Page 107 of Wicked Rivals

As he lifted the lid, light flooded the space and blinded me.

His thick fingers dug into my hair and jerked me up.

The pain of being hauled upright by my scalp made me cry out, but then I bit it back, stuffing my cries back down my throat as he dragged me out like a dead carcass and tossed me on the ground.

Gravel stung my palms and my knees as I slid over it, those abrasions temporarily dulling my other aches and pains.

“Stand up,” he ordered.

My limbs were too cold and stiff to move quickly, despite the fiery hatred burning inside me. It took me a minute, but after swallowing a surge of bile and forcing my weight upright, I got to my feet. As I faced my attacker, my unstable body swayed.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

Luka sneered.

“Shut the fuck up. Here's what's going to happen. You’ll pretend to be a well-behaved lady and not the rabid bitch you are. You’ll walk quietly wherever I tell you to go. You won’t make a scene or do anything to draw attention.

“If you can’t follow these simple instructions, I will find your son and make him pay for his mother's inability to follow my directions.”

He bared his teeth like a feral beast each time he spat out those words. And this bastard had the nerve to call me rabid.

I had never liked him, and now I knew why.

He was crazy. My son’s teacher was insane.

Even if he wanted to follow through with his threat, he could never again get to Enzo. Not anymore. Stefano had surely found our son. He had to have. I wouldn’t accept believing anything else.

Granted, I couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure, so I did whatever he said. I walked quietly beside Luka through a well-lit underground parking structure.

That kind of location provided me with no quick escape.

The sick fuck clamped down hard on the back of my neck, steering me like a disobedient child.

The deserted area didn’t have so much as another single car on the same level.

Then he forced me into an elevator and jabbed the fourth-floor button, his sweaty right-handed grip on my neck getting stronger by the minute.

It seemed like an eternity before the elevator doors opened, but when they did, I knew exactly where he’d taken me.

My kidnapper knew the layout of Enzo’s school much better than I did, but at least I could find my way around. And I knew only one rent-a-guard manned the security office on the third floor.

I had to bide my time.

Make a break for it when the right time came.

Weasel boy steered us toward his classroom, though I didn’t have any idea what the fuck he thought he could accomplish by taking me there or even taking me at all.

When we passed the main staircase, I decided that might be my chance. The security office would be right below us.

I jabbed my elbow into his gut to break his hold on me.

He grunted and grabbed his abdomen in reflex, but then he caught my hair and threw me down on the floor.

My palms squeaked against the shiny marble as I slid over it on my stomach.

When I caught myself and got up on my knees, the mosaic design installed last summer stretched out beneath me. A feature made possible by the money I had helped raise for the school.

Fuck-face Luka laughed.

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