Page 39 of The Villain's Beloved (The Villain's Duet 2)

An arm wrapped around my throat, and the eerie silence got shattered with the sound of my own screams, fear pulsating through my veins.

I grabbed at the strong arm that choked me, my nails scratching and clawing as I got dragged toward the car. “Elijah!” I cried.

“Charlotte!”

I watched as he ran toward me, and I kept fighting the man pulling me against him, thrashing and screaming. Too much was happening at once, and I struggled to focus, adrenaline throbbing inside my head.

The man tightened his hold around me, and he yelled something in Italian. I didn’t care what he was saying; all I cared about was breaking free.

I scratched harder. Clawed deeper, but he didn’t let go. Desperate to get away, I lifted my foot and kicked down, aiming for his leg, his foot, anything just to hurt him so he’d let me go.

By the way he cursed, his arm loosening just a little, I knew I got him somewhere, and I jerked out of his hold, my feet ready to run. But Elijah’s screams cut through my chest, every muscle in my body instantly frozen.

“Charlotte, stop!”

I stilled, my spine ice and the back of my neck cold. The man grabbed my arm and yanked me back, pressing the cold muzzle of his gun against my temple. I shuddered as fear clamped down on my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs.

Women screamed, men cursed, and children cried around us as people scattered. It was chaos, the air rancid with panic.

Elijah had stopped, holding his hands in the air, and I closed my eyes, biting my tongue as the threat loomed behind me.

“Don’t hurt her,” Elijah pleaded. “Put the gun down.”

“You get in the fucking car first.”

I suppressed a sob, tears slipping down my face.

“I’ll do whatever the fuck you want, man. Just don’t hurt her.”

“Hurry the fuck up! Get in the car before I kill both of you right here.”

I opened my eyes and watched as Elijah kept his hands in the air, slowly walking toward the black SUV. “If you hurt her, I swear to God—”

“Shut the fuck up!” The man pressed the muzzle harder against my head, and I shut my eyes, holding my breath as a whimper rippled from my throat. “Get in the motherfucking car!”

“Okay, just let her go.” There was a tremor in Elijah’s voice—something I had never heard before. The sound of fear laced around his words, and it instilled a kind of terror inside me that I had never experienced before.

“Elijah,” I whispered, keeping my eyes closed as panic gnawed at my bones with every pounding heartbeat.

The man tightened his hold on my arm. “On second thought, I think she’ll join us.”

“No!” Elijah yelled…and then everything went black.

14

I knewwhat fear felt like. I spent most of my childhood living in fear, constantly feeling the terror of sheer panic. Feeling your muscles tighten and your stomach turn while you struggled to breathe wasn’t a new experience for me. But this…this was beyond fear. It was like the dread of hell had been ignited in my veins, horror boiling in my blood as the devil himself held a knife to my throat.

They had pulled a bag over my head, but not before I witnessed the bastard hit Charlotte over the head, knocking her unconscious. I lost my shit in the back of that fucking car, wanting to tear their motherfucking hearts out without seeing a goddamn thing. Even after they stuck a needle in my arm, I still fought and cursed them to hell, wanting their blood to stain my hands…until there was nothing.

Next thing I knew, I woke up, tied to a goddamn chair in total darkness with a rope tied through my mouth. It smelled like sewer and rotting flesh, the air damp and humid.

I couldn’t see a thing, and I tried to call her, tried to say her name, but the damn rope made it sound like nothing but the desperate groans of a man ready to slaughter an entire fucking village to get to the woman he loved.

I pulled at my wrists and felt the plastic cable ties cut my skin. But I didn’t feel the pain. I didn’t care if I had to saw my own fucking hands off. All I cared about was making sure Charlotte was okay, that these fuckers didn’t hurt her more than they already had.

The light flicked on, and it blinded me, causing me to shut my eyes. The rope was pulled from my mouth, the harsh fibers cutting my lip.

“Where is she?” I demanded, my voice echoing in the darkness while I still struggled against the bounds around my wrist. “What did you do to her?”

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