Chapter three

~ABDUCTED~

The driver’s door was ripped open so hard it slammed against the side of the SUV. I gasped.

Masked men surrounded the car, dressed in black, faces hidden, guns raised. And in that instant, I knew one thing with terrifying certainty.

They were not Brown’s men.

Brown’s men wore tailored suits and polite smiles while doing ugly things. These men looked like violence without manners.

“Please…” My voice shook despite every effort to steady it. “Please, spare us. What do you want?”

Ariel had already launched herself at me, climbing into my lap, trembling like a leaf. I gathered her into my arms, shielding her face against my neck.

One of the men stepped closer and shoved the barrel of a gun through the open door.

“Shut up,” he barked. “Get out. Now.”

My whole body froze as the gun swung toward Ariel.

Every instinct in me died except one, to protect her.

“I’m coming,” I whispered quickly. “Please don’t hurt her. Please.”

I climbed out carefully, pain exploding through my ribs the second my feet touched the ground. My legs nearly buckled, but I tightened my grip on Ariel and stayed upright.

Another man yanked open the back door of a dark sedan parked behind us.

“Inside.”

I hesitated only long enough to pull Ariel closer. Then they shoved us in. I hit the seat hard, a cry catching in my throat, but I never loosened my hold on my daughter.

The doors slammed. Locks clicked and the car sped off.

I tried to speak. “Who are you? Where are you taking us? Please, she’s just a child—”

“Make that kid stop crying,” the man in the front seat snapped, not turning around. “Or I’ll give you both something real to cry about.”

Ariel sobbed harder. My blood ran cold. I pressed her to my chest and rocked her gently despite the agony tearing through my body.

“Shhh… baby, look at Mommy.” My lips brushed her hair. “It’s okay. We’re okay. Close your eyes for me, sweetheart. Just close your eyes.”

I lied with every word. Slowly, her cries softened into hiccups. Then silence. Her small fingers clung to my dress as if letting go would drown her. Outside the windows, darkness swallowed everything.

I didn’t recognize the roads they took. We drove past city lights, then fewer lights, then none at all. Time stretched like torture. Thirty minutes. An hour. More. By the time the car finally slowed, my body had gone numb with fear.

We had driven for almost an hour and a half.

When the door opened, cold air rushed in. I looked outside and my stomach dropped.

No houses. No traffic. No signs of life. Just an isolated stretch of land and a building sitting in the dark like it had been forgotten by the world.

This was where people disappeared.

I swallowed my terror because I couldn’t afford to show it.

I had done this. I had dragged my daughter into danger just because I wanted freedom.

Maybe I should have stayed.

I should have let Brown kill me slowly, one bruise at a time. At least Ariel would have been safe in her pink room with cartoons and stuffed bears.

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.

They pulled me from the car. Four men surrounded us as they marched me forward. Ariel was still in my arms, half asleep from fear, cheek pressed to my shoulder.

We entered the building. The smell of damp concrete hit me first. Then silence.

They led us down a corridor and threw open a metal door.

“Move.”

I stumbled as they shoved me. I fell hard onto the freezing floor, twisting my body so Ariel wouldn’t hit her head. Pain shot through my side so violently I almost blacked out.

But she was safe, and that was enough.

I sat up, clutching her to my chest as I forced myself to breathe. The room was bare, furnished with nothing but a single table. It was cold enough to bite, and there were no windows.

“Please,” I begged, looking from one mask to another. “Tell me what you want. I have money. Jewelry.” My shaking hands reached for the hidden bag beneath my gown. “Take everything. Please just let us go.”

The men parted.

Another stepped forward. He crouched slightly, blowing cigarette smoke in my face with a hateful stare that disgusted me.

“None of that,” he said coolly, “is worth what your husband will pay for you.”

His gaze dropped to the bag at i was holding.

He tore the bag from my hands so violently the strap burned across my skin.

My breath caught.

Everything I had left in this world was inside that bag. The jewelry I planned to sell. The cash I had hidden note by note. My phone. My last desperate plan to survive.

He dumped the contents onto a metal table. Diamonds scattered. Gold clinked. Bundles of cash slid across the surface.

For a moment, even the room went quiet.

The man in charge stared at the pile, then slowly looked at me.

His eyes narrowed behind the mask.

“What were you planning to do with these?” he asked.

His voice wasn’t mocking anymore. It was curious. Sharp. Like he’d suddenly realized I wasn’t some pampered billionaire’s wife taken from a shopping trip.

I opened my mouth.

“I was—”

“Not like we care,” he cut in coldly.

The other men burst into laughter. Harsh, ugly laughter that bounced off the concrete walls.