Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
“Oww…” I groaned as my eyes reluctantly opened. My head throbbed, and my entire body ached with the need to stretch. But as I tried to move, my arms and legs wouldn’t budge.
My eyes started to focus, and I looked around the room. Nothing was familiar. I wasn’t home, wasn’t curled up with Gray at my side. No, instead, I was in an old cabin, one that had seen much better days. The dark wood was overgrown with moss and grime, and the windows were cracked, allowing the cold wind to creep inside. A small fire glowed in the fireplace in the corner, but it seemed to be the only source of heat. How in the hell had I ended up here?
I groaned as I looked down, finding myself in an equally grimy chair, one that looked as old as the house. The metal arms attached to a solid base, and I squirmed to get comfortable on the hard leather seat. It was hard to move, especially with my wrists and ankles bound to the chair with thick rolls of duct tape. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I tried to pull my arms away, but the tape didn’t budge, just ripping my skin .
After attempting a few more times to wiggle out of my restraints, I groaned and dropped my head to the back of the chair.
“Breathe, Devyn,” I whispered to myself. “You can figure your way out of this.”
First, I needed to figure out where I was being held. I couldn't remember much from before my world went black, but I already knew I needed to get the fuck out of this place. Stretching to try and look out the windows, I didn’t recognize anything, only seeing a forest outside. That didn’t help. Thick forests surrounded Saint Stephen’s Lake—if I was even still in town…
I tried to take a deep breath and do anything to calm my erratic heartbeat, but every passing minute only increased my anxiety. My ears buzzed as I strained to listen for anyone in the house. Whoever tied me up must have left. The only sounds I heard were birds singing outside the windows, celebrating the end of the long winter.
My head sagged, exhausted by the fear coursing through my veins. This wasn’t how my life ended. It couldn’t be. I’d spent so long by myself, closed off from the people surrounding me. I was finally learning to let people in, to depend on others instead of just myself. Yes, I was still determined to get justice for the people David hurt, but I wanted more than just that. I wanted a life.
I wanted a life with Gray.
I wanted the ridiculous wedding where our families bickered about the unimportant details. I wanted nights on the couch, arguing about who has the worst taste in movies. I wanted a baby with his dark steel eyes and his pure heart. I wanted it all.
I yanked my hands as hard as possible, letting out a primal scream from the pit of my soul. I didn’t care who was around; if I was going to die, it wouldn’t be quietly. I’d fight like fucking hell to get back to my husband.
My muscles ached and my throat burned, but I kept going, needing to get at least one of my hands freed. If I did that, then the rest would be easy. Right? But nothing seemed to work, even as the sun faded behind the trees outside.
The chair still held me captive hours later, offering no way out. Attempting to get out of the duct tape for God knows how many hours had depleted all my energy. My arms were red and blistered from trying to escape. My stomach rumbled, and my bladder ached, but mostly, I just wanted to go home. Hope was failing with every passing minute, but I tried to hold out, praying that somehow, Gray would find me.
I whispered another silent plea for him as a car pulled up to the house. I winced as the headlights shone through the dirty, cracked window pane.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I hissed, tugging and pulling my wrists, but nothing happened. Even though the tape had loosened a little, it was not nearly enough to pull my hands out. Why the hell did they always make it look so easy in the movies? I breathed out slowly, trying to calm myself when footsteps approached. At least now, I would know the face of the person responsible for my hellish afternoon, considering my memories were nothing but fuzzy black spaces in my mind.
At least, they were, until Jack Fischer pushed open the door with a wide grin.
“Oh good,” he said as he placed his brown paper bags on the table. “You’re awake. You were snoring so hard, I thought you’d be out all night and miss all the fun.”
“Jack?”
He ticked his tongue. “I thought this might happen. Sorry for dosing you, angel, but I knew you wouldn’t come with me otherwise.”
“So you drugged me and left me here?”
He moved closer, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “No, no. I was only making sure we could talk without interruption. I’d hate for your husband to show up and ruin all my fun.”
