[ARTEMY]
Avim came to stand by my side. “I searched the first floor. She isn’t there, either.”
“What?” I bellowed, my body shaking with panic, fear, and lastly rage.
“Look everywhere! She has to be here!”
I looked wildly around the living room, moving from the kitchen to the dining room. Then the bedrooms upstairs. I searched every corner of the house.
When I didn’t find her, I searched again. Frantically. Desperately. I searched again and again. She had to be here.
My Angel was nowhere to be found. Again.
I was standing in the middle on the living room, my head pounding, my chest aching. She wasn’t here, but I felt her. It was an unexplainable feeling, but as soon as I had stepped in the house, my heart had accelerated. Almost as if it knew Rebecca was here.
I felt her. My skin prickled with a strange sensation, and I closed my eyes. No, she wasn’t here. We looked everywhere, but she wasn’t here.
My heart felt heavy in my compressed chest, my lungs hurting as I breathed through the agony of failing yet again.
Rebecca. Rebecca. Where are you?
I heard a scream.
“Boss!”
“Artemy!”
My eyes snapped open, and I stared at a man pointing his gun at me. I didn’t have a chance to raise my gun or even move out of the way. I tried to duck, falling to the ground, and then the gunshot rang through my ears.
A few seconds later, I felt a searing pain run through my right leg. “Fuck!” I bellowed.
I heard a shout and then a scream of pain behind me. I looked down at my leg to see it bleeding where the bullet had gone through.
Still on the floor, I turned around to see Bernadette pulling out her heel from the man’s chest. “Fuck you! Those were Louboutin heels. Now it’s covered in your dirty blood.”
She glanced back at us. “You okay, Artemy?”
“Just a nick,” I muttered back. It was lie. The bullet had gone through my leg and was now lodged inside.
Bernadette noticed us staring, and she glanced back at her bloody heel. “What? I told you it comes in handy. I was out of bullets.”
“So you just throw your heel at a man, hoping it kills him?” Avim asked as I stood up, ignoring the burning in my leg.
“Pretty much,” she replied, taking off her other heel and standing up barefooted.
“What do we do?” Brayden asked me, his expression forlorn.
I ignored his question, my eyes roaming around the house one last time. We looked everywhere. Did Milandro lie?
Or maybe Raffaele had already taken Rebecca away? I had never wanted to hurt someone so bad in all my life as I did right there.
I let out a harsh, barking laugh. It was empty, void of any emotion. I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t find Rebecca soon.
I limped away, but my feet twisted in the rug, and I almost went down. I quickly straightened myself and glanced down at the fucking rug, wanting to tear it apart with my bare hands.
But something else caught my eye, and all thought of tearing the rug apart was gone.
The rug was bunched around my feet, and underneath was a wooden door. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I pushed the rug away completely.
I heard Bernadette gasp.
The rug wasn’t there for decoration. It was there to cover something-to hide a fucking door in the floor.
Brayden swore under his breath, looking at the closed door.
“There’s no basement. We checked,” Avim added, his eyes wide.
“What the fuck is this door then?” I growled. Without waiting for an answer, I bent down and opened the heavy latch. When it came undone, I pulled the door open, and it hit the floor with a loud bang.
“Stairs,” Bernadette muttered. “What the hell? It leads to a basement.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t even if I tried. My tongue felt heavy, my body numb. She was in there. I knew it. I felt it.
Avim came to stand in front of me and turned his phone on, putting on the torch. I took the first step, my heart racing, pumping wildly.
We descended the stairs in the dark, only Avim’s and Brayden’s phones used as flashlights. As soon as we reached the landing, Bernadette pressed her hand against the wall, looking for a light switch.
A few seconds later, the basement was illuminated.
The basement was incomplete. No wall or tiles. It looked more like a fucking dungeon.
My legs trembled as I took a step further inside. Another step. A few more and I stopped.
A foul smell touched my nostrils, and I shuddered. The smell was horrible. It was almost impossible to breathe. It smelled like days of piss and vomit. Rebecca. Was my Angel here? In this place?
My heart squeezed painfully, and I stepped forward on shaky legs. The further we ventured in, the worse the smell got.
I heard Bernadette gag behind me. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she gasped.
“Fuck, what is this?” Brayden growled.
I wasn’t dying. I was very much alive, but in that moment, it really felt like I was dying. The thought of Rebecca being in a place like this was almost unbearable.
When I finally reached the far side of the basement, I stopped dead in my tracks, my stomach twisting painfully.
“No,” I whimpered, my eyes widening at the sight in front of me.
When I heard them swear behind me, I knew they were seeing what I was seeing.
She was turned away from us, facing the wall. I didn’t see her face, but I knew it was her. I felt it in my heart.
She was there. My Rebecca. She was right there in front of me. She was lying on the cold hard floor, pushed against the wall. There were chains around her ankles and wrists.
And she was barely covered, her white dress ripped until nothing covered her body.
“No. No. No!” I rushed forward, ignoring the burning ache in my leg. Falling down beside her, I was too afraid to even touch her body.
Rebecca looked so fragile. So small. So broken. She’d lost weight, some of her bones practically showing. I reached forward and gently pushed her greasy hair out of her face.
Her face was covered in dirt, and it appeared slightly bruised.
“Rebecca?” I whispered brokenly, softly touching her cheek. So cold. She was so cold, freezing.
My heart stuttered, and I frantically looked behind me. Their faces were masks of horror. “She’s cold. She’s so cold,” I repeated.
I looked back at Rebecca, my mind and heart going crazy. Agony coursed through my body. It hurt. Everything hurt. It wasn’t my leg, but it was my heart that hurt the most.
My Rebecca. My sweet Angel.
She laid frozen, so still. Too still.
I felt my heart break. When I lost her, I thought I was in pain. But now…now I knew what real pain felt like.
And my Angel went through worse than that.
“Angel,” I whispered, leaning next to her ear. “It’s me. Artemy. I’m here now.”
A small guttural cry escaped my lips when she didn’t answer. I was desperate to see her beautiful green eyes. To hear her sweet voice.
I needed her.
And I knew, she needed me just as much, if not more.
I couldn’t protect her. I’d failed her, and the thought felt like a bullet through my heart. I had been careless, and she had to pay the price.
My eyes pricked with unshed tears, and I slowly leaned forward. As gently as I could, I wrapped my arms underneath Rebecca.
I gathered my Angel in my arms and pulled close to my chest. Her hair was matted with vomit and other things I didn’t even want to think about.
I rocked back and forth, holding her to me, begging her to open her eyes.
I gently pressed my arms over her body, looking for any other bruises. My vision blurred as everything hit at once. All her pain and suffering. Her face was turned toward my chest, and I placed a kiss on her nose. “Angel,” I whimpered.
My eyes followed my hands.
Oh fuck no. Fuck no! No!
My heart stuttered painfully. I forced myself to breathe. I shook as my eyes took in what I was seeing.
My stomach cramped, and I held Rebecca tighter to my chest.
This couldn’t be happening. Not my Angel.
My eyes stayed fixated on her body-her stomach.
“No,” I whimpered, shaking my head wildly.
My eyes went to her face again. She was still unconscious.
My Angel. My beautiful Angel.
My eyes moved to her stomach again. Her round, rigid protruding stomach.
This time I let out an enraged roar that echoed through the stone walls.