Too bad he hadn't been able to come up with a plan where he got to keep his girl as easily as he’d been able to slip the name of a buyer to Nathan Solace. It had become obvious to him that the man had fallen for one of Azure’s victims, a pretty blonde named Emma Beaumont. When he’d realized it, it had then been clear that Nathan was one of the three other men undercover at Azure, and so he’d done what he could to look out for Nathan’s girl. It hadn't been much, his hands were tied, but he’d let her get away with more than he normally would.
Something about their doomed romance reminded him of Ally and her books, of the sweet woman he’d left behind, the one he could never have.
But there had been hope for Nathan and Emma, so when she’d been sold before Nathan could get her out—and he had no doubt that the man and their boss Falcon Oswald had been planning something—he’d risked a lot to try to get him that name. Which he’d been able to do, and on his last meeting with Falcon, he’d asked if they’d managed to rescue Emma.
They had, and now the two of them had a chance.
More than he’d ever have.
“No going back, you knew that the moment you walked away. Never should have touched her in the first place. She’s too good for a man like you. One who’s seen and done the things you have. Ally is light, and you're darkness personified.”
It was true, and he knew he would have to put a stop to these pointless visits to the apartment building. When he’d taken on the undercover job, he’d kept the apartment, continued to date Ally, but it hadn't taken him long to realize that he had to cut her loose to do this job.
So now he slept in his car because he couldn’t face going into his apartment, being so close to Ally and not able to have her. He didn't want to move into one of Azure’s apartments, though, because he didn't want to give them any reason to wonder why he’d changed his mind when he’d initially turned down the offer of living in the warehouse.
Couldn’t put Ally at any further risk than he already had.
He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.
Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from the lights still shining brightly in Ally’s apartment, he headed for the underground parking garage, passing a white van on his way in. It reminded him of one of Azure’s vans, and he knew he’d made the right choice in walking away from Ally even if it had hurt them both. If he hadn't, then she might not be up in her apartment, safe and sound, right now, she might be sitting naked in a concrete cell waiting to be sold to a monster.
Chapter
Two
August 14th
2:16 A.M.
Waking up with a knot of fear in her stomach was the worst.
Jerking upright, her memories of what had happened to her perfectly intact had panic clawing at her, and in a desperate bid to let it out, she rubbed at her chest.
But of course, that didn't help.
Because as Ally blinked away the fuzziness from whatever drugs she’d been given, she looked around, and her surroundings were the stuff of nightmares.
The more she looked, the worse it got.
At first, it was just the concrete floor. If that was all it was, then maybe she could pretend it was just the ground out back of her building where she’d been taking out the trash. But there was more, so much more.
As her head spun about like it was on a swivel, she saw a concrete wall behind her, reaching up to meet a concrete ceiling. Straight in front of her was a line of metal bars, the kind youmight find in a police cell. Those metal bars ran along on her right and on her left as well.
She was in a cell. A cage made of concrete and metal.
Why was she in a cell?
Who even put people in cages?
The pounding in her head worsened, and she rubbed at her temples, but it wasn't just the drugs that were causing the headache, it was the utter terror stabbing at her insides like a swarm of angry wasps.
Was there any oxygen left in the room?
Didn't feel like it.
The deeper breaths she tried to take, the more she tried to inflate her lungs, the less air there seemed to be available.
Was this how she was going to die?