Page 104 of Brutal Obsession

A rickety freight elevator, maybe? Everything swirls together.

This time when I attempt to move my hand, I succeed. Restraints no longer bind me. I wiggle the other hand and succeed with that one too.

Cautious and disbelieving, my trembling fingers migrate to my throat. During my last bit of awareness, a leather strap prevented me from lifting my head. Now, that’s gone too.

What’s happening?

I feel as if I’m waking up all over again, with chemically induced sensations flooding my bloodstream and spreading from limb to limb. My brain is malfunctioning, and the only feedback my body provides at the moment revolves around pain.

Without the restraints strapping me down to this torture trap, one word materializes in my hazy mind.

Escape.

I need to free myself from this nightmare. Or at least try.

Maybe the people guarding me peg me as too out of it to require binding. This might be the only chance I get.

Rolling off the stretcher hurts like hell. I land on my feet, but my weakened legs nearly buckle, and the world dips and spins in a dizzying rush.

Worst of all, my torso burns.

I force the thought away. If I live through this ordeal, I can spend all the time I want fretting about the missing piece of my rib.

For now, my focus needs to remain on surviving.

My legs wobble like spaghetti noodles, too uncoordinated to function. Thankfully, the room appears miraculously empty.

Woozy and out of focus, I stagger to the door and stumble into a wide, shadowy corridor.

Every little movement sends knives slicing through my midsection, but I push forward. One step. Two. Three.

A zillion more to go.

When my pain level ratchets up to a fifteen on a scale of one to ten, I sag against the cement wall for support. Agony steals my breath. I allow myself a few seconds to rest before swaying upright and continuing my sluggish trek. Despite the sharp stabs that accompany every movement, I don’t make a sound. The total sum of my meager energy funnels into pushing me forward.

I have no idea how to find the exit in this place, so I just keep on going. If I put one foot in front of the other, eventually I’ll?—

Sirens start screaming through the halls, echoing back until the entire corridor reverberates with their wails. I shuffle my feet faster, desperate to flee the ear-piercing din.

As I round a corner, my foot snags on a section of uneven flooring. I trip and fall to my knees, nearly blacking out when the impact jars my surgical site.

With every panting breath, white-hot agony shoots into my lungs. I squeeze my hands over my throbbing ears and force myself to weather the moment.

The De Luca soldiers are coming. If they recapture me, they’ll haul me back to Enzo to serve as his guinea pig for more horrifying experiments…or worse.

Now’s the time to dig deep if I want to quit being a victim.

This is my one shot at escape. And for all the people who care about me, who’ve risked their own lives to keep me safe, I need to make it count.

Plus, I can’t die without telling Cian I love him. He deserves that much.

Chapter 31

Cian

“Let’s move!” Darren roars, fingering the trigger of his Uzi. He sends bullets spraying behind us, straight into the first wave of De Luca foot soldiers closing in. Riley ducks right down the next hallway with Finn close behind her. He insisted on storming the facility with us this time, even with his arm. He knew the same way I know.

We can all feel it coming.

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