Page 138 of No Longer Mine

The smirking one grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, his breath hot against my cheek. “You think the curtains match the drapes?”

My eyes stung with the pressure, but I held his gaze. I didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. Fury burned hotter than fear, and I hoped he saw every ounce of it.

He sneered, then shoved me down roughly and let go. His laugh scraped across my spine. “She’s like a wild stallion,” he said, to no one in particular. “I love breaking a new horse. Love breaking a new woman.”

Nausea curled through my gut, but I didn’t look away.

The smirking one laughed again. “I’m going to put in a bid. I want her.”

The other man seemed over it and rolled his eyes again. “You need to buy women?”

The smirk fell from his face. “No, I don’t, but I want this one.”

The other man shrugged. “I doubt you’ll get her.”

“Maybe I should take her right here.”

The man shook his head and stepped in front of me. “He said untouched.”

Before I could even process it, the smirking bastard had a gun out, aimed straight at the other man’s face. The elevator shrank around us.

“Back off,” the second man said, hands lifted. “You touch her before Sinclair does, we’re both dead.”

I had no way to fight—my wrists and ankles were still bound, my body was aching. But my head… my head was just high enough.

I twisted suddenly and slammed my forehead into the emergency stop button.

The elevator screeched to a halt with a violent jolt.

Lights blinked wildly. An alarm wailed. The smirker stumbled back, gun flailing, off-balance. The floor dipped, and the lights kept pulsing. The other man that stepped between us disarmed the smirking bastard and pistol-whipped him.

He looked me in the eyes as he hit the emergency stop button, and everything went back to normal. “I know Dimitri. I worked with him sometimes, and he’s a psychopath. He will kill every single fucker in this building with his bare hands. When he comes to find you, I will help in any way I can.”

I swallowed hard and nodded my head. “Thank you. Help me please, now, I can get out?—”

My words were cut off with the elevator opening. Sinclair stood on the other side. “What the fuck happened?”

I was out of time.

“Follow me,” The man who offered me a little bit of hope picked me up by my arms and dragged me out of the elevator. My feet burned and my body ached—my shoulders especially. The man dragged me to Sinclair’s office. The secret door hidden in the bookcase was wide open. Sinclair pointed at it. “I kept that in case of an invasion. I kept it just in case someone came after me and I needed to get out. I guess I was naive enough to think no one would ever find out about it and use it against me.”

I closed my eyes.

Another one of Sinclair’s men dragged a chair into the room. I was pushed down into it, and the bindings around my ankles were cut. I cried out as my legs were forced apart and then retied to the chair’s legs. My arms remained bound behind my back.

Sinclair looked at the two men on either side of me. “I have business to attend to. This was the last place I wanted her, but I have no other options at the moment. Three men are missing, which means we are running out of time.” Sinclair’s dark gaze leveled on me as he spoke to them. “Do not underestimate her. She’s more lethal than she looks.”

He left through the door in the wall just as I had entered a few short weeks before. The seconds that ticked by felt like hours, and the moments dragged as I thought of every possible solution. Anything that would get me out of this mess. I’d brokeninto a lot of homes. I’d stolen from a lot of people, but I never imagined I would get caught because I always knew what would happen if I did.

These people didn’t use the police, they took justice into their own hands. I always knew that if something happened like this, I would disappear. I prayed that if Dimitri didn’t find me, at least Oliver would.

“What is going on? Why is my building locked down in such a manner? Move!” A feminine voice rang through the apartment, and my blood ran cold.

“I said move!” Her voice was closer now. Was this my salvation? Whoever this woman was, would she save me?

“Oh my God,” An older blonde woman stood in the doorway. It was none other than Dimitri’s mother, Sinclair’s wife. I could see the resemblance from the same blonde roots, all the way to their icy blue gaze. “He’s done despicable things, but I think this takes the cake.”

“Ma’am, this is the woman who broke into your home a few weeks ago,” One of the men at my side said.

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