Page 141 of Sinful Promise

Now I just have to hope that I can get to Emily in time.

31

DANIL

I can barely rememberthe route the guards took me on to get me here. All I know is that they dragged me up some stairs after we left Emily behind, which means that she is likely to be in the basement of wherever the hell we are.

I need to get my hands on her. I need to feel her warm skin beneath my fingertips and to hear the sound of her laughter.

What if I never get to hear her laugh again?

The realization hits me like a ton of bricks.

This can’t be how we end.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the gun, making sure to click off the safety before I start making my way along the corridor ahead. It’s well-lit, which means there’s nowhere for me to hide should Igor decide to come and pay me another visit.

The fluorescent lights overhead are blinding, which only adds to my headache.

I can’t wait to get the fuck out of this place and pretend that tonight never happened.

By now, I only have about twenty-five minutes until my brothers are dead. All I can hope for is that Dimitri remembers the pact we made when I was a boy and understood the hidden meaning behind my words before he ended the call.

It’s the only hope Emily and I have of getting out of here alive.

I’m not sure whether this place is a house or some kind of abandoned office building, but either way, it’s damp and depressing and frighteningly quiet.

If Dimitri were here, no doubt I would hear the sound of gunfire and yelling.

Instead, all I can hear is the sound of my own breathing and my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

I need to get to Emily. Now.

I stalk quickly and quietly as I can along the deserted corridor. There is no sign of Igor’s men.

Have they all left for my apartment already? Surely, some would have stayed behind to guard both me and Emily, unless…

“No,” I breathe as I increase my pace to a run.

She can’t be dead, because I’m not sure I could survive in a world without Emily Mullens.

When I reach the end of the corridor and turn left, I come face to face with a set of iron stairs that lead down into a darkened basement.

My legs almost give out beneath me as I realize this must be where Emily is being kept. But whether she’s still alive is another matter entirely.

The thought has me sprinting down the iron stairs, not caring that the impact of my feet against the metal echoes around me. Right now, all I care about is getting to Emily.

I’m not a fool. I know Igor was never going to honor his end of the bargain by sparing Emily’s life if I offered up my brothers. Underneath his brutish exterior, he’s a very smart man, and one I would do well not to underestimate.

All I can do now is pray that I’m not too late.

“Emily?” I call out, not caring if I alert some hidden guard to my presence.

Let them come. I want nothing more than to put bullets in each and every one of their skulls for the part they’ve played in Emily’s suffering.

But I’m met with nothing but silence.

My stomach turns to lead as I hold my hand up to the door.

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