Chapter 13
Greyson
I was going to fucking kill Oliver.
I had ignored the alerts from my home monitoring system, knowing that he was supposed to visit Lane. Even so, my fingers itched painfully to check my phone each time it vibrated in my pocket. I had two back-to-back appointments - the first one went slightly long, resulting in not being able to check the cameras until after the second had finished. Once I saw the footage, my vision went red with rage. I sped home from the office, calling my brothers on the drive. To their pleasure, I tasked them with interrogating Oliver for any information about where Lane could have gone. Lane had left his phone at my apartment, and I regrettably hadn’t chipped him yet, so GPS tracking was out of the equation. I never should have allowed that fucking rat to speak with him. Lane’s letter further confirmed that his friend had polluted his thoughts with lies.
Daddy,
I’m so sorry, but I have to go. I don’t want to. I want to stay here forever and ever and spend everyday with you. I’m just really confused right now. Oliver talked to me about some stuff and it feels wrong, but I’m so scared that it’s right. I won’t tell anyone about you or your brothers, I promise. I would never. I’m not that special anyways, so I think you should be able to find a replacement boy easily. If Oliver’s wrong about you, I will never forgive myself for leaving you. I think you’re perfect. But, what if that’s all a lie? I’d kill myself. I couldn’t live with myself if you hurt me like that. So, I’m leaving before it can happen. It hurts so much to leave, but I can do it and I’ll be okay. I’m so sorry. Thank you for everything (if you weren’t just using me). Please don’t search for me. I don’t even know where I’m going. Please don’t be mad at Oliver. He just wants me to be safe. Also, I’m sorry about not cleaning up the vomit – I didn’t have time. I had to go before I changed my mind.
Lane.
Lane had used my card to withdraw two-hundred dollars from an ATM several hours south in Portland. After that transaction, there hadn’t been any activity to be tracked. I wasn’t sure how Lane was expecting to survive outrunning me with such a measly amount of funds, considering how I spent much more than two-hundred daily on his care at home. Was he planning to sleep on the streets with his cat? I clenched my jaw, frustrated at myself for allowing his friend to see him alone. I should have expected Oliver to try something like this, he’d been in Lane’s ear from the start. As my phone rang, I stabbed the screen to answer without checking who was calling, hoping that Lane had come to his senses and was calling me from a payphone to pick him up.
“Grey! There’s our happy camper,” Hayes drawled. “The pup isn’t telling us anything. He’s insistent that while he did tell Lane to run away, he was hoping for Lane to come to him for help, not to run off alone. Lane hasn’t been in contact since Oliver left your place. We’ve checked his phone records and it seems like he’s telling the truth. How do you want us to proceed?”
Scrubbing a hand down my face in aggravation, I replied, “I’ll come to speak with him. We’ll just have to go from there.” I hung up the call before waiting for a response. My brothers and I weren’t big on talking without necessity.
It took less than half an hour to drive myself over to the twins’ house. After entering the code to their garage and walking into the home, I was hit with the faint sound of screeching.
Jesus .
Honestly, I was impressed at the kid’s lungs since I could still hear him over the soundproofing in the basement. As soon as I opened the door to the basement, the sound of Oliver’s screams pierced my eardrums. He was so tiny, but so fucking loud. He reminded me of a chihuahua or a pomeranian - one of those annoying small breeds.
“You can’t just do this to people!”
My brothers’ sadistic laughs trickled up the staircase. I sighed, wishing Lane had at least picked someone tolerable as a friend. Entering the hidden torture chamber hidden behind a false wall and security system, I set my sights on the object of my disdain. When he saw me, all the color drained from his face.
Well, at least he knew he had fucked himself. “Oliver.”
“Psychopathic piece of shit,” he spit, causing another round of laughter from his captors. I rolled my eyes, walking to stand directly in front of the chair he was chained to. I couldn’t understand why my brothers liked this one. He was so loud.
“Alright, little guy. Here’s your last chance. Tell your future brother-in-law what he wants to know,” Hudson quipped, an amused smirk on his face. Oliver bristled, obviously upset but used to their taunts.
“Walk me through it. Lane never would have left on his own,” I uttered in contempt, kicking a leg of his chair.
“I already told them like a million times, but I guess you’re all too fucking stupid to understand, so I’ll go through it again. Yes, I strongly encouraged Lane to run away with me. Keywords being with me . I haven’t heard from him since I left your apartment.”
“Are there any people besides you and his parents that he could have gone to?”
“Not that I know of,” Oliver noted. His voice then got small as he said, “I didn’t think he’d go by himself. That isn’t what I wanted.”
Taking a deep breath, I nodded to Hayes. “Do just one for now,” I sternly instructed. Hayes raised an eyebrow, but ultimately retrieved a mallet from a nearby table. As he began walking towards Oliver with it, the waterworks started.
He hiccuped, tears falling, “Please don’t. I’m s-so sorry. Please! Lane wouldn’t want you to hurt me. P-Please!” I ignored his begging, watching his face closely as Hayes stalked closer and closer to his prey. Interestingly, he turned his head to where Hudson was standing. He pleaded, “You… Y-You p-promised– promised you wouldn’t hurt me!”
