Page 193 of Heartless
Man-Two’s huge chest inflated and deflated slowly.“We were asked to not make you suffer, but no one said anything about gagging you.”
It hit me then.
I was going to die.Oh my God.I was going to die.
My whole body started shaking, and I had to squeeze my legs together to control my bladder.Of all the ways I’d imagined dying, it never occurred to me that I’d be killed by a well-dressed man with a smooth voice.Not fair.That wasn’t fair.
I took a strangled breath to stop the tears drowning the back of my throat and touched my chest.Mom, help me.I want to be with my new family.I want to be with Jake.Please, help me, Mom.
After a deep breath, I turned to Man-Two.
“I just need to know...why...could you please tell me why I’m here?I didn’t do anything wrong.I swear, I didn’t.”
They didn’t even twitch.I swiped my tears off my cheek and turned toward Man-One.“Please, I...I deserve to know.”
A few seconds passed before he turned his shades toward me.“You—”
The ring of his cell cut through the suffocating car.He put the device to his ear, said a few ‘sis’, then ended the call with a ‘inteso.’
I held my breath while he mumbled something in Italian to the others.
The car slowed down.There it was.The end of me.
Desperate, I gripped Man-One’s arm.“Please—”
He put surprisingly gentle fingers on my mouth.“Fai silencio, Sienna.”
My name.He used my name.That had to be a good sign.Right?
We drove for what felt like forever.As the car finally came to a stop, Man-Two opened the door and reached for me.I kicked.He caught my ankles and dragged me across the back seat while mumbling something I couldn’t understand.
“No!No.Please, I—”
Pain shot in my fingertips.Two of my nails broke against the leather. Then I found myself standing on the hard bitumen of a parking lot.
“Move, Sienna.”
I scanned our surroundings.A normal parking lot.A normal looking building.No one in sight.My legs moved woodenly, and I swiped more tears off my frozen cheeks.
Man-One spoke.“He’s waiting for you.”
Relief crashed through me, and my knees buckled.An arm shot out to keep me upright while I bent at the waist, trying to catch my ever so precious breath.
“You’re okay.Just breathe,” I was encouraged.
Yes, I would be.As soon as I talked to Edo.Straightening up, I cleared my throat.“Okay.”
Man-One curled his fingers around my upper arm.Not hard, just firm enough for me to have no choice but trot beside him.Man-Two fell in step on my other side, and we headed toward the building.
By the time we reached the elevator, my legs had almost stopped shaking.
After the metal doors had opened on the seventeenth floor of the commercial building, we turned right.My view of the place was obscured by the large back of Man-One, but there were plants and paintings hanging on the walls of the hallway.
When he stopped abruptly, I threw my hands out in front of me to keep from body-slamming into him.
He pushed the door open and waited.Right, my would-be killers were chivalrous.I brushed past him and into a space where low, dark grey armchairs were placed around a glass and chrome low table.
A door slammed open on the right side of the room.
