When I come to, I feel a little disoriented, and my right eye is partially swollen from the blow I took to the face. I'm unable to move my arms. Turning my head, I look to see why. I'm also on my knees, with my arms outstretched, and both wrists are bound with rope to pipes sticking out of the walls on either side of me. With little movement and barely able to see through one eye, I can't get a good look at my surroundings. The lighting is very dim, and it smells a bit musky like mildew. The floor at my knees feels like concrete, which leads me to believe I might be in the basement of the house. Tugging on the ropes causes a burning pain to shoot along my shoulders from the extreme tension on my muscles.

Another thing I notice is how cold I am. Looking down at myself, I realize my clothes are gone. The only article of clothing on my body is my cotton panties. Oh My God. How long was I out? What else has he done to me? I close my eyes. Pure panic sets in as I ignore the stabbing pain I'm inflicting on myself by trying to break free. I knew what I was walking into and all the possibilities that came along with my choice to come here, but fear has a way of lurking in the shadows, and right now it has its claws sunk into my chest.

My thoughts quickly shift to Lisa. I pray she was able to get away. The look on her face when I told her to leave—to run showed the inner struggle she was having with the decision to run and leave me behind or stay and the fight was hard on her. In the end, her choosing to save herself was what I wanted. If she did make it, I might have a chance at getting out of all this alive, because she'll be able to lead Jake and the rest of men back here. What if she didn’t get away? What if she never made it to the vehicle? What if she's dead? I need to prepare myself for the realization that no one will find me.

The sharp ticks of metal against metal break through my thoughts and the eerie silence that had filled the air, making me aware of the fact that I am not alone down here. I do my best to look over my shoulders to see behind me, but the shadows of the room are too dark for me to make anything or anyone.

"I'm impressed. You and that biker bitch took down one of my men. I have to admit I underestimated you, Anna." Ronan speaks from behind me. With the sound of his voice, I freeze. I know this tone. I know it well. The sounds of his shoes clack against the floor with each step he takes causing a slight echo to bounce off the brick walls as he paces the floor.

"And you shot Connor here." Appearing from the dark corner of the room, Connor slowly strides towards me holding a gun at his side. Even though I want to show no fear my body betrays me and my breathing picks up. So this is it? This is how my life ends? With a single bullet? "You look a little confused, my dear." Ronan notices I can't take my eyes off the gun. "I'm sure you've heard the saying an eye for an eye, right?"

Connor stops a few feet in front of me, letting his eyes trail my exposed body. Without any hesitation and no time for me to react, he raises the gun and pulls the trigger. In an instant, I scream out in the sheer agony of the pain ripping through my left shoulder just to the side of my collarbone. Blood starts to seep from the gunshot wound and trickles down my side.

"You disappoint me, Anna. You could have had anything you ever wanted. We could have been an unstoppable force. A family bond should never be broken." Stopping beside me, Ronan runs a cold finger along the outer edge of my breast. Bile rises in my throat from his touch.

"Like the way you broke mine? You took my family from me."

Rolling his eyes like I'm some petulant child throwing a tantrum Ronan huffs an annoyed breath. "This again." He walks away and turns his back towards me for a moment slipping his hands into the pockets of his designer suit pants. "Connor go find out when the helicopter will be here; I need a private moment with my wife." He demands.

"Yes, Sir," Connor responds to the order walking out the door.

Beginning to stroll around me again casually, I wait for his next move. The fire burning in my shoulder is unbelievably intense. Silent tears stream down my face as I do my best to remain motionless against the tautness of the ropes and the rough, cracked surface of the basement floor beneath me digs into the soft flesh of my knees almost making that task impossible.

"I know you killed my mother. I don’t have proof, but I know you had something to do with the bakery fire. She shouldn’t have been there. She never stayed late like that. Not by herself."

Taking his hands from his pockets, he rubs them together. "Unfortunately, your mother did something she shouldn’t have. She meddled in affairs that were not her concern. You see, I found out your mother was having me investigated for the murder of your father."

