Page 70 of Hidden Attraction

“Because I want to live,” she said simply. The admission made the young man’s eyes sharpen with respect. She barreled forward, risking it all by letting him know that she understood every word those men spoke when they argued about her.

“If your friends deliver me to Cypher—”

His eyes registered the name.

“—they’ll get nothing. The deal was for both of us—me and my partner. Without him, the price goes down, maybe to zero.”

He looked shaken.

She struck hard and fast like a cobra. She leaned in again.

“You help me now, I make sure you get something. Ten thousand. Maybe twenty.”

He glanced toward the door, then back at her. For a moment, her heart hovered somewhere near that lump in her throat. Then the others came in.

The room filled with more than the three men who’d kidnapped her off the street. There werefivein total.

Too many for Julian to handle even if he did find her.

A thickset man with a rifle slung over his shoulder looked at the young man and barked out an order. Alyssa caught “stay in your place”and “don’t talk to her.”

The young man retreated to the door and slipped out.

“Please,” she whispered to the leader.

He stepped toward her, footsteps heavy. Her heart pounded hard, and a sickening ball of dread swirled in her stomach, but she forced herself to meet his stare.

He glowered down at her. Five seconds passed. Then ten.

He turned for the door and left without a word.

The door slammed with an iron clang she felt reverberating in the pit of her soul. A cry of hopelessness echoed the noise, and she bowed her head, fighting tears.

She’d believed—for just a moment—that the young man was her ticket out. Now the tiny hope was snuffed out.

She rolled her neck back and stared at the stained ceiling. Her ears strained for a sound—something she recognized, anything that would tell her that Julian had found her.

But all she heard was silence.

FIFTEEN

Chase leaned into the tight bends, hunched over the scooter. Dust blew in his face, and his fists locked on the handlebars like he had his fingers wrapped around the necks of those men who’d taken Alyssa.

The damn thing wouldn’t move fast enough. The engine screamed to the breaking point, but he screamed louder. “Come on! Faster!”

As he blew past the empty stalls of the vendors who had all gone home, the city blurred past his vision. But ahead, a cart blocked half the alley.

“Fuck!” Chase whipped the scooter to the right, dodging it by inches.

The minute Dante gave him the last ping from Alyssa’s phone, he’d taken off. To hell with plans. He didn’t need it. He had to get to her. Every second she was out of his sight left a new gash carved deeper in his soul, right next to the barely healed scars slashed into him after losing his team.

Screeching around a corner, he nearly careened into another cart carrying melons. The driver swerved to avoid hitting him too, and his curse in Arabic was lost as Chase sped away.

Alyssa. Baby. I’m coming.

She was out there somewhere, lost and alone. Trapped. Maybe worse.

He jerked his mind away from the thought. He couldn’t lose her, not now. He’d just found her.

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