Chapter 21 Damian
DAMIAN
“KIT! KIT, NO! You leave him alone. Leave him alone, you bastard!
“KIT!”
“Night-night, Kit. Sweet dreams.”
No! No, no, no!
I scream and scream, my face wet with tears and my voice cracking over every useless word as I stand staring helplessly at my phone.
My dad won’t hear me. The dial tone is already mocking my desperate pleas with its persistent drone.
But I can’t stop. It’s all I can think to do, to call for Kit so that someone, somehow, is with him.
“No, Kit. No.” Huge, wracking sobs fall from my chest as I collapse to my knees and allow myself this one moment to fall apart.
“Damian? Jesus Christ, Damian, what the hell is going on?” Jasper’s here. I don’t know when he got back, but he’s kneeling in front of me now, his hands on my shoulder, shaking me gently.
“Jasper,” I gasp, my lungs burning. “Jasper, he’s got him. Dad’s got Kit.”
“Mate, slow down. Take a breath, come on.” Jasper places his hand flat across my chest. “That’s it, follow me. Breathe in…”
I suck in a quaking breath, my lungs burning as air sears its way down my throat.
“And out.” Jasper blows gently, encouraging me to do the same.
I cough all over him, still unable to collect myself. He repeats the process over and over until I can breathe on my own. I’m still trembling, but my head no longer feels like it’s about to explode, and I can probably talk without passing out.
“Dad’s done something,” I whisper, my fingers clinging onto Jasper’s forearms.
“What? What did he do?”
“He, he…” My breathing picks up again, my heart racing as everything I just discovered blisters in my stomach. Bile rises in my throat…
“Okay, okay. You don’t have to say. Just tell me what I can do.”
“My phone,” I rasp. “Open my phone.”
My friend picks up the innocuous device and holds it in front of my face to unlock.
“Look at the internet app,” I instruct him quietly.
I can’t watch as Jasper falls into this pit of despair with me, but his initial gasp of shock, his gulps of disbelief, and his quiet, oh, god, no, when he stumbles on the last uploaded video tell me everything I need to know.
“Was that… Was it…?” he stutters. “Oh, fuck. Did you know Kit was doing this?”
I laugh humourlessly. “Kit didn’t know Kit was doing this.”
Jasper pales. “What?”
“We had no idea. We never saw a camera. We never suspected anything. That gift box you saw on his bed, the one with the underwear, Kit thought it was from me. Lucien’s been pulling the puppet strings for years, and we gave him the golden egg last night when I stupidly took Kit’s virginity in his room instead of mine. ”
“That was his first time?” Jasper asks in horror. “Oh fuck, I think I’m going to be sick.”
I can’t stop the tears rolling down my face. “I called Kit to tell him to leave, but Lucien caught him before he managed to get out. I don’t know what’s happened, but it’s something bad. I think Kit’s been knocked out or something.”
“Shit, what are we going to do?”
“I have to find him. There’s no other option.”
“Well, sure. But how?”
“I’ll start at home. If I’m lucky, Dad’s keeping Kit there, shut in one of the spare rooms or something.” Or any of the rooms with a functioning lock. “And, if not, there must be some clue as to where he’d take him.”
“Shouldn’t we just call the police? They’ll be able to trace him, right?”
“Not yet. If I can find Dad, I want to deal with him myself. I don’t want to risk him getting off lightly because he’s hired the best solicitors money can buy.”
Now that I have a plan, I need to go. I’ve wasted enough time wallowing and falling apart already. I jump up from the mattress with a new, restless determination and chuck on the first set of clothes I find, a black hoodie and tight, grey jeans that turn out to be Jasper’s. But I don’t care.
“If you’ve not heard from me by ten tomorrow, then you can call the police. Until that time, just keep your phone on in case I need something.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What?” I ask, shoving my laces into my white trainers.
Jasper looks at me like I’m an idiot. “I’m not letting you go off on your own. I’m coming with you.”
“But… But… You’re wearing elf ears.” I don’t know why that’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth.
Sheepishly, Jasper removes the ridiculous prosthetics and throws them down on his bed. “I forgot I was wearing those. The social was dead, that’s why I’m back early.”
Whatever, I can tease him about this later.
“If you’re coming, we need to go now. You can bail out at any time, no questions asked. I don’t know what tonight will bring, and I don’t expect you to get involved.”
“Noted,” he says, shrugging on his jacket over his white shirt and jeans. “Now, shall we go?”
We race to my car, Jasper taking the wheel so I can phone the sadistic fuck I used to call my father. I know it won’t do any good, but it’ll placate the beast snapping and snarling inside of me. I hit call.
The stupid bastard answers. “Damian, I wondered when I’d be hearing from you.”
“I’m coming,” I growl, barely able to hear over the anger pulsing in my ears.
“And I promise you this, if there’s one hair hurt on his head, one trace of a tear on his cheek, then I will kill you.
Slowly. I will tear every strip of skin from your bones.
I will pluck out your eyes with my bare hands.
I will take pliers to your fingers, shears to your toes, and don’t even get me started on what I’ll do to your balls, you sick fucking asshole.
Death will feel like a mercy once I’m done with you. ”
“If you say so, son,” Lucien sighs. “There’s just one problem. You’ll have to find us first.” And then, the line goes dead.
I smash my fist into the dashboard. Well, I knew it was too much to hope that I’d find Kit at home. Which means the search is on. I just pray to hell that Lucien’s been reckless enough to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for me to follow.
Fuck. I punch the console again, then a few more times for good measure.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Hey,” Jasper snaps, never taking his eyes off the road as he weaves in and out of bus lanes at speed. Looks like I’ll be getting a few letters from the council next week. “We’re going to find him. It’s going to be alright.”
But how? It’ll be like searching for a needle in a haystack. We’re going to need a hell of a lot of luck on our side to outsmart my father.
Or a hell of a lot of cunning.
Then, it hits me. I know exactly who we need. I bring up the right contact on my phone and beg that she’ll actually take my call.
Thankfully, she does.
“Alright, fancy pants. What’s up?”
“Jane, we have a problem…”