15
The door shuts behind us and I see Alex strapped into the metal chair. Her arms are tied together behind her. A blindfold is wrapped around her head and she squirms hearing us enter the room. My eyes shoot over to Xavier, but he’s not looking at me, he's staring at Emerson.
I walk towards Emerson slowly. I forgot what he looked like I guess, because the resemblance to Xavier is a little scary. I take the blindfold off and his eyes widen in horror. Something inside of me snaps. I trusted him. I told him that I trusted him. Numerous times he asked me and I told him I did.
“Looks like I found you first,” I smile deviously at him. I walk over towards Alex and remove her blindfold. Her blue eyes blink rapidly trying to adjust to the light.
“Hey Al,” I smile down at her. Her eyes instantly flood with tears as she stares up at me. Her head shakes back and forth as the tears now fall down her face. I have no empathy. I can’t explain why I don’t, but I have absolutely none as I stare down at her. No feelings whatsoever. No love. Nothing.
She looks good; tan, nails done, highlights touched up. I still don’t know why the other guy said that Alex and Grace both died looking for me. Did Emerson tell them that? Maybe I’ll never know.
“Lina they—” Alex pauses as she looks over to Emerson.
“Oh please don’t fill me with any more of your lies. I’ve been through enough; don’t you think? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?” I say as my eyes fill with tears.
“Of course you do,” I laugh as I roll my eyes.
“I was taken against my will. I was held in disgusting conditions. I was examined to see if I still had my fucking virginity, Alex!” I scream as I see her thin lips quiver.
“But you knew that,” I laugh as rage sets in.
“You knew that. You led me right to them.” I shake my head as I sigh.
“Why Alex?” I ask as silence fills the room. I hear my heartbeat pound slowly and steadily in my ears as I wait for her response.
“Two million fucking dollars is why,” she holds my stare. Her blatant honesty catches me off guard. My lips part as I stand there in disbelief that she really just said that.
“You did all of this for money?” I ask with my eyebrows furrowed.
“Lina we need to get going,” Carl breaks the silence.
“Not until I find out why and how the hell these two even know each other,” I say as I make my way in front of the two of them. Emerson stares straight at me. His gaze is eerie and sends chills up my spine.
“Did you two know each other before that night?” I ask Alex, watching as her blue eyes widen, glistening with a sorrow that feels too contrived to be genuine. She doesn't say anything, but she nods, and when she does my heart sinks. Sucker-punched. My heart feels like it’s been sucker-punched. I guess I figured that she turned on me after we were all taken. That would make more sense I guess. I think I could forgive her if that were the case. But, it’s not. She premeditated this. She set me up for money.
“So you planned this? You set all of this up? For money?” I close my eyes and shake my head.
“And Grace? Was she in on it too?”
“No. Grace knew nothing.” She swallows hard. Her eyes stare off into the distance.
“She wasn’t supposed to be there. It was supposed to be just you and I —” she scoffs as her eyes now peer directly into mine. I suddenly feel like I’ve been hit by a ton of bricks. I insisted that Grace come along with us that night. I was the one who kept insisting, even after Alex told me she wanted it to just be the two of us. Stupid. Stupid. I was so stupid.
“We needed to make it look like—” Alex says quietly, but is interrupted by Emerson.
"Enough! Don’t say anything else, Alex.” Emerson's face remains impassive, his eyes fixed on a point in the distance, unblinking and cold. I reach behind my back and pull out the 9mm. I twist on the silencer as I stare at Emerson. Sweat drips slowly down his tan skin. His dark hair is slicked back neatly. “Lina, don’t do this, please. Please don’t,” Alex cries. She squirms, trying to untie her arms from the chair.
“I need to know the truth and he is prohibiting you from telling me, so he’s going to have to go first,” I say calmly and Emerson’s eyes narrow in on mine.
“I told you the truth Lina, I promise I did.” Tears stream down Alex's face as her body shakes with uncontrollable sobs, her cries echoing through the room.
“Whose bodies did they find?” I ask and Alex’s eyes bounce to Emerson. The room falls quiet and I smile as I point between the two of them. “See, you're not telling me the full truth now are you?” I smile.
I walk towards Alex and hold the gun to her head as she sobs. Meaningless sobs I try to tell myself. Cries from only getting caught. She didn’t look for me. She got her money and went on with her life. For all she knew I was sold to some disgusting pig. And she didn’t look back.
“We had Grace’s body but for mine, we had to pay a hefty amount to some guy we —” She tries to say.
“Alex shut the hell up!” Emerson yells which startles us all.
