“I don't know!” I tell him, my head turning to the windows. I see a massive warehouse, piles of rock and dirt. At first, I think I'm at a quarry when I notice a huge caged conveyor belt out of the corner of my and suddenly the darkness turns blinding, I turn my head to peer out the front windshield.

“We went inside some warehouse and then a tunnel,” I tell him. I feel Andrei's confusion. He falls silent for a second. “Wait!” A light flickers ahead, and the van comes to a stop inside the tunnel. The door is flung open, and I am pulled from the van. I desperately try to take in my scenery. We appear to be underground, metal netting clings to the rocks and concrete of the walls, dirt under my feet and a train track runs directly underneath the van when I am pulled toward an elevator.

“I'm in the old mine shafts at the base of the mountains!” I tell him.

“I'm on my way!” Andrei tells me.

“No! Get the others first,” I mindlink.

“I'm not leaving you in their hands!”

“Yes you are! This isn't some meeting spot or hideout,” I tell him as I am pulled into an elevator. “This is their base, Andrei. You'll need the others.”

“But Sage, Satish is…”

“Wait for the others! I'll be fine, Love.”

“I can be there in an hour, and I'm not alone. You won't believe who found me!” Andrei replies, and I fight the urge to shake my head.

“Wait for the others,” I tell him when the elevator doors open to a vast, bright open space. My eyes instantly lock onto Satish who is walking around a figure strapped to a chair. My heart sinks. It’s Temperance.. He lifts his head in my direction, as does a woman who stands beside him; someone I do not recognize. Our eyes meet and he smiles.

“This is the base, Andrei!” I tell him, my eyes peering around to see multiple levels as I am dragged down the stairs closer to the man responsible for taking my grandchildren. “You need to wait, you will be outnumbered,” I tell him, taking in the hundreds of faces wandering around down here.

My eyes instantly find Lucas, who is in a cage, and I open the mindlink to him. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, but Vince took Casey!” he tells me. I gulp, peering around for her but I don’t see her.

“They haven't hurt you, have they?” I ask, and I see him shake his head.

“Grandma?”

I look at him. “The moment you get a chance, you are to grab Casey and portal out of here,” I tell him.

“I can't leave you!” Lucas tells me.

“You will, the first chance you get! Do you hear me?!” I mindlink him. He looks uncertain but eventually nods.

“Sage?!” Andrei shoves through the mindlink.

I'm hauled off when Satish orders his men to cuff me in a chair. They do as he says as I take in my surroundings some more before they’re obscured by Satish, who grips my face and forces me to meet his gaze.

“Well, don't you still look stunning!” he laughs, leaning in, I fight back the urge to cringe when he licks the side of my face. Andrei goes ballistic in my head, and I can feel Donnie losing control.

“You look so much like your mother,” he taunts, yet his words don't earn him the desired effect he was hoping for. He stands looking down at me, yet I meet his gaze unflinching.

“You still look like the same piece of trash you always were!” The words leave my mouth without so much as a stutter. He tilts his head to the side for a second, watching me, before he backhands me. Blood fills my mouth, and Andrei forces his way back into my head, feeling it.

“Sage!?”

“I'm fine, Andrei. Get Katya and the others,” I tell him.

“Well, haven't you grown bold?!” Satish sneers.

“You're just a man, Satish. Not the monster in my nightmares anymore,” I tell him as I stare him down.

ChapterNinety-Seven

Andrei