“Just a moment!” he shouts. Just as I close the closet door, the front opens, and heavy footsteps enter the room.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ana
Ifeel the heat rise to my face as none other than Tahar steps into the room, the guard I pissed off earlier behind him. My eyes dart to the closet and I send up a silent prayer that Ax and Ethan aren’t discovered.
“Why hello!” Emilio bolsters. “What brings you here this fine morning?”
“Not such a fine morning,” Tahar comments, his eyes looking from me to Omer who is still at my feet. I feel the boy move closer to me and feel a wash of protectiveness come over me.
“Oh? Well, perhaps—”
“One of my men is missing,” Tahar interrupts. “And a prisoner has been freed. Not escaped, freed. Yet somehow, I am being told issues with my men doing as I bid and search for them. Doesn’t sound like a good use of my time, now does it?”
Emilio bows his head.
“My apologies, Penny does not always know—”
“Do not make apologies for your woman, it makes you look weak. No, it is the boy I am here for. Obstructing The Watch in its duties is a punishable offense. I’m here to take the boy under arrest and I trust there will be no issues.”
Omer’s grip tightens on my leg and I put a hand down on his head.
“The boy did nothing wrong,” I interject before Emilio can respond. “It was your man who—”
A large hand comes over my mouth and I struggle against it.
“My apologies again,” Emilio says as he nods at the man holding me. “Take her somewhere to calm down, please.”
My eyes widen and I struggle harder, but the arms around me are too tight. I try to bite down but whichever of Emilio’s men is holding me obviously knows how to keep his hands from my teeth.
As I’m pulled into the other room, I catch one last sight of Omer being pulled out the front door of the house. Emilio stands with Tahar, though I can’t hear what is being said. Sammi sits on the couch silently, watching it all happen with big eyes.
I scream against the hand and try to kick him, anything to help Omer. I dart my eyes to the pantry, willing Ax to come out and kill this Tahar fucker right now, but of course, the door stays closed.
My head swims for a moment and I hear a shout that sounds like it's through a tunnel. I see the bowl of porridge on the ground that Omar was eating, the spoon spinning around and around. My vision goes spotty for a second before everything goes black.
∞∞∞
“Ana!” A frantic voice pulls me back from the darkness though it takes me a moment to place it.
“Ax,” I manage to say with a hoarse voice, reaching up to his face as my vision clears. “What happened?”
“Don’t fucking do that to me,” he growls, pulling me close to his chest.
“What happened?” I repeat.
“The Watch took Omer,” he tells me after a moment, looking down at me with a worried expression. “You must have blacked out. Fuck, woman! You scared the fuck out of me.”
My vision clears and I look into his deep green eyes, so filled with love. I don’t fail to notice his one hand resting on my belly and feel the corner of my mouth twitch.
“I’m fine, help me up.”
Once I’m upright I find I’m in a fancy room, I assume one of those at Emilio’s. A glass of water is placed into my hand and Ax kisses my forehead.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
I drink the water greedily before replying. “Yes, well, no. I feel fine.”