The Big Blind (Nadia Wolf) (30 page)

“Partners in all sense of the word.”

“I don’t see that happening. You wouldn’t give up any control.”

“It’s a give and take.”

“I do all the giving, and you do all the taking.”

“For now. In time you would earn your reward.”

I could see right through his lies. He didn’t want me as a business partner. He wanted me dead, but he wanted his fun first.

“The only thing I want right now is to make sure Mya is safe.”

“Saying things like that only gives me more power to make you do exactly as I wish,” he sneered.

Dammit!
What do I do now?

“We can work out the details inside,” he said. “Think of this as a contract.”

I smothered the voice in my head screaming for me to run and followed him inside where he locked the door behind us. I followed him through his vast entrance and foyer and into a study with a large mahogany desk and a leather executive chair. He led me over to a leather couch which was placed in front of a fireplace. Good thing there wasn’t a fire lit. It would be too tempting to push him in.

“Sit here. We can discuss the arrangements.”

I positioned myself at the edge of the couch furthest from Dagor.

“I don’t understand. You know I won’t make any of this easy on you.”

He sat down next to me. “You’ll know my desire soon.”

His fingers threaded through the back of my hair. His grip tightened as his lips crushed into mine. I pushed at him. This spurred him as he used all his weight to push me into the couch. The more I fought the more violently he came at me.

“Weren’t we going to talk about a contract?” I asked as I wedged my knee between us.

“We’ll talk after.”

He pushed my knee out of the way. Turning to slide out from him, he yanked my hair and jerked me back. I clawed and dug my nails in his face. He stopped a moment to feel for blood. His teeth gnashed together as he backhanded me across my cheek. I kicked at him. He moved quickly out of the path but then caught my leg and pinned me down. His weight had me disarmed. I had no way of protecting myself. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I spit in his face. His face twisted with rage. Dagor’s hand flew to my throat and his fingers curled around it squeezing off the air flow. With my airway blocked off there was no way to scream for help. Terror was claiming every thought. I clawed his hand to unclench my throat, but it was no use.

I was growing weaker and more frantic with each moment. I punched and scratched but he didn’t recoil. He wasn’t going to give me the air I desperately needed. My arms weakened . . . my eyes blurred. I was barely conscious when a man appeared in the study.

“Sir, there’s been an explosion at one of your warehouses.”

Dagor instantly let go. I coughed and wheezed with the air I gulped. My lungs burned from deprivation.

“Get everyone on the move. Find out who did this!”

The man ran from the room.

Dagor glowered at me. “Did your friends do this?”

“I don’t know anything about it,” I rasped, rubbing the pain from my throat.

“I already know you’re a liar. Was it Greyson Miller?”

“Do you expect a CEO to run around blowing up buildings?”

“He has people to do it for him.”

“I ran here as soon as I heard you had Mya. I didn’t tell anyone or make plans.” I smirked. “It’s too bad you weren’t in the warehouse when it blew up.”

This remark rewarded me another black eye. He punched with such anger I fell back and off the couch. He grabbed the neck of my shirt and dragged me to a closet. He shoved me in and slammed it. I heard the click of the lock imprisoning me in the confined space.

I pounded at the door. “Let me out!”

“Dispose of her,” Dagor said.

“Yes, sir.”

I pulled out my phone. They hadn’t taken it this time. I had the notion in a short time I wouldn’t be able to use it. I called Greyson.

“Nadia, where are you? Have you seen Mya?”

I whispered, “I’m locked in a closet. Dagor gave orders to make dispose of me.”

“Shit! Where are you in the house?”

“The study. It’s near the front entrance.”

“I’m on my way. David and Remy are over at the warehouse. I’ve been looking for Mya at some of his other sites. I can’t find her.”

“She must be here. Find her first.”

The door to the closet opened. I blinked up at a giant man. His thick brow frowned.

“Never mind,” I squeaked into the phone. “Find me first.”

The man seized my phone and smashed it. His hand curled around my arm and dragged me to the entrance where a car was waiting with its trunk open. I twisted my body using all my weight to loosen his hold. He held on with a snake like grip. I punched him in the stomach. He gave a low grunt but was unaffected. He picked me up and flung me into the trunk, slamming it closed.

Son-of-a-bitch!
I was locked in the damn trunk again. I repeatedly kicked at the trunk. The only thing that gave way was my energy. This wasn’t good. I already knew my fate, but I didn’t want to consider the ending. Gunned down, suffocation, stabbing? Whatever the outcome, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

I couldn’t think anymore. All I could do was kick at the trunk in a frenzy. I kicked and kicked until I smashed a tail light. I kicked the tail light again to remove all the pieces and stuck out my hand. I waved frantically hoping someone would see my arm and call the police. Maybe I could wave an object out the small space for someone to take notice. There wasn’t any thing in the trunk. I didn’t have a purse. I only had my clothes.

I yanked off my go-go boot and shoved it through the hole. I shoved it so hard, I lost my grasp. It fell onto the road. Good thing I had two. I had better luck with the second one. I dangled it out of the car trying to use it as a flag. But holding it with only a couple of fingers in a moving car, I lost my grip again.

I had only a few articles of clothing left, and I didn’t want to make my escape naked. But if I didn’t wave something out of the tail light then I was as good as dead. I shimmied my skirt off first and then my bustier. Those eventually were lost as well. Once when the car swerved and once when the car hit a bump so hard I smacked my head on the top of the trunk. I was left with my panties and strapless bra. I was thinking of my next choice when the car stopped and the engine was killed.

