33
One kidnapping seems to be enough. Right? One kidnapping per person per lifetime? I’d think that’s more than sufficient, but here I am, rope bound to a goddamn chair in the middle of a musty old warehouse. Funny how growing up all I heard was “stranger danger” when in reality, I’ve known both of the dickheads who have kidnapped me now. First was Asher, now Face Tats. He’s asked me six times not to call him that already. He says his name is Julian, but fuck him. I don’t think he deserves a name.
“So, Face Tats, tell me. What’s your goal here? If you’re trying to scare me, you’re doing a pisspoor job. I’ve had better nightmares after Scooby Doo movies.”
He grunts.
“Sorry, I never learned to speak caveman. Can you try that again in the King’s English?”
“The what?”
There he is. Smirking, I slowly work my wrists behind my back to loosen the rope. “There you go. So again, what exactly are you trying to do here? If you’re hoping to get revenge for your dearly departed degenerates, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re barking up the wrong tree. The Devils of Saint City decided they didn’t want me. If you’re trying to act out some sick little fantasy, you’re not doing a very good job of that, either. I was naked way faster than this when the Devils took me. We’ve already established you’re not scaring me, so what is it? What are we doing here?”
He points at my right arm like that’s supposed to mean something to me, yet again not saying anything.
It’s driving me nuts that he won’t just talk, especially since these fucking ropes squeak too much to work on them in silence.
“My arm, huh? Are you going to auction it off to the highest bidder or something? Sorry to tell you, I have the upper body strength of a wet spaghetti noodle. I don’t think you’ll get very much for it.”
“Are you always this annoying?” he asks, glaring over his laptop at me. “No wonder they didn’t want you.”
So he knows then, and I’m still here. Hm.
“Generally, no. I guess being kidnapped brings out the sass in me. Are you always such an idiot?”
Again, silence.
“I mean, really. The Devils may not care anymore, but I’m sure Daddy will. I’ve been staying with one of her favorite girls and as it turns out, Daddy took quite a liking to me.” It’s not true, I still haven’t met her — but he doesn’t need to know that. “You know Daddy, right?”
His grossly alabaster face turns even more bloodless under those tribal tattoos. “Yeah, I know her. Doubt she’ll give a fuck since I’m not actually planning to hurt you.”
He has to be the worst kidnapper of all time. First he nearly fumbled taking me — little shit got an elbow to the eye when he snuck up on me outside of my car in the driveway. I was nearly back in the house after a brief scuffle on the porch steps before I heard the gun click. I might be sassy when I’m annoyed and a little afraid, but I’m not a moron. When someone holds a gun on you and tells you to get in the truck, you get in the truck. Then he forgot to blindfold me until we were nearly at this shitty warehouse, then decided not to bother with it at all. Luckily for him, I don’t know Bayside well enough to really know where I’m at. This is where the... troublemakers hang out. The criminals, the lowlifes. It’s mostly warehouses and old buildings leftover from a time when Bayside was booming, but they’ve all been taken over as hideouts or meeting spots for shady dealings. I’ve heard rumors the cops won’t even come here anymore.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, he definitely didn’t tie these ropes tight enough. Just a few more minutes and I should be free, so I just need him to get out of his chair and move away from his gun long enough to move.
“Okay, so you’re not going to hurt me, you just want something to do with my arm,” I muse. “If you’re not going to cut it off and sell it, I really don’t understand.”
The annoyance on his face turns to amusement. “You really don’t know. They never told you?”
“Told me what?”
He stands, moving toward me and reaching around to pinch the back of my upper arm. “They put a fucking tracker in you, stupid girl. You didn’t honestly think they turned you loose without a plan, did you? They’ve been watching your every fucking move since you left Ellis’ shithole of a house.”
The insult to our beautiful home pisses me off more than the insinuation that they tagged me like a wild animal. “That’s not true,” I argue, but suddenly it makes sense — and I know exactly when they did it. I remember feeling a sharp pain in my arm the night I woke up with a shock collar around my neck. It didn’t make sense at the time, but I figured one of them just dug their nails into my skin trying to keep me still enough to collar me.
But it was a fucking tracker.
I should be angry, but all it does is make my stomach squirm with long-forgotten desire. Yeah, they broke me alright. Good for them.
Barking an almost psychotic laugh, I smile up at him. “Okay, so they know where I’m at. Again, they still let me go. They don’t care about me. I doubt they’re even looking at it anymore, so you might as well let me go before you do something neither of us can take back.”
“If you think the Devils of Saint City won’t protect their property, whether they deemed it trash or not, you’re dumber than I thought. That’s not how things work around here. They’ll come. And when they do, you’ll get to watch me paint the floor with their blood. The Provost already told me I have his blessing.”
Fuck. If the Provost gave up on them, that’s bad news. It’s not surprising since they keep killing people they shouldn’t, but honestly... it makes me worried for them. Two against one, I’ll take my men any day. But them against the most powerful man for a thousand miles? That’s something else entirely.
“Ahh. So you are scared,” he chuckles darkly. “Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon.” His laptop dings, giving me a chance to wrench one of my hands almost completely free of the ropes as he goes to check it. “Sooner than I thought. They’re here.”
Flipping his monitor around, he makes me watch as Asher’s Maverick pulls up outside the building. But he’s not alone. Blair’s car is right behind him. Three against one is even better odds for us, but what are the chances that they actually take him out before he gets one of them?
I need to do something. Fast.
“Be right back,” he singsongs, grabbing his gun off the table and heading outside just as I get myself free. I’m on my feet and sprinting toward the door when I hear Blair yell behind me.
“Rhea, this way! Come on!”
I stand there for a moment, torn between going to my boys and leaving with Blair. They need me. I’m the reason they’re here at all, and if something happens to them...
They came for me. After everything, they came for me. To save me.
“Rhea, fucking now! We don’t have much time. They’re here to save their reputations, not you. Forget them.”
My world comes crashing down all over again. Of course that’s why they’re here. Julian said it, but it could’ve been a lie. But coming from Blair, too?
They really don’t care.
Scowling at the open door, I ignore the struggle I hear outside, bolt toward Blair and head out the back door to her car.
She barely gets the engine running before we hear the gunshots.
There are so many of them it’s hard to tell what’s happening or who’s doing the shooting, but Blair doesn’t give me a chance to run out and look. Tires squeal as we leave, running from the truth of whatever is happening.
“Are you okay?” she asks quickly, looking me over from the driver’s seat. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. All in all, I’m a little disappointed. I figured a high-stakes kidnapping would have more... action, you know? It was anticlimactic.”
Her eyes widen in surprise before she lets out a huffed laugh. “They really did a number on you, huh? I’ve never heard of a kidnapping victim complaining it wasn’t violent enough.”
I don’t answer her. I can’t. What would I even say? That I’m broken, that I’m dying to feel something again, even if it’s pain? That she’s right, they warped my psyche so much that I’ll never be able to go back to the girl I was before? None of that matters. She confirmed they didn’t come to save me, so there’s no point to any of it. I’ll be a broken, weird little girl for the rest of my life, and I’ll be it alone.
There’s nothing left for them to take.