27. Alexis
Alexis
I struggled to open my eyes, blinking several times until I could better understand where Adrian and his fuck boys had moved me.
From what I could tell, I was no longer in the damp prison cell from earlier, and my entire body was aching from the beating they had given me.
I don’t think there was a single spot on my body that wasn’t bruised or potentially broken anymore.
I could still taste the iron on my tongue from Chad’s blood.
I’m sure it was still caked to my mouth, chin, and chest. I could only imagine how unhinged and fucked up I looked right now.
I flexed my fingers behind my back, my wrists burning from the zip ties that were cutting into them, the warm drops of fresh blood sliding down and pooling in my palms.
That sleazy, lying son of a bitch would pay for this.
The moment I get myself free from these restraints, I’m going to kill him.
I knew Adrian’s intentions for me were bullshit from the start.
But I was too ignorant to quit while I was ahead and walked away, too scared to realize I could have found another way out.
He knew I’d never back down from a challenge, and that was what landed me in this fucked up situation in the first place.
My tasks were nothing but sloppy setups to earn my trust and confidence before beating and breaking me until I felt like I was weak and worthless. I could see the look on Madison and Chyler’s faces now—the disappointment in my blind recklessness.
Here I was, poor fucking Alexis. Tied to a goddamn pole, in an underground secret hideout, beneath the city I grew up in, waiting to die, with no one who could give two shits to come and find her.
I doubted Derek had even a single clue as to where I was.
He’ll never find me; if he does, it will be too late.
Where did I go wrong? Blind ignorance…
How the fuck did I let this happen to me? I’ve been asking myself that a lot as of late.
I felt like a woman about to be burned at the stake for a crime she didn’t commit.
My head fell forward, and I stared at the ground, tears falling from my eyes and soaking into the dirt underneath me.
Fight, Alexis. Fucking fight for yourself. You aren’t this pathetic mess you believe you are.
Inhaling a deep breath, the last part of my resolve shattered, and I screamed.
I screamed so loudly that the sound bounced off the walls into every tunnel that connected from this central room .
I screamed so loudly that my throat became raw from the strain, and my ears found their own pulse.
I screamed so loudly that when I had finally finished and sagged against the post, Adrian was standing at the opposite end of the room, glaring daggers at me with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing his immaculate black fucking suit.
You sorry son of a bitch… I wanted nothing more but to burn him alive in that suit and watch him scream in agony until he was nothing but a pile of ash.
“Oh, sweet Alexis. Is that what you are resulting to now? Screaming? No one can hear you down here. At least… no one who cares.” Adrian chuckled, and I swear the zip ties around my wrists were tightened even further.
No —they weren’t tightening on their own…
fueled by fury, my wrists had strained so tightly that the ties cut deeper into my skin.
“The fuck do you want with me, Adrian?” I screamed with enough venom to kill. I was a fucking fighter, and I was going to get the hell out of here, and when I did, I was getting as far away from here as possible. After getting my revenge on Adrian, of course.
He stepped towards me slowly, one agonizing step at a time, not speaking a word. His smug ass sauntering pissed me off—as if I could be any angrier right now.
“Spare me the theatrics, you sick son of a bitch.” I rolled my eyes so hard I almost lost my balance. Adrian stopped before me and gripped my blood-crusted chin tightly, his fingers digging into my skin. I hissed from the pain as he tilted my face so that my eyes could meet his toxic green gaze.
“You need to watch that filthy mouth of yours, sweetheart.” He hissed, so close to my lips that I could taste his threat on my tongue.
“You need to get the fuck away from me.” I jerked my face from his hold and snarled.
“Don’t worry, Alexis, soon I won’t have any more use for you, just like Monika.” He crouched down to my level and tilted his head as if I were some feral animal under inspection—I sure as fuck felt like one.
“I must admit, you’ve been the perfect bait until now.” His voice dripped silk and honey; no wonder Madison dropped her panties for him so quickly.
He was a charmer, in a fucked up kind of way.
Wait… bait? For what?
“ Go fuck yourself. ” I hissed through my teeth before spitting in his face. If he was going to look at me like a caged animal, I would gladly act like one.
