Page 7 of Saved by Him

Four

I was screamingwhen I jerked out of my nightmare, my throat straining, burning. My lungs were on fire, screaming for oxygen, but my ribs protested every movement, racking my entire body with pain. Choking, gasping, I tasted blood in the back of my throat, and I remembered the last time I’d felt like this, unable to breathe, my mouth filled with my own blood.

“Shut up!”

I sucked in another breath and gagged, coughed. I wasn’t yelling anymore, but I wasn’t exactly quiet either. It was hard to be quiet when I felt like I was coughing up a lung.

“Shut up!”

Suddenly, I was off the floor and being slammed into the wall. The little bit of air I’d managed to get rushed out, leaving me gaping like a fish and wondering if I was going to pass out. Serge put his face right in front of mine, his eyes icy.

“I told you that if you behaved, we would not need to talk again.” His voice had dropped from shouting to something flat and much, much scarier.

He was going to hurt me again, and this time, it wouldn’t end with me in pain, but I’d be broken. Probably dead. I didn’t want to be dead. I needed to convince him that I would be quiet.

But I didn’twantto be quiet. If he was going to kill me, then I sure as hell would go down fighting. I hit out with my bound hands, catching him on the chin. His head snapped back, then slowly came down, his expression stony.

“Let me go!” I twisted, trying to get free, trying to kick him. All reason had fled. I wasn’t thinking like an FBI trainee, methodically trying to break free. I was scrambling, desperate.

I didn’t want to die. Not now. Not like this.

I hadn’t survived my father to die like this.

“Stop.”

He shook me, and my head bounced off the wall. Pain shot through my skull and sent stars flashing in front of my eyes.

Serge shouted something over his shoulder, seeming oblivious to my feet bouncing off his massive thighs. I wondered if he felt anything at all. Pain. Excitement. My nightmare came back, and I knew I’d prefer violence to excitement.

“The first time was a lesson,” Serge said. “But my employers will be upset if you are marked up.”

Oh shit.

That didn’t sound good.

Shit.Shit.

“Why not?” I asked. “Why will they be upset?”

I was still trying to squirm, but I was rapidly losing strength. A sandwich and a couple hours of sleep were no match for what I’d been through. I’d thought I could handle it because I’d spent nearly three months at Quantico. What a joke.

I was a joke, thinking I could do something.

The scrawny guy came running in, carrying something in his hand. I couldn’t see what it was, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it.

Serge dropped me to the floor, then crouched down next to me. “I had hoped you would be a smart one, learn from your introduction that it would be better to let things happen.” He shook his head and held out his hand to the other guy. “But since you decided to be problematic, I must now do something I don’t want to do.”

My eyes widened. He’d had no problem beating me. How bad did it have to be if he didn’t want to do it?

I cursed as something sharp pierced my arm. I looked down even though I knew what I’d see. A syringe sticking out of my arm.

“What the fuck?!” I tried to jerk my arm away, but I knew it was too late. Whatever had been in the syringe was now in my bloodstream.

Wonderful.

* * *

The ceiling was swirling.

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