The trunk popped opened. The man who had flung me in the trunk gawked at my near nakedness. I used his brief moment of surprise to punch him in the family jewels. He fell down like a sandbag. He obviously didn’t take Remy’s lesson on wearing protective gear.

I hopped out of the trunk and kicked him in the stomach. It gave me an extra moment to make a dash. I had no idea where I was. We were in some sort of alley behind a string of warehouses. I bolted towards the end of the alley. Hopefully there would be a road leading me to a populated place.

Running without shoes wasn’t swift. I looked back to see the man clamber to his feet and run towards me. He wasn’t too quick either since I had punched him.

I reached the end of the alley and found a road on my left. I ran for it and reached an intersection. There was a man talking on a cell phone at the opposite corner. I ran through the intersection and swiped the man’s phone. I called my apologizes as he gave me the middle finger and yelled obscenities. If I wasn’t concentrating on keeping myself alive, I would have complimented him on his colorful use of the English language.

“Greyson,” I wheezed into the cell phone when he answered. “I have no idea where I am. But I’m running, and there’s a giant man after me.”

“Can you see any road signs?”

“No. I’m near the warehouses. I ran through an intersection. There’s no way I’m going back to read the sign.” I peeked behind me. The man was catching up and was only half of a block behind.

“Keep running. I’m going to get David on the line.”

“Keep running? I’m ready to pass out.”

Greyson cussed. David promptly arrived on the line.

“Did you find Mya?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about Mya. Just run your ass off.”

I peeked behind me again. He was within tackling distance. “He’s right behind me.”

“Follow my instructions. You’re going to stop, turn abruptly, and knee him in the groin. Give him an uppercut to his jaw as he goes down. You remember from the punching bag, right?”

“Yeah,” I said with labored breathing.

“Shit,” Greyson said. “Nadia, do it quickly. Don’t give him time to react.”

“She can do it,” David said. “Don’t think about it. Do it.”

I sucked in one last breath and turned around. The man was right on top of me within a matter of a few steps. I brought my knee up as he was grabbing me. He toppled on contact. I followed through with an uppercut as he was on his way down. It wasn’t as perfectly executed as David’s, but the result was nearly the same. The man tumbled back grabbing at his privates. What I didn’t expect was him kicking out at me. His anvil-sized foot swiped my feet from under me. I crashed onto the concrete. My head bounced on the unforgiving surface on impact. It was lights out.

Chapter 23

“Nadia, wake up. Nadia!”

My eyes fluttered open. “Where am I?” I croaked.

“I have no idea.”

I turned to the voice in the dark. I could only distinguish a fuzzy shadow.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“It’s Mya.”

I propped myself up. I was sprawled on a cold concrete slab. My body was freezing and sore.

“You don’t know where we are?”

“No. They brought me here hours ago. They dropped you off a few minutes ago. I thought you were dead.”

“Did you overhear them talking?”

“I heard them say they needed to dispose of something soon.”

“That would be us.”

Mya let out a squeak and broke into a sob.

“We’ll find a way out,” I said with my brave voice. “Greyson is looking for us.”

“Greyson is looking for us?”

“I was on the phone with him before I was knocked out.”

“That makes me feel better. How will he know how to find us here?”

“We need to figure that out ourselves. Where’s the door?”

“I think a little to our left. I’ve been sitting here because I can’t see anything.”

“I’m sick of them throwing me in dark buildings. You would think they could turn a light on once in awhile.”

“Maybe they’re trying to save on electricity.”

“Anything’s possible. Let’s try to find the door. Maybe there’s a light switch near it.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

We both stood and shuffled to the direction of the door with our arms stretched. After twenty shuffles we arrived at a wall.

“Mya, do you think we’re near the door?”

“I think it might be over to the right.”

We trailed the length of the wall running our hands along. We reached the end of the wall without any luck.

“Let’s try the other way.”

We hurried to the other side. My hand ran across a dip and a seam. This must be the door.

“I think this is it. Feel around the seam of the door and a foot from the door frame for a light switch.”

I tried on my side. Mya tried on hers. We didn’t find anything. I kicked the door in frustration. Learning from my past failure at knocking down a door, I changed my tactic and ran at it throwing my back into it. It didn’t budge.

“Nadia, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Better hurt than dead.”

Mya let out a sob.

“Sorry. Let’s keep moving along the wall. We might find something useful.”

We trekked around the sides of two walls. On our third wall there was a pin of light up towards the ceiling.

“Mya, do you see that light?”

“It’s really small.”

“Do you remember seeing any windows in here?”

“Hmm, I do remember seeing windows, but they were all black.”

“Give me your shoe.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll throw it at the window and see if I can break it.”

“Oh, okay.” Mya slipped off her shoe and handed it to me.

I groaned. “It’s a foam flip flop.”

“I know. I just bought them. They’re super cute. You’ll have to see them once we’re out of here.”

“I can’t break a window with a foam flip flop. Is there any thing in this room we could throw?”

“I don’t think so.”

“There has to be something. Let’s crawl around and see what we can find.”

We crawled around for a solid ten minutes. The only thing I found was a bunch of dirt and dust. With all the dust kicked up, breathing became challenging.

“I think I found something,” Mya said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s like a fuzzy rock.”

I winced. “Meet me at the window.”