38. Thirty-eight Freya
Thirty-eight: Freya
T he basement was bitter, and goosebumps developed on my bare arms as the frosty air pricked at my skin. Will’s grip was firm on my wrist, and although I pulled away from him multiple times, it only caused him to tighten his long fingers around me.
I’d scanned the area around for an escape route while being led away from the party, but multiple butlers stood watch with their guns on show, and Will pressed his own into my back, the barrel poking at my spine painfully.
It wasn’t a grimy and vulgar basement as portrayed in movies. Although it was bare, the wooden flooring was sparkling, and the walls were covered in expensive layers of deep maroon wallpaper. The only light source was a small bulb hanging limply above my head, and I peered through the dimly lit room to see if we were alone.
It looked like it, but the sound of someone shuffling reached my ears, alerting me.
I knew I could try to whip out my gun and shoot Will, but there were butlers standing guard at the top of the stairs, and I had no doubt that if I tried to run, they would shoot me in the kneecaps and drag me back down here to finish me off slowly.There would be no escaping if my kneecaps were blown out.
They’d taken my phone and thrown it against the wall in front of me, smashing it into a thousand pieces, the device shattering just like my hope for a somewhat normal future.
“What the fuck do you want with me?” I spat as I spun around, plastering a glare onto my face. I was secretly terrified, but I wasn’t going to show Will that. He was the type of person who fed on people’s fear. It empowered him, and I intended to bruise his ego by faking my confidence.
“I’ll tell you what, Freya,” Will muttered, picking at the dirt underneath his nails. “I have impeccable luck.”
I scowled. “What does that mean?”
“It’s probably easier if I show you,” he responded, moving over to the wall and flipping on the main light. My breath hitched as I spotted a man seated in the room's corner, a raggedy length of cloth tied around the back of his head to cover his mouth. His body was limp and eyes droopy, his hands bound behind his back.
My father.
“What the hell?” I whispered, yelping when Will grabbed me again after I tried to step forward. “What have you done to him?”
“Your father lost me a lot of money, Freya. He screwed up.”
I scoffed, my fingers twitching. “Let him go.”
My demand caused him to release a throaty chuckle, and he nodded his head at somebody behind me, my wrists suddenly being yanked back and tied. I fought against them, kicking my leg out to strike them in the balls, but they dodged my attempts and shoved me to the ground. I gazed at my father pleadingly as he shook his head, wheezing.
“Almost four hundred thousand dollars was lost because of your father’s idiocy,” Will snarled. He stepped closer to me once I’d been dragged back against the wall, my body having been twisted painfully, my dress ripped up the side. “He was being followed on a drug run, and our entire stash was stolen before it could be delivered.”
I shot a haunting look at my father. He wasn’t the person I once thought he was. He was a liar. A drug dealer. A criminal.
“I enjoy revenge, Freya,” Will muttered, aiming his gun at my father and cocking his head, a wicked smile on his face. It was obvious that my father had already suffered some abuse. He was coated in dry blood and was weak, his head lolling to the side as he tried to keep his gaze steady.
“What is killing us going to achieve?” I tried to reason with Will. “We’ll just be more murders under your belt. More years in prison.”
Will chuckled, rolling his eyes at me. “I’ve avoided prison for this long. I think I’ll be just fine, Freya.” He lowered his gun slightly. “I knew Mark, here, had a daughter, and when you came into the shooting range and had the same surname, I kept tabs on you. Not only that, but then you ended up befriending my useless little nephew. It seemed the odds were siding with me.”
“Leave Ty out of this.”
“Oh, I intend to. He’d run to the police the first chance he got.”
I turned to my father, dread blazing under my skin. “Dad,” I said shakily. “Why? Why were you involved in all of this?”
“It’s only right he gets to explain to his daughter that he brought all of this upon himself.” Will nodded again at the butler standing next to me, and he moved over to my father to yank off the cloth from around his head, leaning in to tell him he would be shot if he started yelling for help. Not that it mattered much. I had no doubt it was soundproof down here.
“Freya,” muttered my dad, his eyes bleak. “What the hell were you doing going to a shooting range?”
“What the hell were you doing drug dealing?” I snapped back.
