Chapter Twenty
The sound of a chain rattling woke Aliannah. She couldn’t understand what was going on. She was blindfolded. She determined she was lying down. Her hands were bound behind her back, and her ankles were chained together. She gathered the rattle she heard was a longer chain tied to her ankles. Her mouth had also been gagged.
She lay very still, trying to take in all the sounds around her. There was a pipe dripping somewhere. She could hear what sounded like train horns or boat horns—it was hard to tell which. Aliannah tried to sit up, but her head was throbbing. She groaned and lay back down. She heard something shuffle. She froze.
“Ah, glad to see you have re-joined the land of the living. It’s about fucking time,” A male voice she didn’t recognise. Aliannah began to panic. She felt a tug on her ankle chains, pulling her towards him. She tried to scramble away, but with her hands and feet bound, her efforts were in vain. The man chuckled.
“Look, boys! We’ve got a live one!” he shouted. The other men cheered and laughed, but it was difficult to determine how many there were. Suddenly, hands grabbed each of her arms, and she was hoisted into the air. She tried to scream, but with the gag in her mouth, any sound she made was muffled. This just caused the men to laugh more.
The men threw her into a chair hard. It knocked the wind out of her. She felt one of the men chain her hands to the chair while another one unchained her ankles. She took this opportunity and kicked out as hard as she could. She couldn’t see where to aim, but she made contact and heard a sickening crunch followed by a loud roar of pain. Her chair would have toppled backwards from the force of her kick if the man chaining her hands was not still there.
“You little fucking bitch! You just broke my nose!” the man roared. Aliannah’s head swung to the side as he slapped her hard. Her ears rang from the contact.
“Brady, take over! Make sure the bitch is tied down tight!” Aliannah made a mental note of the name Brady. She felt Brady grab one of her ankles and tie it to the chair leg. She tried to kick him off with her free leg.
“Oh, she is feisty, Cameron! Not so fast, bitch!” Brady grabbed her free ankle tightly and tied it to the other leg of the chair. He slowly dragged his hands up her thighs as she squirmed. Brady let out a dirty laugh.
Aliannah’s heart was racing. She tried and tried to get out of her restraints, but it was no use. The chains and ropes holding her in place were too strong and too tight. Wriggling only made them even tighter.
“Look at her boys. All wrapped up like a bow for us in that red dress.” She felt a rough hand drag down her cheek before the man grabbed her by the jaw. She felt his breath on her cheek as he dragged his nose along the side of her face, inhaling deeply. Aliannah shivered.
“Smells pretty, too. I can’t wait to have fun with this one.” He licked up the side of her face. Aliannah pulled away. SLAP.
“Fred, stop it and leave some fun for the rest of us,” Cameron ordered. She heard Fred back away.
“Let’s see that pretty face of yours, sweet-cheeks,” she felt someone untie the blindfold. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to where they were. It looked like a warehouse. She could see three men standing in front of her. Cameron was easy to identify; he was holding his bloodied nose. Brady was crouched next to her with his hand on her thigh. Fred was off to the side. They all looked like dirty goons. She did not recognise any of them.
“Boss was right. She is pretty.” Brady was practically drooling. His hand inched higher. Aliannah tried to move away again but couldn’t. Brady tightened his grip. She cried out. That was definitely going to bruise.
Cameron’s phone rang, and he signalled for the men to follow him. They walked out the door and locked it behind them. Aliannah frantically looked around the room. There was a table on the other side with boxes on it. There was a lamp pointing at her. She looked again. There were ropes and chains hanging from the ceiling, too. Her heart was racing. She noticed the floor was stained and leading towards a drain. She gagged, realising those stains were blood.
Where the hell was she? What happened? How long had she been unconscious? She tried to steady her heartbeat and thought back to the night. She remembered getting ready with Michelle and Gavin and going to Zino’s. She remembered dancing in Zino’s, but then her mind went blank. She can’t remember what happened next.
She started panicking again. Where are Michelle and Gavin? Are they here, too? What had happened to them? She looked around the room. She was its only occupant. She relaxed slightly but then realised her friends could be held in another room. Aliannah saw something in the corner of the room. It was the head of a bear costume. THE BEAR! He must have slipped her something in those shots. She remembered trying to get away from him before she woke up here. Shit, did Gavin and Michelle see her leave? Did they know she was gone? Taken.
