Entranced (The ROGUES Billionaire #1) - Tracie Delaney Page 0,71

sit up. After several attempts, I righted myself and managed to force my eyes open.

When I did, I wished I’d remained unconscious.

I was in a basement, or maybe an underground room. Its dank, foul-smelling odor pervaded my nostrils, and rivulets of moisture ran down the walls. An old-fashioned bulb hung down from a gray wire affixed to the ceiling, throwing out minimal light. I craned my neck looking for windows. There were none. The only entrance and exit was through a single door that I knew without trying would be locked.

Even if the door was unlocked, I couldn’t reach it. A thick metal cuff circled my right wrist and matching ankle, the other end firmly attached to a pipe. I tried to stand, stumbled, and my hand connected with the slimy, mold-infested wall. I shook my head, trying to clear it. Slowly, my memory came back.

The sharp scratch in the back of my neck, the instant nausea, the buildings closing in. The fuzziness making it difficult to think straight. I must have been drugged. How long had I been here? Who’d taken me? Where was I? How the hell had someone snatched me off a busy New York street without someone noticing and raising the alarm?

Yeah, all questions I didn’t have the answers to.

As the incoherence dissipated, terror took its place, and my heart pumped fast enough to burst right through my chest. Despite the terrible chill freezing my bones, my palms were slick with sweat. I gulped in short, shallow breaths, my lungs compressing, making it impossible to take in the amount of oxygen my body demanded. Straining my ears for signs of any sound, the only thing I heard was an inadvertent whimper spilling from my lips.

Calm down. Breathe. Slowly. In and out. In and out.

Talking to myself didn’t help. My mind raced, running through a series of awful scenarios. Ones of rape, and torture, and eventually death. Of never seeing Ryker again, or my parents, or Elliot. If I died, would Ryker tell them our secret or take it to his grave? Would he mourn me in private or publicly declare his love?

I gathered the chain in my hands and tugged as hard as I could. Maybe if the pipe came away from the wall, I’d be able to free myself from the short leash my captor had subjected me to, and if I broke free, I’d have a chance to escape.

The pipe didn’t budge. Not even a fraction of an inch.

I yanked again, putting all my weight into it. Still no movement.

Tears pooled in my eyes, blurring my vision.

The burst of exertion sapped my depleted energy stores. I sank down to the floor, slipping back into oblivion.

I woke shivering from cold, despite the filthy blanket my captor had left for me. Whatever I’d been drugged with must be working its way out of my system because the nausea had receded, my head was clearer, and I could think better without the cotton-wool-like interference.

Scrambling to my feet, still a little unsteady, I scanned around. The room couldn’t be more than twenty feet square. Along one wall was a workbench, and on the other a few empty shelves, save for a stack of old magazines. I didn’t see anything that could double up as a weapon, apart from a chair with a wonky leg, but it was too far away for me to reach. Nor could I spot any tools that might help me to free myself from the shackles that bound me. I had no choice but to sit on the cold, concrete floor and wait for my abductor to make an appearance.

I stood every time my ass grew numb, and sat again when my legs trembled so much they could no longer hold my weight. I lost track of time. How long had I been gone? Had anyone noticed? Were my loved ones scouring the streets looking for me?

“Ryker, please,” I whispered. “Somebody, please find me.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my purse. Could I reach it? I laid on my stomach and reached out my non-shackled hand. A little farther. Come on, Athena. You can do it.

I curled my middle finger around the leather strap. Yes! I pulled it toward me and unzipped it, searching for my phone. And then I remembered I’d dropped it on the street right before I’d been drugged. The only other thing inside was a lipstick and a wallet, nothing that could be used to help me