum? No. No.

She couldn’t lose Callum like she’d just lost Joy.

This was a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.

Chapter 34

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