by Delmire Hart
“Y-you really,” Daniel had to pause to suck in a breath and force himself to talk around the desire to yell with the pain. “Want to be found, don’t you?”
Stefan twisted his fist in Daniel’s hair and pulled him up even higher so they were eye level, causing him to cry out once again. He grinned then, wide and manic. “Of course, that’s the whole point. You’re just bait, whore. Nothing more. But I’ll get my fun out of you. You wasted precious weeks of my time with William, so I’ll make sure that you make it up to me.”
The man started to walk then, practically dragging a sobbing Daniel behind him by the hair. Walking was agony. Each step was excruciating, pain flashing through his leg while the movement jolted his broken arm. Through his tears, Daniel could make out that they were at some kind of factory. It seemed abandoned, the windows were broken and weeds clawed their way up through cracks in the carpark. He was pulled through the front doors and down a warren of corridors he had no hope of remembering. The agony shooting through his entire body was making it hard to stay alert enough to force his legs to move. Stefan suddenly kicked open a door and dragged the photographer inside.
The room was filled with dusty work tables and chairs. Stefan grabbed a thin looking rope from a table in the middle of the room and forced him into a rickety old wooden chair. It looked like rope you would get for going camping or rock climbing, versatile and lightweight. The other man made quick work of tying the rope around his middle, trapping his arms behind his back and pulled tightly against the back of the chair. It was all Daniel could do to not scream at the unnatural angle his broken arm was forced to stay in and he fought to remain conscious.
It was a fight he lost.
Agony pulled him back into awareness and Daniel groggily raised his head to look around. Stefan seemed content to let him regain his bearings as he crouched in front of him with a knife. His eyes zeroed in on the gleaming blade and the insane man chuckled at his reaction.
“I told you, you owe me some fun for making me wait. I’m glad you are able to stay awake for this, far more entertaining this way.”
He brought up the knife and set it against Daniel’s cheek. He flinched at the feeling of the blade digging into his skin but otherwise didn’t move. Closing his eyes, Daniel bit the inside of his lip as the blade was pushed in further and dragged across his skin, slicing it open. It wasn’t a deep cut, but enough that he could feel the warm wetness of blood oozing out and trailing down his face. The knife was pulled away from his cheek and he felt the sharp edge rest against his throat in warning. His eyes snapped open and he stared at Stefan with all the defiance he could muster.
“Oh? Not going to beg for your life?”
Daniel didn’t move. He sat rigid and defiant. Even as the knife pressed in enough to draw blood he sat motionless, staring at his captor with blazing eyes. He wasn’t so weak as to break and beg. The only person he had ever begged was William. He had begged his soulmate to tear him to pieces and put him back together again with his unique blend of pain and pleasure in the bedroom. There was no way he was going to sink to begging Stefan for his life. He wasn’t going to give the man the satisfaction of getting what he wants.
He wasn’t about to sit back and wait for rescue like a damsel in distress either.
The chair he was tied to creaked and shifted under his weight. It was old and dusty, but wooden rather than metal. It might possibly be rotten in places and felt like it might give way with one good heave. The knife was withdrawn and a hand shot out, slapping him across the face. The force of the blow left him reeling and Daniel bit back a cry of pain as his body protested at being jolted. The chair shifted as though it might give, but held.
“You’re supposed to scream and beg me for mercy!”
Daniel snapped his head back around to glare at the man and received a furious scream for his efforts. Stefan lunged forward with his knife and Daniel threw his entire weight to the side. A loud crack rang out and the chair gave way, forcing Daniel and Stefan to fall to the ground in a heap. The photographer couldn’t help the scream of pain that tore itself from his throat but he didn’t stop moving. He rolled onto his good side, the rope falling away from him, and frantically looked around. The knife’s blade had sliced open his shoulder in the fall but then slid across the concrete floor to the other side of the room. Stefan was pulling himself to his knees when Daniel spotted a gun on the floor next to the man. He dove forward and scrambled to pick up the gun. His fingers had just closed around the cool metal when Stefan seemed to clue into what was going on and tried to wrench it out of his grip.
Daniel held on for dear life. He was injured with only one working arm against Stefan’s two hands but desperation fuelled his strength. They grappled on the floor, Stefan screaming profanities at him in a stark contrast to the photographer's strained silence. Daniel might be injured but the adrenaline was kicking in and the pain was numbed out to the back of his mind. Using his shoulder, he launched himself forward into the maniac, catching him by surprise enough that his grip on the gun loosened for a few seconds. That was all Daniel needed to wrench it from his hands as he rolled forward and sprang to his feet. He stumbled as his legs tried to give out beneath him but he raised the gun and tried to fire.
There was a small click and nothing happened. Daniel blinked in surprise and Stefan used the time to leap to his feet and grab hold of the photographer.
“Don’t even know how to remove the safety?” Stefan sneered as he grabbed a hold of the photographer.
They wrestled for the gun again and Daniel tried to think about how they did it in movies. There was a switch, right? Something that he could knock with his thumb. He moved his thumb around, seeking the switch while they grappled with the weapon. He felt something give on the weapon and cried out in victory. Stefan’s grip weakened for a bare second as he looked at Daniel in confusion over the happy noise and he didn’t hesitate.
