44. Forty-Four
Forty-Four
Sara
My eyes open and I’m instantly hit with a nausea that propels me forward, but nothing comes out.
I lay my head back down, and a pillow, a really nice pillow, meets the back of my head.
Surprised, I lunge up, taking in my surroundings, and as I do, I realize my wrists are bound.
Whatever is tying them up stings my skin, making me hiss in pain.
The bed is small with a light blue comforter, made of satin embroidery, and I want to puke again. It’s like being in a guest room of miserable rich people who try to make every angle of their house inviting, but it oppresses my every sense instead.
As I look around, I’m not in a house, nor am I underground. When I glance, I stumble at the porthole, the ocean waves and horizon of blue and nothingness come into clarity. My heart sinks as deep as the deep blue sea, and, conveniently, I’m right on top of it.
“Shit,” I murmur to myself, trying to unbind my wrists, but it’s no use. The cabin is luxuriously plastered with millions of dollars’ worth from every inch. The brown shiny marble serving as walls, an art frame of the sea with a seagull hanging.
Real fucking original.
They tried to be poetic, but dressing up Hell doesn't turn it into paradise.
I'm struggling against my restraints when suddenly I hear some shuffling in the closet. My pulse heightens instantly, adrenaline cutting through the fog of whatever drugs remain in my system. Something bangs against the door from the inside, and I hear a muffled “Oh no.”
The closet door flies open, and Mimi tumbles out onto the floor, her arms bound behind her back with what looks like zip ties.
We stare at each other in shocked silence. Her tight black dress rides up her thighs. Her mascara is smeared, making her blue eyes effervescent, and there's a cut on her lower lip.
“Mimi,” I whisper, my voice raspy with dehydration. “What the hell?”
She struggles to sit up, awkwardly maneuvering herself upright and sighs when she sees me, as we both have the understanding that the situation we’re in is a lot more dire than we planned on it to be.
I regret ever feeling courageous enough to turn myself into bait for Tyler and whoever is behind this. Fear is truly creeping in, and if Mimi is on the floor, across from me, her arms tied up, I can only pray and hope that she could let Liam or Joe know where we are.
“You better start talking, Mimi,” I demand, wincing as I try to shift my position on the bed. The waves rock, a mocking lullaby.
Mimi shakes her head, her eyes darting to the door before landing back on me. “Sara, there's so much you need to know about all of this. I don’t know where to start.”
“Just start, I don’t give a shit from where.” I lean forward as much as my bound wrists will allow. “Do you know who's behind this?”
“Not exactly, but I know how I got involved.” She takes a deep breath. “I'm not some random girl who got caught up in this. I'm a hacker and a good one. That's how I invited myself to the poker games.”
My eyes widen. “I always knew you were good with technology, but what the heck. Why?”
“I went the first time because I needed to make money and I'm good at poker. But then...” She hesitates, glancing nervously at the door. “I started seeing things that didn't add up.”
My heart pounds as I lean forward. “What things?”
“Some girls would get a bid on, and I understood some players would win them and then they’d disappear after.
I felt sick, so I tried hacking their security system to see if I could figure out where they would end up.
” She lowers her voice. “I could only access the outdoor cameras, never the inside.
That's when I saw him—Joe. Coming and going at odd hours.”
“Okay… keep going.” My breath catches in my throat.
“At first, I thought he was one of them. A piece of shit like the others.” Her eyes soften.
“I knew you guys were in love, and I wanted to warn you, but then...” She shifts uncomfortably.
“I saw him win a girl at one game, he had a pink poker chip, and she couldn't have been over seventeen. I followed him, and he took her to a bus station, gave her cash and a prepaid phone.”
I stare at her, trying to process what she's telling me. “Joe was helping them. I figured that much. I don’t know why he wouldn’t tell Liam about it.”
Mimi lifts her shoulder. “He wanted this to be his own rescue mission. He asked me to stay quiet.” Wincing, she continues, “I approached him after that.
Told him what I knew, what I could do. We formed this...
alliance. I'd get into the poker games more frequently, feed him information about who was bidding, but we could never find the ringleader besides Charles that you met that night on the boat.”
“You were working together!” I exclaim, pissed at this revelation, pieces falling into place.
Mimi's eyes fill with tears, her voice breaking as she continues.
“Joe was getting too deep, Sara, and he got a target put on his back, and they went after him. They wanted to know everything about him, and they found out about you, how much he cared about you. I saw him one last time when he mentioned briefly he was going to come clean to you and ask you to leave with him, right before he died.”
I don’t tell her I already know all of this.
“Why wouldn’t you fucking tell me?” The words feel impossible leaving my lips.
Mimi swallows, tears streaming down her face.
“I had this awful feeling they killed him. After that night, I couldn’t find any trace of him, and then they confirmed his motorcycle accident…
But I know it was murder. Telling you everything seemed pointless.
You were already so broken, and I was lost after he died.
Then, when I saw you at the club with Liam, I thought maybe he knew something, but I still couldn't tell you anything.
Then you asked about the games, and I froze.
I thought maybe you and Liam were trying to finish what Joe started.
So, I hacked in again and got you an invitation.
I've also hacked to be on the list of performers and have been getting some girls out until I got caught tonight.”
My throat tightens as her words sink in. “So, you were trying to help the whole time?”
“I've gotten five girls out so far,” she says, a hint of pride breaking through her fear.
“But why would you introduce me with my real name, if you knew what this was!”
“That night, I realized you were on the list already, and they had pictures of you, Sara. If they caught you coming under my name, I was going to be flagged. I had to save more girls.”
“You put me in danger,” I say flatly.
“You had already been in danger!” She sobs with regret. “And why aren’t you more surprised?” she asks, her eyes scanning me.
“Because Joe isn’t dead,” I tell her, fury in my eyes.
“What? What do you mean?” Mimi chokes, and her body trembles.
“He’s not dead, Mimi, but we might as well be. Did you tell Liam where we are?”
“I didn’t have—” Her words get cut off when the door of the cabin swings open, and the two men who stand before us are the last ones we expect to see.