Chapter 60 Kidnapping attempt
Sage's POV
I was tired of being cooped up in the house, and with Ryder following me everywhere he got the chance to while trying to avoid Jaxon, I needed some space to breathe. A simple trip to the grocery store seemed harmless enough. The parking lot was nearly empty when I came out carrying two bags, and Ryder had gone to move his bike closer to the entrance so I wouldn't have to walk as far.
He didn't want me walking across the lot alone, but I had convinced him it was only twenty feet in broad daylight and nothing would happen. I even rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness, thinking he was being paranoid.
I was wrong.
They came from between two parked vans. Five men moving fast in a coordinated manner, like they'd practiced this exact scenario. My heart jumped into my throat as adrenaline flooded my system. The first one grabbed my arm and I reacted without thinking, everything Ryder had taught me kicking in automatically. I drove my palm up into his nose and felt the crunch of cartilage breaking. Blood exploded across his face as he stumbled back with a scream. The warm spray hit my hand and I felt a surge of satisfaction mixed with terror.
"Bitch!"
Another one lunged from my left, and I dropped my grocery bags to stomp down hard on his foot. When he bent forward, I brought my knee up into his face. The impact jarred through my leg but I didn't feel pain, only the desperate need to survive. My breathing came fast and shallow as panic threatened to overwhelm me, but I shoved it down and kept fighting.
"Get her! Now!"
Three more men closed in on me, and one grabbed my hair from behind, yanking hard. Pain shot through my scalp like fire but I didn't freeze. I could hear Ryder's voice in my head telling me never to freeze, to keep moving no matter what. I dropped my weight like Ryder had taught me, making myself harder to lift, then drove my elbow back into whoever was holding me. I felt it connect with something solid and heard a grunt of pain. The grip on my hair loosened and I spun around, my fingers hooked and going straight for his eyes. He screamed and let go completely, and I kicked him in the groin for good measure. He dropped to his knees, clutching himself.
But there were still two more of them, bigger and definitely stronger than me. They came at me from both sides and I couldn't fight them both at once. My muscles were already screaming from the exertion and I knew I was running out of time. One caught my wrist and twisted it behind my back while the other grabbed my other arm. They lifted me off my feet and started dragging me toward a van with its side door already open, waiting like a dark mouth ready to swallow me whole.
I screamed as loud as I could and fought with everything I had, kicking and thrashing as I tried to break free. Terror clawed at my chest as I realized they were going to succeed, they were going to get me into that van and then I'd disappear. Ryder wouldn't find me. No one would find me.
Then I heard the roar of a motorcycle engine, tires squealing, and Ryder's voice shouting my name. The sound cut through my panic like a lifeline and I felt a surge of hope.
The men holding me hesitated for just a second, their grip loosening just a little bit, but that was enough. I twisted hard and managed to get one arm free, raking my nails down the nearest face and drawing blood. The man cursed and tried to regain his hold but it was too late.
"Fuck! She's—"
Ryder hit them like a freight train, and the man on my left went flying, picked up and thrown into the side of a parked car hard enough to dent the door. The sound of metal buckling echoed through the parking lot. Ryder grabbed the other one by the throat and slammed him to the pavement, his fist connecting with the man's face over and over as blood splattered across the asphalt. I'd never seen Ryder like this, never seen this level of controlled violence, and part of me was terrified while another part felt fiercely protected.
I scrambled backward and watched as Ryder moved with terrifying precision, his movements brutal with no wasted motion, just pure violence channeled with perfect control. Every punch landed exactly where he intended it, every movement calculated for maximum damage. One of the men I hurt earlier tried to run, limping and holding his face, but Ryder caught him before he made it three steps, grabbing him by the back of his jacket and throwing him into a concrete pillar. The sound of impact made me wince as the man slid to the ground and didn't get up. I wondered distantly if he was dead, and realized I didn't care.
Another one pulled a knife with a big serrated blade and lunged at Ryder's back. My throat closed with fear as I saw the blade glinting in the sunlight.
"Ryder! Knife!"
He spun and caught the man's wrist, twisting it until the knife clattered to the ground, then broke the man's arm with a sharp movement that made me look away. The screaming was horrible, high-pitched and full of agony. I pressed my hands over my ears but I could still hear it, could still hear the crack of bone breaking.
Within two minutes, all five attackers were down. Some unconscious, some groaning in pain, all of them bleeding. Ryder stood in the middle of them breathing hard, blood covering his knuckles and splattered across his shirt, though none of it was his. He looked like something out of a nightmare, dangerous and deadly, and I should have been afraid of him. But I wasn't. I had never felt safer in my life.
He looked at me and his expression shifted instantly, the cold violence draining away to leave behind a raw and desperate look. His eyes swept over me frantically, checking for injuries, and I saw genuine fear there.
"Sage."
I ran to him and he caught me, his arms wrapping around me so tight I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. I buried my face in his chest and felt his heart pounding against my cheek, racing just as fast as mine. His whole body was trembling, whether from adrenaline or fear I couldn't tell.
"Are you hurt?" His hands were shaking as he ran them over my arms and face, checking for injuries with a gentleness that contrasted sharply with the violence I just witnessed. "Did they hurt you? Tell me the truth, Sage."
"I'm okay. I fought back like you taught me." My voice came out steadier than I felt.
"I saw." His voice cracked and he pulled me closer, his face pressed into my hair. "I saw you take down two of them before I even got here. God, Sage, when
I saw them grabbing you—"
"My training paid off."