Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
WREN
Blinking my eyes open slowly, I realize it’s still nighttime. The sound of Sly breathing heavily behind me tells me he’s still asleep.
Dex’s chest rises and falls slowly, and I lick my lips, my mouth feeling dry. Deciding to grab some water, I slowly extricate myself from his arms and climb down to the end of the bed, trying not to disturb them.
When I make it to my feet, I glance back and confirm they’re sleeping, and when I step into the hall, I decide to take a peek in the other bedroom.
Pete is lying sprawling on his stomach, his bare back on display.
He might be the smallest of them, but he was still toned.
The blanket is twisted around one of his legs.
Jagger sleeps on his side, looking peaceful.
Quietly, I make my way to the mini-fridge located by the TV. I pull out a bottle, unscrew the top, and take a long drink, my throat instantly feeling better.
I move up to the glass door that leads to a tiny balcony and look out into the night. We’re in a small town, so there isn’t much to see, just the lights of the parking lot below where a black van idles by the curb.
A reflection in the door moves, catching my attention as one of my guys approaches me from behind.
Smiling, I start to turn as I tell him, “You couldn't sleep either—” My eyes widen when I finally see who it is. It’s not one of my guys, but I do know him. It’s Max, one of Robert’s guards. I try to shout for help, but he’s on me in an instant, his hand covering my mouth before I can even inhale.
He twists me around to press my back to his chest, as another man dressed in black appears in front of me. Troy. He pulls out a roll of duct tape and wraps it around my wrists, then holds one up for my mouth.
“Careful,” Max whispers. “She’ll try to scream the second I move my hand.
” Troy nods, moving the tape to his left hand.
I suck in a breath, getting ready to scream, but he pulls his right hand back and punches me in the gut.
I grunt out against Max’s hand as pain shoots through me.
Before I even realize it’s happened, my mouth is covered in duct tape.
Max wraps an arm around my waist and hoists me up as he starts to move to the door. I kick my legs, trying to knock something over and make noise or kick Troy. Quickly, he grabs my legs and wraps my ankles in duct tape.
I try to scream against the duct tape, hoping my guys will hear me, but something hard hits me in the head. My body sags in Max’s hold, and I feel myself being turned so he’s now carrying me against his chest.
I try to pull away, but my head throbs and I feel disoriented, unsure which way is up. I must have blacked out because the next thing I know, I’m being laid on the backseat of a van with no windows. Someone buckles a seatbelt around both my legs and my torso. I hear a door slam, then we’re moving.
My heart is beating so loudly, it drowns out everything else around me. I squeeze my eyes shut as I try to breathe.
Dios Mio! I’ve been kidnapped!
How did Robert even find me? I have no idea how he could have possibly tracked me down. Or has he been following me this entire time?
My mind flashes to the guys, sound asleep in the hotel room, and tears slip free. How long before they realize I’m gone? Will they even know I’ve been taken? Or will they think I left on my own?
Will I ever see them again?
“Will you quit your crying, woman?” Max grunts from the driver’s seat.
“We rescued you from a bunch of murderers; you should be thanking us,” Troy adds with annoyance lacing his tone.
Thanking them?
I open my eyes and narrow them at the back of his head, wishing I could tell them what I really think of them, what I’ve always thought of them.
“You’ll be reunited with your brother soon enough, everything's going to be okay,” Max says as if he really believes that to be true.
They’re quiet as they drive, and I wonder how long it will take us to get back to Arizona. Will it be enough time for the guys to figure out I’m gone and catch up with me? Hopefully, they can at least guess the direction we’re heading in.
They will come after me, won’t they?
I shake my head free of that thought. They literally escaped prison to come and rescue me. I’m positive they’ll find me again.
After a few hours, they pull into a dimly lit truck stop to fill up on gas and grab food.
After doing that, they pull into a dark section of the parking lot and open the van's side door. I squirm against my bindings, not wanting them to come near me, afraid of why we’re stopping in this remote corner.
“Calm down, Wren,” Max says in exasperation, as if I’m the annoying one here.
“We’re not going to hurt you. Your brother wants to talk to you.
If you’re good and don’t scream, we’ll let you out of the van to relieve yourself.
