There is no way to connect my actions to Emily’s disappearance in any way. I was completely nameless and unknown to everyone here. There was no basis for holding any suspicion against me.
While I waited for her in the shadows, I fiddled with the syringe that was stashed in my pocket.
Emily was going to come along with me regardless of whether or not she wanted to. I’d hand her over to Nicola without question. I’d repair him. They would get over my dubious choice to kidnap her against her will and go on with their lives.
They’d be content, and maybe so would I too if it happened.
Emily
As soon as I walked inside my dimly lit flat, my stomach dropped into my chest, and my heart sprang into my throat. My skin on the back of my neck crawled with goosebumps as a warning from the most primitive portion of my brain that danger was around.
In the single second that passed before the man’s palm covered my lips, I was already aware that he was there.
I was pushed backward by the pressure, and while I was doing so, I ran into the door that was behind me. His motions were not forceful enough to directly cause me any pain; nonetheless, they were frightening enough to drive my heart to race and my veins to pound.
My whimpering cry was stifled by the large palm that he held over my mouth.
“Be quiet, Emily.” He hushed me gently, but I could sense the hardness that lay behind the surface of his horrifyingly calm tone. “I’m not going to harm you,” the man said.
I was familiar with the sound. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it. The deep rumble appeared to me in my dreams on a regular basis, and it caused me to break out in a cold sweat and twist in my bed sheets whenever I thought of the darkness that pumped from his massive physique.
Mathew. Nicola’s terrifying mutual friend or acquaintance. Matthew, the threatening stranger who had materialized in the middle of the night and abducted the guy I loved from me. He was responsible for both Nicola’s disappearance and my abandonment, both of which broke my heart.
As my anxiety increased, my anger also grew, and I pushed Mathew in the chest. After seeing that this strategy was fruitless, I curled my fingers into claws and prepared to drag my short nails over his face.
Before I could do any harm, he simply grasped my hands and repelled them. He took a little break from holding my lips shut in order to grab both of my wrists. After that, he gathered them up in one hand and slung them over my head like a hood. The other one of his hands came back to my lips and covered my recent scream.
Once again, he reassured me, “I’m not going to harm you.” “I need you to take a deep breath and pay attention to what I have to say. It’s urgent that we get you out of here since you’re in harm’s way. ”
I did my best to shake my head despite his hard hold on my face, but it was difficult. The only risk was presented by the danger that he posed.
He continued, “You don’t comprehend what I’m saying.” “Nicola did not disclose to you the true nature of your boyfriend. Who we really are. It was his intention to protect you from it, but that time has passed. ”
My head was spinning as I attempted to make sense of what he was saying. What on earth could he possibly be getting at?
Nicola had had an air of being a sexually deviant and alluring bad boy, yet he idolized me. He spoke of me as if I were an angel and treated me as if I were of great value. It was because of this that I had a strong and immediate attraction to him. My first and truest love.
It was because of this that my heart had been broken, and I had been going through the past month without him in my life with a void where his place should have been in my chest and a dull ache deep in my spirit.
Mathew warned that our adversaries would soon come looking for them. “I will not put you in danger in such a way. I won’t put Nicola through that ordeal. He cannot risk losing you once again. Not forever. Not like this. I won’t fucking let it happen.”
Enemies? What the devil was he trying to say with that?
I struggled to free myself from his grasp, certain that he was my adversary. My frantic shouts were being stifled as he pinned me against the wall and held me there. My stomach churned and my brain began to spin as I was overcome by a surge of fear that I had never experienced before.
Mathew was looking directly at my face. The sliver of streetlight that was penetrating the windows cast shadows on his features, which highlighted the sharp planes of his face and the stubble that covered his jaw. The lighting caught in his dark eyes, and it shone brightly on his dark hair that was cut short and close to his head. As he regarded me, their expressions glowed with a sharp intelligence.
After a brief pause, his lips contracted into a narrow line, and he gave a little nod.
“You’re not going to come voluntarily, are you? ”
He let go of my wrists, and I immediately wrapped my hands around his forearm, attempting to force his hand away from my mouth so that I could finally unleash the scream that he had been holding back behind my lips.
He reached quickly into his pocket and pulled something out. When I saw the syringe, the feeling of dread that came over me was as heavy as a stone.
As he pulled the top off the bottle using his teeth, I redoubled my attempts to get away. I attempted to kick him, but he was too close for me to obtain any leverage, and his thigh was stuck between my legs, so it was impossible for me to do so.
My piercing yells were trapped in his fingers, and my senseless terror kept me from being able to struggle properly. My only option was to make frantic attempts to release my face from his grasp, but his powerful arm managed to keep me safely fastened down in spite of my efforts.
Just as the sting was about to make its way to my neck, the needle shone brightly in the faint light. His motions were deliberate rather than forceful, and there was only a moderate amount of discomfort.
After what seemed like an eternity, the terror that had gripped all of my senses finally started to dissipate. I felt a blanket of warmth envelop me, and I collapsed into him.