Page 10 of Inevitable
Nick was…Nick.
He was a man who loved his country and wanted it to be a democracy.
He’d come a long way in achieving his goals of modernizing Lania, but as of now, the country was still ruled by the monarchy.
Lania was an old country that had been ruled the same way for centuries. Nick knew that change wasn’t going to happen quickly.
Apparently, he had enemies that weren’t on board with the changes that Lania was going through, and those changes would probably continue to happen even faster once Nick was king. He’d be the sole authority for Lania and not have to jump through hoops to make the current king’s advisors happy.
I knew I wasn’t in the hands of guerrilla rebels right now.
My guess was that the men who were holding me were the paid thugs of someone who was opposed to the changes in Lania and the fact that Nick would become king after his father’s death.
I’d been beaten, deprived of food, and I’d gotten very little water.
However, if they’d been Lanian rebels, I probably would have been raped, brutalized, and killed by now.
Were these men capable of killing me?
I had no doubt that they were if they were instructed to off me by someone who was powerful in the Lanian government.
All four of my captors had the cold, calculated appearance of contract killers with no real emotion or empathy.
I shivered a little and lifted my hands to rub my upper arms that were littered with goosebumps.
I was terrified of my captors, but I couldn’t let them see that fear.
Ihadto live through this.
Stop it, Emma! Get a grip. You are going to get through this.
I’d get rescued, and all of this would become a very bad memory.
I’d sleep in my own bed again in my little cottage in Cherry Cove.
God, I was exhausted, which was probably affecting my ability to keep those dark thoughts out of my head.
I’d dozed because of the drugs, but it was hard to truly sleep when I was propped up against a metal post. I was only shackled to the post by one wrist, but there was no way I was going to lie down on the filthy cement floor in this place. I’d already had a rat scamper across my leg. I wasn’t putting my face on the ground. Luckily, I’d decided to dress in jeans and a T-shirt for my outing with Nick, so none of my bare skin was touching the cement, and I wanted to keep it that way.
I’d been over and over my options for two days.
Rescuing myself was impossible.
My shackles were heavy and secure.
Even if I could get loose by some miracle, the window was too small to escape through, and the door was metal-barred from the outside. I heard that barrier slam into place every time one of my captors had closed the door.
Hoping for rescue from someone else didn’t sit well with me, but itwasmy only option.
I wasn’t used to asking for help from anyone.
However, I’d like nothing more than to see a bunch of muscular guys show up to break me out of this place right now.
I was extremely independent, but I wasn’t stupid.
Some brawny show of strength was going to be needed to overtake the goons outside these walls.
Lania’s military had improved enormously under Nick’s rule, so there was some hope that I’d get my wish.
