Chapter 2 - The Extraction
Gabriel crouched beside Elena. Up close, he smelled of rain, expensive cedar, and gunpowder. He didn't grab her roughly. He carefully slipped his arms beneath her knees and behind her back, avoiding her bruised ribs with terrifying precision.
"Don't touch me," Elena rasped, her voice broken, though she lacked the strength to fight him.
"If I leave you here, Elena Vance, he will finish the job the moment I walk out," Gabriel said softly. "You are coming with me."
He stood up, lifting her effortlessly against his chest. She felt the heavy, reassuring weight of a holstered firearm beneath his suit jacket.
Julian watched from the floor, his face pale with a mix of relief and terror. "You have her. We're square, Thorne. We're square!"
Gabriel paused at the threshold of the shattered door. He didn't look back. "Dante," Gabriel said to the larger of his two guards. "Break his hands. Both of them. Ensure he never holds a belt again. We will collect the rest of his debts later."
Julian’s scream echoed through the penthouse as Gabriel stepped into the private elevator. The doors slid shut, cutting off the sound of snapping bone and Julian’s agonized wails.
In the elevator, Elena trembled violently. The adrenaline was fading, replaced by the crushing, suffocating pain in her chest and face. She looked up at the crime lord holding her. "You're... you're going to ransom me."
Gabriel looked down, his expression unreadable in the dim elevator light. "Your husband is a fool, Elena. I have no use for ransom. I took you because no woman deserves to die on a cold floor while a coward stands over her."
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"Then what are you going to do with me?" she whispered, darkness edging her vision.
"I am going to keep you alive," Gabriel replied. That was the last thing Elena heard before she slipped into unconsciousness.
