Page 1 of Rescuing Nathaniel

CHAPTER1

February 29th

6:44 P.M.

Well,twenty-eight years wasn't so bad.

It could have been worse.

At least she’d made it over a quarter of a century of life before she died.

You're not dead yet.

Ava Hendricks needed the reminder.

Giving up wasn't an option. She’d give up when she was actually dead, and so far, despite the crushing pain rendering her almost paralyzed, she was still prepared to do whatever it took to find a way to live.

Shewantedto live.

So darn much.

Okay, so dying at twenty-eight wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it wasn't what she had planned for her life. There was still so much she wanted to do, so much she wanted to experience.

It wouldn't be fair to die now when she hadn't realized all her dreams or goals.

Which meant she had to pull it together. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was die while knowing she hadn't done everything within her power to save herself.

It wasn't like anybody would ever know, butshe’dknow, and for some reason, that was what she was worrying about.

Probably so she didn't have to face her much bigger problems.

Problems like she’d been snatched off the streets. Drugged and shoved in a van. Woken up chained to a bed with a doctor drawing blood. Had surgery performed on her against her will and was now missing … whatever organ it was they’d taken from her.

Something she did not want to think about too deeply right now.

That or the fact that her skin currently felt too tight and definitely way too hot, which meant she had an infection. She was sick, possibly dying already. Even if she managed to escape, it didn't mean she would survive.

At least it’s a chance.

For now, that would have to be enough.

Ignoring the sickening wave of dizziness that assaulted her the second she swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed she’d been left on, Ava pushed to her feet. The tug on the inside of her elbow reminded her that she was still hooked to an IV, and she ruthlessly tugged the needle from her arm, uncaring about the rivulets of bright red blood that ran down her pale skin.

For the first time since she’d been kidnapped, luck was finally on her side.

Usually, she was left tied to the bed, but in the middle of examining her, the doctor had gotten a call, obviously something urgent, because both he and the guard accompanying him had quickly finished up and hurried out of the room.

Leaving her free.

There was no way she couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity.

If she didn't strike now while she had a chance, another chance might never come.

While Ava wasn't entirely sure how long it had been since she’d been abducted, she knew it had to be several days at least, maybe even a week or more. From the sluggish way she stumbled away from the bed and toward the door to her room, it was definitely like a week or more. Her muscles were already starting to atrophy from lack of use, and the fact that she’d had surgery and was now no doubt fighting off an infection didn't help.

Her people would be looking for her, that was about the only thing that kept her going when the terror threatened to swamp her.

Never in her life was Ava more grateful that she had bucked against her family’s pressure and refused to allow herself to be married off to another wealthy family as part of a business deal. Instead, she’d gone with passion and studied computer programming and coding, and then managed to snag a job with the world’s most prestigious private security company.

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