The Bad Guy's Doctor

SEVEN

I roll my shoulders out, a breath exhaling from my lips. It was almost time to open the clinic and, fortunately, there was no surprise visits. I turn the knob, pressing my shoulder to the surface and opening it. The cool air brushes against my skin, just as someone's voice makes me turn.

"Thea?" The door slams closed behind me, my grip on it falling limp.

Only one person in my life calls me that.

I spin around, my heart thundering in my chest as I rest my eyes on her. "Elle?" She's standing against the dark of an alley, watching me with wide eyes. Light hair and dark eyes, there she was, Elena, my sister that went missing years ago. "How are..." She opens her arms and I walk to her, my knees feeling weak.

"Thea, it's been so long." Elena hugs me tightly, her grip soothing me in all honesty. Everything in me screams that things are going to be alright. That she's back in my life, that she's okay.

Elena found me. She found me and it's going to be alri--

Someone grabs my wrist. A hand comes around my mouth and yanks me back, my entire body being moved like a rag doll. My hand claws at the one over my face, just as his voice growled over my struggles. "I guess the ice cold doll warms up to family too." Elena watches, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Wha—Mmph!" I elbow him against the gut and he groans, before slamming me against the wall. My cheekbone grinds against the brick, pain prickling my senses. This was a trap.

Of course it was a trap.

"Go, Elena, you're not needed here anymore." My sister glances at me, then to another man approaching her. There's more coming. I'm shaking, my lungs squeezing painfully in my chest. My breaths come out unsteady and heaved, dizziness settling in.

"I didn't mean to deceive you," I can't seem to get a full breath of air. "I just needed some money to restart and get out of here. Please don't—"

"Go. Just—" I gulp down a quick breath, just as the pressure on my back increases. If she used me to restart, then she better make it one hell of a restart. "Leave!" She bites her lip, the only moment I've seen her ever look anything other than expectant. I squeeze my eyes shut, focusing on my breaths.

Don't pass out, don't pass out.

A hand yanks me back, facing a men that I don't recognize. A knife is pressed to the bottom of my chin, tilting my head upward. My chest heaves, rising and falling rapidly. Cold sweat beads against the back of my neck and I swallow. "The rumors weren't wrong about you being absolutely gorgeous."

"Who the fuck are you?" I snapped, venom lacing my words. He narrows his eyes at me.

"You got tangled up with the boss a few days ago. Closed the clinic for a few after too. So where the hell is he?" The guy that attacked me?

A cold laugh leaks from my mouth, cruel and unyielding. "Him? He's dead." The hand lifts me up, until my entire weight is supported by the fabric of my shirt.

"I'll give you one more try, smartass."

"He's in a dump somewhere off grid—" Something cracks against the back of my skull and my vision flashes pure white. I lose all feeling of my body and I tip forward, fading out of consciousness.

- - -

My head plunges into the tank, a hand shoving my neck down into the water. My eyes rip open, the salinity of the water burning them immediately. I'm in a container of such, my entire body submerged in the churning water. I struggle, my hands bound behind my back as my lungs screamed for air. The pressure on my neck disappears and I kick, struggling to rise to the surface.