Page 239 of Breaking Rosalind
He’s missing the point. Everyone has forgotten the most important thing Gunther hasn’t yet mentioned.
Why is he ringing me from my little girl’s phone?
“Let me get straight to the point,” he snarls. “Deliver your carcass to Warehouse 47 or I will turn Miranda into a Lolita assassin.”
I inhale a shallow gasp, and the world goes black.
NINETY-SIX
CESARE
I lie naked on a mattress on the floor, spooned behind Rosalind’s nude form. My body heat is the only thing keeping her from freezing to death, since they’ve put the air conditioning on full blast. We’re in a windowless basement cell with illumination coming from chinks of light beneath the door.
Tommy’s son and an entourage of lackeys bundled us into a vehicle at gunpoint then drove us to a hideout, where they forced us to undress.
That shit they injected into Rosalind made her too high to take off her clothes. I had to break one bastard’s nose and another one’s finger to stop him from touching her. In the end, they decided it wasn’t worth trying to fight me and left me to undress her myself.
At least eighteen hours have passed since Rosalind’s boss called with news that he’s holding Miranda hostage. I don’t know if it’s bullshit, since Tommy hung up before he could even complete his demand.
Rosalind is at risk of hypothermia. Her body temperature after passing out suggests dilated blood vessels and heat loss. Now, she’s unconscious in a freezing basement and her body temperature is dropping like a stone. She can’t even shiver to stay warm.
All I have to offer her is the warmth of my body.
I run a hand up and down her cold forearm, trying to infuse some warmth into her frigid skin. She’s almost blue in the bleak light, her soft breathing the only sign of life.
“Those fuckers will die,” I snarl under my breath, pressing myself as close to Rosalind as I can. This is no place for her. No place for either of us.
Our only chance of getting out of this shit hole is Matty, who is desperate to connect with the children he fathered through rape. Rape is the only way Mom could have ever gotten pregnant by that monster. After seeing those two in person, there’s no way she would have slept with either of them without being coerced.
Tucking my face into the crick of her neck, I try to breathe life into her cooling flesh. “I’m going to get you out of here,” I whisper into her hair. “And we’ll get Miranda.”
Every primal instinct screams at me to rush to the door and wrench it open and unleash a roar to shatter those bastard’s eardrums, but that shit wouldn’t work in my basement dungeons. The Galliano’s doors are even thicker than the ones Dad installed beneath our home and are bolted in four places.
I have a helpless woman to protect, and I’m desperate to save an innocent girl. The only way out of this mess is to use my fucking brain.
As the hours drag past, Rosalind begins to stir. Her breaths lengthen and deepen, and she shivers. Some of the tension leaves my body, and relief washes over me like a wave. She’s warming up and showing signs of starting to thrive. I pull her closer into my chest, and with each passing minute, the shivers subside and her skin inches closer to my body heat.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur into her hair. “We’re going make it.”
“Miranda,” she croaks, her voice barely a whisper.
My heart sinks like a dead weight. I don’t have the heart to tell her that Tommy wasn’t interested in saving her daughter. “Focus on getting warm again, so we can save her.”
She falls asleep again, this time a lot warmer than before. It’s a clear sign that her body has metabolized the benzo. As I’m dozing off, the sound of bolts being drawn back makes me startle awake.
Heart pounding, I unravel my limbs from Rosalind’s and rush to put myself between her and the door. The air grows colder, and I resist the urge to shiver.
It swings open, revealing Tommy Galliano, who has the nerve to wear a silky white robe with a cravat. Behind him is a wall of oversized men holding guns, because a cowardly reptile like him can’t show his face without backup.
“Time to give the bitch another dose,” he says, flashing his artificial teeth.
Two of the assholes shove me aside and amble toward where I left Rosalind on the mattress.
“Get the hell away from her.” I lurch at them with my hands balled into fists.
“Restrain him,” Tommy drawls.
Another pair of goons holds me back. Panic sets in as I struggle against their hold, desperate to break away from them and save Rosalind before it’s too late. “I swear to god, if you inject that shit in her, I’ll hold you down while she carves out your livers.”