The rocking under me stopped, and the door slammed. A headache, like a size thirteen boot, kicked my head sharply as I attempted to sit up. I swayed as sickness pressed up my gullet. The door by my head opened, and I nearly fell out. Rough hands dragged me out the back and dumped me on cold gravel. I vomited onto the ground repeatedly. Fingers pulled my hair back sharply enough to make me cry out. Tears slid down my cheeks as I retched and retched, only bringing up bile for a few painful minutes.
“Done?” a voice called.
Gravel bit into my palms, and I felt dizzy as I struggled to fit the voice into my memories. Nikolai Chernov. Kirill’s brother. Fuck. It all came rushing back.
I opened my eyes blearily to near darkness, with only a couple of lights in the distance to punctuate the unrelenting black of the night. My hand throbbed, and I stared at it, blinking at the silver tape wrapped around it as crusted blood flaked off my wrist beneath.
“Where are we?” My voice was a dry croak.
“Here.” A bottle of water appeared beside my face, and I took it, swirling it around my mouth and spitting it onto the ground before it even crossed my dazed mind that it might be drugged. I let it fall to the floor.
Nikolai tutted above me. “If it was drugged, it’s a little late to care now. Wash your mouth. I don’t like the smell of vomit.”
“Too bad,” I muttered to myself.
“What was that?”
“I said deal with it. I don’t like being cut up or kidnapped at gunpoint, so I guess we’re both having a shitty day.” I finally found the strength to look up at him.
He looked as impeccable and terrifying as usual. He was wearing a black t-shirt rolled at the shoulders, displaying his full sleeves of tattoos and black jeans that hugged his long, lean legs. He grinned as he crouched next to me, his shit-kicking boots far too close to my head for comfort.
Without warning, he grabbed my hair, turned my face toward him, and bent my neck at an uncomfortable angle. “Brave little Mallory. I see why Kirill is so obsessed with you. What a firecracker! However, don’t forget one simple fact about me. When you get smart with that potty mouth”—he leaned in and pressed his forehead hard against mine—“I don’t love you like Kirill, and I won’t hesitate. Understood?”
He dropped my hair, and I rolled onto my back as my weak muscles gave out. Sprawled on my back, I stared up at the night sky. There was an abundance of stars. Way more than I’d ever seen around New York because of its light pollution. Where the hell were we?
“Understood,” I muttered, wishing I hadn’t dropped the water, seeing as my mouth felt like it had been sanded down.
“Get in the car,” Nikolai growled at me. “It smells like fucking nature out here.” He nudged me with his foot.
With a strength I wasn’t sure I could muster, I turned and heaved myself up. Upright now, I could see we were on a deserted country road. Fields rolled away from us in all directions, and in the distance, I could make out the side of a red barn and little else.
“Car. Now.” Nikolai barked.
Fear sent my feet moving. I weaved toward the car as Nikolai leaned on the hood and watched me. I went to the backseat, but he shook his head and pointed to the passenger side. As I sank down in the seat, he loomed out of the darkness at my side and made me jump. He bound my hands with a zip tie and used another to tie them both to the grab handle above the window. As soon as he let go, the sharp plastic tie cut into my skin unless I held them up. When I let the weight of my arms relax, it hurt.
Whistling a jaunty tune, Nikolai fastened my seatbelt and slammed the door hard enough to rock the entire vehicle. He rounded the car and got into the driver’s side.
That was when I realized this wasn’t the same car.“Did you steal another car?”
“It was an upgrade. It’s not easy to throw a guy like Kirill off our tracks; the man is persistent. It’s one of his more admirable qualities.” Nikolai started the car and pulled onto the dark road, accelerating so fast I squeezed my eyes closed in terror.
My hand stung, and I looked up at it, remembering him cutting me. Dread swelled in my belly. I asked the question I was sure I didn’t want to be answered. “What did you take out of my hand?”
Nikolai drummed his fingers on the wheel. “A microchip,” he answered breezily like it was customary to have in your hand.
“What kind of microchip?”
“What kind do you think Kirill would put in your hand? A tracking one, silly girl.”
I stared at the road rushing past us, horror spreading through my veins. All the times Kirill or his men had shown up wherever I was, I’d thought it a weird coincidence. What a fucking idiot.
“A tracker,” I repeated.
“Yeah. He chipped you—like a cat,” Nikolai said, with amusement in his tone. “Meow for me, Mallory.” His dark chuckle scraped along my nerves.
My stomach turned again, and I closed my eyes.
I’d preferred being passed out.