The men returned a few minutes later. Cameron looked eager to get on with whatever they had planned. Brady just kept staring at her legs that were tied wide open. Fred pulled in an extra chair and sat down to watch. Aliannah cursed herself for wearing such a short dress. She was sure that Brady could see everything; the man was drooling. Cameron walked over to her and took the gag off her. He placed it on the table nearby and opened one of the boxes. His eyes lit up with excitement as he pulled out a stun gun. He did some test zaps as he walked back over.
“Now, sweet-cheeks, are you going to be a good girl, and tell us where it is?” Cameron crooned as he walked around her, dragging the stun gun across her skin. Aliannah raised her brows.
“What are you talking about? Who are you?” her voice was both hoarse and shaking as she spoke.
“Wrong answer!” Cameron zapped the air by her face. Aliannah flinched.
“I swear I don’t know what you are talking about?” she was shaking. Cameron smiled. He brought the stun to her bare arm and zapped. Aliannah screamed.
“We are not after your Granddaddy’s money, sweet-cheeks; we want Ivan’s. Now I am going to ask you again. Where is Ivan’s money?” Cameron demanded. He was the impatient one of the three. That much had become clear. Aliannah shook her head; tears streamed down her face.
“I don’t know where he keeps it. I don’t know anything,” she was sobbing. Cameron zapped her thigh, this time for longer. She screamed. She could smell her skin starting to burn. Brady licked his lips at the view he got every time she jumped. He had sat himself on the floor for the best vantage point of his favourite area.
“Careful Cam…Boss said not to get too rough with her.” Fred was stern. He was the level-headed one of the bunch. Aliannah looked at him with pleading eyes, but Fred avoided eye contact.
“Fuck off, Fred. You always ruin the fun. The Boss wants answers,” Cameron snapped. Aliannah observed as the three men began to argue over their given instructions. Brady never took his eyes off her.
“Who is your boss?!” Aliannah surprised herself with how demanding she had sounded. Everyone looked at her, brows raised, surprised she had spoken to them with such a tone.
“Our boss is Viktor Antonov,” Brady spoke much to the anger of the other two, who escalated their argument.
“Why the fuck did you tell her that!” Fred roared
“Not as if he will let her live to tell the tale anyway?!” Cameron countered. Aliannah did not know who Viktor Antonov was.
“I have never heard of him before. Ivan never spoke about business with me,” She sobbed.
“Quit crying bitch. No one cares for your tears here,” Fred snapped, standing, knocking the chair flying behind him. This only made her tears fall harder. Fred stormed over to her and slapped her.
“I said stop fucking crying,” he roared in her face as he pulled her head back by her hair. She tried to stop. Silent tears now fell. “Good little bitch. Unless you have answers for us, we don’t want to hear a word out of your pretty little mouth.” Fred rubbed his thumb across her lips as he said this, smearing her red lipstick across her chin. He adjusted his jeans. This sight had him turned on.
Aliannah swallowed. She couldn’t think of how this situation could end without her death. The only point of escape was the door the men had used. There was no other way in or out that she could see. She had no idea what time of day it was or even how long she had been unconscious. She could only hope that someone would come to her rescue before it was too late.
The noise of a belt being undone brought Aliannah back from her thoughts. Fred had removed his. He was manipulating it with his hands, pulling it taught to make it sound like a whip being cracked. The sound made her jump. Fred chuckled.
“I am going to ask one more time. WHERE DOES IVAN KEEP HIS MONEY?” Fred spat as he spoke. Spit flecks landed on Aliannah’s face. She was disgusted.
“I don’t fucking know FRED!” she screamed at him. He whipped the belt so hard across her leg it left a welt. The pain was blinding. She knew she should not have spoken like that, but no matter what she said, the men would never believe her.
“Let’s go. This bitch needs time to come to her senses and tell us what we want to know,” Fred huffed, putting his belt back on as he headed to the door again. The other two followed. Brady took a photo of her on his phone before he left. Aliannah had a good idea of what he was going to do with that photo. It made her feel sick.