He sighed. “Will, let my daughter go. I can get you back the money. Freya has nothing to do with this.”
This caused Will to double over in laughter, and he lit up a cigarette as he tried to compose himself. “Who do you think I am? A fairy godmother? You think I’m here to grant wishes?” He chuckled. “You know the rules, Mark. You mess up once, and you’re gone. It’s just unlucky for you that your first screw-up cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. You’re going to watch me kill your daughter, and only then will I put you out of your misery.”
I was going to fucking die tonight. My heart rattled against my ribs, and my sweaty hands quivered behind me, but my eyebrows furrowed when I felt something sharp scrape against my skin.
I stilled, waiting until Will was distracted talking to one of his butlers to turn around. I spotted a pipe attached to the wall—a large crack struck through the middle of it. Some of the metal was sticking out, looking as if it had been kicked in during a struggle of some sort.
I subtly began to scrape the thick rope wrapped around my wrists against it—thankful that it didn’t create a shaving sound—moving my wrists only when I was certain that neither Will nor a butler was watching.
It was going to take a little while for the semi-blunt metal to tear through the rope, but if I could release myself when everyone least expected it, there was a chance I could shoot them down and make a run for it before calling the police to come and save my father.
Imagining it was easier than actually doing it, though.
“Kaleb and Brent won’t go unscathed,” Will continued, sending me a pointed look. “For years, they deceived me, and I don’t take that lightly. They and everyone they care about will be disposed of.”
Rage bubbled up inside of me. I was angry at Kaleb, but the thought of anyone touching him made me want to throw fists.
“Stop moving,” barked the bald butler as he noticed my slight wiggling, and he gripped onto my chin tightly and dragged my face to his, his bloodshot eyes blazing. “Your father didn’t just lose that money for Will. We were all due a cut, so this is personal.” He then clipped me across the face, and I landed on my side with a thud .
Will strode over to my father as he swore at his ex-colleague, grabbing him by his sodden shirt and getting in his face, silencing him with the cloth.
The metallic taste of blood exploded on my tongue, and I blinked, pushing myself back up so I could continue trying to cut my rope.
Note to self: Not when Baldy’s looking.
Will spent the next hour nattering on about how much my father had fucked up—as well as answering a few phone calls and leaving the room to rejoin the party for a few minutes at a time so nobody grew suspicious.
My father and I were watched like hawks, and the butlers seemed to enjoy getting a few extra hits in while Will wasn’t looking, blood dribbling down both of our chins and forming small puddles on the wooden floorboards.
“Dad,” I whispered when one butler left to go upstairs and the other was occupied on the phone. “You called me. Whose phone did you use?”
My father nodded towards the butler, and I sighed in defeat. I’d been hoping he had a secret phone stashed away somewhere, but it appeared he'd got his hands on someone else’s before they ended the call and beat him for doing so.
I used this time to continue moving my wrists back and forth against the metal. Not only was it scraping against my restraint, but it was also scratching at my wrists, and I could feel my skin being rubbed raw and warm blood trickling down my fingertips.
My head snapped towards the staircase once I heard the floorboards creak, and my heart skipped a beat. Will was back to finish the job. There was no way out of this.
But my mouth popped open at the sight of Ty gazing at me with frantic eyes.
“Freya? What the hell?” He made a move towards me, but the lone butler had ended his call and had his hand on Ty’s chest, forcing him back.
“What are you doing down here, boy?”
Ty scoffed, shoving him off. “Get the fuck off me. What are you doing?”
“Ty,” I said breathlessly. “They’ll kill you. Quick, get help, please!”
He fumbled around in his pocket, pulling out his phone, but he released a grunt when it was snatched from his hands from behind. Will appeared at the base of the stairs with a menacing scowl.
“Who let him down here?” he rumbled, his furious tone bouncing off the walls. “This is now a thousand times more difficult.” He clutched onto his nephew’s neck, and another butler made his way down the stairs in a panic and pulled some ropes from his pocket, tying Ty up and throwing him against the wall opposite us. He cursed in pain, yelling at his uncle until they wrapped a cloth around his mouth, ceasing his howling.
“We need to get on with it,” Baldy growled impatiently, tapping his foot, causing Will to snarl.