I swallowed at the sound of Gray’s name. Nausea rolled through my stomach, making it hard to breathe. “What did you do to Gray?”
Jack shook his head. “Nothing you need to worry about. Sent him on a little wild goose chase. Luckily for me, he was already looking in the wrong direction, so I just steered him a little more that way.”
“What do you mean?”
Jack walked over to the table and grabbed a bottle of water. He cracked the lid as he stepped back toward me. “See, I’ve been watching you for a while, Devyn. I discovered something interesting about your little band of misfits. Turns out, we want the same thing.”
“World peace?” I snarled.
“Nice try,” Jack chuckled. “But no.” He held the water bottle to my lips, and as much as I wanted to refuse, I couldn’t. I held my mouth open, and he poured a little inside. “It turns out, we have a mutual enemy. Your stepfather.”
“David?”
“You see, when I first came to New York, well, I was angry. Theo had taken something from me, and I thought, what the hell, it’ll be fun to take something away from him.” He pulled the bottle back and tapped me on the nose with it. “Your sister, Calla. I could already tell Theo was falling for her and thought it would be a lot of fun to break him like that.”
I chuckled as I leaned backward in the chair, trying to meet his gaze. “Calla would never go for that.”
“A lesson I learned a little too late.” Jack moved behind me, and my pulse skyrocketed, hating I couldn’t track his movements. He placed his hands on my shoulders, and I shuddered, wishing I could reverse time and take back all the moments I had spent with this man. There were only two nights, two nights I wished I could erase from my memories. But then again, they led me to Gray, and I would never regret the time we had together.
Jack’s fingers trailed along my neck. “But then I met you, Devyn. I thought I could let go of my anger, let go of my resentment. Then, when your stepfather approached me with an offer, I knew I’d be a fool to refuse.”
I bit my lips together, trying not to give him the attention he clearly craved, but my curiosity won out over my stubbornness. “What did he do?”
Jack leaned down and traced his nose along the column of my neck. “He offered me you , Devyn. He promised to help get you on my side and convince you we were a good match. And on top of that, he offered to help me become the head of the company. Said that with his connections and resources, I’d be untouchable. All I had to do was keep Calla away from Theo and get her back into the fold.”
That motherfucker. I supposed I should have been happy he only wanted to control us, as opposed to how he usually handled his adversaries. But after spending hours stuck in this godforsaken chair listening to my ex-fling describe his master plans with my evil stepfather, I was finished being a pawn in someone else's game.
Please forgive me, Gray.
I melted into Jack’s embrace, letting all my fear and dread wash over me. He glanced down at me, his eyes widening as he took in my submissive form. “And now what?” I asked, batting my eyes to push away my tears. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Oh, angel,” Jack said as he shifted in front of me. He crouched and ran his hands along my thighs. “Because you fucked me, and then you fucked me over. When I had nothing to give him, David took everything else from me. You left me in ruins, but he burned those down to ash. So he needs to know what it’s like to feel helpless, to have someone else control your fate.”
“Let me help,” I whispered, staring into his dark blue eyes. Had I ever really looked at Jack before? Had I ever taken the time to get to see the man lurking underneath the smooth veneer of power? Because there was no warmth lurking in his expression, nothing but calm resignation, and that was the scariest thing of all.
“Devyn, angel,” he said as he leaned forward and took my hands. “You are helping. Because with your death, I’ll be able to do what no one else has done before. I will finally defeat him, send him off to prison for your murder.” He shifted away from me and moved toward the fireplace. As he turned, he held up my phone. “After all, who could blame him? After everything you and your sister tried to blame on him? David, well…” Jack shook his head. “He just snapped. Really tragic, if you think about it.”
“You’ve lost your fucking mind!” I screamed, pulling at my bindings. But my strength failed me, and I slumped down into my seat further. Hope seemed like a dwindling ember, one buried so deep, I couldn’t reach it, no matter how hard I tried.
Jack smiled at me as he walked back toward the door. “Maybe I have. But you’re the only one who knows that, and you’re only going to be a problem for a few more hours.”