Sold by Clarissa Wild

Marcello

My whole worldhas shrunk down to this moment.

Wind rushes through the bullet holes in the van, sounding like screams.

The engine groans as I push the vehicle to its limits.

And in the distance, there’s the black sedan that holds my woman. My possession. My Harper. My entire fucking life.

I will fucking get her back, no matter what it costs me.

The car hasn’t left the area of the docks yet. We’re still hurtling alongside the river, my van about a hundred feet behind his.

I’m running out of time and options. I don’t want to shoot out the tires for fear of a bullet going too high and hitting Harper, and even though I’m gaining on him, we’re almost to the interstate on-ramp. All bets are off if Frank can make it onto the highway.

“I’m coming, kitten,” I repeat under my breath like a prayer. “I’m fucking coming for you.”

She just has to hold out a little longer.

My hands are squeezing the hell out of the steering wheel, white bone showing beneath my skin. If I can’t save her, nothing will ever matter again. All my memories and achievements will merely be the anchors dragging me down to the bottom of a deep, dark ocean.

I’ve fucked up so many times, and for so long, I thought it was because of her. I thought Harper was the one making me weak, making me careless.

But I see it all so clearly now. She’s the only one worth doing any of this for.

I’ve cut the distance to a hundred feet. If I don’t find a way to stop them in the next minute or so, it’ll be too late. Frank will escape, and with his contacts, there’s no telling what corner of the city he’ll disappear into. My Harper will vanish.

I can’t let that happen. I’ll have to shoot.

I pick up my gun and roll down the window. It’s like the sound gets sucked out of the world as I aim my weapon, finger on the trigger, ready to fire as soon as …

Suddenly, the sedan swerves. Just a tiny bit for a split second, so fast and subtle that I wonder whether I even saw it at all.

Then it happens again. A swerve to the left, another back in the opposite direction.

With the screech of tires on asphalt, the car jerks hard to the right—and goes careening into the river.

Fuck! No!

The vehicle hits the water, the sound like a sonic boom. The dark waves swarm it and suck it greedily down.

I can think only one thing: Harper’s in there.

I have to go get her.

Fear grips my heart in a tight fist.

I slam on the brakes. My van whines like a dying animal as it slows down. I don’t bother waiting until it stops before I throw open the door and leap out.

I take two big strides, and then I dive over the ledge. For a second, the night air is cool against my face. Then my hands pierce the water’s surface, and it swallows me just like it swallowed Frank’s car with Harper still inside.

The water is so cold it shocks the breath from my lungs. Barely enough light from the lamps lining the edge of the dock embankment for me to see maybe thirty feet down. Below that, it’s all pitch-black darkness.

The sedan is sinking fast. I don’t have much time.

She needs me.

I swim hard and kick with every bit of strength I have. My body jackknifes down. Harper’s face is pressed up against the window—pale, hair swirling around her like seaweed as the car fills with water. Her eyes are vacant. She must’ve gotten knocked out in the crash.

I swim harder. Light is fading at this depth. All I can see is her face. That perfect, porcelain skin shining amongst the green-black waters. My lungs are screaming at me as my supply of oxygen dwindles.

I reach the car and grab the door handle on Harper’s side. She’s so fucking close. Only a thin pane of glass separates us.

But the door won’t open.

The water pressure is sealing it shut.

I yank at the handle, but it won’t budge. Roaring, thrashing, tugging as hard as I can.

We keep descending, me and the car that contains the woman I love and the man who tried to take her from me, all of us plummeting toward the bottom of the river, toward hell, toward a black and silent death.

My vision is beginning to blur and blacken at the edges. There’s hardly any more light left to see by.

I only have enough strength in me for one more effort. After that, the water wins. Frank wins. Death wins.

But I won’t let that fucking happen.

Planting my feet against the runner, I redouble my grip on the door handle and pull as hard as I can while kicking away.

Nothing happens.

Nothing happens.

And then finally, after a final kick, the door gives way.

Harper comes floating out into my arms. Bloodied, pale, unconscious. I don’t know if she’s still alive. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m still alive. Maybe this is all some fucked-up nightmare, and I’ve actually drowned already at the bottom of the river.

But even if this is a dream, I won’t stop trying to rescue her until the end. Until it all fades to darkness.

She’s my kitten. I bought her. I saved her. I love her. I need her.

Never has that been so clear.

With the last of my fading strength, I face upward—still clinging to Harper in my arms—toward the shimmering green surface of the river. And I swim as hard as I can.

My vision is a tiny pinpoint now, one speck of light way above me. It grows bigger as we get closer to the surface. My chest is a clenched fist, squeezing the last of the breath I have in me. Harper is still so limp in my arms, so deathly pale and unmoving.

I came for you, I want to say to her. Even if we die now, I want you to know that. I came for you. I’d do it again if I have to. I’ll always come for you.

And then we break the surface and I suck in a desperate breath of air.

I suck in more air and then swim in the direction of the river bank.

I drag Harper up onto the bank. She isn’t moving. I can’t feel a pulse, but my fingers are so cold from the water that I can’t say for sure if her heart is still beating.

“Harper!” I roar. “Harper!”

I came this far to save her.

I can’t fucking lose her now.

Harper

They say you can see your whole life flashing by you the moment you die.

