Page 13 of Chained to You (Dark Billionaires 6)

All I could do as she spouted such nonsense was to stare at her in disbelief. My God! What the hell is this woman on about?

She straightened up then and turned on her heel. At the door, she said, “Good-bye, Mia.” Then she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her.

Alone, Sophie’s words kept echoing within my mind.

James won’t be coming to save me. I won’t be able to escape Herbert’s clutches. I’ll be tortured and sexually abused, day in and day out. I’ll just be his sex toy, his plaything, as he acts out his sexual fantasies on me.

God, I felt this was the end of the road for me, that I had no way out.

Panic seized me, threatening me and strangling my throat like devil’s claws. The emotion overwhelmed me so much that I felt like choking as tears welled in my eyes.

No. No. No. I had to do something if I didn’t want to be taken out of town before James could find me, if I didn’t want to be abused and beaten by Herbert again, if I didn’t want to be killed by him one day. If I didn’t want what Sophie had implied to come true.

Yes, I was a strong girl. I had endured so much since I was young, and I still survived. So there was no way I’d just give up and succumb to fate. This unwanted fate. I knew, come hell or high water, I needed to get myself out of here. I had to escape, whether James came for me or not.

Chapter 7

James

James had never felt anything like it before in his life, this sick and nauseating feeling churning in the pit of his stomach. Is it fear? Is it uncertainty? Or is it something entirely nameless? Fuck! He didn’t know, but hell, he felt like throwing up.

He had been receiving calls from his team, ruling out suspicious places around L.A. where Herbert could be hiding. Then suddenly, just like that… Bam! He felt a cold sweat breaking out and his head started spinning.

Fuck! What the hell is this?

He got up from his seat, which drew the attention of his brothers Scott and Eric as well as his best friend Matt.

Scott asked, “James, you all right?”

His brothers must have noticed his weird change in behavior. What the fuck happened to his in-command attitude? Hell, he didn’t know.

He shook his head as he walked to the door. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just need to use the bathroom.”

Once he shut the office door behind him, he closed his eyes and took a few slow, deep breaths.

“Mia! God, Mia, please be all right. Please be all right until I get there,” he said.

He made his way toward the bathroom, and once in, he headed over to the basin and washed his hands and face to freshen up.

Fuck, he knew he needed to get a grip.

He closed his eyes again as he splashed more water onto his face. Instantly, it came. A flash of an image that made him feel so sick at heart that it nearly brought him to his knees.

Numerous bruises branded Mia’s beautiful skin and face, not unlike those on Andy’s when the Mexican mafia had kidnapped the boy. In his mind’s eye, he saw swollen eyes and lips along with cuts scattered about her slender body.

Fuck! No. No. No. Don’t think about it. Ignore the bloody image. Just ignore it. Concentrate on finding Mia and saving her. That was more important.

You’re a fucking strong man, James. You’ve been through countless shit before and not only overcame, but conquered it as well—in style, too. So something like this shouldn’t paralyze you in this way.

He snorted. Yeah, but everything he had been through before had never involved the woman he loved, the woman he cared about and wanted to live with the rest of his life.

He sighed and softly whispered, “Mia,” caressing her name as his heart felt this crushing weight of fear and anxiety.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Calm down. Just calm down, James, he told himself. Think, just think clearly.

First, he needed to find where the bitch Sophie was and then follow her. She’d take him to that fucking bastard Herbert Weston. Wherever Herbert was, Mia was bound to be. Once he found Mia, he would get her to safety. Then everything would be fine again, and he finally would get to unleash his inner demon on the bastard who had kidnapped and hurt his beloved Mia.

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