Page 131 of Ruthless Protector

I'd never wanted to look into his eyes as his light faded away.

But I did for this man. I wanted that light gone…that flame that flickered behind those pitch black eyes snuffed out until there was nothing but the flesh behind. Then I wanted to take a sledgehammer to the bastard. I wanted to smash and pound until there was no trace of the man left. I wanted him ugly and misshapen…so she never wanted him ever again.

I turned away and strode toward the door, desperately holding back the need to run and keep on running. Logan’s deep growl echoed behind me, saying words I didn’t catch. I was already gone, my body canting forward, desperate to gain inch by inch away from that fuckingevil.

“Laz,” Freddy called behind me.

I barely registered the hand on my arm, barely feltanythingat all as he stopped me.

“Laz, I’m sorry.” There was desperation in his eyes, pain that scrunched the corners. I looked at him and, for the first time…I didn’t know who he was. But I knew in an instant the fault didn’t lie with him.It was me.

I didn’t know whoIwas.

No words came to me as Freddy’s chest rose hard and fell. He licked his lips. “Laz…”

“It’s okay, Freddy,” I said, and stepped away.

I walked, and kept on walking, striding out of the foyer and into the night.

And somewhere out there,Kat held all the fucking cards in the palm of her hand.

47

Kat

Wind sheered across the tarmac, scattering my hair as I stared at the open door of the cargo plane.

“Move.” My abductor shoved me forward with a punch to my shoulder.

I stumbled forward with my hands bound in front and cut a panicked glance around me, searching for a way out of this. But there wasn’t a way, no matter how much I wanted there to be. There was just the yawning mouth of the rumbling plane as the engines started and the blades spun.

My feet stopped moving. I turned and ran straight into the massive chest of my captor.

“No you fucking don’t,” he growled, grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me back around once more.

He pushed me, driving my body forward. To keep from stumbling, I stepped, my bare feet stinging as they slapped on the asphalt, until I climbed onto the cold steel stairs.

I winced, drew my arms together, and grasped the railing. The inside was a steel tomb, dark and cold. Terror found me as I stumbled inside, finding myself the focus as heads turned toward me.

“Sit,” my captor ordered, and pointed to a spot on the floor of the plane.

But I couldn’t move. I was frozen, staring at the row of women sitting. Women with their hands tied to a chain that ran down the middle of the plane. Women who stared at me with sadness and beaten expressions, their clothes dirty, their pain, haunting. I was just like them in that moment. No longer a name…no longer a charade. No longer a decimal point in my bank balance. I was just a barefooted woman wearing sweats and a leather jacket, bound like an animal, ready for market.

Like them.

“I said,sit.”His weight bore down on my shoulder, buckling my knees.

I crumpled, hitting the floor hard. Pain tore through my ass and into my back as my captor knelt and grasped the chain against the floor.

“Here.”

I lifted my gaze, finding a younger male with a French accent. He glanced at me, then watched as my captor clasped the lock closed and rose. There was something kind in his eyes. Something not hard like the others. My abductor rose, glanced from me to the young guy, then muttered something in French.

Something that made the younger guy flinch, his cheeks burning as he answered back in French. My captor just glared at me once more, then turned and left, making his way out of the plane and was gone.

The door closed with abang.Then the plane was moving forward with a jolt, leaving me to look at the other women, who just stared at me. “Where…where are they taking us?” I asked the nearest women.

She just scowled at me for a second. “Où est-ce qu’ils nous amènent,” she muttered. She looked behind her, then settled on me once more. “Chez nous...en France.”

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