Page 98 of Blind Devotion
“Unconscious, most likely dead from the blood I saw.”
“No, no, no.” There wasn’t enough air in here. “I can’t go back there. I can’t live it again. I won’t.”
“Eh.” Alizé grabbed both my arms and gave me a shake. “Get out of your head, or we’re both dead. You don’t go through the effort of killing four armed men for a trafficking scheme. This is something else.”
I blew out a very shaky breath, focusing on her words.This is something else, I repeated in my head.This is something else. Every part of me was shaking as I capped the hidden knife and slipped it into my bra.
“You’re sure?”
“Nothing in life is sure, but it’s a damn good guess. Panicking will only give them an advantage. Remember everything I showed you?”
Over the last couple of weeks, Alizé and one of her guards attempted to teach me a few self-defense lessons, but I found it difficult to understand their explanations when they were mostly geared toward visual learning. I couldn’t see the movements she demonstrated, and being held by another man sent me into PTSD flashbacks, which meant the guards couldn’t replicate the positions in order for me to practice. It made learning nearly impossible. Adrien stood in a couple of times, but he had no experience with self-defense, having focused his training more on kickboxing and Muay Thai. I shook my head.
“Fine. We’ll figure it out.”
The car slowed down.
“Calm and collected, got it?”
I shifted toward one door while she scooted down the seat toward the other. The car stopped.
“Remember, just run.”
The doors opened. I tried to force my way out, thrashing, but hands grappled at me. I didn’t get a chance to do more before aneedle pricked my neck. My thoughts and limbs went numb, and then I was out.
Chapter 39
Iawokewithacrick in my neck, my arms and legs tied to a wooden armchair. The more time that went by, the more my head cleared. It was dark, pitch black actually, as if all the lights were turned off. How long had I been out? The place smelled musty, of hay left out too long, old stone walls, and animal droppings, though I couldn’t hear any sounds of livestock nearby. Some kind of small rodent scuttered in the attic. My guess, this was some sort of old, currently unused barn.
Voices from outside filtered in. I recognized a few Russian words from some of the lessons my father demanded I take when he tried to negotiate a marriage alliance with the Chicago Bratva after the contract with Adrien fell through. I had resisted as much as possible at the time. Now I was regretting not understanding more. I caught a name though—Leontyev.
I hadn’t remembered the name when Leontyev’s lackey interrupted Adrien and me outside the clinic weeks ago. Now I did. Pakhan to the New York Bratva, Rurik Leontyev wasn’t known as the forgiving type. Six years ago, he took over after his brother was killed and razed an entire organization to theground in retaliation. I’d overheard stories between my father and Renzo about the brutalities he committed and how he treated enemies. He liked to cut them into pieces and send them to family members.
A woman groaned not too far away from me. Inside the barn.
“Alizé? That you?” I whispered.
“Tessa,” she mumbled after another groan. “You did not run.”
“Neither did you.”
Metal hinges screeched, then something heavy rolled until it clanked into position. A light bulb turned on overhead. I squinted from the sudden brightness. Footsteps approached.
The blob of a man, large and dressed darkly, approached me slowly, dragging something behind him. It screeched loudly against the floor. I tried not to cringe or fidget as he stopped not far from me. He sat in the chair with a huff. The spiced, overapplied smell of his cologne tickled my nose.
“So…you are her.” His English words were barbed yet bored, as if this were the last thing he had time for. “You’ve caused quite the trouble, little girl.”
“Leave her alone,” Alizé snarled from my right, her French accent strong.
I exhaled shakily. I could do this. Like Alizé said, I had to remain calm and collected. I had to show strength and not crumble. My panic only helped them, and it changed nothing for me.
“I’ll cause more trouble dead.” I hated how that almost ended in a question with how much my voice was trembling.
“Oh, how do you figure?”
“Adrien won’t let this rest.”
He chuckled long and deep. “De Villier will do nothing. His sister will live.”
