Chapter 33
Chapter thirty-three
Salmon-smelling sandpaper chafes my cheek. Nudging and nipping at me until I finally come to.
I open my eyes and startle when I see the tiny kitten sitting on my chest. She lets out a small meow of protest when I sit up.
That’s the last bit of comfort I’m afforded before I realize that I’m locked in a room that looks like something you’d find on an alien spaceship. The walls and floor are horrifically bland and sterile, muting all colors around me.
I look around the room in panic for Skye and Rebecca, but see neither. Instead, I see that guy Teagan brought to dinner, sitting on the ground a few yards from me. He’s looking at his hands, tapping them against the floor.
The kitten hops off my lap and struts over toward him. She stops about midway and paws at an invisible barrier, then lets out a sad meow before coming back to me. That’s when I notice the glass wall separating the two of us.
Teagan’s friend waves at me. “I’m Quinn, that’s Paw Prints. Paws for short.” He points to the kitten at my feet. I can’t quite read his mood, but he reminds me of a child who just lost his favorite toy.
I pet the cat’s little head, earning some happy purrs in return. What an odd name for a kitten.
“Teagan named him,” he adds with a gruff laugh, almost as if he read my thoughts.
Grabbing the kitten, I walk over to the glass so I can get a better look at Quinn. He looks like he’s been through hell. His right eye is bruised, and the side of his head is covered with dried blood, matting his dark hair to his face.
Did any of us get out of those woods unscathed?
I wonder if he went through something like I did. Then I wonder if the blood on his hands is his or if it belongs to someone else.
“What did you do to get on Pierce’s bad side?” I ask, hoping to break the tension between us. I don’t know him, and he doesn’t know me, but maybe together we can figure out a way to escape.
Quinn lets out a humorless laugh. “My biggest sin was being born.” His blue eyes flick up to mine, and something about them reminds me of someone.
Who? Who has blue eyes like his?
“Is Skye okay?” Quinn asks, stopping my thoughts dead in their tracks.
His eyes look just like Skye’s.
I gasp, backing away from him until my back hits the wall on the furthest side of the room. Far away from him.
It’s him. He’s the man who attacked me. He’s Skye’s…father.
Quinn stands, his confused eyes following my every move. I put Paws down and cover my face with my hands, dropping to the floor as I try to catch my breath.
His voice is laced with panic now. “Is Skye okay? Please tell me he didn’t hurt her,” he pleads for answers through the glass like he gives a damn about her. If he cared about her, he would have left her alone. He wouldn’t have hurt me, which would inevitably hurt her.
Fury snakes through my veins as I get to my feet again.
Crossing the space, I slam my hand onto the glass where his face is.
“You have no right to ask about her! You have no right to know my daughter!” I scream, pounding on the glass repeatedly.
“You attacked me! You should be DEAD!” I spit the last word out with all the venom in my body.
If I could reach through this glass and kill him with my bare hands, I would.
Something flickers over his features before he blows out a long breath, wiping his hand over his face.
“Capri,” he says gently. “I’m not who you think I am. I swear it to you. I wasn’t the one who attacked you.”
All I can do is stare at him as he scrambles to explain.
Quinn sighs, rubbing a hand through his dark locks. “Skye is my niece. My brother is the one who raped you. Not me, I swear it.”
I shake my head at him in disbelief. “Wait, what?” I look down at him again, and that’s when it all clicks together. “You’re Rebecca’s son, aren’t you?”
His gaze pierces mine as he nods his head. “How do you know her?”
I slide to the floor with my back against the wall as Paws weaves through my legs. “Rebecca saved me. She left me this,” I tell him, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the small compact. “This is you, isn’t it?” I show him the photo of the young boy and he smiles.
“Yeah, that’s me. Mum told me nobody had a dorky grin like that except me,” he reminisces. “Is she okay? My mum?”
I wipe unshed tears from my eyes before I look at the photo again. “She was the last time I saw her—she and Skye. We were betrayed by someone I foolishly trusted. Now I’m stuck here with you and Paws. Totally useless.” I gesture to the kitten, then add, “No offense.”