Adrian held his composure, taking a hand and wiping the spit from his cheek before backhanding me so hard my head snapped to the side.
He then stood to his full height, straightened his jacket, and flicked an imaginary piece of dust from his sleeve before a sharp whistle came from one of the passageways.
My cheek stung and burned where he had struck me. I gritted my teeth from the searing pain, and I was positive my cheek was now red and had already begun to welt—just another mark to add to the collection that covered my body .
“It seems as though our guests have arrived. I’d ask you to wait there like a good girl, but it appears to me that you don’t have a choice in the matter.” His sarcasm drove me to bite into my cheek, and my breathing turned heavy with the aggression that burned through me.
If I could turn into fire, I’d burn this fucking place to the ground with both of us in it.
“On second thought…” He added before snapping his fingers, and a cloaked figure stepped between us, blocking my view of him.
I fell back against the post, the back of my head hitting it hard enough to hurt, before a set of hands came up to my face and taped an X across my mouth with two strips of duct tape.
My eyes widened, breathing accelerating, as I attempted to shake them off of me, my screams muffled and useless now.
“See you soon, Alexis.” Adrian’s voice echoed in my mind.
No, please, no. Not again. Fuck.
“Lex?” A voice echoed in my mind, and I mumbled, forgetting there was tape covering my mouth. How long had I been unconscious again? “Oh my god, Lex!” The voice grew louder— voices . I heard multiple different voices surrounding me.
Shortly after Adrian had my mouth duct taped, one of his asshole followers hit me over the head with something hard again, and I lost consciousness.
They sure loved knocking people out when it was convenient for them.
As if I could have done anything being strapped to this fucking post with my mouth taped shut.
If anything, I bet it was Chad taking another free shot at me while he could. That sorry-ass motherfucker was second on my list after Adrian now.
Blinking my eyes, I looked around to see who was speaking and calling my name. My heart cinched as my vision cleared, and I could see Madison and Chyler kneeling before me. Both of them looked as wrecked as I felt. Concern etched across both of their faces.
I tried to speak, the tape muffling my words.
I sighed and hung my head, tears welling in my eyes.
I felt pathetic, weak, and helpless, with the two strongest women I knew staring at me with pity.
It was the frat party all over again. I had fucked up so badly, and I knew it; I’m sure they did too.
I didn’t want their pity, but there it was, and it dragged me down even further.
Whimpered noises came out of me as I fought to hold back the bulk of my shame.
“Shh… Lex, it's okay. We’re here. No one’s going to hurt you anymore,” Madison whispered as her hand touched my shoulder.
“We need to get the tape off her mouth and get her off of this pole,” Chyler added, inspecting my wrists, which I could only assume were heavily cut up from the zip tie, seeing as she cringed at the mere sight of them.
I could no longer feel my hands; they had gone numb from either blood loss or just a lack of circulation in general .
“Chy, cut off that zip tie; I’ll get rid of this tape,” Madison instructed as she cradled my face in her hands, searching my eyes. “I’m going to need you to take a deep breath for me, Lex. This will hurt, but it’ll be quick, I promise.” Her voice was remorseful but reassuring.
I nodded, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes as she gripped a corner of the tape, ready to rip it from my mouth. I braced myself for the shooting pain that I knew would shortly follow.
“Ready? One… two…” Before getting to three, Madison quickly stripped the tape from my mouth.
It felt like my skin ripped from my face along with the duct tape.
I bit back a scream, eyes watering from the pain.
Every inch of skin the tape had covered burned.
A second later, my hands dropped to my sides as Chyler cut the zip tie with her knife, the blood rushing back into my fingertips.
I brought them up to my chest, curling in on myself.
“I’m so… sorry.” I whimpered, more to myself than them.
“Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong, Lex.” Chyler softly spoke, rubbing my back with her hand.
“We’re just glad you’re still alive… and in one piece from the looks of it.
Did they do—anything—to you?” She swallowed; her voice was concerned as if remembering the night at the frat house all those years ago. The night they both came into my life.
“No.” I breathed, shaking my head and trying to catch my breath. “They tried, but I fought them.” I sat up, tilting my head back to show the dried and crusted blood that covered me from my chin to my chest .
