The Hunter's Angel

Vengeance

The first thing I heard was the sound of metal rattling. It seemed to be coming from somewhere beneath me. 

Slowly, I forced my eyes open, blinking away the dark spots dancing across my vision as my gaze adjusted to the room. 

No - scratch that. This wasn't a room. 

I seemed to be in the back of a van, swaying side to side as the vehicle barreled down a road. At least, I thought it was a road. I couldn't tell, facing a solid white wall with no window in sight.  

I twisted my head to try and make out where I was, but a piercing throb pounded through the back of my skull, drawing a wince out of me. 

I must have been knocked out. 

What the hell had happened? 

All I remembered was leaving the party to walk Kat and Liam out, and then...

I willed the fog away from my mind, trying to remember. Kat and Liam got in an Uber, I waved them off, and was headed inside when I saw - Bruce. 

Bruce. 

Suddenly, everything came crashing back to me. Bruce acting suspicious, looking at me with so much guilt in his eyes, before everything went dark. 

Oh, God. He had set me up, hadn't he? Had it been him this whole time, working with the cartel?

Shock at his betrayal crashed through me like a wave. I knew he had been acting off, but never in a million years would I think that he would put me in harm's way. 

The look in his eyes, the things he said - I couldn't wrap my head around it. 

"I had no choice." 

Who was controlling him? Who was he so afraid of? I knew it had to be someone in the cartel, but it didn't make any sense. Why now? Why me?

I sucked in a terse breath as a sharp pang pulsed against my skull, my eyes squeezed shut from the pain. I probably had a concussion. 

I went to touch the back of my head, where it throbbed relentlessly, but my arms wouldn't budge more than an inch. 

What the hell? 

Looking down, I blinked away the stupor to see that my wrists had been bound together with rope. As my eyes further adjusted, I soon realized what the clanking sound had come from. 

My ankles had been chained together, attached to the metal bench that I was sitting on. Rendering me completely helpless. 

Shit. 

Panic began to seep into me, cold and thick, sending a surge of alarm through my body. 

What the fuck was going on? Where were they taking me? 

Terror flooded me as my mind conjured every worse possible outcome, but I quickly forced it away, sucking in short breaths as I willed myself to calm down. 

Relax, Layla. Think. I could get out of this. I just had to figure out how. 

Biting down the pain pounding through my head, I managed to swivel around slightly to survey my surroundings. 

There seemed to be a backdoor to the van on my left, though, I had no chance of reaching it with these chains holding me down. 

Glancing to my right, I came to face some sort of sliding, metal door, preventing me from seeing or reaching whoever was up in the front. 

As I listened closely, I realized I could make out the sound of muffled voices speaking. Yet, I couldn't make out a word of what they were saying. I wasn't sure if it was because of the door, or because of the pounding in my skull.