If not…” He shrugs. “You can piss yourself in the back of this van for all I care.”
The thought of peeing myself is enough to make me nod in agreement. Troy touches some buttons on his phone, and I hear it start to ring as Max moves to sit on the edge of the van.
“Report,” Robert’s voice barks over the speakerphone, making me jolt in fear.
“We have her.”
“Show me.”
Troy touches something on the screen, then turns it around, showing me Robert’s angry face. When he sees me, his expression softens.
“Remember what I said,” Max tells me as he slowly pulls the duct tape off my mouth.
I lick my lips as Robert and I assess each other.
I haven’t seen him since I found out his plans for me.
But seeing him again brings back a torrent of emotions.
He’s my brother, my only living family. I love him.
At least… I used to. I looked up to him.
I did everything he asked, and he betrayed me.
“How could you?” I ask, my lower lip trembling as the full impact of what he’s done to me starts to fuel my hurt and anger.
“Oh, Wren. I’m not sure what you think I did, but—”
“You were going to sell me!” I yell, my voice rising with anger.
His brows pinch as he watches me silently, his eyes roaming my face as if trying to figure out precisely what I’m thinking and how much of a problem I’ll be.
“I won’t marry him,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m not some naive little girl anymore. I know what you’ve been doing to me.”
“And what is it you think I’ve been doing?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“You’ve been grooming me.”
“That’s an awfully big accusation, Wren.”
“It’s true. H-How could you?! I did everything you asked of me! I tried to be the perfect sister, and this is how you treat me? Selling me to some man twice my age, whom I told you I didn’t like? Why would you do that? I thought we were a team, Robert?”
I feel a few tears roll down my cheeks and hope that seeing me upset will make him reconsider. Maybe if he knows how much this will hurt me, he’ll change his mind and let me go.
“Please, Robert,” I beg as he continues to stare silently. “Just let me go, let me live my own life.”
“My beautiful little Wren. Don’t you understand yet?
” he says with a shake of his head. “Your life doesn’t belong to you.
It belongs to me, and I can do whatever I want with it.
My plan has always been to sell you when I thought it would profit me the most. And I’ve decided that means you’re going to marry Ivan. ”
“I won’t!” Max's hand shoots out and clasps around my throat, cutting off my words as I try to pull out of his hold.
“Consider your little holiday with those convicts your first and last taste of freedom,” Robert says with a snarl, confirming that he knows about the guys. “And don’t think that they might come and save you, either. I’ve made sure they’ve been dealt with.”
My heart sinks with fear. What has he done to them? I want to ask, but Max’s hand stays firm as my eyes fill with more tears.
Robert laughs when he sees my reaction. “Aw, you developed feelings for those pathetic murderers, didn’t you?
Stupid little Wren. I don’t know how you found each other, but that’s over now.
There’s nobody else out there that even knows you exist.” His eyes move to Max.
“Teach her a little lesson in obedience, but don’t touch her face.
I need her to look good for her future husband.
” He grins at me, something dark and sinister—something I’ve never seen on him before. Then he ends the call.
My body shakes with fear as I realize he truly is as bad as the guys told me he was. I’ve been so blind. How did I not see this side of him before?
Max pulls me out of the van by my throat, and since my ankles are bound, I fall from his grasp, landing on the hard ground on my side as the air is knocked out of me. At least his hand isn’t around my throat anymore.
“You heard him. We need to make sure you remember how to be obedient before we bring you back. Are you going to make this easy or hard?”
The two of them stand over me, and my body shakes as tears roll freely down my face.
I want to swear at them, to tell them I’ll never obey, but fear of punishment has me quivering.
I used to listen to Robert because I feared he wouldn’t love me if I didn’t do what he said.
Having no other family meant he was all I had.
It felt like everyone left me except him, and I was desperate not to lose him, too.
But now… now I know the truth, and it’s an entirely different fear that has me wanting to listen to Max and Troy.
The thought of them hurting me scares me.
But the idea that something has happened to my four guys terrifies me.
Not just because I’ll never see them again, but because of the injustice.
People like Robert and Ivan get to walk around living the lives they want, but my four guys don’t?
They deserved that sort of life more than anyone.