Page 76 of His Kidnapped Queen
I wait on the bed, swinging my legs back and forth. Footsteps come toward the bedroom and stop in front of it.
“Come on in. I’m decent,” I call, a teasing lilt to my voice. But there’s a strain in it, too. I’m afraid.
Not of Luca. Not even of Diego.
But of being alone here.
Luca has plenty of enemies inside and outside of the lifestyle. What if they’re after me?
But why would they be? I don’t mean anything to him. I’m just here because he can’t work out what to do with me. Because he doesn’t believe my story.
I clear my throat. “I said?—”
The doorknob moves and I fall immediately quiet.
I scramble back across the bed. Something’s wrong. Diego would have already opened the door and Luca would have said something.
“My name is Sophia Bianchi,” I say quickly, frightened. “I’m a prisoner here.”
Just as I finish talking, the door bursts open, rocked off its hinges.
I scream as a masked man stalks in, pointing a rifle at my head. He doesn’t speak.
“Please,” I whisper. “I’m just a prisoner here. I don’t know anything. I’m nobody?—”
I throw a pillow at his face just as he starts to come toward me.
Then I’m back at the window, one last shot, pulling the glass up with everything I’ve got. A cracking noise makes me realize I’m actually doing it—I’m pulling the window up.
I get it halfway before I start to try and scramble out of it. I’m almost home free, one leg out of the window when the masked man grabs me, tugging me backward.
I scream, kicking and clawing at him, but he’s got his hand threaded through my short hair in a moment, yanking me back.
I grunt and gasp as he drags me backward, one hand around my throat. I can barely breathe through the pinhole in my throat.
“Let me go!” I wiggle and scream again, but he clamps his hand over my mouth.
“Shut up,” he hisses. “Just let me?—”
I step downhardon his instep and he squeals, letting me go. I take off, sprinting toward the broken door, and I make it barely before I slam into a hard chest.
I look up, panicked, already throwing my arms and legs out to fight, but slowly I realize it’s Luca holding me, his arms around me.
“Luca,” I breathe, and I never thought I’d be this happy to see my kidnapper.
He looks down at me for a split second, glancing up to see behind me. “Did he hurt you?”
“I—”
Luca curses, pushing past me into the room but it’s too late—the masked man is already revving up his engine. He escaped out of the half-open window.
I don’t realize I’m trembling all over until he puts his hands on my arms.
“Who did this? Did you see his face?”
I shake my head, feeling like I’m standing outside my body. “He was wearing a mask. I don’t know.”
“It’s okay,” he says, and I frown, wondering why he’s comforting me but then I feel the tears streaming down my face.
