I let out a harsh laugh, but it comes out more like a sob.
Orders. Orders. Orders.
Marco ordering me around.
Marco taking my phone.
Marco keeping me locked up in this building like I belong to him.
My body trembles with fury. I don’t think. I explode.
I can’t erase the events of the last twenty-four hours from my brain.
Baz, bleeding out on the concrete.
Marco, his cold eyes watching me fall apart.
My phone, gone. My freedom, gone.
Buddy’s soft whine pulls me back.
“I am not a goddamn prisoner!” I shove against the man’s chest, but it’s like pushing against a brick wall. “You can’t just keep me here!”
The other guard doesn’t move, doesn’t even react—and that only makes it worse. I scream, the sound raw, echoing through the corridor.
Footsteps. Heavy. Purposeful.
I feel him before I see him.
Marco.
He steps into the hall, his gaze locked on me like I’m something fragile about to shatter. Beside him stands another man—bald, lean, with a sharp jaw and cold, amused eyes.
I don’t care. I don’t fucking care.
I spin toward Marco, chest heaving. “You can’t do this!”
His voice is soft, coaxing. “Sasha—”
“Don’t.” I shake my head. My vision blurs. I don’t know if it’s rage or panic or the fact that every breath I take feels too thin.
I turn again, pushing at the guards, at anything keeping me here.
The walls are closing in.
I can’t leave.
I can’t call Lily.
I can’t—
The panic slams into me so fast that my knees almost buckle.
I can’t breathe.
My chest tightens, my lungs squeeze, my vision goes dark at the edges. Buddy starts barking, his body pressed against my leg.
Marco’s voice cuts through the haze. “Everyone. Out.”