Chapter 20
Hannah
W hen I got to work, I waited for Samuel like I always did, only to see a text that he was taking the day off.
Sad I wouldn’t have my work buddy today, I sighed and walked inside.
Waylon was already sitting at the computer, working slowly on something when I approached.
He looked over his shoulder and his hair, once again, was covering his eyes.
I wanted to grab a pair of scissors and cut it off so he could see, but I refrained.
“Samuel is out today, so I’m going to work on a few things at his desk and I’ll be right here if you have questions. Just keep working one step at a time and you’ll do fine.”
He nodded and turned back to the computer without a word.
I wasn’t sure how old he was, but his appearance and lack of basic societal interactions made him seem like a teenager.
I shrugged and got to work, wanting to finish up as much as possible today.
I only had four days left to work, and I refused to leave anything I’d started unfinished.
When I glanced at the little clock on Samuel’s desk, I saw less than an hour had passed.
Time was dragging on, and there was nothing I could do to stop my mind from running a hundred miles an hour.
When I woke up this morning, I had a deep feeling of dread in my stomach.
It wasn’t something I experienced often, but when I did, it caused me to be distracted.
I wouldn’t call myself religious, but I was spiritual, so when my gut warned me of something, I paid attention. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Then, hearing Rhys had to fly to a meeting caused my anxiety and worry to grow until every minute seemed like an hour.
Trying to push the worry aside, I attempted to take my own advice and started working on the long list of tasks. There weren’t too many major assignments to complete, but if I got a jump-start on what was left, maybe I could leave on time today.
As the minutes ticked by, I thought of everything Rhys and I did last night and felt my face grow flush.
I clenched my thighs together, feeling the delicious soreness from our lovemaking.
It was more than I could’ve ever dreamed of, and I wanted more.
The boys I’d been with in the past weren’t even in the same league as a man like Rhys, and I was the lucky girl who got to call him mine.
I felt like a silly schoolgirl, but I couldn’t help it. I was happy and wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was in love, but the assholes I worked with would probably complain I made too much noise. Shaking my head, I checked my phone and saw no missed notifications, so I went back to work.
A few times over the next couple hours, I felt like someone was watching me, but when I turned around or used my monitor’s reflection to see if someone was behind me, there would be no one there.
All this worry and searching was starting to wear on my nerves, and until Rhys was safely back on the ground here in Atlanta, I didn’t think I would stop fretting.
“Hannah?” I turned around in my chair to see Waylon standing at the edge of our shared wall.
“What’s up?” I asked and saw him cast his eyes down briefly before speaking.
“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a bite with me for lunch. Since Samuel’s out and you’ve been so patient with me, I was hoping to say thank you for all your help,” he said, and I noticed he was picking his cuticle as he spoke.
I didn’t want to immediately say no, and I tried to think of a reason not to, only to come up blank, so I smiled at him and asked, “Where are you thinking of going?”
He lifted his head and smiled, though his eyes were still partially covered by his shaggy hair. “I wanted to try that sandwich shop up the road in the new shopping center, if that’s okay.” Quickly, he added, “Or wherever you want to go is fine.”
“A sandwich sounds good,” I reassured him. “We’ve got about thirty minutes, so let’s race to see who can finish the most before we leave.”
“Okay,” he eagerly replied and turned on his heels to return to his desk.
I could hear him typing and clicking away on his side of the wall, and I grinned, thinking I may have figured out a way to motivate the young man. Granted, I didn’t know if he was younger than me, and I acted older than I was, but I felt like he was either younger or maybe just immature.
The minutes ticked away, and before I finished my last two tasks, I heard the chime for our lunch break.
Stretching in my chair, I worked the tension out of my back and cracked my neck before standing.
Once on my feet, I bent forward, back, and to both sides to relieve the kinks.
The worst part of this job was sitting for so long, and I wouldn’t miss the uncomfortable chairs in the office.
“Are you ready?” Waylon asked, and I glanced over my shoulder as I tucked my phone into my purse.