Daniel forced the gun up as high as he could while it was mostly in his control and squeezed the trigger. A loud bang echoed in the silence and he stumbled back at the force of the recoil. Stefan screamed as he scrambled backwards, blood oozing from his shoulder.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!”
Stefan’s eyes were crazed as he stepped forward again, hand clutching his shoulder. A feral grin stretched his mouth wide and that sight combined with the blood leaking down through his fingers made him look positively insane. Like the manic serial killers depicted in movies. Daniel’s blood ran cold but he raised a shaking hand again and pulled the trigger once more. Inexperience combined with his shaking made the shot go lower than intended and it ripped through Stefan’s thigh. The man crumpled to the ground with another scream and Daniel turned to run out of the room. His legs nearly gave way at the pain of the first step and he dropped the gun as he caught himself on a table. He left the weapon where it lay and forced his feet to move. Each step was agony, the adrenaline seemed to be finding its limits and his entire body trembled. Stefan’s whimpered cries of pain were drowned out by Daniel’s racing heart pounding in his ears.
Finally at the door, Daniel pushed his way out and stumbled, falling against the opposite wall. He used the wall as leverage to push himself forward. One step, he kept telling himself. Just one more step. He focused his entire will on putting one foot in front of the other.
It was pure agony.
Tears streamed down his face, blurring his vision. He tried to take another step but his legs buckled, giving way completely. He screamed as he hit the ground, his left arm jutting out at a grotesque angle. He lay there, shaking with the force of his tears and the fear circling his system. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t move. His body screamed in anguish each time he tried and all he achieved was his limbs scrabbling against the cold hard floor.
Head spinning, fuzzy with the pain and exhaustion that crept in, it took some moments to recognise the sounds of footsteps and yells. Daniel cried out as his body shifted to lie on his back. He blinked, trying to make out
the shapes above him through his tears.
“-niel. Daniel.”
He knew that voice. Its deep baritone soothed his soul and erased some of his terror.
“W-William?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m here.”
Daniel reached out with his good arm and burst into tears when he felt a large warm hand curl around his own.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
A hand caressed his cheek and he finally gave in to the threatening darkness.
***
William gestured one of the guards over when he realised that Daniel had passed out.
“Secure the perimeter and take anyone you find to the warehouse,” he ordered.
The man was one of the members of Daniel’s security team and his mouth was set in a thin, hard line. All members of his team had proven themselves loyal and were out for blood after what had happened. Especially with three of their own currently in the emergency ward in hospital. He was of a mind to give it to them.
“Sir, you’ll want to see this.”
William turned to look at Demetrius, who stood next to an open door and the man gestured inside. Reluctant to leave his soulmate, he strode into the room and made his way over to two guards positioned on either side of a limp body. He recognised Stefan immediately. Blonde hair and tailored charcoal suit, but the suit was now soaked in blood. A red pool surrounded the man’s body and he lay unmoving. There was far too much blood for him to still be alive.
“Mr Hunt, it appears as though there was a struggle. From what we can gather, Daniel fought back and was able to get hold of a gun.” The man gestured to the weapon lying beside a table. Blood was smeared across the table with matching droplets on the floor. “Stefan was shot in the shoulder and thigh; the bullet to the thigh severed the main artery there and he would have bled out within minutes.”
Dead. The fucker was dead before he even got to lay his hands on him. William stood, rigid, staring down at the lifeless corpse, wishing he could bring him back purely so he could get the satisfaction of seeing the life fade out of those eyes while he begged for mercy. It took several tense minutes to calm the raging fire enough for him to realise that Daniel was the one who killed Stefan. He looked around to see that Ken had slipped into the room while he was lost in thought.
“This does not leave this room. Daniel wounded Stefan in his struggle to break free but it was me that pulled the trigger to end his life. If Daniel ever finds out the truth, I will kill you all myself. Do I make myself clear?”
All four men bowed and swore themselves to silence. William pulled out his gun as he strode forward. Kicked Stefan’s head to the side so that he had a clear shot, he squeezed the trigger. The bullet that embedded itself between his eyes was far less satisfying than he had hoped.
“One day I’ll see you in hell and finish what I started,” he stated before leaving the room to collect him soulmate.
Chapter Thirty: Pull
William thanked Ken as the man handed over a takeaway cup of coffee. He wasn’t sure how many hours he had been sitting in the hospital waiting room but a glance outside the windows showed a faint grey tint to the sky. Morning was on its way. He watched as his secretary handed out cups to the other occupants of the waiting room. Demetrius sat on his right and Naomi, Daniel’s mom, face pale and drawn, was on his left. A few chairs down sat Ueda’s mother and one of his younger sisters, beside them sat Kareem’s father. Tony’s emergency contact had turned out to be a friend that advised they would pass on a message to his family but had told Ken that they most likely wouldn’t come, even if he died. William wasn’t one to pry into the private lives of his subordinates but he found something sad in such a capable and loyal young man being so estranged from his family. A number of members of Team Miller also sat around the room, quietly waiting for news.
