A hand grabbed for her, and the shiver running over her skin alerted her that it was Ricky. He twisted her arm back and pulled her toward him.

An instant later, she saw Gabriel stop short, his face horrified. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t approaching. Only when she took a deep breath and expanded her lungs did she realize why: Ricky was pressing a wooden stake against her chest.

“One step further, and she’s dust.”

Maya swallowed. Gabriel’s eyes flooded with agony. She could see his mind clicking, going through every possible scenario of how to get her out of this situation, but she realized that Ricky held all the cards, and Gabriel would never risk her life.

“You’re so predictable, Gabriel. I guess that comes from thinking with your dick,” Ricky spat.

“Let her go.”

“She should have been mine. I saw her first. If you hadn’t interfered, she would have been mine.”

Maya felt bile rise in her gut. “Never.”

Ricky pulled her tighter, twisting her arm higher. She ignored the pain and concentrated on her disgust for him instead. “Don’t kid yourself, my sweet. You’ll still be mine. Once we’re gone from here and it’s just you and me, you’ll have no choice.”

“I’ll hunt you down,” Gabriel warned.

Ricky laughed as he walked backwards, taking her with him. Like a shield, she was plastered against him, and there was no way Gabriel would be able to attack him without risking hurting her. She knew instinctively that it would be up to her to free herself. But Ricky was strong. She knew exactly how strong from their encounter at Samson’s house. At least there she had been able to use her skill to defeat him. She could do so again.

Maya’s eyes darted around the dark hall, trying to find something she could use to free herself. She came up empty. Except for some water buckets, nothing was in her vicinity that would make an adequate weapon.

They reached the back of the hall, and she felt Ricky opend the door behind him to advance into the next part of the structure. She gave Gabriel a last look, locking eyes with him, telling him she loved him, before the door shut and she was alone with Ricky.

He didn’t remove the stake from her heart. Clearly, he’d learned from their earlier encounter. “What are you trying to gain by this? You know he’ll kill you when he catches up with you.”

“Yes, but by that time, I will have had you, and you’ll be damaged goods. I’ll have used your body so often and so violently that even he won’t want you back.”

Maya’s blood froze at the venom in his voice. She tried to shake off the feeling of despair that hit her. No, even if Ricky managed to do to her what he threatened, Gabriel would still love her.

Her ears perked up. In the distance, glass shattered. Was it Gabriel?

Ricky had heard it too.  “Time to go.”

He pushed her ahead of him, the wooden stake now pointing at her back. Which probably meant that he could kill her from that angle too—he wouldn’t have to plunge it into her chest, because the back would do, too.

Maya took in her surroundings and noticed a shovel lying on the ground near one of the plant beds. Somebody had forgotten to put away their tools after their work was done. She honed in on the item as they passed the spot. She concentrated and visualized the shovel rising from the ground, hovering in the air.

A clang against a metal surface broke her concentration. She felt Ricky swivel, then pull hard on her arms. “Bitch!”

She twisted her head and saw that the shovel had hit a railing she hadn’t seen.

“You try that again, I’ll stake you right here.”

She somehow doubted his claim. He’d wanted her for so long, that she didn’t believe that he would kill her now when he hadn’t even forced himself on her yet. She figured he’d at least try to rape her. The sick bastard would surely not forgo that perverted pleasure.

Ricky shoved her through the next door. A movement to her left caught her eye and stopped her in her tracks. Ricky bumped into her, and the wooden stake bounced against her back. Instantly she pulled forward, the contact with the wooden implement having sent her heart rate spiking.

She used the momentum to pull against Ricky’s restraining arms. One of her wrists came free, and she twisted herself in a half circle.

Another silent shadow entered her peripheral vision, the figure too small to be Gabriel. Maybe it was just a hallucination.

Her feet suddenly lost tracking, and she fell to her side. A shadow leaped over her in the same instant. Somebody had grabbed her feet and made her lose her balance. And it hadn’t been Ricky.