My eyes go wide. Deep in my soul, I knew something wasn’t right about the mugging that the cops said took a wrong turn. Daddy walked the same path home for years. He knew everyone in the neighborhood.

"Your father didn’t want me to have you." Ronan stops and cuts his murderous eyes at me, "I always get what I want, Anna," He lifts his lips in a devilish grin. He doesn't have to come right out and say it. The look Ronan gives me is his admission. He killed my father too.

"They both got what they deserved. My family hasn’t spent years building an empire for nothing."

"Did you ever love me?" I finally ask. It's not important anymore. I stopped loving him years ago, but I want to know if he ever cared for me.

"Love is a strong word to use." He peers up at the ceiling. "I wanted you. I was obsessed with you. My father disapproved of you, and that made me want you more. Then you became a means to an end. I married a sweet, innocent young woman. Someone I could mold," he pauses.

I take a shuddered breath and fight through my pain. "You had plans to force your own daughter into an arranged marriage once she turned eighteen. How could you do something like that? You are a sick bastard. All you ever did was use me, then you planned on using her too. I hate you." I growl.

Ronan gets right in my face. So close I smell the stench of scotch on his breath. His hand shoots out and takes hold of my chin. "This kind of behavior is unacceptable, Anna, You have to be punished now."

Clenching my teeth, I stare into his cold, menacing eyes. Eyes I once thought held the world. Eyes that reveal the monster he is. The old me would beg and plead, but I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. My blank stare and muteness hang between us.

"You were always a screamer. You remember? I don’t get as much time with you as I had planned," he pushes the hair from my face and tucks it behind my ear, "so we'll have to make this one count. You'll break, Anna. Before I'm done with you, I'll have you begging me to kill you instead." He smirks.

Stepping back, he keeps his eyes trained on mine. I watch him roll the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt up to his elbows then he begins to undo the buckle on his belt. "Still don't want to ask for my forgiveness?" He laughs.

Defiantly I raised my chin and hold his stare. I start to lose sight of him as he steps over the rope tied to my right wrist and stands behind me. I stare straight ahead knowing what comes next.

"Tell me what you did wrong, Anna." He demands of me. My silence is my only answer. The only thing I ever did wrong was love a man like him.

The sharp crack of a leather belt snapping causes my entire body to tense and a lump to catch in my throat. Closing my eyes, I picture the beauty in my life. My daughter. Jake. My friends who are my family. I drowned myself in knowing Remi is safe. The first strike of the leather across my skin steals my breath and my back bows. Holding the scream in becomes an act all its own. I won't give him my pain. I won't let him see or have my fear.

"I bet you've been wondering if your friend got away." Whack whack whack. The belt hits my flesh several more times. "Beg me to stop," he swings again and again, "and I'll tell you if she got away or if I put a bullet in her head." Whack.

It's when the hard end of the buckle splays my back I lose control and wail in pain. He swings the leather, hitting the buckle across my back again and again. "I told you I would break you. I'll have mercy on you and end it all now if you ask me for forgiveness," Ronan rages. Whack.

My screams have turned into sobs as he continues his brutal assault. I let my only thoughts be of the ones I love. The images I see when I close my eyes are of all the people who love me.

The basement door flies open, and Connor rushes to say, "The chopper just radioed. They are landing now and said they had eyes on several bikers and some SUVs turning onto the road heading this way, boss. We need to leave. Now."

"Are the explosives set?" Ronan inquiries tossing the belt to the floor.

"Yes, sir," Connor answers back. "We can remote detonate once in the air."

Looking over his shoulder Ronan gives me one last look. "I won't stop until I have my daughter. Goodbye, Anna."

He's gone. No longer able to hold my weight I let my shoulders slump. All the pain mingles together, and I sag my head. Muffled voices yell from somewhere outside, and gunfire breaks out. The Bomb. If they come in the house; we all die.