Chapter 30
My eyelids feel like lead as I try to peel them open. A throbbing pain pounds behind my temples, mercilessly, and my mouth is desert dry.
When I finally push through the fog in my brain, darkness surrounds me, and panic hits me full force. My heart pumps an erratic beat, fear coating my body in a layer of sweat, making me want to back into a corner and hide. My neck is stiff, surely from having my head lolled to the side for too long. But I’m alive. I let that knowledge ease the building panic. As long as I am alive, there’s a way out.
Seated in a chair, I try to roll my shoulders and bring movement to my body, but I can’t. My hands are tied at my front.
I can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall for that trick. Here I am, trapped, completely at their mercy—mercy they don’t have.
Tears well in my eyes. Fear for my life is one thing, but thinking of Blake, my brother, father, and friends, the pain splinters my chest. The night shouldn’t have ended like this.
“You’re awake,” a nasally voice says, ringing of content, the sound grating in my ears.
Caleb turns on an overhead light, and I squeeze my eyes shut, momentarily blinded.
There is no window, just gray walls, a small bed with a metallic frame, and a toilet in the corner.
I won’t open my mouth and give him the satisfaction of hearing my despair. Glaring at him, I can’t believe this man is Blake’s father. I’ve never felt so much rage and hatred for someone as I do for him. He must be a special breed of evil and fucked up to treat his son the way he did.
“No questions, sweet Mia?”
My spine straightens hearing that condescending tone. I have to get out of this, but as I frantically search around, the room is empty of anything I can use as a weapon.
All the fake pleasantry disappears when he marches up to me and grips my chin, tipping my face up. How I’d like to bite into his fingers and spit them at his feet.
“There is no escape. You’ll stay here until my son arrives, and then both of you will die.”
He delivered that threat with no emotion. I should be afraid, but I won’t allow this asshole to be the one who ends my life—and my love story.
“Wouldn’t be the first time you tried,” I say, breaking my silence, but it’s hard to keep my anger under control when he said he would kill his son—a son he doesn’t deserve. But Blake is my man, the love of my life.
“It was you. You made my son into a weakling and a traitor to our cause.”
Caleb won’t get any more reactions from me.
“Hmm, a quiet one. I don’t get what he sees in you.”
I flinch, those words highlighting my self-consciousness in neon colors. I remind myself that he craves my reaction and feeds off chipping away at my confidence.
A grin lifts in the corner of my mouth as I notice his lips pressed into a tight line when I don’t give him the desired reaction.
He jerks me up, and I stumble to my feet at the sheer force and sudden movement. I swallow instinctively. From my friends’ stories, I expect my torture to begin as soon as I wake up.
The door opens, and he gestures for the guard posted there to come inside. I take a step back when I see the knife clutched between his fingers.
“Mia, Mia, you should have paid attention. I will not hurt you. Not yet. Until my son comes, nothing will happen to you. I want him to be desperate, thinking about what you’re enduring at my hands. Only when he’s here will I begin my torture.”
This is good. I have a bit of time to find a way out. There’s no way I will allow Caleb to have Blake at his mercy. The guard flicks the knife through the zip ties, and I rub my wrists together, two angry red lines marring my skin.
“You’re a monster. And you’re not worthy of a son like Blake. He’s everything you’ll never be.” I spit, and his eyes burn with rage.
He takes a step toward me but seems to reconsider and halts, saying to the guard, “Nothing to eat for our insolent guest.”
Guest. I bite a huff at his audacity. I am a freaking prisoner, but whatever.
“Where is your best friend?” I ask.
“We had to split up. Like I said, you won’t win this time.”
The door closes behind him, and I pace around. Focus, damn it. I rush toward the door, but it’s sealed shut. And I haven’t seen a way out. There is not a single window, and the walls are so thick that no sound could penetrate them. It must be underground.
I don’t know how many hours pass, but with every second ticking by, the more trapped I feel, losing any sense of time. Claustrophobia stretches its web, waiting for me to fall into its mesh, but I can’t afford that.
Instead, I focus on my breathing to remain calm enough to concoct a plan. Desperation pushes you to make stupid and rash decisions. I have one chance to do this right.
Felix is not even here, but that’s a problem for another time.
I will study the guard’s moves and try to get as much information as I can before I give my escape plan a chance. I remember what my father always told me in case something goes wrong. “Stay calm. Don’t let circumstances define your course of action, but remember the end goal.”
Breathing in and out in a soothing rhythm, I sink onto the edge of the mattress.
I am not some damsel in distress. I might not be the fighter Hunter and Celine are, but I am not someone who you can easily mess with. I just can’t draw attention to myself. I’ll play sweet, coy, and vulnerable. Once the guard begins to slack, I will have a better chance of stealing whatever I need from him to get out, find out where I am, and then make my getaway.
With my plan in motion, I calm down. “I am okay, Blake,” I whisper into the air, hoping my message will be carried to him.
I don’t want him to do something stupid, but knowing him, he will to save me. So I have to act fast. And staying strong is imperative. Whatever comes won’t break me.