Chapter 30
BEASTY
Sitting in the backseat with Gio was torture. He kept his massive rifle across his knees, pointed right at me.
Neither man spoke as we sped down the highway. It was a familiar road.
Every mile ratcheted up my excitement. They were heading back toward Snatched, and if not Snatched, at least toward home.
The simple fact that they weren't taking me to a deserted house deep in the backwoods was a win.
I chanced a glance at Gio. His eyes were red-rimmed but he wasn't crying. He did seem wrecked—from his mussed hair to the wrinkled and stained clothes that looked like they'd seen better days despite the all-black ensemble.
I could just hear Kim's commentary on it in the back of my head. My chest squeezed.
It had only been a few hours and I missed them.
Still, there was something niggling in the back of my head. “How did you know we would go to Linda’s?”
Gio placed the full weight of his stare on me for a long minute. My breathing grew choppy waiting for what he’d say.
“We didn’t know. But we did know you worked there, were happy there, before Lake barged in and took you. We thought it was possible you would want to see your old boss while you were in town.”
A breath rushed out of me as I shook my head. “That was a big chance you took. I could just as easily have never gone back there.” That was a lie, but I doubted Gio would know that.
He shrugged, the corners of his mouth pulling down. “We needed somewhere to regroup anyway. If you hadn’t shown up before anyone else, we’d have killed her and left. At the very least, you’d have felt responsible for her death too. Fortunately for you, it didn’t come to that.”
This fucking asshole. I bared my teeth as tears burned my eyes. He was right on that. I would have felt guilty. Balling my hands into fists on my thighs, I glared at him, hoping he could see the depths of my hatred for him.
Not that it was comforting. He didn’t care whether I hated him or not. Or if he did, he probably relished that emotion from me.
"We need gas," Adrian said in a monotone voice. He flicked on the blinker and we left the highway.
How damn ironic was it that this was the same gas station where I'd run from them the first time? I glanced around, checking the surroundings, the lack of people, and the lone attendant in the window.
"Don't even think about it." Gio sneered. "You and me are sitting in the back while Adrian gets gas. No running away this time. I learned from my mistake where you're concerned."
It was probably too much to hope that I'd get lucky with a repeat escape. For the thirteenth time, I tried to needle him into giving me information. I’d even take compassion. I could use that to my advantage.
Since they took me, I'd tried raging first, then crying, then pleading for answers. Nothing had worked. They'd been vaults.
But nothing would change if I didn't try.
The boys had to be going crazy right now. I was too, but not for me. For them. I knew what this would do to them. I'd lived it after I got them back the last time.
Working myself up, I asked, "What's the point of this? I've never done anything to you," I said softly as Gio’s attention split between watching me and Adrian pumping gas.
He was silent, and my heart sank.
Damn it! I would never get answers like this. But I kept myself cool on the outside. I didn't want to give these assholes anything to use against me.
Then, Gio shifted in his seat. When I glanced at him, he was staring right at me.
"I beg to differ. This has everything to do with you." His gaze flicked down my body like I was the worst thing to ever happen to him. "Everything that's gone sour happened after we found you for the Fashion Boys,” he said the last like a slur, as if they should be ashamed of who they were.
My lips thinned.
"How is that my fault?" Fuck, that came out snarkier than I liked.
He stuck his tongue in his cheek as Adrian opened his door and slid back in.
"What if I told you I have to pee?"
Adrian tossed an empty water bottle in the back. I knocked it off my leg, and it bounced to the floor. I guess no one was getting piss breaks this trip.
"If you don't want to use the bottle, then you hold it. You piss in my car, and I'll shoot you in the foot." The dangerous Adrian was back, and this one was quietly furious. At me.
"Where to?" Adrian asked Gio as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"You don't even have a plan?" I shouted.
I mean, shit, it was good they didn't have a plan. It meant there would be more chances to escape. But still, I was freaking out with each passing minute.
I closed my eyes, and counted to ten. This was the best case scenario. They didn't have me tied up. They weren't trying to rape or beat me. This all said there would be an opportunity to get away. I just had to be ready to take it.
Gio must have had enough of being quiet because he clicked the gun safety off.
I braced for a shot, but nothing happened.
