Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
They kept me in the dark for hours. Maybe days.
It was hard to tell the time when you were put in a room with nothing but a mattress and a drawer.
Only a small trickle of light from under the door allowed me to see anything.
When I was feeling brave, I tried to peek under and saw nothing but a hallway.
I heard voices coming from above my head and assumed I was in someone’s basement.
I thought about screaming out a few times, but the man’s threats kept me silent.
“If you don’t shut the fuck up, we will run a train on you until you can’t speak or walk for a month,” the man with the wicked smile said.
The one who had watched me get beaten with that same awful smile.
I finally learned his name. Simon. He and his crew didn’t keep secrets around me, I heard them talking several times.
Simon was second in command of the Serpents.
But with Jasper missing, he was now the head, and it sounded like he planned to keep it that way.
“Jasper is still MIA,” I heard him in another room. I had my ear pressed to the wall, trying to keep my breathing as quiet as possible to hear the muffled words. “We need to move forward. The Gemini brothers are snuffed out but their ratfuck members might come looking for a little revenge.”
Snuffed out. Snuffed out. Hearing that made me want to leave the planet. Made me want to sink into the ground and disappear.
When I didn’t have my face pressed into the floor, sobbing uncontrollably while trying to muffle my cries, I was looking for a way out.
There was a narrow window to the far wall, but it was boarded up.
I found a closet and a small bathroom with a fan that even if I could wrench it open, the vent was too small for me to squeeze through.
I thought about finding something to use as a weapon instead, but there was nothing, not even a bathroom mirror I would gladly shatter with my fists just to have a sharpened piece on hand ready to jab into someone’s eye or throat.
I wanted to hit the walls, I wanted to scream, but my fear and despair ate at me until all I could do was sit curled up to one corner, waiting for someone to open the door.
Eventually they did. Simon with his shit-eating grin stepped inside with a couple of his men, one carrying handcuffs and a black bag.
“Time to go,” he said, standing over me.
I didn’t move, my face wet, eyes stinging from tears.
I refused to look up at him, staring at his shoes instead.
One guy reached for me and I quickly snatched my arm away before he could grab it.
Simon just laughed. Both men were on me, dragging me from the wall to force me on my stomach as they cuffed me behind my back.
The pain in my limbs was agony as they pulled me up and the bag went over my head.
They led me out of whatever building they had me in and back into another car, shoving me on to my side as the vehicle hummed to life.
We drove for a while, someone’s hand pressed into my head to keep me down.
There was nothing I could say or do, all I could think about was how this was going to affect my family when they found out another kid was now missing.
Even if it wasn’t my fault, it felt like it was.
I’d done this to them. And this time the twins weren’t here to save me.
I had to stifle another sob just thinking about them.
Dom in his car, and Leslie…Leslie lying motionless on the side of the road.
The car slowed as it pulled into what I assumed was a driveway.
When it stopped, they grabbed my arms and led me across a gravel walk judging by the crunch under my feet.
Someone knocked on a door, and I heard it swing open a few seconds later.
I started fighting, not wanting to go inside wherever they were taking me, not wanting to be trapped again, but they forced me in, picking me up as I tried to go limp, dragging my feet across the ground.
"Take her upstairs," said a low voice. They pulled me up a set of steps and down a hallway, dumping me into a room and shutting the door.
My body shook, my breathing erratic as I tried to not hyperventilate.
When I could push down the panic, I listened for their footsteps and voices.
Once it got quiet, I rolled up on my knees and dragged my head over the floor to get the bag off me.
I managed to slip it past my eyes and shake it off.
My gaze drifted around the room as I straightened.
The place was immaculate. Dark polished wood was all around me with several alcoves of books and a plush leather green couch.
A single lamp illuminated the room, making it look warm and homely.
Beyond a pair of tall windows with thick green curtains I saw the trees.
Legs shaking, I pushed myself to my feet and went to the window.
There was a yard surrounded by woods, but if I craned my neck I could just make out a barn not too far away.
To another side of the house, I saw a wide balcony.
Judging from what I could see, the place was impressively large and made to look like a log cabin.
I thought about screaming as I stared at the dark forest. But I didn't see a single neighbor nearby and there were people still downstairs, I could just make out their voices.
Remembering Simon's threat, I choked the scream down and turned back to the room, searching for some way to cut the handcuffs off.
Finding nothing sharp enough, I tried to use my weight on the corners of a table in hopes of snapping it, only to make my wrists and arms hurt more.
I twisted the handcuffs around, struggling and cursing as I did, when I heard people climbing the stairs.
The door swung open and one of Simon's men stepped in.
He twisted me around then unlocked the cuffs.
I turned back, ready to fix him with a death glare, but he was already walking away, leaving the door open.
I heard him talking to someone out in the hall, but I couldn't make out their words.
Before I could move toward the door, thinking somehow I could run past them, a woman stepped into the doorway, blocking my way.
My heart dropped, a whimper crawling up my throat before I managed to call out her name. "Trish."