33. Soren #2
There’s no warning, no minuscule sound to give him away. Aiden comes out of nowhere, firing from behind the kitchen island. It goes wide and hits the lamp to the left of where Mask stands near the couch.
Aiden rises up like a storm god, re-cocking the hunting rifle and training it on Mask with a steady hand.
A smile splits my face. These guys are totally fucked now. For whatever time they wasted watching us, they hadn’t reckoned on him .
The pressure on my back eases slightly.
Aiden steps carefully around the kitchen island, unblinking and absolutely furious. “Step away from them both. Hands in the air,” he warns.
“You aren’t a very good shot, are you?” Mask asks calmly. “You missed me by a country mile.”
Aiden scoffs coldly. “It was a warning. Hopefully this time you’ll take me seriously.”
There’s death in his eyes, turned black with shadows. He’s not kidding, and I’ve seen him use that rifle before. He’s good.
The dude behind me steps to the side with his hands in the air on either side of his head.
Although it’s impossible to tell, I would swear the man underneath the mask is smirking. “Too bad, son. Haven’t you heard the old saying? Always shoot them in the head.”
The room erupts into motion. The hulking muscleman who went for the camera equipment comes up on Aiden’s blind side, swinging a baseball bat. He hits Aiden in the bad leg, and Aiden’s shot lodges in the ceiling. The guy slams the into Aiden’s bad leg a second time and my cousin goes down.
My heart shoots straight up into my throat at his scream. Like a wounded animal.
“Broken bones,” Mask calls out above the noise. “And you do recognize the baseball bat, don’t you, beautiful? You used it on my men the night we came for you.”
Gilli screeches like a banshee. She contorts against the binds and falls off the couch on her side to inch forward. It’s only Aiden’s name, a constant stream of panicked sound as she pushes herself across the floor to get to him.
He’s ashen and unmoving, curled up on his side with his hands above his head to protect his skull as they bring the bat down again and again.
But the damage has already been done. His knee is shattered again, I’m sure of it.
“Leave him alone!” I yell.
Gilli is still trying to get to Aiden. With no one holding me down, I roll to my side and curl up, gritting my teeth, and by the grace of god, I manage to get to my feet.
The guy who’d been watching me moves to grab up the rifle and trains it on Aiden. Between him and the bat dude, they have him surrounded.
“Any more heroics?” Mask wants to know.
“Stop!” I hop and throw myself forward straight into the line of fire. “Take me.”
“Son, we’re not trying to bruise you any more than necessary. We’ve already got you.”
The hired muscle doesn’t care, though. He flips the rifle around and slams the butt of it across my face hard enough to send me careening into the countertop. I hit somewhere near my kidney, my throat aflame with bile.
We aren’t going to make it out of this alive. All our careful planning, the wasted time thinking Gillian was out of her mind, it brought us to this point.
There’s no way to blame her for this. She’d tried to warn us and we hadn’t heeded her. And when she left the cabin on her own, they were waiting for her.
“Aiden,” I grunt out. “Hold on. Just hold on, buddy, please.”
He’s silent, which worries me more than if he’d kept wailing in pain. Silence means he’s passed out, or worse.
But no, I glance over and note the same protective glint in his eyes. He wants to do anything it takes to save her. We both do.
Pride swells my chest. This fucking guy won’t quit no matter what.
Then the faith I’d managed to collect over the last twenty-four hours takes a hike. We thought it was three of us against one faceless enemy.
We were fools. We should have paid closer attention to Gilli when she said the dude stalking her was seriously bad news. We should have gone to the cops right away.
Once again, the shoulds of life got in my head, but right now they won’t make a shit of difference.
“I think,” Mask says slowly, “it’s time for a very important lesson on the pitfalls of playing hero. It never ends the way you think it will. Television has spoiled you boys to the reality of the world and the harsher truth of your situation.”
“Wait.” My teeth feel loose from the hit and I run my tongue over them, tasting blood. “Wait a minute.”
The dude slams the rifle into my stomach like he knows where to hit for maximum pain, and he’s right. I curl to avoid his next hit and meet Aiden’s gaze. He’s awake, barely, his mouth slightly open and his eyes glassy.
Think fast .
“I’ll do it,” I call out as loudly as possible. “I’ll do your fucking show for you right now. I’ll do it gladly if you leave him alone.”