“I need to use the restroom, then we can go.”
“I’ll wait here for you,” he replied as I walked past him and around the corner.
After using the restroom and washing my hands, I walked back to my desk and saw Waylon scrolling on his phone as he sat in his chair, waiting for me. He lifted his head when I approached, and after grabbing my purse from my desk, I met him outside our cubicles.
He walked ahead of me and was kind enough to hold the office door open. “Should I just meet you there?”
Looking over at me, he suggested, “We can take my car if you want. I promise, I’m a good driver and I don’t speed.”
Briefly, I hesitated, but then remembered I had a gun tucked into the bottom zipper of my purse. Plus, scatterbrained Waylon didn’t seem like much of a threat as he hiked up his too big pants before flipping his head to the side to move the hair from his eyes.
“We can take your car,” I agreed and followed him farther down the parking lot.
He unlocked the car and got inside as I opened the passenger door, got in, and turned in my seat to hook my seatbelt.
The vehicle was older but clean. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, but my gut screamed at me to run, but it was too late.
A painful pinch in the side of my neck shocked me, and I spun in my seat and slapped my hand over the spot.
Waylon was sitting in the driver’s seat with a syringe in his hand, and when I tried to push away from him, he lunged for me.
My brain was spinning and filling with fog as I tried to open the door, only for him to reach over and pull it closed.
He reached along the side of my seat as he pulled the seatbelt across my body and clicked it.
“We can’t have anything happening to you,” he smirked before cranking the car and pulling out of the lot.
There was no one to see what had happened, and while I was still awake and sitting up, I couldn’t control anything.
When I tried to speak, the words were slurred and jumbled, and when I attempted to reach out to stop him, my arms didn’t do what I wanted them to do.
My eyes fell shut, but I could still hear Waylon making a phone call.
“Yes. It was easy with that fairy out of the way,” he said, and immediately, I worried about Samuel.
Waylon kept speaking, and with every word, it seemed like I was being pulled further and further away from myself.
The tunnel-like conversation made no sense to my drugged brain as my head lulled to the side.
“Yes. I know, and don’t worry. Yes. Of course, I did.
I’m not stupid.” He paused, and he sounded annoyed when he spoke again. “I fucking know, so stop reminding me.”
I heard a beep and then Waylon yelled into the car, “Fucking asshole!”
If I was able to move, I would have jumped out of my skin at the volume of his rage.
Whoever was on the other end of the phone pissed him off, and I hoped that when I was able to do something, I would remember that.
Whoever was on the other end must have been pulling the strings, and just as I started to black out, I had a horrible realization.
Whoever took me had to be connected to the Syndicate, and since Rhys, James, and my brothers weren’t any closer to figuring out who it was, they may never find me.
I felt a tear streak down my cheek as a vision of Rhys flashed in my mind and my nightmare swallowed me whole.
Someone was reaching under my legs and behind my back to lift me from the car, but I still had no control over my body. My eyes were closed as my head rested against someone’s chest, and as I was jostled around, I swore I heard someone softly say, “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t know how long I’d been out, and without being able to see where I was, I had no idea where to go if I did manage to escape.
My body rocked to one side slightly, and I was pressed closer to the mystery man’s chest as we climbed what seemed like stairs, but honestly, I had no idea.
Everything was disoriented in my mind and the sounds around me were distorted, so nothing made sense.
“There she is,” a man said as whoever was carrying me stopped walking. I felt someone grab my chin and jerk my head away from where it’d been resting, only to shove it back. “How much did you give her?”
“One cc, like you said.” The voice sounded like Waylon, but nothing made sense.
The man holding me jostled to the side and stumbled as the other man said, “I told you two, you dumbass. You can’t even get that right.”
The arms holding me grew tighter as someone approached us from my side, and instantly, I felt the same stinging pinch and burning sensation in my neck as earlier.
Starbursts of light streaked behind my eyes as a warm sensation spread throughout my body and my mind began to tumble.
