Insatiable (Steel Brothers Saga #12) - Helen Hardt Page 0,2

to that place, that feeling of peace I’d had while being closed in, suspended in salty water.

But I wasn’t suspended. I wasn’t buoyant.

I was trapped, tied up, gagged, and in some type of moving vehicle.

God, the darkness!

A trunk. Was I in the trunk of a car? With no ventilation? The exhaust fumes would kill me. But I had to breathe. Had to fucking breathe.

Go back, Marj. Go back. How did this happen?

Bryce. I’d been talking on my phone to Bryce and Joe. I’d just seen Colin in the park, and he’d told me… God, he’d told me…

His father had sold him to Tom Simpson. Or so he thought. He was going to get me the documentation. He left. I called Bryce, and then—

Nothing.

Not until now.

Not until this hell.

Another scream lodged in my throat, unable to penetrate the gag in my mouth. I coughed, gasping.

Get hold of yourself! You need to stay calm!

How? How was I supposed to do that?

Think of happiness. Think of something that brings you joy. Anything. Anything.

Bryce.

Bryce loved me. I loved him.

He’d been on the other end of the phone when whatever happened had happened. He’d know something wasn’t right. He’d come for me. He and my brothers would have a posse looking for me in no time.

In no time…

No time…

Don’t go there. I have all the time in the world.

All the time in the world.

All the time in the world…

I jolted against something hard. Whatever it was let out an oof.

Yes, another person was here with me. At least I knew it wasn’t Bryce or Joe. They’d been at the ranch when this had happened. Still, knowing another person was here gave me some comfort and helped stave off the panic.

But who was it?

Colin? He’d just left the park when this occurred.

He was the most likely, but things never turned out to be the most likely.

Orange warmth punched my eyes.

Sunlight. I was blindfolded. How hadn’t I realized it? Easy. I was in the dark, and I didn’t stop to think about my eyes adjusting.

Again, I tried screaming, only to choke against the dirty gag in my mouth. Again, the nausea, the clawing acid.

And again, I had to stop it.

Movement. But I didn’t move. The balance of the trunk shifted. Someone had removed the other person.

I stayed still. Easy enough since I was bound, but I was determined not to make this any easier on my captor, whoever he was.

Dead weight.

I’d be dead weight.

Within seconds, I was lifted from the confined space. I groaned as I was thrown against a hard body. My head bounced against a bony shoulder as we moved along.

A scream tried to force its way out of my throat once more, leading to more choking and gasping.

Air! I was outside now. I could tell because of the light streaming through my blindfold. Plenty of air around, I knew, but still I gasped.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Calm down.

Calm down.

How was I supposed to calm down when I’d been kidnapped? Taken? Abducted?

Was this the norm for my family now?

I needed something to focus on.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The rhythmic movement of the person carrying me.

Focus. Focus.

Then the orange warmth disappeared, and I was again left in darkness.

Gently—gently?—whoever carried me set me down on something soft.

“I’m so sorry about this,” said a voice—a familiar voice, though I couldn’t place it.

First the tape was removed from my mouth and I spit out the gag. All those screams that had been suppressed came out with a vengeance.

“Get away from me! Help me! Help me!”

“I’m not your enemy, Marjorie.”

He removed the blindfold.

A blurry image slowly began to clarify. My mind was fuzzy, but I knew this person. This man.

“Dominic?”

“Yeah. It’s me. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you.”

“Are you responsible for taking my mother? Where the hell is she, Dominic? You’ve taken a mentally ill woman against her will. You’ve taken me against my will!”

“Marjorie—”

“You transported me in the trunk of a car. I could have suffocated. Been killed by carbon monoxide!”

“You were in the back of a van, not a trunk. You were never in any dang—”

“The hell I wasn’t! You did something to me. Knocked me over the head with something. What gives you the right—”

“I took you to save you, damn it.” He stood and looked over his shoulder.

Another person entered the room, this one female.

“How is he?” Dominic asked.

“He’s all right. Dazed and confused.”

“So is she,” Dominic replied.

Was he talking about me? “I’m far from dazed and confused. You’d better tell me what the