Mask tilts his head as if considering.
“You’re already setting up for a video in the cabin. Right?” I’m scrambling, but now I’ve caught his interest .
“Yes,” Mask answers. “As I’m sure you realize, this is nothing personal. It’s my payday. The fans are expecting a certain level of quality and content. Although they do like it more when my actors aren’t entirely willing.”
The dark fucking web. Holy shit.
Gilli hadn’t known what she stepped into when she first made her online content, and to be fair, who would have guessed she’d be the target of a madman?
“Whatever you want, I’ll do it,” she rushes to say. “Leave them alone and I’ll do anything. Everything.”
Mask apparently finds this terribly amusing. His shoulders and chest vibrate with silent laughter.
“ You have no choice, beautiful. And you aren’t going to be working alone.
Your stepbrother wants to play as well, doesn’t he?
The fans certainly do enjoy the forbidden love angle.
” Mask chuckles darkly. “They’d like it better if you were blood-related, and they’d go positively head over heels if it was nonconsensual. ”
Oh, god. I’m gonna vomit. I’m going to fucking lose it all over the floor.
“Whatever it takes,” Gilli repeats desperately. “I’ll play the part.”
She’s willing to participate to get the heat off of us, but I’m not willing to let her.
“No! Use me, alone,” I urge, my voice gravelly and my throat in agony. “Use me instead of her.”
“Sorry, son, it’s going to be the both of you. And no time like the present.”
The nearest thug rolls me over, purposefully rough. But from this angle I’m staring straight at Gilli and she shares a look with me that reeks of trouble.
There’s something in her expression?—
She’s got a plan.
I shake my head once, vehemently. We’re both in harm’s way but I’m not willing to let her try anything stupid. She’s already got a swollen spot on her brow where they hit her .
“Boys,” Mask says, “undo her ties. She’s not going anywhere.”
The one with the bat, satisfied that Aiden isn’t a threat, swings the wood over his shoulder and heads back to continue setting up the camera and lights. The second one sets the rifle down on top of the counter where I can’t reach it.
The snick of a switchblade being opened, and one of the goons slices through the ties around Gilli. He grabs her by the arm and throws her against the back of the couch while Mask watches the proceedings like some feudal overlord who isn’t ready to get his own hands bloody. Yet.
“Draw the curtains,” he orders, like he can’t believe he has to say it a second time.
“And you, my beauty, will start with a solo performance. Then we’ll add in our guest of honor.
The fans are quite excited to see you after all the trouble we’ve gone through to get you.
I’ve been hyping them up in your absence. ”
Gilli swallows hard, and swipes her hand through her hair. “I’d do better with my glasses,” she tells him. “Can you find them for me?”
Mask studies her from behind the comfort of anonymity. If by some miracle we make it out of here, I’m going to choke the life out of him, slowly. I’m going to rip the mask off and force him to eat it while I strangle him. How about that for his fans?
“No. Stand by the curtains. Take off your clothing slowly. Piece by piece.”
He knows we’re not going anywhere. We’re not leaving Aiden here, and his men are faster, stronger, than we are.
“We’re going to have you put on a show to remember.” Mask drops his tone to a whisper, laden with intent. “And you’re going to enjoy every minute of it or we’ll all know.”
One goon flips on the ring light while the other adjusts the lights overhead to a dull glow.
Gilli rubs her hands over her face a final time and fluffs her hair before she moves to the place Mask indicated. Tears still flow and smear her makeup unmistakably. His fans will probably like that.
I struggle harder against my own ties like it will somehow change the situation. Newsflash: It changes nothing.
Her attention locks on me a final time, then drops her gaze to Aiden, before Mask shifts. He draws his cell phone out of his pocket, adjusting it on the tripod before scrolling across the screen.
“There now. It’s showtime. You’re on live feed, beauty.”
Gilli says nothing. She starts to move to a music none of us can hear. Whatever beat is in her head, she closes her eyes, biting down on her lip like she’s trying to pretend to be anywhere other than here.
“Nice and slow,” Mask says. “We want the fans to know you’re into it. You sexy little slut.”
I’m captivated by her. We all are.
The room falls silent, and the performance calms them enough that I wonder if we’ll somehow manage to escape. Even when my gut tells me the opposite.