Chapter 137 Chains Around Me
Chapter 137 Chains Around Me
Chains Around Me
Dylan’s POV
The men holding my arms barely reacted as I fought against them. I twisted, kicked, and pulled with everything I had left, but it was useless. There were too many of them, and I was exhausted. They dragged me out of the warehouse as if I weighed nothing.
They threw me into the back of a van. I landed hard on the cold metal floor, and a sharp pain shot through my hand. Something twisted painfully in my wrist, making me suck in a breath. It felt like I had sprained it. Before I could recover, the doors slammed shut, trapping me inside. A second later, the engine started, and the van pulled away.
I had no idea where they were taking me.
Several minutes passed before the van slowed and came to a stop.
I pushed myself up, hoping to peek through the tiny gap in the covered window, but the man sitting beside me caught my movement. His hand crashed across my face, making my head snap to the side. Before I could react, he shoved me back onto the floor.
“Stay down,” he growled.
The inside of my cheek throbbed where my teeth had cut into it. I lay still, fighting the sting in my face, while voices drifted in from outside. The driver was talking to someone, but they were speaking too quietly for me to make out the words.
A minute later, the door opened again.
The driver climbed back inside and looked at the others.
“Ethan will meet us there,” he said.
The van started moving again.
This time, the drive felt longer. Every turn and bump made my injured hand ache even more. I tried counting the minutes, tried guessing where we were going, but eventually I lost track.
When the van stopped again, the doors were thrown open.
Rough hands grabbed me before I could even adjust to the faint light outside. Someone yanked a blindfold over my eyes and tied it tightly behind my head. Darkness swallowed everything.
“Move.”
They pushed me forward, one man gripping each arm. I stumbled as they forced me to walk, unable to see where they were taking me.
After a while, they suddenly stopped.
Voices rose around me, but this time they weren’t speaking English. The words were quick, flowing together in a language I couldn’t understand. It sounded like German… or maybe something close to it. I wasn’t sure. Whatever they were saying, they clearly didn’t want me to understand.
A few moments later, they started walking again.
The ground beneath my feet slowly changed. The solid path disappeared, replaced by uneven rocks that made me stumble with almost every step. The air grew colder, damp enough that I could smell wet stone.
My stomach dropped as I realized it was a cave.
Fear wrapped around my chest so tightly I could barely breathe.
“Is this it?” I asked, unable to keep the tremble out of my voice. “Is this where you’re going to kill me? Or is this some kind of sick game?”
The only answer I got was silence.
They kept walking.
A few moments later, I heard the sound of a car approaching. The tires crunched over loose gravel before the vehicle finally came to a stop. The engine went quiet, and everything around me fell into an uneasy silence.
I couldn’t see who had arrived. I didn’t need to know it was Ethan.
I heard his footsteps drawing closer, slow and steady. Even through the blindfold, I felt something change. The air seemed heavier somehow. Usually, when Ethan was around, there was always that mocking amusement in his voice, like he enjoyed every second of watching me suffer. This time, that was gone.
When he finally spoke, his voice was cold and emotionless.
“Bring him.”
The order was short, but everyone moved immediately.
The men shoved me forward again, forcing me deeper into the cave. The air grew colder with every step, and the smell of damp stone became stronger. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it was trying to break out of my chest.
Soon, I felt the space around me grow tighter.
We had reached a narrow opening carved into the rock.
Panic surged through me, and I fought back with everything I had left. I planted my feet, trying to stop them from dragging me any farther. I twisted, kicked, and pulled against their grip, but it made no difference. They barely struggled to overpower me.
One of them swept my legs out from under, and I crashed onto the cold stone floor. Before I could move, they pinned me down.
One man held my legs while another forced my arms apart. I thrashed beneath them, desperate to break free, but they were far stronger than I was.
Then I felt a cold metal closed around my wrists.
A second later, the same icy weight clamped around my ankles.
The chains snapped shut with a loud click that echoed through the cave, the sound bouncing off the stone walls again and again.
Each metallic clang sank deeper into my chest, filling me with a fear I couldn’t push away. Whatever Ethan had planned for me… it was only just beginning.