A Summary Of Sara's Ransom

Chapter Five: Sara’s Ransom

Twenty-five days post kidnapping
Ally’s lungs were cement blocks heavy in her chest. Unable to breathe, she lay curled in a ball on the floor, gasping for air, drenched in sweat.
Waiting.
The panic attacks had started after Nasif’s first night away and progressively worsened each day. She wanted to pretend it was because he wasn’t there to distract her. But she knew better.
Sayeed would be here soon.
The gnawing voice in the back of her head wouldn’t stop reminding her of the hell his arrival would bring. As the day grew close, the voice became louder, urging her to do something. But there was only so much she could do locked away in a concrete box.
Unable to shut out the images or find a way to escape, hopelessness

After all, she’d spent her career teaching clients that panic attacks were typically non-life-threatening.
While this morning’s episode subsided, she stayed on the floor, slick with perspiration, staring at the ceiling.
He said Sayeed would be here in fourteen days.
Ally crawled beside the bed and dug under the mattress until her fingers wrapped around a thin, wooden pencil. After dragging the frame away from the wall, she slid between the headboard and concrete and sat on the floor. She added another tally mark to the twelve already there. Praying she’d counted wrong, she tapped the back of the eraser against each line and counted again. The end result was the same; Nasif had left thirteen times already. Her pencil slipped out of her shaky fingers and fell to the floor.
One more day.
Images of Sayeed, violating her, flooded Ally’s thoughts. Her chest tightened and her body chilled. Time was running out. Her breathing became labored and a cool sweat beaded across her

After entering, one stood guard on either side of the threshold, overcrowding her small prison.
Nasif leaned against the wall and spoke quietly to the smaller man. Although the shorter of the two, the man was still well over six feet in height. Catching her eye, Nasif rested his hand on the guard’s shoulder. “Sara, this is Amir.”
Amir nodded. He looked young, late teens or early twenties, with a serious face and enormous hazel eyes. His thick, black mustache didn’t fit his youthful features and the oversized jeans and short-sleeve shirt he wore made him look like a child playing dress-up. If not for the gun and belt, she’d not have even considered him a threat.
“And over there is Kadeen.” Nasif waved toward the giant of a man standing a few feet away. Like Amir, he too wore faded jeans and a tee. Kadeen’s brows rose and his dark eyes narrowed when her gaze locked with his. The scar across his cheek, the tight line his mouth made, all of it sent a shiver down her spine. Everything about him screamed danger.
Nasif gestured toward the open door. “Come, let me give you a tour of your new home.”
Sucking in a breath, Ally clenched the sides of her abaya and exited the prison for the first