All four were in surgery and had been for several hours. Daniel regained consciousness sometime on the trip to the hospital and they had been able to make an accurate diagnosis. Clean break to the forearm that thankfully didn’t cut open an artery or even damage too much of his skin but was still required to have urgent surgery to ensure correct healing and no infections. Two metal plates and a number of screws were required to put Daniel’s arm back together. He had also fractured both his left kneecap and femur in his fall. Luckily those were both relatively minor and would heal on their own provided he didn’t stress them. A high grade concussion was also likely.
Kareem had been unresponsive since the walkway gave way and apparently suffered similar injuries as Daniel just with a harder hit to the head. Brain swelling and internal bleeding was their biggest concern. Tony had taken a bullet to the shoulder from police fire while Ueda had suffered both from the fall and a bullet they believed was from Stefan.
Ken sat down beside Demetrius with his own coffee and fired off a few more messages from his phone. All the members of Team Miller that weren’t here were all together back at Synnite doing their own silent vigil while they waited for news of their peers. William had to admit, he never expected the security force for his little soulmate be to so close knit. They were almost like a family unit at this point and even treated Daniel as one of the members. It was good, though; it meant they all worked together extremely well and never got complacent. He truly believed that at this point any one of them would follow their oath to protect Daniel with their own lives if necessary. He only hoped it would never come to that.
He was pulled from his musing when a doctor entered the room. The oppressive silence that blanketed the waiting room suddenly seemed strained.
“Dr Harrison, good news I hope?”
“Mr Hunt,” he said by way of greeting, “Yes. All four surgeries have been successful. Both Kareem Vo and Anthony Fernandez are already in the ward to start their recovery under observation. Daniel Miller and Shoji Ueda are both finishing up in surgery and will also be transferred to the ward soon.”
A collective sigh of relief echoed around the room. Everyone had made it through; no Synnite casualties from this entire affair. It’s a shame the same couldn’t be said of the trafficking victims. Parker was trying to orchestrate an investigation into the whole affair but the media would have a field day once it hit the early morning news: Police opening fire on a warehouse full of unconfirmed targets during an unauthorised raid. William had already given the go-ahead to disclose Daniel’s presence at the shoot-out. Adding to the victim’s deaths, the undercover journalist responsible for the Barrett arrest was in hospital due to the raid. It would get the public on Daniel’s side and hopefully help limit the organised crime unit’s movements for some time due to the fallout from the scandal.
A nurse stepped through the doors and offered to guide them to the rooms. It was a quiet procession that moved further into the hospital. Ken gave his leave and stepped out as they left the waiting room, no doubt to call the team and organise Synnite for the next few days. All the security team also left, barring one who fell in step beside Demetrius as though in silent agreement to ensure William’s security now that his secretary had left.
The three injured guards shared a quiet suite in the private hospital wing and their family were ushered through the white doors to see their conditions with their own eyes. William and Naomi were left to follow the nurse further into the wing to the private rooms where Daniel was situated. Demetrius and the other guard, Oscar he thought it was, flanked the door wordlessly and bowed slightly as he strode into the sterile hospital room. A few long steps as all it took until he was at his soulmate's bedside.
He looked so small. Daniel’s face was almost white in the harsh light and he seemed wraith-like against the stark sheets. The cast on his arm looked bulky and awkward while his leg was raised up and held in place with a brace. The bed was large for a hospital bed, a perk of paying for only the best care, but it drowned the young man in the sheets. He had never seemed so small and frail even when lying in William’s far larger bed in the penthouse and it took a while to fi
gure out what made the difference.
It was the lack of those fiery defiant eyes and that cheeky grin. Instead he was lying vulnerable, rendered unconscious by the drugs to help him sleep through the pain. This was honestly a sight he never hoped to see again. William wasn’t sure how long he stood rooted to the spot, just staring at his soulmate, when a gentle hand grasped his arm. He turned his head to see Naomi giving him a soft smile, and she gestured to the chairs beside the bed. They both moved forward and sat in the surprisingly soft chairs, both content to keep the peaceful silence.
William called Daniel’s mother upon reaching the hospital and receiving the news of his surgery. She had remained calm and immediately accepted the offered ride to the hospital in the dead of night to join the vigil. His father would be coming later in the day after attending a compulsory work meeting. The normally bubbly woman remained calm and composed, transforming into a quiet pillar of strength. William was incredibly grateful he didn’t have to deal with a hysterical mother while waiting to hear the outcome. He honestly didn’t have the patience to deal with such dramatics while his soulmate was under the knife and at risk of complications. But seeing her steady nerves earned Naomi a new respect in William’s eyes, keeping calm when it counted was a not a common trait and showed a surprising strength of character. She noticed his gaze and gave him a small reassuring smile.
“We should stay until he wakes up then get some sleep ourselves, I think.” William frowned and opened his mouth to protest but was stopped by a quiet chuckle. “I understand how much you want to stay by his side, truly I do, but you won’t be much use to anyone dead on your feet. He’ll sleep most of the first few days so you should use that time to rest up yourself. I imagine he’s not going to be able to walk or do anything on his own for a good few weeks so he’ll need you at your full strength.”
