Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 81

Ivak rises to his feet effortlessly, but Ava doesn't look away from the eyes of the men now crowding her little room. Surrounded. Caged. Ava can't breathe.

She really can't breathe.

The gun in her hand is useless. They are in vests, masks and with an automated rifle each. Executioners.

A whole fucking hit team

What the fuck is going on?

"Take her down." Ivak speaks through a snarl. Ava's stomach does a miserable flip as the sound of a gun being handled reaches her. She's going to be shot.

She's going to be target practice for a firing squad.

But no shots ring. No bullets enter her body.

They move in unison, swarming her. Before Ava can even throw a punch or kick out a leg, too many hands latch onto her. Ava screams of horror as they slam her onto the floor.

"Be careful, she just hit her head." Ivak says.

Ava lets out a howl as they restrain her—arms, legs and middle. Through her haze of terror, she hears Ivak's boots knock on the floor before pain explodes on her mouth. Ava's gaze focuses on the scene above her.

"Time to shut that mouth, no?" Ivak teases.

He has jammed his booted foot over her mouth, crushing her lips and part of her nose. During her struggle, grime and dust enters her mouth and she splutters with all her breath stuck in her lungs.

"If you want to breath, you won't scream." Ivak says with a twisted pout on his upturned lip. Ava pants, hardly any air making into her lungs.

"Good," Ivak removes his foot and Ava coughs, spitting the dirt in her mouth beside her. Her mouth throbs as she glares up at him, hardly aware of multiple hands grappling her to the floor.

"You will pay for that," Ava grinds out, her throat raw with her scream. A gust of cold wind blows past her body, making her aware of how sensitive this position is. With dread, she lifts her head to see her naked bottom at the brink of exposure.

"Pull her shirt down. This one likes to flatter herself." Ivak mocks and rough hands brush her thighs as a man yanks her shirt. Tears bite in her back of her throat as she screws her eyes shut. Ava focuses on her breathing, but the crushing weigh of the men reminds her of how Neil had captured her.

How he had tied her down to the floor like this and cut her open.

Cold, unadulterated fear slams into her. She has to brave this. She has to survive this. She has to save Ivan.

Lily.

"That was quick, hm?" Ivak sounds bored as he crouches beside her. "It's okay. This was necessary. He knows you won't come willingly, so I apologize. Or maybe not. You do look so delicious when you're scared."

Ava lurches her head up, "Come a little closer. I will show you just how scared I am."

"Tsk tsk tsk." Ivak mutters, shaking his head at her like she's an insolent child. "Enough of that, darling. No one is coming to save you. I already took care of that."

Ava freezes. The screams. Was it Lily? Is that why she hasn't shown up yet?

Ava draws in a shuddering breath. Did they kill her and her friends? Oh, God. No no no.

A sob tears out of Ava's throat. "Let me go!"

"Never," Ivak gets in her face, spitting through his teeth. "That's never going to happen again."

Again? What the fuck is this psycho talking about? He truly has to be so fucked in the head.

"It's time for you to come home. You have had enough slipping out of his hands. He will be pleased to meet you after so long." Ivak says.

Come home? Ava's head spins and her vision begins to blur. Focus. She has to focus. Ava takes deep breaths to bring back her He, he, he.

"Why?" Ava asks. "What did I do?"

"You did nothing. That is the fucking problem, no?" Ivak says, clenching his jaw. "Enough. Get her up."

Ava's body is yanked upright too fast, so fast that Ava doesn't even see the needle edging towards her neck. Ava shouts in alarm but the piecing pain cuts it off. She thrashes but the pain only ends when hears a clatter.

Ivak swings in her line of sight, victorious and evil. The lights are now turned on, and she can truly see how monsterous the man is. Child-killer. A barbarian. "That should calm you for a while."

And it does. Panic, pain and dread leaks out of her body instantly, a dam of calm cracks opens in her mind. She goes slack in their hands, her head too heavy on her shoulders.

She's going to lose consciousness. If she faints, she's going to lose it all.

"That's it," He sounds far away. "Good. Now rest."

The foreign substance makes her heart race but her breathing shallow. Her blood feels wrong and oily in her veins.

"What..." Ava slurs. "What did you—"

Misery wraps tightly around her heart. She can't lose. She can't give in. She can't go like this. She won't.

"He was right," Ivak says. "You look just like your mother."

Confused, Ava forces her gaze back to him. Her brain hurts as it tries to think, and she winces.

"When I'm awake," Ava mumbles. "You better have chopped my hands off. I will...cut you open." Her mouth feels numb, and so does her brain.

Ivak's laughter pierces through her fog, wrapping around her like barbed wire. "I am going to enjoy taking your body, my darling."

"Touch me and—"

Too many things happen at once. Sounds flood her mind but none of it registers. Ava feels herself falling, her body crumpling under the weight of itself. But she doesn't hit the ground. Groaning, Ava turns her face to find the softness of a blanket. The mattress.

Shouts alert her. Ava's head snaps up to the door, the source of the noise. Cold, murderous blue eyes clash with hers, swirling with specks of gold. Ava's body recoils.

Dale—

No. Lily.

Lily. With a gun. Two guns.

Alive.