Darkness.
Cold.
Emily’s world was spinning.
A sharp, pounding ache throbbed at her temple. A dull burn stung her wrists, the thick rope biting into her skin. Her body slumped against a cold, metal chair, and the chill of the warehouse floor seeped into her bones.
Dust. Gasoline. Rusted metal.
She recognized the scent before she even opened her eyes.
A warehouse.
Maybe near the docks. Maybe an abandoned factory. Didn’t matter. What mattered was that she had been taken.
She forced her breathing to steady, shoving down the flicker of panic threatening to rise.
She had been in danger before.
And she had survived.
She would survive this, too.
The distant echo of footsteps sent her pulse spiking.
Slow. Measured. Confident.
Emily lifted her head, blinking past the haze in her vision
