Page 73 of Rescuing Tobias

Every bit of pain had been more than worth it.

Trinity had done it. She’d gotten out. Which meant help was absolutely coming for all of them.

Assuming she was still alive when it came.

Isabella glanced around the otherwise empty room and knew there was every chance she wouldn't be.

After screaming at her and accurately blaming her for their missing patient, they’d hauled her to this room, bound her arms behind her back, and left her. A reprieve was all it was. They were going to search for their precious product believing Trinity couldn’t have gotten very far away, but Isabella knew differently.

The woman had spunk and determination. There was no way Trinity was going to give up until she found her way to help. So while there was a possibility that the woman was lost out there somewhere, she didn't believe it was so.

Help was coming.

All she had to do was stay alive long enough for it to arrive.

For Tobias to get there.

If he was alive, he’d come for her, and she could not under any circumstances allow herself to believe that he’d been killed when she’d been abducted this second time.

Since it was dark and there were no windows in the tiny room, the space was more storage room than anything else, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. While she knew thatfinding their escaped product had been the guards’ first priority, her reprieve wasn't going to last forever. There would be nothing she could do to stop their assault from coming, and no way to protect herself from it.

Not only was she bound, but she was weak as well. She hadn't eaten anything since she’d been taken there, she had a concussion, she’d drunk water, but it wasn't enough to really keep her hydrated, especially not after she’d thrown up. Weak and exhausted, she’d be helpless against the guards.

Almost as if her fear had conjured them into existence, the door to the small storage space she’d been locked in was slammed open. It banged into the wall, and that seemed like a foreshadowing of what was to come.

How many times would those same hands that had flung open the door curl into fists and strike her?

Despite the terror coursing through her body, Isabella forced herself to stay strong. It had to have been hours since Trinity escaped, which meant that right at this very moment Tobias could be preparing to attack the building. Now wasn't the time to fall apart. It was the time to dig deep and find whatever strength she had left.

The single light bulb in the ceiling was switched on, and she had no choice but to squint against the sudden brightness. The light aggravated her headache, but thankfully, it wasn't as bad as those first few times she’d regained consciousness. Her concussion symptoms were lessening, but she was about to get a whole bunch of new injuries.

Still, she stared defiantly at the guards. There was no way she was going to let on just how scared she really was. Wasn't any of their business, and besides, her fear didn't serve any purpose.

Survive.

Pray.

That was what she had to do.

That and hope that rescue was coming for her and her unborn baby.

“You should have known better than to take me again,” she told the three big men hovering in the doorway. “Didn't your boss tell you that I was more trouble than I was worth? That I spent the whole seven months they had me trying to find ways to escape? Did you think things would be any different this time around? That I'd just willingly help you torture and kill innocent people?”

“Insolence can be beaten out of you,” the man who had opened the door informed her as he took a step into the room. The other two followed, and between their three large frames and her much smaller one the cramped space seemed to be completely filled.

“Didn't work last time. You should have left me alone.”

“If you weren't pregnant, you would have been left alone,” the guard told her.

That shocked her into silence.

It shouldn’t have. After all, they’d known she was pregnant right away, but somehow, she thought they’d figured that out after they’d already taken her, maybe run tests on her before taking her there. She hadn't realized that it was thereasonshe was taken.

Ironic really.

Her baby was her reason for going on, for facing her demons, for not allowing them to rule her and doing her best to move forward with her life. But it was also the reason she’d been targeted a second time and was there right now.

“That day you were almost run over, you were supposed to die. But you jumped out of the way, were taken to the hospital, one of our hospitals, where we have a contact, and we found out you were pregnant. That changed things. It made you valuable.Babies aren't easy to come by and are a lot riskier to kidnap than an adult walking alone.”

---