CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
LUCY
I think we both completely underestimated this situation, and this one guy who has taken us. Sure, he looks like some young frat boy, and he’s relying on a gun to keep us under control, because anything else and we’d have fought him more, but now he has Stella, and he’s hurting her. I fight to break free of the handcuffs, but they’re metal, and I’m just too weak to do anything to free myself. I try sliding my hands out of them, pulling my thumbs in as much as I can, but it’s impossible. I’m just sitting here like a fucking loser, while he hurts her! She needs me, and I can’t get to her.
I hear another scream, and something crashes against the wall, and I’m so scared its Stella, that I’m screaming her name. How can this be happening? Why are we here, and where the hell are our men? Do they really think we just ran from them? Are they sitting in a bar somewhere, drowning their sorrows, while Stella might be dying? What about her baby, oh god, what if he hurts her baby?! I start screaming even louder, begging him to free her, or to hurt me instead. Why can’t he bring her back to me? I’ll take the pain for her this time, she doesn’t need to always be the one putting herself in danger for me.
“Please! I’ll do anything! Stella!!!”
It falls quiet in the room beside us; no more crashing, or screaming, just silence, and I’m terrified that it means she’s dead. What if he just killed her? My best friend. My sister from another mister, or whatever the expression is. We were signing books for people, we were having fun, how can this be the result?
There’s a sound, and it’s not coming from the room where he took her. It’s behind me, where there’s simply a wall and a boarded-up window. What’s he doing now? Is he planning to kill me next?
“Stella,” I sob, curling up on the floor by the bed, wishing he’d just bring her back so I can make sure she’s alive. I’m terrified that she’s not, and I’m equally terrified she is alive, but she’s in so much pain that she’s wishing for death. Our men should be here. They should be fixing this and saving us. Where are they? This shouldn’t be the result of our time together. This shouldn’t be our future. If Stella’s dead, I want to be too. I can’t live without her with us. Or with me, if our men truly don’t come for us.
When he comes for me, I won’t fight him. I’ll just let him do it, because… my heart sinks even further as I realise I’m making a unilateral decision here for my baby as well as me. I should fight for him or her, rather than just giving in, shouldn’t I? It isn’t just about me anymore, just like Stella would have been fighting hard for her child, I need to do the same.
I don’t want my baby to be hurt, and I don’t want them to die before they even get a chance at life. We would have had a great life together, with our babies growing up together, and being siblings, literally from different mothers, but siblings, nonetheless. They deserved that chance, we all did.
Where are you, Mav, Gage, and Sebastian? Why aren’t you here to save us? Why couldn’t you save Stella and that poor unborn child? Why won’t you save the two of us either? Do you really think we’d just run from you without a word?
You said you’d never let us leave you, so where are you? Was it all bullshit? We’ve seen them kill for us, so why aren’t they here to do it again?
There are more noises behind me, movement, a person, but despite my desire to fight for the baby, if not for myself, I’m frozen with fear. I’ve heard of fight or flight, but right now it’s more like I want to do both, but neither is possible.
Someone grabs me, and I try to scream, because even though I know he’s going to kill me, and I know I’m not capable of stopping him, I can’t fight the fear that fills me again, like a fire burning its way through my body, and telling me I can’t give up.
GAGE
We break in through the back door as quietly as we can, so this dipshit isn’t alerted to our presence. The second we make it into the filthiest kitchen I’ve seen in my life, we all freeze momentarily when we hear screaming. Not just screaming, blood curdling screams.
Stella.
I whisper to Mav and Sebastian, “We need to split up. I’m going toward the screams.”
The fact is I’m only hearing Stella, which means either they’ve been separated, or Lucy is already dead. The mere thought of it leaves a pit of dread in my stomach. The only thing more terrifying than the sounds of her crying out, is the sudden silence. It’s eerie, and I already know whatever we find is going to send me flying into a rage.