In a mere second, everything that led you here will cross your mind … everything that spun your world on its axis.

The world around me is bright, and even though my eyes are closed, it feels as though I’m staring straight into the sun. All the colors of the rainbow wrap around me, caressing me with a soft embrace like a warm blanket covering me.

My mother’s face floats above me, her gentle smile and soothing voice lulling me to sleep.

“Mom,” I murmur, yawning as I clutch the blankets closer to me.

“Yes, honey?” she hums, placing the book she read to me back onto the shelves.

“Why don’t I look like you and Daddy?”

I don’t know why the question suddenly springs into my head, but I’ve thought about it many times before.

She pauses near the bookshelves and gazes at me with a puzzled look on her face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

I rub my lips together, questioning my own sanity. “Well, I have green eyes, and you and daddy have brown eyes.”

She smiles ever so gently as she approaches me and bends over to have a closer look at me. “Not everyone has the same eye color. My dad also has brown eyes.”

“But what about my hair? That’s a different color too,” I say.

She snorts. “Oh honey …” Her hand rises to meet my face, and she gently caresses my cheek. “We don’t all look alike, and that’s okay.”

I frown, confused. “But Bobby in my class has brown eyes and black hair, and his parents also have black hair and brown eyes. He says that every kid always looks like their mom and dad.”

Her brows furrow, too now. “Don’t listen to Bobby. He’s just trying to mess with you.”

“But—”

She places a finger on my lips. “That’s enough for tonight. Time to sleep.” She leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “Good night, sweetie.”

“Night, Mommy,” I reply as I lift the covers over my chin like I always do when she turns off the light and makes the brightness go away.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispers before closing the door behind her, leaving darkness in her wake.

I wait and wait, but no matter how hard I stare at the ceiling, my eyes won’t close by themselves. My heart is still pounding, my stomach coiling with a feeling I can’t describe and don’t understand.

I don’t know how much time passes, but I stay here in bed, determined not to let my mommy down. If she said that Bobby was lying then he must be. Mommy always knows best.

Something crackles outside my window, and I gasp.

More rustling.

I sit up straight in bed. “Mommy?”

My voice quakes with fear, and I don’t know if she heard me or not, but I’m too afraid to yell louder. What if that thing outside can hear me? What if it’s coming … for me?

The window creaks, and I jolt up from my bed as a hand appears and shoves it open. My eyes widen. A man steps in through the gap. His gaze is set on me.

“Mommy!” I scream.

Right then, the man grabs me and throws me over his shoulder. I kick and scream, hoping my mommy and daddy will come to save me.

“Stay quiet!” the guy growls.

“Let me go!” I squeal.

Another one enters my room via the window. In his hands, there’s a gun. My pupils dilate, and my breathing stops.

“Take her out, quickly,” the man with the gun says, beckoning the guy who’s carrying me.

Suddenly, the door to my room slams open.

“Shut your eyes, Harper!” I hear my father’s voice before I see him, but I still do what he says.

BANG!

BANG!

I don’t know what the loud noises are. Everything’s so loud, and it’s all going so fast.

The man drops me on the floor, and my body makes an oomph sound. My ears are ringing and my vision is blurry. And the man in front of me, lying on the floor beside me, is bleeding from his stomach.

“Help … me …” he groans.

I shudder and suck in the air.

More explosions follow, and I cover my ears and eyes. As my body aches I still manage to crawl away from the man who tried to grab me. I don’t know where I’m going, but I need to escape.

Someone picks me up again while my eyes still face the floor. I can’t see anything but smoke and fire.

“Hurry up!”

The voice is not my father’s. Nor my mother’s.

And as he runs down the stairs with me locked firmly in his embrace, I lift my head to watch my house go up in flames.

Suddenly, the stranger drops me, and we both tumble to the floor. I cry out in pain and fear, hoping someone will come to save me. The man crawls across the floor, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

But I stay put and curl up into a ball while the tears flow freely down my cheeks. There is no one here, not my mommy, not my daddy. And the men who tried to take me from my room are all gone, with only one of them lying here in front of me on the wooden floor.

Dead.

This can’t be happening. I can’t let myself be consumed by the flames like this.

I gather my last bit of courage, get up from the floor, and start searching around. There is smoke and fire everywhere. I don’t recognize an inch of my own house anymore, and my parents are nowhere to be seen.

I panic and scream. “Mom! Dad! The house! It’s on fire!”

But they don’t respond even though they’re here, somewhere.

I search for a phone, anything I can use to call for help, but the whole place is turning black with smoke. My lungs crackle as heat fills them up, and the more oxygen I try to take in, the more it’s replaced by soot.

I can’t breathe. Can’t think.

And the harder I try to get to the exit, the less I’m able to move.

Before I can make it, my muscles cave, and I collapse underneath my own weight somewhere in the hallway.

Too soon … it’s too soon to die.

Suddenly, two hands whisk me up by my shoulders and drag me out into the open air. My lungs open again, and I gulp in that sweet, clean air as my eyes flutter open.

Everything hurts, but I need to know who’s there, so I lean up on my elbows.

If it’s my mom or my dad … or the people who came to take me away.

But in front of me, facing the house, stands a man I don’t recognize.

A man with a two-part tattoo of an angel and a demon on his muscular back.

A man who I will always remember …

Marcello.

His voice calls my name. “Harper!”