Page 7 of Brutal Knight

And she was barely a woman at the time. She was barely fucking eighteen.

Still, all of Willow’s pain couldn’t cover the fact that she screwed over my brothers. My family. Dmitri made her give Rose a necklace with a recording device hidden inside it. He listened in on Rose and Aiden, then swooped in to try to destroy their lives.

I know it wasn’t Willow’s fault, but there’s still a seed of disappointment in me when I think about it. Some part of me wants to believe she’d never do that kind of thing willingly. Another part knows that her life has been a living hell since she married Dmitri.

But it doesn’t matter. Dmitri is dead, Willow is gone, and I’m left scrambling to try to fix things.

I’m in the middle of pivoting to punch Finn again when my phone rings. I pause, just a second of hesitation, and Finn immediately drops his guard.

I don’t want to stop fighting, but he’s already walking away, wiping at his brow. I run a hand through my hair and glance at my phone.

Fine. I can’t find the answers this way.

I answer the call, looking out the glass wall bordering one side of the room. “This is Connor.”

“We have a sighting,” someone says, out of breath.

I recognize the voice as belonging to one of our men, and my shoulders tense. “Where?”

“She wasn’t alone,” the man says, panting between words. It sounds like he’s running. “Some guy was with her. Stuck her in a car.”

“I get it, but where?”

“Downtown.”

“All right. I’m headed over there. Don’t fucking lose him.”

“Hey. That man? Looked a lot like Victor Belkin.”

Shit.

The name makes my chest tight. It’s an odd mix of anger and panic, but I can’t focus on it right now.

“Fuck,” I mutter. I shove my phone into my pocket. Finn is waiting, watching, his gaze dark.

“So?”

“Get ready. I’ll explain later.”

Finn nods. He doesn’t argue. He just follows me, grabbing weapons and preparing. The relief I feel at having him by my side is immense. I’m not sure I deserve his trust or the way he drops everything and goes along with me.

Still, I know where Willow is, and I can’t let her disappear. Which means I need backup.

CHAPTER3

Willow

I recognize the feeling of too many drugs in my system when I start to wake, and I don’t like it.

The combination is dizzying. The Demerol is still there, bitter on the edges of my mouth. Its high hasn’t completely worn off. The world feels fuzzy. My head still hurts from something else, too—whatever I was drugged with. The two drugs don’t mix well.

I blink, but the world doesn’t make sense to me yet. It’s just a blur of masses, information not making it through. I remember reading once about how opiates dull signals that try to make their way between your brain and body, making it hard to move or think.

Part of me doesn’t want to come back to my senses. I recognize how bad this is, how close I probably am to imminent danger. I don’t know if being drugged or asleep will help my situation, but I know it’ll help me. I don’t want to feel whatever is coming next. I don’t want to live through it.

I know the only things that could be happening to me. I knew the risks when I left Connor. I took the chance anyway.

I couldn’t stand being in a cage, forced to suffer the same cycle again.

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