What little recollection I had seemingly disappeared as, once again, I was dragged into darkness.
WHEREVER I WAS, IT was freezing, and my thin shirt and pants did little to protect me from the chill.
Lying as still as I could, I cautiously wiggled my wrists and feet, seeing if I was tied up.
I had no idea if anyone was watching me, so as slowly as I could, I lifted my eyelids and peeked through my lashes to see if I was alone.
I didn’t see anyone, so I rolled to my back and, with great effort, pushed myself up to a sitting position.
There was a soft mattress under me, and as I began to look around, I realized I was in what appeared to be a small bedroom.
The floors were clean, the walls were painted a soft beige, and the furniture appeared new, but there wasn’t anything else in the room.
No decorations, no art, and nothing personal, so it was hard to know where I was.
Gently, I pushed off the side of the bed, and when my boots hit the floor, I took a minute to steady myself.
Whatever they gave me was strong, and waves of dizziness and nausea kept washing over me.
I took deep breaths, trying to clear my head, and when I was feeling a little more stable, I began to quietly walk to the only window in the room.
The sky was dark, and all I could see were trees and forest outside the window.
Pressing my head against the cool pane, I closed my eyes and fought to keep the panic pressed down.
One thing I’d learned over the last few weeks of being with Rhys was if you want to escape, you have to use your head and keep panic at bay.
He’d said, “You can panic once you’re free, but never stop thinking or working out a way to escape. And never hesitate to kill whoever is keeping you from your freedom.”
I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but if these demented fuckers were stupid enough to take me again, I had a feeling it was only through blood that I would survive.
Footsteps sounded through the door, and with urgency, I moved back to the bed and sat down, hoping to appear as though I had just woken up. The door jiggled as the sound of a key entering a lock echoed around me, and I felt my heart beating faster and harder in my chest as the door pushed open.
The person filling the doorway was shadowed by the bright light behind them, so I couldn’t see who they were, but just from the body shape, I knew it wasn’t Waylon.
I could question why he took me later, because this giant man was taking slow steps into the room, purposely keeping himself shadowed from my eyes.
“I see you’re finally awake,” the man said. I tried to place his voice, only to draw a blank.
“Where am I?” I asked through a scratchy voice, and he tossed something onto the bed.
The bottle of water rolled against my feet, and I carefully reached down and grabbed it.
I took a tentative sip and didn’t taste anything funny, but how would I actually know?
For now, I had to trust I wasn’t being drugged since I desperately needed fluids.
My mouth was dry and my head pounding from whatever they’d injected me with, but with each sip, the pain eased.
“Where you are isn’t important. What is important is what’s expected of you. If you fight, I promise you will not like the response,” the nameless, faceless man said, and his deep tone sent shivers down my spine.
“Why did you take me? Who are you?” I asked, and he chuckled.
The man took one step closer to me, and I pushed away as he explained, “I am your worst nightmare, Hannah. And if you don’t do as I say, I’ll cut you up and mail you back to that little boyfriend of yours.” Tears rolled down my eyes as he asked, “Are we clear?”
“Y-y-yes,” I said, the tears flowing freely down my face.
“Good. Someone will bring you something to eat in a while. Don’t try to run or think anyone here will help you.” He took three steps back, continuing to keep himself shadowed as he added, “And if anyone tries to fuck this up by rescuing you, I swear I’ll kill you before they have a chance.”
With that threat, he stepped out of the room and pulled the door closed as he went. The sound of the lock engaging echoed through the room and, instantly, I broke down. Tucking my face against my raised knees, I cried at the injustice of everything.
What had I done in a previous life to deserve this not once but twice?
Were these the same people as last time, or is this some kind of new hell?
I worried about Rhys and my newfound family when they discovered I was gone and would probably never return. It wasn’t fair, but I refused to go quietly or just give in. I would fight with everything I had inside me, and if it cost me my life, then so be it.
I was the illegitimate daughter of a monster, and if pushed, I feared the darkness would come out, forcing me closer to the ledge as I fought to survive.