Page 40 of Strangers in Love

“Where are we going?”

He stopped, but not to answer me. He reached back and slammed the door, locking it again without letting me go. Instead of trying to get away and wasting my time when it was very clear I wouldn’t be able to do anything more than piss him off, I studied my surroundings, looking for anything that could help me when I was released.

While my focus was on getting the others ransomed, I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that these men would stop simply because they had gotten money from us. I’d help the authorities with any information I could possibly gather.

The lights overhead were buzzing and brighter than I’d realized, but I could see well enough to count the doors on both sides. Six doors. The floor was dirty tile, and the walls were painted a dingy eggshell white. That would certainly break the case wide open.

His grip tightened on my wrist, and I winced. He rattled something I couldn’t understand, laughing as he did it. And then it hit me. This time, when he started walking again, I didn’t resist.

“Where are we going?” I tried again. “Did my parents pay my ransom? Are we going to meet them?”

He laughed again but didn’t answer. When we’d passed two doors, he came to a stop again, this time jerking me around to hit the wall. All the air came out of me in a rush. I gasped, the sound harsh as I tried to get oxygen into my lungs.

Then he opened the door next to me, and I realized that he wasn’t taking me outside to get in a car or van to take me to the ransom drop. And he wasn’t taking me to where I’d filmed the ransom video either.

He was going to put me in an empty cell.

With just him.

Images flashed through my mind, memories of him shoving Dana against the wall. Of him not stopping the other man from groping Gia. Then my thoughts moved to what could have happened if I hadn’t intervened.

Or if it’d just been me and one of the guards.

“What…what are you doing?” I hated the way my voice shook, but I couldn’t stop it.

For the first time since I’d been kidnapped, I was truly afraid. Because I’d known that I’d been taken for ransom, I’d convinced myself that nothing bad would happen to me. Sure, what had happened so far wasn’tgood,butbadcould mean a lot of things, and in comparison to what would’ve happened if I’d been taken for…other reasons, a few bruises and scrapes were nothing.

But I didn’t think it’d just be bruises and scrapes if I went into that cell alone with this guard.

An icy lump settled in my stomach, and my mind scrambled for a way to do something. Anything. Anything but stand here and look like an idiot until he dragged me into that dark room and…

The pictures in my head made me want to scream, but I couldn’t do anything. Could barely breathe.

I’d learned self-defense.

I had.

I had.

Why couldn’t I remember?

Why wouldn’t my body do what I’d thought I’d trained it to do?

Then there was a bang.

Two.

My eyes went wide as I realized what they were.

Gunshots.

Someone was shooting, and judging by the look on the guard’s face, it wasn’t any of his guys.

It wasn’t the kidnappers!

“Help!” I screamed as loud as I could. Even if the person shooting wasn’t a friend, it’d be better than being raped by this guy.

“Shut. Up.” He grabbed the front of my shirt and yanked me toward him.

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