She reached for the doorhandle, which was next to her arm, sliding her fingers in and waiting for an opportunity. The world continued to swim around her, but when the car stopped, she yanked on the door handle with as much strength as she could muster. Nothing happened.

“The doors are locked, Ms. Mahdi.”

Oh god! Her kidnapping theory had just become a reality.

“Please…” she slurred right before the world went dark.

She didn’t know how long she was out for, but eventually she felt a rush of air over her prone body as the door next to her opened. She tried to see who was unbuckling her seatbelt, but she couldn’t seem to pry her eyes open.

Then she was being lifted into the air and settled against something warm. It was solid and she could rest her cheek against it. She felt safe, though her brain screamed at her that she was definitely being kidnapped and should probably do something about it.

A garbled, unintelligible plea left her lips as she tried to call for help.

She felt movement and realized someone was bending their head to hers.

“Please… help…” she whispered, trying to be as clear as possible.

“I have you, my love,” the voice floating above her said. “Welcome home, Yasmin.”

Chapter Twelve

Yasmin’s head felt fuzzy. She tried to lift her hand to touch it, but her arm was trapped. Frowning, she tried to extricate it from the covers, but the covers wouldn’t move. She cracked an eye to see what the problem was and the room swam in her vision.

“Take it easy, aşkım.”

She froze. Why was there a masculine voice in her bed? There shouldn’t be a man anywhere near her bed.

“Who… where…?” The words felt stuck in her mouth, coming out in a slurred mess. She didn’t even know what she wanted to say.

Images began coming to her in flashes. An airplane, a car, London, a bottle of water, and… Volkan!

“No, no, no!” she mumbled, trying to scramble up the bed and away from the voice.

“You’re safe, Yasmin.” Hands gripped her arms to stop her frantic movements.

It was his voice and his hands! Volkan!

She did her best to focus, blinking several times until she could see clearly.

Finally, she could see his face hovering over her, a sympathetic smile stretching his lips. She wanted to slap it off his face, to scream at him to get away from her, but she was too sluggish.

She needed to use her head and think her way out of this… whatever this was. Unfortunately, her head felt like it was filled with cotton balls and she couldn’t think straight.

“Where am I?” she asked, trying to sort out what information she needed most to survive this ordeal.