Blake Hart

The car moved like it had somewhere important to be. Fast, smooth and controlled.

I leaned against the cool leather seat, arms curled close to my body and tried not to think about how everything still hurt. My right hand throbbed in rhythm with my pulse and my ankle… well, that had gone numb, which I wasn’t sure was a good sign.

Across from me, two strangers watched me without watching me.

One of them, Raiden.

The other, Billy, I think. His voice had been softer but still sharp. Calculating.

Raiden hadn’t taken his eyes off me for more than a few seconds. It wasn’t intrusive.. just present. Like he was keeping a checklist in his mind of all the ways I might break.

It was the smart choice, I told myself again.

Following the stranger.

Because that’s what he was. A stranger.

A stranger with cold eyes and an expensive suit, who’d carried me like I weighed nothing yet never once made me feel powerless. His grip had been firm, tight enough to hold, loose enough not to hurt.

His presence was… heavy. Not loud. Not demanding. Just there. Like gravity, pulling everything toward him without even trying.

Even me.

I still didn’t know why I’d said yes. Why I’d nodded, why I hadn’t run when he stepped closer in the woods. Maybe I couldn’t. Or maybe something deeper, something quieter, had told me it was the only way I’d make it out alive.

He hadn’t disgusted at the sight of me. Not at my dirt-streaked skin, my swollen ankle or the dried blood on my clothes. He’d just… seen me. And not looked away.

I turned slightly in my seat, eyes drawn to the window behind him.

The house.

Or what was left of it.

Flames licked the air in sharp tongues, dancing against the trees. The roof had already collapsed. Black smoke poured upward in thick, suffocating clouds.

My breath hitched. I hadn’t even realized I was holding it.

That place had tried to break me, had almost succeeded. And now it was gone. Erased. Nothing but ash and noise and heat.

I gasped quietly, hand rising to my mouth. I wasn’t crying but my eyes burned anyway. Not from grief. From release.

A shadow shifted beside me.

Raiden.

He didn’t move closer, just spoke, his voice low like smoke cracking through silence.

“No need to be scared.”

It wasn’t a comfort. Not exactly. It felt more like, a statement. Like he’d seen my face and decided to answer the question I hadn’t asked aloud.

Still, his words echoed.

No need to be scared.

Right. Because being dragged into a black SUV by two dangerous men after escaping a group of kidnappers was nothing to worry about.

I shifted my leg subtly, tucking it closer to my body. The ankle protested, a sharp stab of pain shooting up to my thigh. I winced, but kept going, curling inward just enough to hide the mess. The bruises. The skin I didn’t want anyone to see.

Especially not him.

He noticed.

“I need to look at that ankle,” he said, voice calm but deliberate.

I flinched.

His eyes stayed on me. Not pushing, just waiting.

Billy leaned back in his seat, one hand draped lazily over his knee. He didn’t say anything, just watched.

I hesitated. Then, because I didn’t have a better option, I let Raiden lean in.

He didn’t touch me right away. Just looked. His expression tightened slightly but he didn’t make a sound. His eyes moved from my foot to my hand, then back to my face.

I cleared my throat. It sounded raw, like gravel.

“Where are we going?”

Raiden sat back slightly, one elbow resting on the side armrest.

“Somewhere safe.”

That wasn’t an answer.

“I mean… are you taking me to a hospital?”

The word caught in my throat. I didn’t know why it scared me. Hospitals were supposed to help. But somehow it felt like the wrong place. Like someone might find me there. Finish what they started.

“I already called a doctor,” Raiden said, like he could read my hesitation. “She’ll be waiting. You’re not going to a hospital. And no one’s coming for you.”

His tone shifted then. Lower. Stronger.

“Not on my watch.”

I blinked.

“You’re probably going to need some rest,” he added, glancing at my hand again. “Once she checks you out.”

It should’ve sounded like an order but somehow it didn’t.

The silence in the car stretched. Not heavy, just quiet. Outside, the world blurred past the windows. 

Trees. Roads. Lights.

The motion lulled something in me. That part of the brain that had been in fight-or-flight for too many hours. I blinked slowly, fighting the pull behind my eyelids. My body felt like it weighed more than it used to.

I shifted again, curling toward the corner of the seat.

I could still feel the cuff on my wrist. Still feel the phantom sting of tape over my mouth. Still hear the laughter behind closed doors. The threats. The hands.

But it was fading.

Bit by bit.

Raiden and Billy sat across from me. Neither speaking. Neither looking directly at me anymore.

And still, somehow, I didn’t feel unsafe.

I tried to fight the sleep. 

Really, I did.

But the warmth of the car, the dull ache in my limbs, the steady hum of the engine. It was too much. My eyes fluttered once. 

Twice.

Then the dark pulled me under. And this time… I let it.