own guns at me as anyone who hadn’t been screaming in this damn place decided to start.
I wasn’t a fucking idiot so I tossed my gun to the floor, raising my hands in surrender as I tried to figure out how to explain this shit show and get my girl out of here.
“That’s Sasha Hernandez!” Jumbo Tits cried before I got a chance. “She was kidnapped eighteen months ago and that man was trying to drag her out of here before you arrived! Arrest him!”
Winter gave me a fearful look as the cops called that information in and I cursed, realising we weren’t getting out of this mess easily. These people knew the girl she used to be. They knew the life she used to live. And no matter how much I might have been enjoying this tiny bubble we’d created for ourselves to live in. It looked like reality had finally caught up to us.
The police surrounded Nicoli, handcuffing him and pulling me away from him like he was a threat to me. My voice wouldn't come out, but a scream of desperation left me as I tried to reach him.
"It's alright, love. Take a deep breath. You're safe now," the officer holding me said, his grip on me firm enough to suggest he wasn't going to let me go. "Let's get you down to the precinct."
Nicoli spat curses between his teeth as he was manhandled out of the restaurant and it took me a second to realise I was moving too. Every eye in the place was on me now that Nicoli was out of sight and my heart lurched and twisted as the group who'd grabbed me huddled together, their expressions pitiful as they took in my scars. The girl who'd spotted me first was sobbing into the shoulder of another girl as I was escorted past them and more officers kept them from following.
By the time I made it outside and I saw Nicoli being shoved into the back of a squad car, panic took hold of me.
"Nicoli!" I screamed, my voice tearing from my throat as I tried to fight my way free of the officer clinging to my arm.
"Calm down, ma'am," he said, his hold on me tightening.
Nicoli looked back at me through the window of the car, his expression fierce. The vehicle pulled away and I twisted towards the officer holding me, trying to force out the words I needed to tell him, but they got locked in my throat again.
Nicoli's innocent.
He helped me.
Saved me.
Please don't take him away from me.
But none of it came out and the man gave me a sad frown as he guided me into the back of another car.
The door closed and the world became muffled, silence pressing in on my ears so loudly that it hurt.
I wasn't aware of the car starting or of us sailing through the streets of Sinners Bay until we arrived outside the grey stone walls of the police precinct. The building dominated the whole road, every other house or store seeming to cower away from it. When the car door opened, the officer helped me out and snowflakes swirled around me in the air, the cold biting my flesh, awakening my wounds. My scars were prickling like they were suddenly still healing and the ones on my heart and soul split open altogether.
Inside, I was taken to a room with four blank walls, a single table and a mirror opposite. I was put in a chair, offered coffee, a blanket, a phone call. I shook my head in response to each and when I was left there alone I slid off the seat, moving to the wall and dropping down to curl against it on the cold floor. I’d left my cellphone back at the restaurant, so I didn’t have Frankie’s number to ring him even if I’d been able to speak right now.
Think, Winter. Think of a way out of this. Think of a way to save Nicoli.
I had to talk, but my throat was so tight and panic was crawling through my skin like ants. I curled up tighter, whispers filling my ears. The Five taunting me. All of them back to destroy me. You'll never get away. You'll always be ours.
I felt the whips, the cuts of a blade, I heard my own screams rattling inside my head. My heart was pounding too fast and my throat was too tight. I can't breathe. I can't breathe!
Hands gripped me and