Walking toward where I heard the sounds only a few minutes ago, I nod to the other two as they walk into a bedroom, and I move further down the hall where I hear the faint sound of grunting.
There are some images you’ll never get out of your brain. This is one of them. Stella lies on the floor appearing to be unconscious, red angry handprints on her throat, while this asshole kneels between her legs, her skirt over her hips, panties pulled to the side, his pants down, as he prepares to shove his dick in my fucking woman.
Under normal circumstances, I’d have already pulled him off her, but I can’t because, with his hand not on his dick, he holds a gun in Stella’s mouth.
I’m behind him so he doesn’t see me, but he knows I’m here.
“Move any closer and I’ll pull the trigger.”
The fury running through my chest like a fucking live wire is what Stella would call Gage Rage. I stand on the spot, not moving because I’m panicking. Generally speaking, I’m afraid of nothing, or so I thought.
“I’m not moving any closer.”
I take in a deep breath and release it as quietly as possible. “Let's talk man to man, before you do something that cannot be undone.”
He shakes his head. “This bitch has to pay.”
Pay for what? There’s no way Stella did anything to him because she couldn’t hurt a damn fly.
“For what?” I ask, trying to buy myself time to fucking think.
Tightening his grip on the firearm, he speaks in a devastated tone, “She cost me Abigail.”
Who the fuck is Abigail?
“Who is that?” I ask, as confusion continues to swirl in my brain.
“My girlfriend. Well, she was my girlfriend until she met Stella and that Lucy.”
I run a hand through my hair as he rubs his cock against her pussy. No fucking way am I standing here watching him rape her.
One thing is clear, I have to drop to his level in order to save her. Somehow, I have to make him think I’m his friend.
“Where is she now?”
He groans painfully. “Fuck if I know.”
I chuckle humorlessly. “That’s where you messed up, man. Gotta watch their every move and you know what, I’ll help you, but you have to leave my friend alone first. Then we’ll find Abigail and, hell, you can tie her up and keep her all to yourself.”
Pushing the barrel further into her mouth, moving his finger to the trigger, he says, “Your friend?”
I shrug as if he can see me. “Technically, she’s my girlfriend's friend. And you know how women are.”
“I just want Abigail,” he mutters pathetically, “Will you really help me?”
“You got it, man. I just need to be able to tell my girl her friend is safe.”
He pulls the gun from her mouth and tosses it on the floor, and without hesitation, I bend down and pick it up, placing it in the back of my jeans.
“Now pull your pants up and sit on the chair, while I make sure she’s alive.”
I watch him cautiously, as I kneel down beside her and place my ear over her mouth, to make sure she’s breathing.
She is, thankfully, and now the rage begins to build like an inferno. Her eyes flutter open with a gasp. “You came for us.”
I smirk at her. “I’ll always come for you, little mama. There was no scenario in which we wouldn’t.”
Sebastian walks through the doorway and utters a pained groan. “Stella!”
MAV
That journey to get to our ladies takes too fucking long, and every second is agony. I know we kidnapped them, and did horrible things to them, but we fucking love those women, and anyone who even looks at them wrong deserves pain. This fucker deserves to die a hundred fucking deaths.
After Gage sends us away while he heads for Stella, and her screaming, we have to force ourselves to leave, because she’s clearly being hurt, and that’s killing us.
“She needs us,” I whisper to Pretty Boy urgently.
“What if Lucy’s dead?” He asks, kicking up my fear another thousand fucking notches. She can’t be dead. I’d know, wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t I fucking feel her death deep in my soul? We’re that intensely connected, all five of us, that surely, we’d fucking know.
We head down the dark, dirty hallway, checking inside the few dusty, cobweb-covered rooms, until there’s only one left, and behind that door must be Lucy, but whether she’s alive, hurt, or dead, we have no idea. We both hesitate, my hand on the door handle, because I don’t think either of us are ready to see the worst thing we can imagine; one of our ladies dead and gone. It’s like that Schrodinger’s Cat dilemma, because right now she could be alive or dead, but we’ll only know if we open the door. Fuck. This is terrifying.
