by Raven Dark
I fully intend to stop, to do nothing more than give Michael or Adrian a chance to grab the gun, get away, anything to get the upper hand, only the tires hit a patch of ice and the Hummer skids forward. I try to turn the vehicle sideways the way you’re supposed to instead of slamming on the brake, but the Hummer doesn’t stop. It slams into the truck head on.
There’s a horrendous crash. My head slams into the steering wheel. Pain blazes through my skull. Behind me, a single gunshot goes off, echoing through the mountains with a deafening crack.
Blackness overtakes me and the world is no more.
Epilogue: Alone
The world is nothing but a silent void.
My head is throbbing, but it’s a low ache that feels like it’s been dulled with pain killers. I grasp for the memory of what sent me into the void, but nothing comes to me. My body feels like it’s swaying, a slow, soothing motion, as if I’m lying in a hammock. It’s relaxing. Until the sound of lapping water reaches my ears.
Water.
The memory of the day I almost drowned saving Mr. Bear reaches up, choking me. I jerk awake and sit bolt upright. The pain in my head momentarily worsens with the movement, and I groan.
Then I look around me.
The room I’m in is all polished teak paneling and trim. A desk is pushed up against one wall, stationary and file folders arranged neatly. I’m lying on a bed draped with silk sheets and dark red linens. There’s no water anywhere, but I can still hear it, the soft sound of lapping waves. The room seems to bob lightly.
I’m on a boat?
My stomach turns violently. A fucking boat. I hate boats, almost as much as I hate the water.
Again, I grapple for the memory of what happened before the blackness.
Sluggishly, my mind rolls forward until the memory I’m searching for floods in.
A man, holding a gun on Michael. On Adrian. A vehicle revving. Then a crash, and a stab of pain though my skull.
And…
And a gunshot.
I’d slammed the Hummer into that truck, and then someone had fired a single shot, but who? The gunman, or Michael?
My heart leaps into my throat. Is Michael dead? And if he is, whose boat is this?
Shit. The boat could be Michael’s, but it could also belong to the man who’d been trying to shoot him. Confusion and fear send my thoughts running wild. I leap up from the bed and cross the thickly carpeted room to the door. It’s probably locked.
I turn the knob.
The door opens.
“What the hell?”
For some reason, the all but complete silence in the hall and on the boat unsettles me. I’d expected to at least see a guard posted at the door, but the hall is empty.
Fear claws at me at the idea of going above deck, but survival tugs hard, pulling me down the hall.
Whosever boat this is, the halls are gorgeous, screaming of wealth and opulence. Beautiful crystal chandeliers hang from the ceilings. Gold banisters snake along the walls. Something tells me this vessel is huge, a luxury liner.
The boat sways, and I flatten myself to the wall, gripping a railing there. Fuck, why did it have to be a boat? Why not a cellar or an airplane? Hell, I’d even take that kink chamber now.
I half run up the stairs to the deck.
The wave of heat that hits me nearly knocks me back. Sunlight glares, and when I shield my eyes, the clearest, bluest sky I’ve ever seen stares down at me.
It’s supposed to be the dead of winter, but this feels like the middle of a scorching summer. This isn’t summer weather, it’s a tropical climate. I’ve been taken to a whole other part of the world.
Shaking from head to toe, I walk slowly toward the railing of the boat. I barely take two steps before I stop and the bottom falls out of my stomach.
I cover my mouth, spinning in a circle, staring at the horror around me.
In every direction, for as far the eye can see, there’s nothing but an endless blanket of blue.
Water. Nothing but water.
And worse, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on this boat with me. I’ve been abandoned in the middle of an unknown sea, with no idea where I am, or how to reach land.
And with no idea if Michael is alive or dead, or who has me.
Fuck. If Michael isn’t dead, I’ll kill him.
“Michael!” I scream.
No one answers.
The End of Book One of
THE MAFIA’S PRISONER
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MASTERED
Book Two of THE MAFIA’S PRISONER
coming soon!
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