Chapter Twenty-Three
My ears rang as bone collided with bone. Vex’s knuckles were merely a warning shot against my ribs. I knew he could hit harder, and yet he wasn’t. Maybe it was because we had just started, or maybe it was because he was trying a different tactic tonight. Whatever it might be, my teeth clenched against the pain.
The only saving grace through these nights was that Aiden was spared the pain. He had spent who knows how many nights at the hands of this monster, and now it was my turn. However, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could last.
We had our nightly meeting with Warner tonight and I knew I was going to push to move the date of the plan up. Aiden and Warner had been biding their time, wanting everything to be perfect, but I couldn’t handle this any longer.
“I’m going to show you some photos now. Tell me if you recognize them. And if you don’t,” he chuckled cruelly, “well, you know what happens.”
Biting my lip until blood pooled in my mouth, I tried to stave off the tears. In the past week, since my first night in this cold room, I noticed that Vex’s smile grew when the tears started. He truly was a sadist.
Sitting back in the chair he slid into the room each night, he pulled a stack of photos out of a bag near his feet. I couldn’t see any of them clearly, but they all looked to be professional headshots.
The first photo Vex showed was of an older man, probably close to seventy or eighty. White hair dotted his scalp sparsely. He had kind, brown eyes. And I didn’t recognize him at all.
Vex waited for an answer but when none came, he tsked at me, shaking his head sadly. “Alessia, you need to give me something.”
I wasn’t prepared when his body swung forward, barely leaving the seat, his fist connecting with my jaw. My head swung to the right, blood spitting from my mouth.
“Next one.” Vex pulled the next photo out, another older man.
There was an older woman, a young man, two young women. I didn’t recognize any of them and after each photo, another part of my body was pummeled. By the time Vex reached the last photo, the tears were streaming down my face, unable to be held back any longer.
“One last chance,” Vex said and I stared through swollen eyes at the picture.
This one was a man close to my dad’s age with dark skin and dark hair. The headshot painted him with a bright smile and shock coursed through me when I realized I did know this man. In fact, I had spent more time with him than Vex would ever know.
Vex noticed the surprised look on my face and I watched in horror as his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Hmm, it seems we may be getting somewhere. What do you know about this man?”
I tried to keep my face blank, not wanting to let him see anything more. I had already slipped up with my initial surprise. Vex stood from the chair, crouching in front of me and invading my space. My back pressed against the confines of the chair, attempting to get away, but there was nowhere else to go.
“We can end this. Tell me what you know about this man and it will all be over.”
I folded my lips, refusing to talk, and Vex sighed in disappointment.
“Nothing? Well, that’s a shame.” He stood and backed away from me, grabbing the photos and his chair, making his way out of the room. My body sagged in relief, thankful tonight was finally over.
Vex was nearly out the door when he turned to look at me one more time, a malicious glint in his eyes. “Tomorrow night should be lots of fun.”
With the ominous statement, he left the room, and I knew the guards would be in soon to dump me outside the building. My body ached, tremors running through me, but they weren’t my main focus. No, my only focus right now was why Vex wanted to know about Emmanuel.
***
“We need to leave as soon as possible.” I stood against the fence, my arms folded over my chest, staring the two men down.
“Lessy, we already know that. But this takes planning.”
“I don’t care. We’re taking too long and it”s not an option anymore. We have a plan, let’s use it.”
Aiden glanced to Warner, the two of them suddenly in cahoots, and I hated it. Almost as much as I hated the pity in their eyes each night when I showed up with some new bruise.
“Your brother is right. This needs to be perfect.”
Throwing my hands up in the air, I groaned silently, still having my wits about me to not draw attention to us. “What more do we need?”
It was a genuine question. Over the past week, we had figured nearly everything out. Aiden and Warner had been pulling the gap in the fence wider by inches each night, testing that they were capable of getting it completely open when the escape came.
Every day, Warner strolled the camp, keeping track of when the guards came and went. Apparently, at five o’clock each night, the guards swapped posts so that others could watch over dinner. There were barely thirty seconds in between, but during that time, they were too focused on joking with each other to truly pay attention.
“We need more than thirty seconds. If it was one of us, sure. But five? And with two kids? That’s not possible.”
I knew Aiden’s words were stemming from a place of worry, but I didn’t want to hear them. I wanted a solution. And tonight, the mention of the twins only spurred me on. If Vex found out who they were, found out they were Emmanuel’s kids, I didn’t dare think what would happen to them.
“A distraction,” I said, the idea popping into my head.
“What kind of distraction?” Warner asked, leaning forward into my space. The twinkle in his eyes told me he liked the idea, even though it barely had any traction.
But as I spoke, the idea blossomed. “We need something big, something that will pull the guards” attention in the other direction for at least five minutes. That will give us plenty of time to run across the street and sneak behind a building.”
Warner ran a hand through his dark hair as he thought. “And what kind of distraction do you propose? We can’t ask anyone to help. If we bring anyone else into this, someone is bound to slip up.”
The three of us thought over ideas for several minutes, the only sound the tents flapping in the wind. Suddenly, the idea sparked in my head and I knew this could work.
“We set a fire. A big fire. I’d say one that engulfs several of the tents.”
Warner’s lips slid into a sly grin as I spoke, happy with the idea, but my ever practical brother had to be the one to ruin it.
“Great idea if we could start a fire. Last time I checked, we don’t have the supplies.”
True, we didn’t have supplies. The people running this camp kept us reliant on them as much as they could. Besides two meals a day and the tents, we didn’t receive anything else. Hell, they didn’t even give us water bottles.
But thanks to a man with brown hair and light blue eyes, I knew how to start a fire without anything but a few sticks. Sure, I had only actually lit a spark once or twice, but these were dire circumstances. Quite literally, our lives depended on it.
“Leave it to me. I can start a fire. But the second it”s lit, we need to get out of here. We won’t have much time.”
Both of the men nodded in agreement, Warner excitedly and Aiden reluctantly. However, it didn’t matter how they felt as long as this was happening. And soon.
“Two days. Give me two days to prepare, and then we’re leaving.”
Again, both men agreed, and I knew we had nothing more to talk about. Aiden and I started walking back toward our tent, leaving Warner to do whatever he did at night, when he called my name.
I told Aiden to go ahead, not wanting to leave the twins alone for much longer, before spinning on my heel and walking back toward Warner. His arms hung lazily at his sides, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, as if escaping was just another thing added to his schedule.
Pausing when I was a few feet from him, Warner closed the distance, his long legs closing the gap in one step. A shiver ran up my spine from his nearness, an aura of riskiness constantly surrounding him.
“I’d like to make one thing clear about this plan,” he whispered, lowering his head until our eyes clashed.
“I’m getting out of here no matter what. Even if that means leaving someone behind.”
His words were quiet, but the threat was clear. He may have been playing nice the past week, needing our help, but in this new world, it was every man for himself.
“Anything else?” I asked, trying to keep my voice bored. I didn’t need him to know that I was worried, not if I didn’t want him to back out.
Warner leaned back, not saying a word, and I thought that was that, until he smirked devilishly. The moonlight lit his face, casting half of it in shadows, creating an image of an extremely dangerous man.
“You’re mouthwatering when you’re trying to act tough.”
My mouth gaped open at his words, but like usual, he was already walking away from me. My heart pounded against my chest, unsure of how to take his words. Creeping back to the tent, I finally settled on how the statement made me feel. The thing I hated most was that I was still only acting tough.