“Atta girl,” Chyler chuckled with a playful elbow to my side. “Now, let’s get you the fuck out of here.”
I was more than ready to go, but what about… Where was Adrian? He said I was bait. Bait for what? My eyes frantically scanned the room, wondering where he could be hiding—waiting for his moment to strike. How did Chyler and Madison get past him unnoticed?
“Adrian,” I choked out before my eyes locked on to the one person I needed to see most across the room. Derek.
Not caring about the pain I was in, the potential broken ribs or numb limbs, I pushed myself off from where I was kneeling and bolted across the room into his arms. I couldn’t stop the tears that fell from my eyes once he wrapped himself around me, locking me in his strong embrace.
Home , he was my home, and he was here.
“Derek, let me explain,” I rushed out, looking up into his eyes, knowing just how angry he had to be with me about all of this, the secrets I kept from him regarding Anathema, and the tasks I had been completing to join them.
“Not now, pretty viper.” His hand cradled my cheek, wiping the tears flowing freely from my eyes.
“I don’t care what happened, what got us here.
All that matters is that you are safe.” He murmured, pressing his lips to my forehead with a sigh of relief, and I began sobbing uncontrollably, collapsing into him, his arms holding me up for support .
I was a mess, a complete and vulnerable wreck. I didn’t deserve him, his love—his understanding. But here he was, giving me everything I needed.
A throat cleared, and we all turned to look at who had made the sound. There, standing at the far end of the room, was Adrian. A smug grin on his face as he took in the scene before him.
“Hate to ruin this beautiful reunion, but it looks like the whole family is finally here.” He spoke, stepping towards us.
Derek’s grip tightened on me as he walked us back towards Madison and Chyler. I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his scent for comfort and escape, although nothing was comforting about this situation. Atlas stepped in front of Chyler, and Dean closed in on Madison.
Peeking my eyes out from Derek’s shirt, I saw Eli, but he wasn’t joining us. He had started casually strolling towards Adrian with his hands in his pockets.
“Eli,” Derek called out; I could feel his commanding voice rumbling in his chest.
“Sorry, guys. Only doing my job.” Eli shrugged, uncaring, as he stopped beside Adrian and smirked.
Eli had been working for Adrian all along? But why? How?
“What about Monika, Eli?” I stood straight and shouted across the room. He hated Anathema and blamed them for the death of her. Didn’t he? Although, I guess he blamed me now since I confessed to her murder…
“What about her?” Eli sighed, bored of hearing her name .
“You seemed pretty devastated that she had been killed at the hands of Anathema, believing it was because she outran her use for them. How could you be working for them and also be that heartbroken over the loss of her?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
He was standing next to the man who signed her execution orders.
“Its called lying, Lex.” He admitted. “Monika was nothing to me, but I needed you to believe she was. You are my everything.” Eli answered, grounding out the last part as if it hurt him to admit it.
His words sent a chill down my spine. Eli must have been more obsessed with me than I thought he was.
“Let me clarify further for Eli.” Adrian cut in.
“He traded Monika for your protection. I didn’t have to keep you alive to get what I wanted.
But Eli here was against that part of my plan.
Said he would gladly give up Monika’s life to protect yours.
” He smirked. “Seems like it didn’t pay off in his favor in the end, though. ”
Eli just shrugged, disregarding the blood on his hands. “There are always other ways of getting what I want.” He added.
I sucked in a breath, looking up at Derek, my hands fisting his shirt tightly. He couldn’t be suggesting what I thought he was. He wouldn’t kill Derek just to get to me. Would he?
“All of this for me?” I gasped, glaring at Eli and Adrian.
Adrian let out a dark chuckle, stepping closer to us and sucking on his teeth.
“For you? No. You were nothing more than bait to me.” Adrian stopped roughly ten feet away from our group .
“You said that earlier. Bait for what?” I lashed out at him as Derek pulled me tighter against his chest.
“Madison, of course.” Adrian gestured his hand to where she stood behind Dean, “Don’t tell me you’ve moved on already, sweetheart.
” His smug expression caused my stomach to twist. I was hurting, but not by the admission that I was nothing but bait to him; I was hurt because I had unknowingly and unintentionally handed him Madison on a silver fucking platter.
This was all a setup… for Madison.