Page 17 of The Forbidden Secret

Child locks.

A flimsy screen separated me from the man, and I didn’t hesitate as I sat back in the seat and kicked it. Again. Again. It began loosening from a corner.

“Stop it!”

I didn’t listen as I kicked one last time, and the bolt holding it in place fell free. The screen jerked toward him, and I slammed my body into it, lunging for the passenger door.

“Get the hell back in here,” he said, his hand grabbing my ankle as if that would stop me.

I pulled the lock of the passenger door and then the handle as I kicked with all my might. The car veered, and I went flying through the door. I tried positioning myself to roll as I fell from the vehicle, but he had slowed the car from my kick. Just enough that I felt only the skin on my palm pull before I was up and moving. Running.

I ran as fast as I could down the street, trying to figure out the best move.

I was only a few blocks from the safe house, and if I got there, I would at least have Zeke to help me face this threat. It didn’t matter how outraged he would be. I could deal with that later.

My frantic run was halted no more than a block from the house. Someone grabbed my arm with a bruising grip and jerked me back and into a storefront with boarded-up windows and a door that looked like it had seen better days.

I panted for my breath, the run having taken everything from me.

But I wouldn’t—couldn’t—let him pull me into a random building.

I may have been a mafia princess. I may have hidden myself in my room for my entire life and avoided my family at every opportunity.

But I still joined my sisters in self-defense lessons every week.

And I knew how to get out of a situation like this.

With the momentum he had taken from me in pulling me backward, I used the man’s large arm to balance myself. I pulled his arm and used his leverage to heave me upright. It didn’t throw him off balance as much as I had hoped, but it had given me enough momentum to drive an elbow into his throat.

He coughed and stumbled back, finally losing the balance I had tried to take from him.

I kicked him in the chest and sent him back into the abandoned store.

I pulled the door closed behind me and made it only one more step before someone wrapped an arm around my waist, and I thrashed. My arms had been pinned to my sides, and I was left with nothing to do but kick at a pair of shins that seemed somehow immune to my attack.

“We’re going to get a pretty penny for finding you,” he grumbled into my ear as he kicked open the door that I had just closed.

Panic flooded me. “No!” I shouted, looking around at all the people driving on the street. All the people walking the sidewalks. “Help!”

Nobody looked my way. Not evenoneperson noticed me struggling and begging for someone to do something.

He closed the door behind him, and every ounce of hope faded. I knew people were looking for me, but how had they found me soeasily?They wouldn’t just be standing around the safe house and waiting. If nobody knew where I was, how did this happen? I should have made it out of here safely.

I wondered if this was much bigger than Zeke and Jaimie had insinuated.

“Stop,” I said as I squirmed again. The second man was on his feet as he glared toward me. I began shaking as I considered what was going to happen to me. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want to be sold into some kind of modern-day slave trade, either.

Beatrice needed me.

I wiggled with all the strength I had in my body, but it didn’t seem to do a damned thing as the man continued holding me off the floor as if I weighed nothing.

“If you don’t let me go, I will kill both of you.”

The one I had pushed into the store on his ass scoffed and lifted a hand. “You won’t have the chance, Bitch.”

I closed my eyes as I waited for that strike to land, but it didn’t.

Instead, the door behind me crashed open.

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