Page 4 of Beautifully Reckless

My chest rises and falls rapidly as my emotions spill over, falling from my eyes in the form of tears.

“I fucking hate you!” I scream, and he snickers before lurching forward.

A squealflies from me as I spin, making a run for it, but I only make it a few steps before his hand fists in my hair and jerks me back hard.

I flail, scream, hoping someone from the club will hear and come and save me.

Donny spins me to face him, his hand like a brick as it slaps hard across my cheek.

I see stars before my left eye with black rimming my vision as I try to fight back, slapping and scratching while I scream.

Donny curses, and I can tell by the way he’s trying to get control of my hands that he’s working to avoid really hurting me.

Because let’s be honest, if he really wanted to, he’d smash his fist into my face and knock me out, just like he’s done three other times before. So the fact he hasn’t done that means he doesn’t want to hurt me.

Well, he doesn’t want to hurt my baby, which means he has to be careful with me.

My nails claw at his face as he tries to grab my wrists, before I lean in and latch my teeth onto his arm.

“Ahhh! Fuck!” He lurches back, giving me more room, and I don’t think. I react.

My knee slams between his legs, and he drops, a strangled gasp wheezing from him, as I bolt for the back door.

Yelling echoes down the passage, heavy footsteps pounding the floors as what sounds like a herd of men get closer.

Not waiting another second, I bolt for the old rusty door, my hands outstretched ready to shove it open.

The moment my palms hit the door, it bursts open, and relief washes over me as the taste of freedom becomes within reach.

Stepping out into the cooler night air, it takes me a second to realise that everything is far from okay as hands grab me from both sides.

I scream, the hands tighten, practically lifting my feet off the ground as I’m carried forward towards the open door of a black SUV.

2

“Let go of me!” My scream rips through the alley, bouncing off the tall brick walls that stretch at least ten stories high, swallowed by the shadows of the city night.

“Stop struggling, love. We don’t want to hurt you.” The deep timbre of the voice is chilling. Lethal. And unfamiliar.

“No! Stop!” I scream as loud as I can, flailing, trying to wrench myself free as my frantic eyes dart from the man that just spoke, then to the other man on my right.

“We need to get you out of here to safety. Hop in.” The other voice mutters with annoyance as I land a kick to his shin.

The open door of the SUV looms closer as they drag me, dread clawing at my chest like razor-sharp talons.

No.

I can’t let them take me.

I scream “no” over and over as they get me to the open door, the one on my left shifting his hold to guide me while the one on my right maintains a death grip on my arm.

I don’t know these men. If I were to guess, I’d say they might be cops or something similar. The type that wear suits and drive cars with blacked out windows. Detectives maybe?

I don’t know what they want with me, but there’s no way I’m getting in their car.

Even as I continue to struggle, the men bark at each other to be careful of my stomach, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re more friends of Daniel’s and Donny’s fathers.

Suddenly, I’m yanked back, and the man guiding me on my left disappears from my side before the man on my right stiffens, turning us both to face someone new.

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