Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

Came from a phone somewhere behind me.

He moved fast, striding around the sofa.

Thump. Thump.

The insistent blows came at the door. Terror plunged into me. I yanked the bindings as soon as his head turned away from me. As he strode around the sofa arm, the screen of his cell was still alight. I caught the message as he headed toward the door.

Unknown: Answer it. H.

H.

H?

It had to be Hale.

It had to be.

I shook my head. “No.”

But it was too late as he reached for the handle and opened the door.

It was pushed inward. Two men dressed in white plastic coveralls moved in without saying a word. They didn’t notice me, not at first. One placed a bag down onto the floor, then straightened.

He froze when he saw me. Then Riven turned his head, following that stare to me.

“What the fuck?” the cleaner muttered, glancing back at the man called The Principal. But it wasn’t terror or confusion in his gaze. It was anger.

There was a curl of his lips and a flare of satisfaction in his eyes. He grabbed his cell and lifted it, his fingers moving across the screen.

“What are you doing?” Riven demanded.

The cleaner never answered.

Seconds slowed. Thethudof my heartbeat was suspended as everything moved in slow motion. Riven turned, finding me still naked and tied up. There was a flicker of rage in his eyes, an explosion that seemed to gather momentum as he turned back to the cleaner that was typing on his cell.

A roar came.

Savage and terrifying.

Riven dropped his cell and lunged, slamming into the man sent to wipe any trace of him from this place. The cell was knocked from the cleaner’s hand and sent flying, clattered to the floor, and hit against the sofa I was tethered on.

Thud.

Thud.

Screams followed, But not Riven’s as he pushed his thumbs into the cleaner’s eyes.

The other man with him stood frozen.

“Untie me!”I screamed. “NOW!”

But he didn’t. He just stumbled backwards, then turned for the open door.

Thump.

Thump.

CRACK!