The door opens on Quinn’s side of the room. Lochlan strolls in with the rifle in his hands. “Well then, I guess it’s your lucky day, lass,” Lochlan says with a mocking grin. “It’s almost time for your next task. But first, I have to teach my friend here a lesson in family secrets.”
Quinn gets to his feet and stares at Lochlan like he wants to murder him, and honestly, I don’t think I’d stop him if he tried. I might be tempted to murder him myself if he were on my side of this stupid wall.
Lochlan takes an angry step toward Quinn. Everything about this version of Lochlan is entirely unfamiliar. This isn’t the same guy who helped me face my fears about meeting my daughter. This isn’t the same man who kept us both safe as we ran from multiple dangers.
I don’t want to believe that this person can be a monster like the rest of them.
Then he slams the butt of the rifle into Quinn’s face, and I know the person I thought he was is gone.
Blood sprays the glass as Quinn falls to the ground, coughing and choking.
Lochlan kicks him in the ribs several times.
“Family secrets aren’t yours to share!” he shouts at him.
“Next time she’ll pay the price of your loose lips! ”
I swear I hear pounding on the wall next to me, but I can’t pry my eyes away from the horror happening in front of me. Lochlan rears his leg back again.
“No! Don’t hurt him anymore! He gets it! He understands!” I scream, pleading with the man I thought was a friend. Quinn might be a stranger, but I refuse just to sit here and watch him get beaten. “Please. Please stop.” My voice cracks in tune with my heart.
Lochlan straightens up and looks over at me. “I wish things were different,” his voice is soft, almost apologetically so.
“Why?” I sob out. “Why did you betray us?”
Lochlan looks toward the door and takes a heavy breath. “Because that’s just how things are. I’m sorry, I can’t explain more.” He heads to the exit without a glance back at us.
“Wait!” I shout. “Did you hurt them?”
He looks back and cocks an eyebrow at me. “Who?”
I shuffle up my side of the wall, trying to get closer to him. “Lee, Skye, Rebecca, Teagan, Lexi,” I say their names in a rush. I swear he flinches when I say that last name. “Are they dead?” I whisper.
Lochlan gives me a stony look. How can this man feel nothing for us after everything we’ve survived together?. “Don’t ask me questions I can’t answer.” He leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.
The glass wall lifts the moment the door shuts.
I rush over to Quinn, helping him to his knees.
With the beating he just took, I know there’s a good chance his ribs are broken, or at the very least, painfully bruised.
I take a look at his bloodied face and try to wipe it up as much as I can with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.
His nose might be broken, too, but at least he’s alive and breathing.
I’m counting that as a win for the time being.
The speaker on the wall next to us erupts with Pierce’s voice. “Hello, my darling. I do hope my friend Lochlan didn’t give you too much of a fright. My youngest brother is a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to learning to keep his mouth shut.”
Brother? Is Pierce the one who attacked me? No, he called Skye his niece in the note he left for me. Is there another one of them here?
Quinn sits up straighter and groans. “Fuck off, Atlas.”
“See what I mean?” Pierce says, his voice laced with unrestrained anger. “I’ve given my brother the world, yet he does nothing but spite me. But no more free handouts, dear brother.”
The door Lochlan exited opens again, and two of Pierce’s servants walk in. They are pulling two people tied in heavy, thick ropes behind them.
Quinn and I both gasp.
It’s Rebecca and Lee.
Both of them are wide-eyed as they return our stares. Duct tape covers their mouths, and their hands are tied.
Pierce laughs over the speaker. “Now, for your next task. One of them has to die. You have two minutes to decide who. If you don’t choose, you all die. Aren’t games fun!”
Quinn takes a sharp intake of breath, forcing me to look over at him. His eyes are lined with fear, matching my own.
How are we supposed to choose which of our loved ones gets to live—and which one has to die?
“Tick, tock,” Pierce mockingly teases. “Tick, tock.”