Page 74 of Rescuing Nathaniel

They belonged to the man who had tried to abduct her in the hospital.

Before she could open her mouth to scream, she was being backed into her apartment, the door slamming closed with a finality she didn't like one little bit.

Both men advanced on her and Ava wasn't stupid enough to think she could get away from both of them. Maybe if she could get to the kitchen she could grab a knife. That was probably her best bet.

Darting around them, she ran for the kitchen door but never made it.

Arms wrapped around her, and she was yanked backward, up against a rock-hard chest.

“Careful, she’s a tricky one, pin her arms,” hospital man ordered the other one.

Pinned as she was, she couldn’t do much of anything. She was just too small and he was too big.

Still, she couldn’t give up.

If she gave up it was already too late for her.

So she dropped all her weight, causing the man who held her to adjust his grip on her, then surged up, slamming her head back, gratified when she heard a snap and then a howl of pain.

Good.

They deserved to suffer for what they were a part of.

“Not going to work, sweetheart,” the man holding her snarled as he tightened his grip on her even as she felt something wet drop onto the top of her head.

“Time for lights out,” hospital man said with a sneer as he prepared a syringe and stepped closer.

Ava fought.

Did everything within her power to break free.

But it was no good.

The needle pierced her skin, the drug was administered, and the world faded away into nothingness.

* * *

March 8th

9:20 A.M.

What was he thinking?

How could he make such a stupid mistake?

Now that he was out of Ava’s apartment, away from her parents and that creepy older guy they apparently wanted to marry her, and sitting in his car across the street, Nathaniel was starting to realize just how stupid he’d been.

No longer did it feel like he was being swallowed alive by his insecurities. The anxiety had receded enough that he could think clearly again, and now that he could, he knew that Ava would never want to marry a man like Bentley Jones.

Not only was he significantly older than her, but he would never treat her as the strong, independent, capable woman that she was. He’d try to twist her into something else, into the woman her parents wanted her to be.

There was no way Ava would be happy with a man like Bentley. Why had he ever said to her that she should be with him? The betrayal in her eyes still haunted him. Granted, at the time he hadn't known that her parents had tried to sell her off to him when she was only seventeen, but regardless, Ava hadn't seemed interested and that was what he should have been focusing on.

Instead, he’d done the same thing her parents had.

He’d tried to decide for Ava what was best for her.

Ignored her wishes.

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