22. Paige
PAIGE
W hite hot pain pulses at the back of my head. Squeezing my eyes shut, I suck in a deep breath and try to breathe through the nausea that threatens to rise up from the pain. I try to lift my hand to my head but freeze when I realize I can’t move.
Slowly, I peel my eyes open, blinking quickly to clear the blurriness, and take in my surroundings.
The sight of the broken door and cabinets in front of me causes everything that happened to come crashing back. Tears prick the corners of my eyes at the memory of trying to get away, of having the exit in sight only to be grabbed once more.
Then the fucker hit me and everything went black.
Voices from the other side of the door reach my ears and I strain to listen.
“I sent the demand and picture, but he hasn’t responded,” a familiar male voice whines. I try to place it but come up short thanks to the throbbing pain.
“He’ll show.” The confident words come from a woman. “I’ve had eyes on him for months. He’s soft and will cave simply to get her back.”
My brows scrunch as I try to piece things together. I’ve watched enough crime shows to know this is clearly an attempt at a kidnapping for ransom.
Well…more than an attempt since I’m tied to a chair.
I swallow thickly, my dry throat irritated by the move.
“Maybe we asked for too much,” the guy says, sounding closer than before.
“Please,” she scoffs. “What we asked for will barely put a dent in his bank.”
The door swings open, hitting the wall so hard that I’m almost shocked it doesn’t break.
“Oh good, you did wake up.” The woman cheers and I flinch at her high-pitched voice. “Good news. You didn’t kill her!”
I follow her gaze over her shoulder and jolt against my seat.
“Brandon?” I whisper hoarsely as he steps up behind her, eyeing me wearily from across the room, and shrugs.
“I didn’t really think I hit her that hard. She just wouldn’t stop running.”
The woman pats his chest cheerily. “Yes, but you know how fragile some women can be in comparison to a big, strong man like you.”
My face scrunches, both at her implication that women are weak and the fake affection she’s placating Brandon with.
“Who are you?” I croak, and she twirls to face me and steps closer into the dim lighting of the room.
Her dark brown hair is mixed with gray, lines crease her face, and her nose is slightly crooked as if it’s been broken and reset poorly. But it’s her hazel eyes that clue me in on the answer before she speaks.
“Right, I suppose we can do introductions. You know my sweetie here…” She bats her eyes dramatically before spinning back to me. “And I’m Tracy…Walker.”
I raise my brow, adjusting in my seat as best as I can to ease some of the ache in my lower back and arms. Ignoring the fact that I thought she was in jail, I ignore her need for a shock factor. “Okay, and?”
She glares at me and crosses her arms across her chest. “I’m Garrett’s mother.”
I laugh, unsure of where my false confidence is coming from. “No, you’re the woman who birthed him. Liv Mikeslon was his mother.”
Her hand lashes out faster than I can anticipate. My head whips to the side from the force of the hit and the sound of the slap registers moments before the actual pain.
“That bitch ruined everything. If she hadn’t been so nosy and stuck on her high horse, we never would have been arrested.”
The taste of blood fills my mouth. Tilting my head to the side, I spit it out and straighten as best I can in the chair. Brandon creeps up behind Tracy, eyes bouncing between us like he can’t decide if he should intervene or not.
“I’ve met the men she raised. Excuse me if I don’t believe you for character reference.”
“Why you little?—”
“Tracy, she’s taunting you.” Brandon glares at me over her shoulder. “Which is rich coming from the person tied to a chair.”
Tracy doesn’t move, standing in front of me and fuming as she glares.
“Babe, go cool down. You thought of everything to get us here. No point in losing our cool over a brat like her.”
Her jaw clenches, but she gives in. Whirling around, she storms past Brandon. “I’ll go find some duct tape or something to keep her mouth shut.”
Once she’s gone, I relax slightly, keeping an eye on Brandon the entire time.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask quietly.
He tears his gaze from where Tracy disappeared.
“Because the two of you need to be knocked off your high horse. You think you’re so much better than the rest of us.”
I shake my head, wondering how he could possibly see things like this. Neither Garrett nor I have ever thought we’re above anyone. When it comes to Brandon specifically, I even tried to help him more than I should have.
“How did you meet Tracy?” I ask, rolling my wrists and trying to see if there’s any give in the rope holding my hands together.
Brandon sneers at me. “She found me just before you two wrongfully fired me.”
I blink. Then blink again. “B-Brandon, you weren’t doing your job.”
“I was doing enough!” he shouts and I slam my mouth shut, realizing I’m walking a very thin line by questioning him.
He shakes his head, pacing the small length of the room and muttering under his breath.
I store all the information away and stay silent. It’s clear that Tracy is just using him, but I’m not about to point that out when I have nowhere to go.
Glass shatters in the distance and Brandon freezes, staring out the door.
“Tracy?” he calls out. When she doesn’t answer, he doesn’t even spare me a second glance and leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind me.
My heart pounds in my chest as I listen for any signs as to what’s going on.
I’m so focused on the door and what’s ahead of me, that I’m not expecting the window over my shoulder to be kicked in. I bite back a scream, swallowing it down and curling forward as best as I can to avoid the glass hitting my face.
I look back just as bright green eyes and blond hair pop up. “Oh good, I picked the right window.”
All I can do is gape at the giant man who crawls through the window. His buff shoulder gets caught and he just huffs in annoyance before slipping his hand up and breaking the frame. He drops in with ease after that, standing to his feet with more grace than I would have expected from a man of his size. I stare up at him as he looks around with a nod.
“This place is a dump,” he says in disgust and moves behind me. Before I can ask what the hell is going on, he’s cut the rope from my hands.
The man frowns, sparing me a quick glance before unzipping his black sweater and tossing it at me. “Some people have no fucking manners.”
I catch the sweater, looking between it and him before finally speaking.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Parker. G-man is waiting for the all clear,” he says and I can only assume he’s talking about Garrett. He pulls something round from his cargo pants pocket and holds it up. “Now how about we have some fun and get you out of here?”