“Why Emerson?! Can’t you see we’re dead either way? Nothing is going to save us now. Nothing!” Alex sobs loudly. I try to fight back the tears that I feel forming, but I can’t. She’s right. I hold the gun to the back of her head. My hand shakes uncontrollably as the tears stream down my face. I can’t do it. Not this one. No matter how bad I want to, I can’t pull the trigger for the life of me. Even after everything that she’s done, because that’s not the girl I know. It’s not the friendship I want to remember. The gun continues to rattle in my hand.
“It’s okay,” I feel Xavier’s hand lowering my gun slowly. I exhale and begin to cry. Seconds later I hear Carl’s trigger click and Alex’s sobs abruptly come to an end. I see Alex’s head fall forward. Her limp body is still tied to the chair. Her blonde hair covers her face. A trail of blood slowly soaks through her clothes. I stand there trying my hardest to keep my shit together. Don’t you let this other bastard see you cry. Don’t you dare give him any more power than he already thinks he has. I walk in front of Emerson and raise my gun. I put it right in-between his eyes. I hold his gaze as a thousand different emotions rush through me.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he smiles up at me.
“And why is that?”
“You’re going to need me,” he says looking past me and at Xavier.
“I don’t think so, enough with the fucking lies,” I say cocking the gun.
“Lotus flower tattoo, behind her—” he pauses as he continues looking at Xavier.
“Left ear? Am I correct?” He smiles and Xavier steps forward quickly.
“What did you just fucking say?” Xavier grabs his mouth so hard I’m surprised his jawbone doesn’t snap in half.
“They never found her body, right? That’s because there isn’t one.” Emerson says. I watch as Xavier’s eyes fill with tears. I see the vein on his forehead slowly emerge as he processes Emerson’s words.
“She's alive and you're going to need me to get to her.” Emerson smiles deviously around the room which makes Xavier’s vein bulge even more profoundly. Seconds later I hear Xavier scream, I don’t know if it’s from anger or the feeling of being completely helpless. His eyes glance over into mine before I hear his knuckles make contact with Emerson’s face. I squeeze my eyes shut as I hear the bones in Emerson’s face crack. His chair falls to the ground as his body lies there motionless, hands still tied and all.
────
Xavier
My hands grip the steering wheel with white-knuckle force. My eyes stare straight ahead. Lina and I haven’t said a word to each other, but I can see in my peripheral vision that she’s still staring out the window, looking at the complete darkness that surrounds us. When that fucker mentioned Nora’s lotus flower tattoo, everything changed. Call me naive, but I actually believe him. And hell, if she isn’t alive he’s going to be one sorry mother-fucker.
“What happens now?” I hear Lina ask from the passenger side. I know today was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be the day that ended all of this. Today was supposed to be her ticket home. But truthfully, I don’t know what will happen now.
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I trust what he’s saying.” I say with my eyes still focused on the dark roads.
“Why would he lie about something like that?”
“To avoid being killed.” I snap back.
“Does this put us back to square-one?” She asks with hesitation and curiosity.
“If I’m being honest, no.” I swallow hard. Because he was the last person I was coming for. As long as he’s in my possession Lina’s safe.
“I can swear to you that no matter what happens I will be the one that puts a bullet in between his eyes. Nora or no Nora.” I say with my eyes still on the road.
“So does this mean that —” Lina pauses.
“Yes.” I take my eyes off the road and force a sympathetic smile back at her. “You finally get to go back home.” I reach my hand over to her and she takes it in hers. She gives it a gentle squeeze before looking back out the window. I can see her smile fade in the reflection of the window and the more it fades, the tighter I feel her grip my hand.
────
I sit on the balcony of our suite. I hear the waves crashing, but I don’t see them. The moon is missing from the sky tonight, however the fog creeps in slowly towards me as I sip my drink. Various emotions fill me as I sit there. I hear Nora’s laugh which brings tears to my eyes. If she’s been out there all of this time—my thoughts come to an abrupt halt as the door slowly opens.
Lina walks towards me; she’s wearing a silk dress that drapes past her knees. Her dark hair is still wet from the shower. She forces a smile as she makes her way into my lap, but I can see her eyes are swollen from crying.
“I’m not ready to go home yet.” She says softly as her hand runs down my cheek. She shakes her head back and forth in dismay.
“I’m not going to leave you right now, I can’t—” She says, staring straight into my eyes. I chug the rest of my drink back then cradle her petite face in my hands.
“I’m not ready for you to go back either,” I say just before I bring my lips to hers. Our kiss deepens as I pull her body closer to mine. I feel her hands run through my hair and I basically melt into her. I know today has been a fucking disappointing shit-show, but this right here—Lina Harrington in my arms makes all the problems that have been fumbling around in my head completely disappear. She is my lotus flower and this is us rising.