CHAPTER ONE #2
“I would have made a lot of money selling you off at an auction.” His lips thin into a slow, decadent smile, revealing a set of white teeth.
He straightens up and retreats into the darkness.
“But here we are. Queenstown. You must be one lucky guy, huh?” He moves around me, each step measured, and the sound of his shoes against the floor sends a chill down my spine.
Queenstown? I grew up there, not in the city, but in a small town near the mountains. I lived there most of my life with my late parents, then my uncle.
When the other man, who had lingered behind him the entire time, steps into the light, my thoughts return to reality, and my heart sinks.
Uncle David. Speak of the devil.
The faint scent of his cologne hits me first, and my spine goes rigid.
My pulse stumbles, then slams harder.
My heart races, but it’s not fast enough to catch up with the breath that saws out of my lungs.
My throat goes dry, tasting the rust from the leaking roofing sheets of the old, dilapidated building.
The scar along his jaw catches the light. It was my parting gift to him before my escape.
I escaped. I escaped. I escaped.
My mind reiterates, but my body refuses to catch up.
He’s here. He’s right here, and I’m right back where I have been my whole life. I should have known he’s the one who forced me back into the darkness I have been running from.
I’m the prey.
Again. Again. Again.
He smirks, his eyes darkening into something monstrous. He doesn’t need words to scare me. My mind already plays everything he’s done in a constant loop. No matter how hard I try to push it back, it seeps through the cracks until it takes the wheel of my thinking.
How did he find me? Am I ever going to escape him again? Is this it? Will I die?
“You are sure he’s capable of pulling this off.”
“Yes,” David answers. “He doesn’t have a choice.” He regains his footing, passive gaze still trained on me.
“You do not have a choice.” The man sneers at David. “You know if he fails, it will be your brains painting the walls of this fucking room.”
David’s jaw tightens, the excitement in his eyes retreating into something else.
Fear.
“I understand, Vincent.”
The soldier at the corner moves toward David and forces him to his knees, twisting his arms back.
A scream shreds his throat, and he grunts as the man in the black suit, Vincent, as he had called him, steps in front of him.
He takes a drag of his cigar, then brings the foot close to his cheek until the heat burns into his skin.
“It’s Mr. Bishop or Godfather to you. Let me remind you that you practically groveled at my feet until I changed my mind about your nephew.
You got on your knees like a man-child and you fucking wept.
Disrespect me again and I will have your head. ”
“I’m sorry, Godfather.” David’s voice comes out strangled.
The burly man drags David across the floor and forces him back to his feet with a shove.
Boots click against concrete as someone else slips through the open door and enters the cold room. It’s another man. Is this a fucking trinity of villains? I can’t make out his features because he doesn’t step any closer. He remains in the darkness. Something they all have in common.
“You made it.”
“Of course, I did.” He says. “I paid a huge sum for our pawn.” The man doesn’t seem very happy with the money he spent.
“We tried your way, Gravedigger. It didn’t work. Now let’s do this my way. Let’s bring down our fucking enemies.” Vincent takes a drag from his cigar.
“Lets.” The man chuckles before he goes silent, but it’s only fleeting. “And the assassin, what are we going to do with him?” He demands.
“Kill him, obviously. He had one job, and he failed. We can’t have him leaving a trail of his appearance in Kingston City. It could ruin our plan.” Vincent reaches for the gun in his belt holster. He cocks the gun and points it at the man restrained beside me.
“Please… please… give me another chance. Just one more chance.” The words tumble out of him in broken gasps, knees scraping against concrete as he lurches forward and falls to the ground, still bound to the metal chair.
“Hold still.” Vincent says, and aims at the man’s head.
“Please…” Saliva clings to his lower lip, breath hitching, voice splintering as he gasps for air.
Boom!
My heart almost jumps out of my throat as blood strikes the concrete with a wet, violent slap. Red spreads across gray. Warm droplets cling to my legs, sliding down my dark brown skin in a thin, sick trail.
I freeze, breath stalling as my eyes go wide. Sounds dull around me like I’m drowning in a turbulent ocean. It feels all too familiar. The edges of my vision blur, then sharpen, and my hands tremble against the metal cuffs.
Vincent blows the smoke from the gun and holsters it, then he walks toward me.
Earlier, I had thought about escaping. I wanted to come up with a plan, but watching Vincent take the life of this stranger so easily completely eliminates the hope I have.
I’d do whatever he needs me to do. Anything. As long as my brain doesn’t paint the floors of this god-forsaken place. As long as I survive.
“If you fail, you’ll face the same fate,” he steps into the light and squats down. “Do you understand?”
Shaking, my gaze drops to the dead man beside me and the thick red blood pooling beneath him. I gasp. “Yes. Yes, sir. I promise I’ll do whatever you need.”
He rises to his feet without saying a word.
“Bring him along, let’s go have a drink and discuss our plans.” Vincent tells his soldiers and walks toward the man ahead of me.
“I do not have to be there, do I?” the figure that lingers in the shadows asks.
“Of course not. I’ll handle it.” He laughs as they both walk through the door, leaving me in a haze of panic and fear.
As the man disappears with his colleagues, a quiet truth settles deep inside my bones.
It’s happening all over again.
I’m a prey caught in the monster’s inescapable snare. Kidnapped against my will. Sold off to fucking devils. Chained down and forced to bargain for my life, and this is just the beginning.