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Yuri didn’t give me a chance to stand. While I was still dazed, he said something in Russian, punctuating it with a laugh. Two guys grabbed my arms and dragged me along the sidewalk, down into the alley.
As soon as I could get my feet underneath me, I dug my heels in and tried to pull free from one or both. The guy on my left was the stronger of the two, so I worked on freeing my right until Ivan turned and kicked me in the center of my abdomen.
While I struggled to regain the ability to breathe, the guys started dragging me again until Yuri told them to stop. They hurled me at the side of a building like a human slingshot. I slammed into the weathered brick and slid down the wall.
Get the fuck up, Roan. Get the fuck uprightnow.
No matter how many times I yelled at myself, my body wouldn’t do what I wanted it to. My legs collapsed every time I tried to stand up and my left eye was still blurry. Nausea churned my stomach and my head was pounding. The realization I was going to die right then and there hit me hard, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about it.
Like a pack of hyenas, the four of them spread out and came at me in unison. When the strikes started coming, I tried to fend them off. Even if I managed to push one away or get in a hit of my own, the other three were right there to beat me back.
By the time I crumpled to the ground, literally laying amongst the trash that spilled out of the nearby dumpster, I couldn’t move. Every muscle was sore and my body felt like one giant bruise. All I tasted was my own blood. And fear, sharp and bitter. Both my energy and my adrenaline were gone. I alternated between waiting for death and praying Sasha would magically show up.
Yuri flipped me over onto my stomach and bent my arm up behind my back, straddling me. He said something in Russian and the three of them laughed, talking amongst themselves.
My fear renewed tenfold. Yuri’s threat to fuck my face was anot-so-distant memory. As soon as I started struggling again, Yuri shoved my elbow up at an angle elbows weren’t meant to go. Something popped in my shoulder. Hot, sickly pain flooded my entire arm and leeched into the rest of my body.
I screamed, clawing at the asphalt, trying to drag myself away to relieve the excruciating pain in my shoulder.
I was so focused on that, I didn’t realize someone ripped my jeans down until it was too late. I tried to buck Yuri off of me, but he pushed even harder on my arm, wringing another agonized yell out of me.
He grabbed a handful of hair and jerked my head back, his stinking breath wafting over me. “Don’t fight, suka. You know you’ll like it.” He laughed, a cold, vile laugh, before slamming my face into the pavement. My vision faded out again, this time in both eyes.
Without warning, something pushed inside me, cold, hard, and rough. Whatever it was felt like it was tearing right through me, an indescribable pain that surpassed the fire in my shoulder.
I refused to let myself make another sound. To make sure I didn’t, I bit my lip so hard I drew blood.
From the moment it started, I stopped praying for Sasha.
I stopped hoping for a miracle.
Instead, I prayed for death.
44
Sasha
Takingthe stairs two at a time, I raced down the hallway as fast as I could. I jammed my key in the lock and turned it, feeling no resistance. Why the fuck was it unlocked?
Bile rose in the back of my throat as I pushed the door open and glanced around.
“Roan?” I eased inside, not even bothering to close the door behind me. The apartment looked ok, like everything was exactly where I’d left it. Except Roan.
Both the bedroom and bathroom doors were open; he wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. It was always possible he had his music turned up too loud, even if I couldn’t exactly hear it.
Making my way toward the bedroom, I hoped he’d come out. I hoped he’d be laying on the bed. I hoped he was there, doing something, anything, but justthere.
A quick glance around the bedroom completely dashed that hope.
The floorboard creaked behind me, along with a whisper of soft footsteps.
I unholstered my gun and turned, the trigger already halfway depressed.
It was Bohdana. Fuck! I didn’t have time for her shit.
She looked at the gun and muttered something under her breath, as hard and unimpressed as ever. She was lucky I was too far away to hear her clearly or I might have let my finger contract all the way.
As much as I wanted to shoot the old bitch, I was more curious why she had the balls to be standinginsidemy apartment, uninvited and unwanted.