Sebastian grasps my shoulder, squeezing lightly, and we both take a deep breath, as I push the door handle down and the door creaks open. Lucy’s there, but she’s curled up on the floor with her back to the door. My first thought is that she should be facing the potential threat, rather than leaving herself vulnerable, but that split second thought is forgotten the second she gasps and tries to curl in a tighter ball, protecting herself from whoever came for her.
“Please,” she whispers, barely audible, and my heart fucking breaks a little more. What has this asshole done to crush our girl so much so fast?
I drop to my knees and wrap my arms around her, and she lets out a panicked squeak as she tries to pull away from me.
“Lucy, it’s me. You’re safe, baby.”
Her head keeps shaking for a few seconds longer, before she realizes what she just heard. Who she just heard.
“Mav?” she turns in my arms as best she can, bursting into tears.
“She’s fucking cuffed, and I don’t see a key anywhere here,” Sebastian hisses at me, as I lean over her to focus on her wrists. No wonder she had her back to the door, there was no other option. I quickly figure out how dumb this fucker is though, and gesture to Sebastian to help me lift the bed up, while I let Lucy lower her wrists, until she’s free from the bed frame. What a fucking amateur.
“Stella! He was hurting her. Oh god, she might be dead! Where… where’s Gage?” She casts her eyes around us, fresh tears slipping from her eyes. “He didn’t come? Did… did he think we left him? We’d never do that, I promise!”
I lift her into my arms, and nod to Sebastian, to move ahead of me. He kisses the top of her head and leans close. “He’s rescuing Stella, baby. Just calm yourself down, because you’re safe now, but that fucker’s about to bleed.”
STELLA
Lucy runs over to me and throws her handcuffed arms around me. “Are you okay?”
I whisper, “I’m okay, but my throat hurts.”
She pulls back and stares at my neck, “Jesus,” and jumps up and sprints for our kidnapper, “You fucking bell-end. You could’ve killed her.”
Pulling her arms back, she balls one hand into a fist, ready to punch him in the face, but Mav grabs her by the waist. “All in due time, little mama.”
Gage and Sebastian stand on either side of the asshole. “Someone get Stella a drink of water for her throat. But for fuck’s sake, make sure the glass is clean. This place is a fucking cesspool,” Gage says with a growl, turning to glare at our kidnapper. “Gimme the keys for the cuffs.”
I could definitely use some water. I’m not badly hurt, but the burn in my throat makes it hard to talk.
Sebastian comes over and kneels beside me, unlocking my cuffs and rubbing my wrists. “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? Did he hit you in the stomach? Is the baby, okay? Does your head hurt?”
I giggle silently at the barrage of questions. I know he’s worried, he wears it in his expression. “I promise, I’m okay. And he didn’t hit me in the stomach,” I whisper.
“Maybe you and Lucy should go back to the hotel until we’re done here.”
I surprise myself as much as I do Sebastian. “No. I don’t want to be away from any of you, but even more than that, I want to see him suffer. I need to.”
Lucy echoes my sentiment, crossing her now uncuffed arms over her chest defiantly, as she says, “I’m still going to punch him in his fucking face.”
I bite my lip to not laugh at her because I know she’s serious, but her saying those words in her little British accent is adorable, although I have no doubt she means every single word.
Mav finally comes back with a bottle of water. Thank God.
He hands it to me. “Here you go, baby.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as I glance at the bottle, but concern fills me when I realize the seal is broken.
“I don’t want this. It’s not sealed. I don’t trust him for obvious reasons.”
Leaning down, he kisses me on the top of the head. “All good, mama, I broke the seal myself.”
I nod and twist off the cap the rest of the way and chug the bottle, not stopping until it’s empty. Then he hands the other one to Lucy, and she does the same.
“I really have to pee.”