“Don’t rush me. I need to figure out what I’m going to do with him now.” Will tilted his head towards his nephew.
Ty kicked his legs out frantically, but he was ignored, and I continued to grind my wrists against the metal pipe, glaring at Will as he sauntered over to me. He crouched down and snapped his fingers at my father to get his attention.
“Go to hell,” I spat at him, and he chuckled, shaking his head.
“I do love your fire, Freya,” Will complimented me before the butlers gripped my father’s head, forcing him to look in my direction. “You’re just collateral damage, though. It’s nothing personal.”
I forced down a sob as he pressed his gun to my chest, and my wide eyes honed in on a terrified-looking Ty behind him, yanking against his restraints.
This was it.
I was seconds away from death.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing nothing but my rapidly beating heart and the rush of blood in my ears.
The sound of a gunshot echoed through the basement, and I jolted, but I felt nothing. No pain. Just emptiness. Was this what death felt like? Was it actually more painless than we’d been led to believe?I hoped so.
After a few seconds, realising I was still alive, I peeked a lid open.
Will was staring at his bald butler, who was on the ground with a bullet wound to his chest, blood spurting from the hole, creating a crimson-coloured fountain.
What the fuck?
My eyes became blurry as a geared-up Kaleb and Brent barrelled down the stairs, their large guns drawn. Kaleb’s fierce eyes immediately found mine, and his pupils blew out once he spotted the blood smeared across my face.
“Did you do that to her?” he seethed as he shot at the remaining butler, dodging one of his bullets. The object whizzed past Kaleb’s ear as the butler cried out, collapsing onto the ground and shaking his head.
“No, I didn’t touch her,” he responded, pointing at his deceased co-worker. “It was him.”
Kaleb huffed, looking at him with a deadpan expression. “Try the fuck again.” The butler did nothing but groan, and Kaleb tutted before firing again, his chest heaving, causing the butler to gargle on his own saliva as he convulsed, stilling after a few seconds.
Will was heavily distracted, and I continued to move my wrists back and forth quickly, praying that the rope was going to fray.
“Drop the gun, Will,” Kaleb warned dangerously, turning his weapon to him.
Will still had the barrel of his gun pressed to my chest, and he smiled before releasing a throaty chuckle, repositioning the firearm so it was pointed at my head.
Kaleb's jaw pulsated. Fury didn’t even begin to describe the look on his face. It was as if he had ripped his emotion straight from the bottomless pits of hell—stealing all the hatred and rage that was held there, projecting it all onto the man who was threatening to end my life.
“If you shoot, then so do I,” Will warned casually—as if the idea of murdering me was nothing but a simple chore. A walk in the park. A day-to-day activity.
“You’ve already touched her.” Kaleb nodded towards my split lip. “So you’re already going to die. It’s up to you how painful I make it. Drop your fucking weapon, Sheffield.”
Brent growled from beside Kaleb, monitoring the stairs while he also aimed his gun at Will’s head, spitting threats that seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
“You’re not going to kill me, boys.” He chuckled. “Your organisation and the police want nothing more than to keep me alive to sentence me. If I die, all your work will have been for nothing.”
“Things change when you’re holding a gun to my girl’s head,” Kaleb spat, taking a threatening step forward, causing Will to tut at him, pressing his firearm harder against my skull. I whimpered.
“Here’s an idea then,” Will said, cocking his head. “I’ll give you a choice. I’ll be generous and only dispose of one of them.” He gestured to me and my father with his free hand. “You get to choose who that is. The only catch is, you have to do the honours.”
My eyebrows flew into my hairline, and panic set in as Kaleb’s eyes flickered between my father and me. I pressed my wrists harder against the metal pipe.
No, no, no.
“Kaleb, don’t—“
“Shut up,” Will hissed into my ear. “Come on, Kaleb. Make a decision. I’m giving your girlfriend an out here. I’m willing to let go of my need for revenge. Mark will just spend the rest of his pathetic life locked away if he survives anyway, but she,” he tore his eyes away from my father and jostled me, “actually gets to live. All you have to do is kill her father. You know I’m a man of my word.”
That was true. If there was one redeeming quality about Will, it was that he always stuck to his promises.
