Page 125 of Ruthless Secrets
I barely have time to process the words before they’re lunging for me.
Rough hands grab my arms, yanking them behind my back.
A sharp, burning pain shoots up my right shoulder as they shove me forward toward the open doorway.
My breath is ragged, and I can barely keep myself upright, but I don’t fight them as they drag me outside.
I can’t risk them changing their minds and decide to go looking through the other rooms.
I stumble forward as they drag me down the front steps of the cabin toward a waiting black SUV.
The ground is damp beneath my bare feet and the slight chill in the air has my arms breaking out with goosebumps.
“Put her in the trunk,” one of them growls, his breath hot on my skin as he pulls me against him.
My heart is hammering so violently in my chest that it feels like it’s going to tear right through my ribcage as the other man steps up to the car and opens the trunk.
They’re going to lock me in there.
The panic sets in, and I start squirming, though the arms around my body only tighten.
“Please. Marco is coming?—”
“I hope he is. Then he’ll see our little message,” the one standing idle by the trunk says, his lips pulled up into a cruel sneer.
“Please—”
Without warning, I’m shoved inside the trunk and plunged into darkness as they slam it shut.
My shoulder collides with the hard metal sides and pain flares up my arm once again, but I bite back a cry.
I don’t want to give these men the satisfaction of knowing that they hurt me.
As the car lurches forward and starts to vibrate as the tires crunch over the gravel, I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to panic.
I might never see Zoe again.
I know that I did the right thing, I saved the girls. But I’m not sure Marco would agree with my choice.
I just hope he knows that I did this to keep our daughter safe. The thought of Zoe in their hands… I can’t even bear to imagine it.
I press my forehead against the cool metal wall of thetrunk, my cheeks now wet with tears. All I can do now is hope that Marco will come for me.
But as the SUV speeds down the dark road, taking me further away from the cabin, I realize I might not be alive when he does.
Chapter Thirty
MARCO
Something is wrong.
The moment Andre and I pull up to the cabin, my blood turns cold, and a heavy weight settles in my stomach as I notice tire marks on the ground.
It seems whoever was here left in a hurry from how churned up the path is.
If that wasn’t enough to send me into a panic, I notice the broken door, and all the air leaves my lungs.
“Shit.” I throw open the door of the car and climb out, Andre following close behind.
