Chapter 20
Lena
When the car first pulls up, I think nothing of it.
Even when the woman emerges, I don’t immediately recognize her.
A baseball cap and dark sunglasses covers her face, and she’s wearing baggy clothing, no doubt so I won’t know her straight away.
I’m too close to the car to run or call out when I realize it’s Mary Beth.
I’m not scared, but I am curious why she’s here.
Maybe she’s come to beg me to let her see the guys, or to speak to them on her behalf about being allowed back into the Soaring Eagles orbit.
She shifts her weight between her feet, full of restless energy as she keeps looking around to see if anyone is watching. That’s the moment when I start to realize something’s wrong. I scoop Mia up into my arms, ready to flee, my fight-or-flight instinct kicking in.
“Hello, Lena,” she says, her voice void of emotion. “Get in the car.”
It’s only then that I notice the gun she has concealed under her jacket. A weapon that she’s pointing at Mia and me. My eyes dart over to Doc’s car, parked too far away. Mary Beth must sense what I’m thinking.
“There’s no point in running. Do you really want to gamble with your child’s life like that, Lena?” she says, pulling down her glasses to look me in the eye. Her eyes are wild and dark. The hair on my arms stands to attention, and I feel chilled to the bone, despite the warmth of the day.
She’s right. I’m not going to do anything, not when she has a gun pointed at my daughter. With no other choice, I get in the car. I don’t get a good look at the driver before Mary Beth shoves a blindfold in my hands and tells me to put it on.
***
We’ve been driving for a while now, though it’s hard to know for sure how long. I just pray that Doc is following us, that he isn’t far behind. I have to hope that the guys will find us. Mia senses that something is wrong and has been crying while trying to take the blindfold off me since we left.
“Shut her up before I do. Trust me, you won’t like my method,” I hear a man snarl—the driver, I presume.
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie, it’s just a game. Mama can’t see, so we’ve gotta play I spy, tell me a clue, and Mama will try to guess what you can see.”
“Okay,” Mia sniffles, sounding placated with the promise of a game.
“Tell Mama what you see,” I encourage her. It’s a long shot, but perhaps I can figure out where they’re taking us. If they decided to blindfold me, it must be for a reason, so we can’t be driving to the Iron Vultures clubhouse—I presume Mary Beth is working for Zeke—or anywhere else I know.
“Bird!”
“Good girl, what else?”
“Trees!”
Unfortunately, Mary Beth catches on to what I’m trying to do. “Nice try. No more games.”
“She’s two, what’s she going to tell me?” I snip.
“No games.”
I sigh. “Fine, but if you want Mia to be quiet, she needs entertainment. If you give her my phone, there’s a kids’ YouTube channel on there she likes to watch.”
“I’m not giving her your phone either. How stupid do you think I am?” Mary Beth replies scathingly.
“Stupid enough to kidnap me and my daughter in broad daylight with several witnesses, and with the knowledge that I’m under the protection of the Soaring Eagles. So yeah, pretty fucking stupid,” I snap back sarcastically.
Mary Beth snorts with derision. “You think you’re so special just because you’re fucking Cole and Rex.
You’re probably fucking all four of them, aren’t you?
” I don’t respond, but I presume a slight twitch in my forced neutral expression gives it away.
“Oh my god, you are, aren’t you?” she laughs out loud with glee.
“Boy, is that gonna piss Zeke off even more! He’s gonna lay into you something special. ”
So, that confirms my suspicions, Mary Beth is working for Zeke.
“Were you always Zeke’s bitch, acting as a spy like you accused me of? Or did you go running to him the second the Soaring Eagles kicked you out?”
I’ve hit a nerve. Mary Beth slaps me, hard. The blow is unexpected and sharp, stinging my cheek and making me cry out in surprise more than pain. Mia immediately begins crying again, loud, piercing wails.
“Shh, it’s okay, Mama’s okay,” I try to comfort her, but she only cries harder.
“For fucks sake, shut her up, will you, Mary Beth?” the driver barks.
Mia screams and wriggles in my arms, pulling away from whatever Mary Beth is trying to do. I immediately reach to remove the blindfold so that I can see what she’s doing, but she stops me. “Take it off, and I’ll shoot you.”
I freeze. Mary Beth’s tone tells me she’s not messing around. “Okay, please just don’t hurt my baby.”
“I’m not. It’s just a mild sedative. Perfectly safe. If you don’t shut up and do as you’re told, I’ll inject you with it too.”
As much as I don’t want this madwoman injecting my child, I also need to stay awake and alert. Plus, perhaps it’s better if Mia is asleep, unaware of what’s happening.
“Okay, do it.”
Mary Beth mutters that I don’t have a say in it either way. I hold Mia still, crying and telling her it’s going to be okay, she’s just going to sleep. After a moment, I feel her go limp in my arms.
Just as I’m wondering why they’d bother blindfolding me at all if they could simply sedate both of us as Mary Beth threatened, I feel a sharp stab in my arm. Almost as soon as I realize it’s the prick of a needle, I start to lose consciousness.
Mary Beth’s voice is the last thing I hear before the world goes dark.
“Shh, sleep now. It will all be over soon. I’ll make sure he makes it quick and as painless as possible. I’ll be a good Mama to her, I promise.”
***
I’m groggy and disoriented, but it doesn’t take long for Mary Beth’s chilling words to come back to me.
“Mia!” I shout, looking around the unfamiliar room I find myself in.
I’m lying on top of a four-poster bed in a tastefully decorated bedroom, complete with an ensuite.
Even before I start tearing through the room, checking places I know deep down Mia won’t be—the bedside drawers, wardrobe, and shower—I know she’s gone.
I helplessly cry out for my daughter during this futile search.
When there isn’t an inch left of the room I haven’t checked, I sink onto the plush, carpeted floor and sob.
She’s gone. They took my baby.
“Where are you, Mia?”
I cry for my little girl, in the hands of a madwoman and a monster who believes she’s his. I cry for myself for getting into this situation, for not protecting my baby. I cry because of the overwhelming sense of hopelessness I feel. I cry because I can do nothing else. Zeke won.
No. I can’t let myself think like that. I can’t give up on my little girl. Not now, not ever.
I take a deep breath and dry my eyes. This time, when I look around the room, I’m searching for clues.
Where am I? The view from the window reveals only a mass expanse of woodland as far as the eye can see.
There are no other houses nearby. I have no idea how far we traveled, how long I was unconscious for.
We could be almost anywhere. The guys might never find us.
The thought is a bleak one, and I nearly slip back into a dark depression, one I might not be able to pull myself out of again, so I push it down.
I can’t let myself think like that. I try the window, but it’s locked, and even if I were to break a pane, the gaps are too small to fit through.
The door is also, unsurprisingly, locked.
I look around again at the room. It’s the kind of place you’d stay at during a romantic getaway, hardly a prison for someone you’ve kidnapped.
I’d been expecting to be tied to a chair in some damp basement, like in the movies.
Obviously, I’m glad to be held in relative comfort, but what does it mean?
If Zeke is treating me this way, he must want something from me.
Otherwise, I’d be dead already. He’s had ample opportunity to kill me, and if Mia was what he wanted, he has her now.
So why am I here? And how can I use that to my advantage?
Looking around the room it seems pointless. Everything is either impossibly heavy, made from solid, expensive wood, or nailed down. Unless I plan to have a pillow fight with whoever arrives, I’m shit out of luck.
But I don’t intend to go down without a fight. I’ll kill anyone who stands in the way of me and my daughter. If she’s harmed, I’ll burn this place to the ground with everyone inside.
If Zeke wanted a war, he’s got one.