Hudson looked at him with a blank stare before shrugging. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”
At that moment, Hayes kneeled to the ground and swung the mallet towards Oliver’s left ankle. Oliver appeared to brace for the impact, eyes clenched shut. His panicked breathing and whimpers filled the air.
The mallet stopped less than an inch from his skin, just close enough to make him understand.
I smiled, addressing Oliver as I said, “That was for insinuating that my beloved allowed the abuse from his cousin. I don’t actually disagree with most of your concerns about me, but victim-blaming your best friend, really?”
Oliver sobbed, choking on his fear, “I d-didn’t mean… it– it like that.”
“Really? Because when I listened to the audio recording, I could’ve sworn it sounded like you were saying that by him staying with me - pampered and adored, may I add - he was encouraging abuse rising to the same level of that piece of trash who raped and beat him for two years as a child,” I sneered.
Oliver’s face dropped, shock entwined in his features. “What?”
“By the way, he left me a goodbye note. Want me to read it to you?” I pulled Lane’s crumpled and tear-stained letter from my jacket pocket. As I read it aloud to Oliver, he began to sniffle and quietly cry. He wouldn’t meet my eyes when I finished, keeping his eyes locked on the floor at my feet. “Did you catch that part about him killing himself, hm? What about the part where he calls me Daddy and says that he never wanted to leave? Oh, and the part about the vomit? As soon as you walked out the door, he collapsed, had a panic attack, threw up on the floor, and laid there shaking and crying.”
“I-I– I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I didn’t mean for it to hurt him like that. I had no idea. H-He never told me. I just wanted him to leave you and for everything to go back to normal,” Oliver sniffled, breathing heavily.
“Knowing now that we will indeed hurt you, I’ll ask you again. Do you know where he went or where he could be going?”
“I swear I don’t!”
Hayes drew the mallet back again.
Oliver shouted in fear, “I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know!” Hayes looked back at me as a small puddle began forming underneath the chair.
“Okay, I believe you,” I relented, putting my hands up as a placating gesture.
Oliver hesitated before choking out, “T-Thank you.”
“If there is anything at all that you think could be helpful, please tell me. Anything you can tell me will improve the conditions of your stay with my brothers.”
Oliver gulped, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “Um… Let me think…” I gave him a small nod before asking Hudson to bring him a bottle of water. “Did he take Chloe with him?”
“Yes, in a cat carrier. His last known location is Portland, Oregon,” I shared.
“Okay, well um… If Chloe’s with him, he’d be really conscious of her care. Pet-friendly motels, stopping to buy her food, stopping to let her go to the bathroom - those kinds of things.” Hudson returned with water and something to calm him down. He instructed Oliver to open his mouth and hold out his tongue as he placed the pills on its moist surface. Hudson then assisted him in taking a few sips of the water, which seemed to help him a bit. “What about money?”
I cocked my head, asking, “What about it? He took my credit card, but hasn’t used it since he withdrew cash from an ATM.”
“Did he take his credit card? Or the one that his parents pay?”
My eyes widened. I had assumed Lane would only use my money, but why would he? He was obviously smart enough to know I could track him via my card or his phone. “I think he may have. His wallet was gone.”
“Okay, I’m not assuming anything… but you guys are obviously really sketchy…” Hayes huffed out a laugh as Hudson smirked and shook his head. “I know you shouldn’t be able to, but could you somehow get into the accounts of those cards and see if he’s been using them, and then track him that way?”
I took a relieved breath in, “Yeah, we can definitely do that. Thank you. If I’m able to find him using that method, I’ll make sure these two bring you out of the basement.”
Oliver furrowed his brow slightly as he registered my words. “Out of the basement… Not out of here in general?”
The twins both grinned toothily, a glint in their eyes.
“No, my brothers will be keeping you at least for now. They’ve been waiting for a chance. I was going to try to discourage them from playing with you, but you made that impossible for me. I’m sure you’ll be more careful when speaking with my boy from now on. Maybe you’ll even come to understand his attachment to me. Although, I’m not nearly as sadistic as your new masters. You’ll see how lucky Lane is soon enough,” I mocked, patting him on the cheek.
“No! No, no, no. Please don’t leave me with them!” He begged, thrashing in his chains.
“My hands are tied, Oliver,” I derided, exiting the room with the door closing slowly behind me. “I’ll see you again once you’ve been housebroken.”
???
It took no time at all to gain access to Lane’s bank account. Pitiful security, truly. Luckily for him, Oliver had given me the key to finding my boy. Lane had been using his credit card, making it incredibly easy to follow his movements. Around two o’clock in the morning, he paid for a motel room just past the border into California. A pet-friendly establishment, of course. Lane was a deep sleeper, at least when he was in my bed. I was hoping he’d still be in his motel room by the time I arranged to arrive by private jet. I couldn’t wait to have him in my hands again.
Poor thing probably felt so lonely without me.
I was glad my brothers had wanted Lane’s friend, or I would have had to kill him. I could make Lane easily forgive a kidnapping and interrogation, but not a murder. If I framed it in a romantic way, Lane may even appreciate it.