"Our plan is to take out the boys you call family. To make sure anyone who has fucked with us dies."
The words were ice cold. Unfeeling. They chilled me to the core.
I met Adrian's gaze in the rearview mirror. His eyes were dead, a perfect match to Gio's.
"I didn't do any of that. It's not my fault.
" I was a broken record. I didn't even know why I tried.
Of anyone, growing up how I did, I knew that fault was never a factor, not when it came to people's emotions.
Still, I had to try to get information out of them. I needed to appeal to their human side.
They must have one. But then again, I wasn't sure. It could be that every bit of good I'd seen in them was just a convenience because we hadn't made trouble for them. To a certain point, they had to be nice to ensure we helped them when they needed it.
Gio and Adrian had manipulated us.
"Maybe you're the bad luck we have to get rid of," Gio murmured, and Adrian's gaze zeroed in on him.
Did that subtle movement mean he didn't feel the same way Gio did?
"Adrian," I tried a different tactic. "Please, I didn't do anything. I didn't hurt anyone. Until recently, I didn't even want to be with the boys!"
When he gave me his attention again, it was fleeting. "Doesn't matter, Cressida. Because of you, Storm is dead. If you'd come with us, helped us any number of times we'd tried the nice way, none of this would have happened."
I sat back, thumping against the seat. He meant that, they both did. They really blamed me for all their problems.
"Yeah, well, if you hadn't sent Storm in to kidnap me with a fucking mask and dart gun, he wouldn't have been shot! This is your fault!" I shoved the seat in front of me in a wild burst of rage.
"Storm would still be here if it wasn't for you!" Gio shouted, wrapping his hands around the weapon in his lap.
Out of reflex, I twisted my head at the shrill sound of his voice. But all I saw was the butt of his rifle as he slammed it into my face.
The hum of electronics was familiar, but my head hurt like hell.
The hard surface under me was both cool and hot at the same time. Wait, why was it hot?
I groaned, rolling onto my back, and my hand flopped across the rubbery feel of the floor.
Rubber? I pried my eyes open, and stage lights blinded me.
The blissed out ignorance slipped away as every detail of the last twenty-four hours flooded back in. The Pescis, the boys, Gio and Adrian.
"She's awake." Adrian.
His booted footsteps came closer until he blotted out some of the lights. He nudged my arm with his toe. "You with us?"
"What the hell is going on?" My voice shook as I pushed myself to a sitting position. The blood rushed to my head, and the side of my face throbbed with pain. Ouch.
"You'll be glad to know, we've come up with a plan." He walked away.
It couldn't have been that much later. We were almost back to Snatched when we’d stopped at the gas station.
I started to stand but Gio, who was at the side of the stage, tutted. "Don't get up. Our plan'll work best with you on the floor."
"What's the plan?" I raised my voice but my head pounded harder.
"The plan is, we wait for your boys to come back. They see you here on the stage, we'll pluck them off, one by one until it's only us left. When they're all dead, well, you get the idea."
The idea? The idea!
They thought they would just kill everyone? Me too from the sounds of it.
"You'll never make it out alive. Even if you...you're able to kill us, the place will be surrounded. There are too many of us and too few of you. Guy’s probably on his way now."
Adrian smirked, but it wasn't his usual smile I'd first come to associate with him. That had been fake. Like Kim, he was a performer, but where Kim only used his talent to get people to leave him alone, Adrian performed to get people to trust him.
Then he stabbed them in the back.
"We didn't come alone, and don’t worry about Guy. He’s been taken care of."
I spun to my left, then scrambled to my right. We were in the Whip Room. I'd recognize this stage anywhere, even if all the rooms had the same layout, the stages were different.
"What do you mean you didn't come alone? Where is Guy?" I asked.
But they didn't answer. They didn't fucking answer.
Instead, Adrian yanked a cord and one of the back curtains fell.
Just like Linda, Guy was strapped to a chair. The only difference was, he wasn’t conscious and there was an awful amount of blood down his front.
My heart pounded in my ears as I sat there on my ass, helpless to do anything.
Both men sank onto the same chairs the judges had used when I’d participated in amateur night. They crossed their legs, ankles at their knees, with a gun in each hand as they waited.
We didn't have to wait long.
Soon, gunfire was going off like popcorn.