Page 134 of His Juliet

Vicious fingers dug into my arms as I was half-lifted, half-shoved out the window. My socked feet hit the metal fire escape.

Don’t pass out.

If you pass out, you’ll fall to your death.

Maybe it’s better to die than to stay alive for what these men will do to me.

No, I couldn’t think that way. The building had security. Someone would realize I’d been takenand come after me.

With each passing flight of stairs, I silently begged someone inside to notice I was gone. My limbs were so frozen it was hard to bend them, and I stumbled more than once. My heart raced and nausea churned in my stomach. If I vomited now, I would choke on it and die.

Snot ran from my nose as I did my best to keep breathing through my strangled sobs.

I wanted Romeo.

63

JULIET

The air was damp,the ground uneven, and the sack around my head stuck to my face with every ragged inhale.

After we’d made it down the fire escape, I’d been dragged down another series of steps as the sounds of the city faded away. I had no idea where we were.

“I can’t breathe.” I tried to shout, but the duct tape silenced me. I clawed at the hood with my bound hands. “Get this off. I’m going to suffocate. Please!” I screamed the words in my head, but there were no saviors here.

I tripped on something and dropped to the ground, my hands barely breaking my fall. Tears soaked my hood and my limbs shook too hard for me to stand, even with a man shouting at me to get up.

Romeo’s going to come after me.

He loves me.

He won’t forget about me.

Rough hands pulled me to my feet, staying clamped around my arms as they pulled me through the darkness.

He’s coming for me.

He’ll save me.

But what if he couldn’t find me? I didn’t know the details of the Mafia war with the Albanians, but I knew from my conversation with Sienna that they hadn’t been able to track the Albanians’ movements through their regular surveillance channels.

We kept walking for what felt like miles. I kept my bound hands stretched out in front of me in case I fell or passed out. With every step, my limbs trembled more and I grew dizzier. A loud rumble that sounded like a train occasionally cut through the silence. Were we underground?

Everything felt strange, detached. My emotional state had gone beyond panic, my mind separating from my body until I was barely aware of my surroundings… of who I even was.

“Stop,” a deep voice commanded. The hand on my arm painfully dug into my flesh, jerking me to a standstill.

Heavy footsteps echoed around us. Where were they coming from? The new arrivals spoke in the same unknown language. Tears streamed numbly down my cheeks. Life was so fucking unfair. I’d spent the past few years barely living, and just when I’d come alive again, it was all going to end.

Someone shoved me to my knees. “Get inside.”

Inside what? Before I could struggle or fight back, I was on the ground. I screamed as strangers grabbed my arms and legs, pushing them tight to my body. Pain blossomed in my side as something hard struck my ribs, causing me to curl up to protect myself. That was the wrong move because at the sound of a zipper, fabric closed around me. They’d trapped me in some sort of duffel bag. My legs were pressed tight to my chest, constricting my breathing. A whimper slipped through my clenched teeth as I was jostled into the air. I scrambled to hold on to something, but all my fingers encountered was slippery fabric.

Where were they taking me?

What would they do to me once I was there?

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