Uncovering You 10: The Finale by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

cold, too. Dammit! It’s not supposed to be cold in California in May! But there’s no heat in this place. The concrete walls, the floors, the ceiling leech it all away.
    And I thought I’d never find myself prisoner again. I thought that I was safe from that with Jeremy.
    But Jeremy isn’t behind this. Who is? I don’t know.
    Uncertainty makes things unbearable.
    Terror fills me. Claws at me. Devours me. I try to rack my brain to think. But I—I can’t. I’m paralyzed by fear. It’s worsened by the solemnity of this place.
    My screams echo back to my ears. I don’t know if anybody outside can even hear me. This…this sewer, this bunker…is not meant for letting people out—only keeping people in.
     

     
    I’m freezing cold. My teeth are chattering. There’s no warmth. All of it has been seeped out of me. Into what? Into this terrible, isolated ward.
    I’ve given up trying to break loose. There’s simply no chance. The plastic straps that dig into my wrists are unbreakable. The cables binding my legs are much the same.
    I have to piss.
    “Aaargh!” I grind my teeth and scream with frustration. My mind is running circles around what these people might want from me.
    I know nothing about them. Not who they are, not what organization they represent. I keep going over what precious few facts I have.
    The white van. It must have trailed me since I left the Stonehart Building. From my own stupidity I ventured into an unknown, shady party of the city. But dammit, kidnappings aren’t supposed to take place in broad daylight! I thought the biggest thing I had to worry about were the cameras that might be following me.
    This couldn’t have been a spur-of-the-moment thing, either. These people know who I am. They know I am linked to Jeremy. Otherwise, why would the man mention the ransom? He could only be referring to Stonehart.
    And yet, that’s not what they want. If they’re not after cash, then Jesus, it means they are being funded.
    By a rival firm? What else? That’s the only thing that makes any sense.
    Robin’s words from long ago came back to me. Stonehart Industries has dirty secrets. My mind stampedes down the most awful paths.
    Mob ties. Gangsters. Weapons, drugs, and violence. That is the only thing I can think of that allows me to make sense of all this.
    Shit, I’m scared. They want information. What kind of information? Not the sort that I have, most surely. If it’s about Stonehart Industries, I don’t know a thing! I’ve only been there for a few months.
    A new, even more terrifying thought occurs. Jeremy sent me away that one time to protect me from danger. I thought the danger had already passed.
    What if the threat was precisely this?
    A door swings open. I whip my head around.
    A masked man comes in. Someone new.
    Only his eyes are visible. He’s a hulking behemoth of a human. A veritable giant. He’d even makes Jeremy seem small by comparison.
    “You must be hungry,” he says. He tosses a metal container to the floor. “Here. Eat.”
    He has the same crude accent as the first man. Definitely Arabic.
    He kneels behind me. I feel a tug, hear a snip, and the next thing I know, my hands are free.
    Like a bear he comes around me. A bear with one massive claw. In his hand is a curving saber the length of my arm.
    He points with it to a door across from us. “The lavatory,” he grunts. The blade touches the cords around my leg. “You will sleep on the floor. Do you understand?” He leans closer until his face is no more than an inch away from mine. “When I let you go, you will not fight. You will not try to run. Yes?” The tip of his blade presses into my foot. “Or else you will lose two precious, little feet.” His eyes search mine. His knife presses even deeper. “Yes?”
    I swallow, and nod as quickly as I can. “Y—yes,” I stammer.
    “Good.” The man stands. I scream when, without warning, he swings his blade like a scythe in an undercut thought the air.
    It thuds