“It doesn’t matter. She’s going to die anyway. Her cooperation will be the difference between a quick death and a painful one,” the other voice says.
I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest. I can’t believe what’s happening to me.What can I say that will make them believe me?
Nothing.
The air around me is thick with terror, and I can barely breathe from the weight of it all. It feels like a million tiny needles are pricking at my skin.
My stomach lurches in protest as nausea builds up inside me.
Only a few moments later, I can feel it rushing up, bile coating my throat and threatening to expel.
I cough, dry heaving, but nothing comes out. Only tears stream down my face.
My eyes screw shut, tight against the pain tearing through my soul, wishing desperately that this was all just a dream and not reality.
These men will kill me, and it’s Gideon’s fault.
He lied.
He betrayed me.
If he’d been honest from the beginning about everything, maybe it would be different.
No.
It wouldn’t have.
The realization hits me in the stomach. Nothing would have been different. He could have told me the truth, and I still would’ve tried to escape. I’d still be here.
Nothing changes the fact that the outcome has always been the same.
I close my eyes, but the tears still stream down.
This is where I’m going to die.I’ll see Roman.
The revelation has my breathing starting to regulate.
Death is inevitable, and a new sense of clarity comes with that thought.
52
SASHA
Hours pass.I have no idea what time it is. But one thing is still the same—I’m still in a warehouse. Still being held as a prisoner.
This isn’t my first time being held somewhere I don’t want to be, but the difference in the situation is staggering.
I thought Gideon was evil, but I was always treated like a queen.
Even when I was trying to escape.
My heart lurches at the thought of him, but I push it away and try to take stock of my environment.
I’m no longer tied to a chair.
Now, I’m lying on a hard, cold floor. A memory of being untied and thrust to the floor flutters into my mind.
No food or water has been provided, and I’m parched and hungry.