The guy was surprised, his eyes bulging as the makeshift whip circled his throat, squeezing it. He started to choke, banging his hands on the back door of the van, trying to get help from his colleague. “Wa…wait, ple…please…”Katerina jumped down, aware that time was of the essence, and started to wrap her arms around him to finish what she'd started.She had never killed anyone before but she wasn't thinking about that now, her survival instinct running wild, plus the adrenaline pumping in and out of her body could be a little intoxicating.Just as the guy was growing lax in her hands, his trashing reducing as his eyes fluttered shut and slowly gave up the fight…the driver jumped on her back the force of his weight sending her crashing to the floor.Due to the divider that separated her from the other guys she never noticed how big he was and now being faced with him, she doubted that she would be able to beat him or even make it out of this alive, judging by the rage in his eyes.“
“You're gonna have to shoot me before I lower my weapon!” Katerina called out bravely, despite her heart beating like a drum.Analyzing the situation, she knew that it wasn't going to benefit her but after everything that she's been through, she made up her mind to either fight till her death or go down swinging.The fear of them breaking her spirit scared her more than actually dying.The other guy- presumably the one that barked at her- took a step further, leveling his gun at her chest.Katerina steadied her weapon, sucking in a quivering breath.Strangely, she wasn't so scared of the unknown.They both stood a couple of feet apart, the tension racketeering up a notch as each person waited for the other to strike.A single bead of sweat rolled down Katerina's face but even the effort to wipe it off seemed too much to ask for.“Okay, then. So be it.” The guy chuckled, flipping off the safety and-“Stand down, Duke.” A manly voice boomed out, startling Katerina's closed eyes.She rai
“Where are you taking me to?” Katerina asked after they'd been walking for a while.The new guy that just came in introduced himself to her as Lucas, Luke for short. “To the main site.”“Wait, um... isn't that like back to where I'm coming from?”Lucas sensed the drag in her tone. “Well, yes it is but there's someone there that I think you are going to want to meet.”For some reason, her chest was filled with dread. “Unless that someone is my husband, I don't think I will want to meet anybody.” “Sure you will!” Luke chirped. “He's the one who told us to rescue you.”For the life of her, Katerina couldn't envision anybody taking out their time to come rescue her… which meant one of two things, either this guy had no good intention to come get her or it was someone close to her.Katerina hesitated, thinking of the only person who would be that crazy and daring to do that.Mark.That asshole kidnapped her and kept her held in a dungeon for a while simply because he couldn't stand the th
Katerina blinked once, twice, and then for the third time not sure what her eyes were seeing.Was that?“Holy shit, Katerina! It is you!” Tyler screamed, racing through the open field to carry her into his arms.When she felt his arms wrap around her, that really cemented the doubts that she felt. Shock waves ran through her body but she made sure not to dwell on it, hugging him tightly.So tight, that she feared broke a few bones in the process. Overwhelmed with joy, she nearly bowled over moving back to catch a glimpse of him. “Tyler!”Her hands moved all over his face and to her shock, a tear dropped out of her eyes rolling down her cheek. “Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry, it's okay, I'm here now.” He soothed her, hugging her once again.Even though she was tired and hungry and probably smelling like blood and stale sweat, she held on to him as tight as possible, afraid that if she let go, it'd turn out to be a dream.As they broke off the hug for the second time, each person's eyes eati
There must be something in the air because it seemed like she was surrounded by bad luck. The moment Katerina stepped out of the van, she was blown off her feet by another explosion that was quite close to her.It took her several feet in the air, tossing her against a nearby tree. She fell with a huff, rolling around on the ground. There was a loud buzzing in her ears, either from the proximity to the blast or from the fall down several feet…she wasn't sure.Raising her head up, the outline of the clearing was blurry and things began to feel very dizzy.Her kids drooped and suddenly, the soft patch of earth that she was laying on seemed so soft that she involuntary closed her eyes.She must have passed out because the next thing she knew, Katerina was waking up to the sound of gunfire.And they sounded scarily close to where she was.Her survival instinct kicked in, and she jumped to her feet, her eyes scanning her environment.What she saw made her eyes widen in shock.The entire c
“Help!! Someone, help me! Please…” Katerina screamed, pumping at his chest like her life depended on it.Already, Tyler's chest had stopped moving and he was lying so still that it scared her.The fear that she would never get to see him move, smile or even piss her off anymore brought some kind of sadness that she couldn't even comprehend to her heart.In reality, it might have taken a couple of seconds or a minute for someone to get to her and help Tyler but to Katerina, it felt like an eternity passed.The big, burly brooding guy from before walked up to her, gently pushing her aside. “Hold on, ma'am. I need to check his vitals.”Katerina was reluctant to move but then again, she knew that there was nothing she could do to help him if she continued hogging up space so she grudgingly moved side. “Is he going to be okay?” He spared her a glance before focusing on Tyler once more. “I don't know, I'll have to check first.”She remembered then that Tyler had called him Heinze earlier.
Katerina jumped down from the SUV chasing after Giorgio.His long legs ate up distance which meant she couldn't catch up with him, which turned out to be a good thing.“Hello, sir.” A stern-looking lady in black combat gear stopped Giorgio from taking one more step. “Your name?”“Fabrio Luka.” Giorgio smoothly said, offering the fake name up like it was actually his.Katerina's mouth dropped in disbelief.The cop lady didn't look fazed, pulling out a small notebook from her back pocket to document his name. “My name is Detective Grace Mallory and I'm the office in charge of the missing person's case, Katerina Petrova. Someone tipped us off that there was an attempted rescue by one of our officers, so I am obligated to ask everyone here who they are and why they're here.”Katerina gasped, fucking behind a tree so the woman didn't see her.What the hell?“Right, I'm Katerina's uncle, and that's why I'm here. You see my son knows Mark Dunkle, the commissioner of police and he roped me in
For the first two days, staying at home felt like heaven mom kept popping her acting like she was gone for like three years, instead of two weeks.But on the third day, reality began to dawn and Katerina knew that there were certain things she couldn't put off any longer.Like for one, visiting Tyler.Another one was confronting Dad and Giorgio, asking them to explain what the fuck was going on.And lastly, it was facing this whole trauma thing.Just the other day, she woke up drenched in sweat and ready to attack.It was on the third punch that she realized that there was no one there and she was alone.Or was it how she triple-locked everything, including the bathroom?Keeping this hidden would either drive her crazy or get someone killed.Groaning, Katerina buried her face in her palm, shoving what happened down into some box that she didn't dare open.Flinging back the cover in agitation, Katerina ran down the stairs to the main kitchen where Mom was making pancakes.“Hey, honey!”