It was obvious what he was doing, though. He wanted to get back at Kaleb just as much as he wanted to get back at my father, and he was willing to put the need for revenge for my father aside if it meant having me loathe Kaleb for the rest of my life.
Killing my flesh and blood… Will knew that was going to kill Kaleb. There was no need to end his life—as long as I could never forgive him.
Kaleb’s eyebrows furrowed, and he breathed deeply before he slowly changed the angle of his gun, the barrel of it pointed towards my father.
My body tensed. “No, Kaleb, don’t!”
He clamped his teeth down on his bottom lip as he glowered, and I could see his tongue running along the front of his teeth under his lips, indicating he was battling with himself tremendously.
I painfully chewed on the inside of my cheek as I angled my wrists against the pipe so that each scrape was also deeply cutting into my flesh. The pain was nothing to me, though, and I pushed the searing sensation aside, watching Kaleb in horror as he glared at Will menacingly.
“Time is running out, Kaleb. Who’s going to survive this? The choice is yours. I only have a brief window of opportunity to disappear, so make up your mind before I do it for you.”
Snap.
My heart stopped.
Not because a gun had gone off, but because the rope tightly bounding my wrists had been severed in half.
My breathing faltered. I had one shot at this. Otherwise, somebody I cared about was going to die. I didn’t know who, but I needed everyone to come out of this alive—besides Will.
I gazed down at the rip in my dress, actually thankful that the stupid butler had torn it, the split giving me easier access to reach down and grasp my firearm. Will’s gun was still to my head, but he was focused on a perplexed-looking Kaleb, his aim still on my limp father.
I took a deep breath, suddenly yanking my gun from the strap, holding it up to Will’s face and firing. A cry left my mouth as he collapsed backwards, blood splattering all over me. Kaleb and Brent shot at him as he fell, and I allowed my gun to clatter to the floor, crawling away from him, a sob rising out of my mouth.
Oh my God.
I'd just shot somebody.
I'd just killed somebody.
Just as Kaleb took a step toward me, others rushed down the stairs, all strapped up in police gear and sporting heavy-duty weaponry. I pulled my knees to my chest as I cried, my hands shaking, smearing fresh blood from my wrists all over me.
I’d never seen Kaleb look so heartbroken, and he crouched down in front of me, droplets of sweat trickling from his forehead. “Freya, you’re fine, baby. You’re okay. Just breathe for me.”
My entire world was crashing down around me.
“You lied to me,” I whispered, a chill wracking my body. “You fucking lied to me.”
My lungs were failing me, and I faintly heard one of the police officers call for the paramedics to enter through his radio. Kaleb attempted to reach for me, but I backed away from him, shaking my head and squeezing my eyes shut momentarily.
“I know, baby.” Kaleb gulped. “I’ll fix it. I promise I’ll fix it.”
Death. The place reeked of it, and I turned to the side and retched, covering my mouth to stop myself from vomiting. I was no better than Will or my father. I’d taken somebody’s life. I was a killer.
“Tell the paramedics to hurry the fuck up,” Kaleb demanded, his face etched with anguish, the creasing between his eyebrows accentuated.
Men and women in navy uniforms soon rushed down the stairs to tend to everybody, and two women immediately dropped to my side to ask me questions.
They took hold of my wrists, analysing the wounds and wrapping them up as I cried, fighting against them. Adrenaline was soaring through me. I wasn’t thinking straight. All I knew was that I needed to get out of here, but my legs were too shaky to allow me to move.
“Freya, they’re trying to help you,” Kaleb said from in front of me as I pushed myself further against the wall away from everyone, shaking my head. “Let them help you, sweetheart.”
“I don’t want to be in here,” I said with panic, wheezing. “I—I can’t breathe.”
My eyes met Kaleb’s—his filled with turmoil and distress.
Murderer.
Killer.
I cried as I covered my ears with my hands, willing for the evil thoughts to dissipate and leave me be, and my frantic eyes snapped to Will’s lifeless corpse—a hole in his face.
I’d done that.
I'd fucking done that.
I felt warm arms wrap around me, and I wilted against them as I was carried in the direction of the staircase, my vision blotchy and my heart racing so quickly I thought it was about to give out.
Blood.
I was covered in the stuff.
I glared at my palms.
All I could see were the hands of a killer.