The moment she stepped blindly down from the last step on the concrete stairs, she felt a large muscled arm wrap around her neck and jerk her against his body. She couldn’t see him but she could tell that he outweighed her several times over.
He choked her so quickly that Kerry didn’t even get a chance to scream. Remembering a few of her self-defense lessons, Kerry clawed at the man’s arms and tried to kick and drop her body weight, but the man was too strong. There was nothing she could do to get free.
Dragging her quickly down the alley, he tucked them in between two buildings, using his hand to wrap around her neck, forcing her silence. His mistake was that he had turned her around and now she got a good glimpse of his face. It was one she recognized and now she realized how he knew that she would be here.
“You’re going to listen to me, child. You’re going to return home and leave that piece of shit that you’ve been shaking up with. I don’t think mommy or daddy would approve of a felon.”
She struggled against him when he said those horrible things about the man that she loved. A man that she prayed she would see again.
“Then you’re going to marry Lord Donoveaux. Do you understand?”
The man that had once been part of her trusted security team and had been the one that got them lost in the small town lessened his grip so that she could answer.
Kerry gasped for air as she tasted blood travel down her windpipe.
“No!”
The punch to the face was unexpected and she slumped against the old brick wall as her vision blurred.
“Why? What’s in it for you,” she managed to say through gasps of air.
“Everything. Lord Donoveaux has promised me my choice of women and riches.”
“He lied to you.” She seethed, feeling the smallest sense of joy when his expression of dominance faltered. “Those aren’t things he can give away. Even if I married him, I will be the queen and the official ruler. He’d be nothing more than a trophy husband.”
“You lie, little girl.” His hand jutted back out and wrapped around her neck. The pain was immediate and Kerry felt new tears fall down her cheeks. “When Donoveaux is king, he can make his own rules and do whatever he pleases.”
She wanted to argue with him, tell him that the laws were in place for a reason, but as his hand tightened in anger, her vision began to blur and blackness caved in along the edges of her sight.
“Kerry!” she heard her name shouted and wanted to cry out in relief until she realized that the space they were in was so tight that anyone walking past may miss it.
The sound of footsteps approached and the hand around her neck tightened further and she feared that he’d snap her neck in the next few seconds.
“Kerry!”
The voice was closer now and the telltale sign of a gun being cocked echoed along the brick.
It happened in a split second, but the hand around her neck fell away and Kerry dropped to the ground while her assailant took off in the other direction toward the main thoroughfare of Main Street.
Her savior turned the corner and rushed to where she was slouched on the ground. Miraculously she was able to garner enough strength to point in the direction the man ran and thankfully, Preston took off in chase.
“Oh, sweetheart, are you okay?” Landon asked as he gently brushed his hands across every inch of her body. “Of course, you’re not okay. I’ll give Avery’s husband Logan a call so he can come to look at your neck. It’s already bruising. God, I am so sorry. I could never have imagined this would happen.”
“Landon,” she screeched, trying to get his attention. “I’m okay. Please just hold me.”
“Forever, sweetheart,” he said as he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bar, ignoring the boxes spread across the ground.
She was thankful that the booths had arrived during the week because he gently placed her on one of the cushioned seats.
“I’m going to get you a glass of water and give Logan a call.”
“Thank you.”
Kerry settled into the booth as Preston came back into the bar heading straight in her direction.
“Did you?” she whispered and he nodded with a solemn smile on his face. Alexis was coming around the corner just as he ran off. She tasered him right away. He’s already being escorted to Asheville. He’ll be tried here and then in your country.”
Landon handed her the glass of water, which she greedily drank despite the soreness of her throat.