“What did he make you do?”
“He’ll still kill me. I’m so stupid,” she says, her voice breaking. “So stupid…”
“No, Willow. You’re not. Just tell me what you mean,” I plead. “What happened?”
“He made me come. He made me go tell them, tell the Assembly it wasn’t him. That everything I told Aiden… was a lie. And I did it. I said what he wanted.... I had to.”
“Oh, god.”
She doesn’t have to say more. Even though her words are broken and soft, I understand them well enough. I know what this means.
Aiden told me yesterday that when the O’Reillys tried to blame my dad for their father’s death, the Assembly denied them the opportunity for vengeance, saying there wasn’t enough evidence. And now Dmitri has gotten Willow to recant her story, providing cover for himself within the Assembly.
Oh god, he’ll try to use me against Aiden.
That’s why he kidnapped me. He’ll probably threaten to kill me, or worse, if Aiden and his brothers don’t stop coming after him, don’t stop trying to warn the other Assembly members about him.
The terror I feel as I process everything that’s happened chills me to the bone. It’s more than fear for myself. I’m terrified for Aiden. For the baby Dmitri hopefully doesn’t know about.
No. No, no, no. It can’t happen like this.
I can’t let Dmitri use me. I won’t. I have to try, even if it’s almost impossible. There must be a chance, some way for me to get out of here before Dmitri can start making demands. Before he can try to hurt me as a means to punish and control Aiden.
I pull at the binds holding me. They’re attached to the wall just behind my chair, and I can feel how strong they are. Nothing helps. The more I pull, the more my shoulders ache. It’s not enough to get away.
I’m captive here. Unable to get free.
Minutes keep ticking past, and with every passing second, the sick feeling in my stomach grows.
“Willow, please,” I say when I finally admit that there’s no way I’ll break the ties around my wrists. I can see her, and unless the shadows are tricking my eyes, she’s not bound as securely as I am. She’s drugged, though. I don’t know how much she can help when she’s delirious and out of her mind.
Willow sobs quietly. She’s tied to her chair, but it’s not bound to the wall the way mine is. If she tipped it over, it might break. She could get free, working her bindings off around the broken chair pieces.
“Willow,” I try again. “We can get out of here. Just try, okay? Listen to my voice. Come back.”
“This can’t be happening,” she mumbles to herself. “I tried. I tried so hard, I told Aiden—”
“Yes, yes, you did. And I’m so proud of you. But we have to get out of here.”
“He should have just ended it. Why didn’t he end it? I told him, he should have done it.”
“Willow? Listen. We can make it out. You just have to break your chair. You can help me get free, and you can help fix this. Just tilt your chair over, okay? You need to try to crack it.”
She’s not listening. She’s still speaking in broken sentences, her tangled thoughts unraveling. I can’t rely on her. The drugs and fear are too much.
I don’t know what else to do. There’s nothing around for me to reach, nothing to use against the ties. The basement—if that’s what it is—is bare concrete. It’s cold and dark. There’s only one light above me. I don’t know what else to do.
Then I hear a door shut upstairs.
My stomach turns, my heart lurching in my chest.
Dmitri.
I consider pretending to be asleep, still out cold from whatever he or his men drugged me with, but I don’t know what Dmitri will do if he thinks I’m asleep. I don’t want him hurting Willow, either. I have to watch as he comes down. I want all the information I can get. If I can see where the stairs are, maybe I’ll be able to run if I get a chance.
I can see Dmitri better after my eyes have adjusted. He comes down the stairs at the far end of the room, practically swaggering. I hope he trips.
He’s angry. Furious, maybe. He takes long strides over to Willow and then I watch as his hand cuts through the air. My eyes widen, my mouth opening—but it’s too late.
