Chapter 29
Nausea woke Deva, followed by the sound of thunder resonating inside her skull. Disoriented, it was the coldness of concrete against her cheek that made her realize she was lying on the ground. Her body felt sluggish. When she tried to move her arms, pain reverberated through her entire being.
Strangely, the pain lifted some of the haze inside her mind, enough to open her eyes. Concrete floor, concrete wall, and a light bulb barely illuminating what seemed to be a stinking gray cube she was held in.
Just turning her head made her dizzy, but she tried to sit anyway. Memories started flooding in. The hospital, the attack, Semyon. Sasha!
Deva pushed herself into a sitting position and waited for the room to be still again. She was definitely alone. No window. Only a door. It was difficult to not succumb to fear at that point. Where was she? Where was Sasha? Deva touched her pocket to confirm that her phone was gone. No dumb villains for her it seemed.
Crawling toward the wall, she was finally able to make her legs work until she was standing again. She paused for a second before testing her equilibrium. Satisfied, Deva stumbled toward the door. Again, no surprise to find it locked. She started pounding on it with her fists.
“Hey! Anybody there? Let me out!!” Her screams echoed through her small cell, amplifying her headache. For a long while she continued pounding, more and more to keep her mind occupied and not melt into a puddle of panic and anxiety.
After a long moment, her throat raw from screaming and out of breath, she looked at the bare space around her in despair. Walking to the farthest wall from the door, she let herself slide down into a small ball to ward off the damp and cold that was slowly seeping into her bones.
No sound apart from her own breathing. And no thoughts apart what a fool she had been. And how Aleksei would be angry with her. More than angry. Thoughts of him in her mind, his memory, the very high probability that she would never see him again almost brought fresh tears to her eyes. It was impossible to deny when she was facing the greatest danger of all, if not the end of her life. She was in love with Aleksei Voronov. It was past lust or attachment. Deva had lost her heart to the Russian. The mob enforcer. The cage fighter. The sarcastic ass. The tender lover. The one she shouldn’t want at all.
Whatever might happen next, she wished he could forgive her.
Lost in her thoughts, it took her a moment to realize that noises were coming from outside her door. Scrambling to her feet, Deva braced herself for who might come in.
Semyon was the first one to appear. Followed by two other men. One of them from the Storm Wayfarers MC. A rival club she recognized immediately from the patches, and the one that her father had wanted to make an alliance with ten years ago through her marriage.
The third man she recognized from the hospital. One of the thugs who brutalized Sasha.
“Ah! I see you’ve come around Deva. Or is it, Victoria? I tend to have trouble remembering names.”
There was no way she was giving him any satisfaction by answering his question. “Where is Sasha?”
“Oh, she’s not here anymore. Personally, I would worry about my own fate, if I were you. Speaking of fate, you surely remember Damon Evans.”
Deva’s eyes returned to the man blocking the entrance to her cell. Desperately jogging her memory, trying to remember the face with the name, there was something familiar about him. The tall stature, wide shoulders, blond hair, and goatee, pale green eyes, so much like a cat. He made her think of a musketeer. A funny and very inappropriate thought that led to another. And that new one made her blink, taking her back to a long time ago. To the moment her father had announced he had traded her to a member of the Storm Wayfarers MC and showed her the picture of a young man with emerald cat-eyes.
“Ah, I see you recognized the man you stood up at the altar. Isn’t it ironic that both of you are still single? Your father and Mr. Evans, who has been named the president of his club now, are willing to renew the agreement you broke. Isn’t it wonderful? A real fairy tale, don’t you think, Deva?”
Panic seized her, her eyes traveling from Semyon to Damon, trying to decide who would be the lesser evil. There was something about Damon Evans, the way he looked at her with a stony expression that made her think twice. At least, with Damon Evans, she had a possible way out, with less physical torture and pain. Probably. And if she played her cards well, maybe even a possible escape.
Semyon was on a roll, enjoying the situation way too much. “And just to make sure you don’t flee, it has been decided that the ceremony will take place after the wedding night. Isn’t that romantic?”
The situation was so bizarre, Deva didn’t know if it was a joke or not. “You mean the rape before the ceremony. You are insane.”
“Not quite. It just seals the deal, so to speak.”
Deva looked at Semyon and then at Damon. “Here?”
“Well, again, flight risk. And Mr. Evans has agreed to this inconvenience too. So, we’ll leave you two alone.”
Semyon gave her a sickening smile before chuckling with his partner and closing the door on them.
The nightmare was turning darker and darker by the minute, with the final click of the lock sealing her destiny.
Damon Evans’s leather-clad body seemed to swallow the entire space, making it difficult for her to breathe.
Both of them remained on the opposite sides of the cell, Deva so strung up, even though it was clear she was never going to be able to flee or overpower the man. So that was it, she was going to be raped.
When Damon moved in her direction, she yelped, even though she swore she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing fear. Her only hope would be for it to be quick, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
As she took a fighting stance, Damon lifted his hands.
