"Exactly," the man said, standing up. I tried backing away, but I just hit a wall. "My nephew is just like my brother-not the brightest crayon in that box. Well, you should know that. After all..." He crouched down right in front of me, grabbed my hair and held my head close to his. His mouth was right to my ear, but he didn't whisper what he said next. "You dated him."
"Preston?" I muttered.
"Bingo, princess!" the man said, letting go of my hair roughly enough to make me yelp. He stood and stepped back a few steps. "I was originally just out for your parents, then I found out they had kids. You ever wonder what happens after the fairy tale ends?"
I just stared at him. This man was completely insane and freaking me out. I knew Preston wasn't that smart, but he pretty much sold me out to some psycho.
"Well come on, baby-answer me. Do you know what happens after the fairy tale ends?"
"No," I said, shaking my head.
"Everyone dies," the man said slowly.
Landon:
"Everyone at the school's been told," Bridgette said, dropping her backpack on the floor and flopping down on a couch. Madison and Noah looked at her. Faith and Alice joined Bridgette. I leaned against the wall.
"Where's your dad?" I asked, looking at Noah.
"Out with Grandpa and a few others," Noah said. "They've started searching the nearby cities."
"What are they gonna do? Knock on doors until they run across this crazy guy?" Faith asked.
"I guess so," Noah said.
"Are you okay, Aunt Madison?" Bridgette asked.
"Ask me again once we've found Riley," Madison answered, quietly. She looked much worse than I'd ever seen her. Her face was pale and strained, making her look much older than thirty-eight. I didn't even want to think about how hard this must be for her. I thought she would have had a complete breakdown if Noah were gone, too. The door opened quietly. We all looked up. My mom, Andy and Alice's parents all came in.
"This is harder than we thought," Mom observed. Faith and Bridgette slid to the floor, so that Alice's parents could sit with their daughter. Andy sat with Noah and Madison. Mom stood next to me.
"We have so many people. We should have found her by now," Alice's mom said.
"I swear if he does anything like what he did to you..." Andy said. He didn't look at his sister, but everyone knew who he was speaking to.
"I heard that they took Preston and his dad into questioning," Faith reported.
"Good," I said. "I hope they get put in jail."
Riley:
I was completely alone in the room and major panic was beginning to set in, which was not doing me any good. My chest was aching very badly. I whimpered again as I tried to move. I squeezed my eyes shut. I had been left alone since that demented man told me that everyone dies after the end of a fairy tale. My hands are still tied behind my back and every part of me is sore from my awkward sleeping positions. I knew it had only been a few days, but I could tell I was losing weight. My eating habits weren't good to begin with, and now this...
What was I going to do?
CHAPTER FOURTY-SIX
I MISSED THAT Math test. Funny how I'd been locked up for a week and the only thing I could think of is that I missed a stupid test in school. But I missed more than that. I missed my parents, my brother, my grandfather, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, my friends-God, I missed all of them! Hell, I was even willing to put up with Landon's friends' annoying cat calls, if it meant being out of here. I had figured out how to get my hands around to my front, so now my shoulders didn't hurt like a bitch anymore.
I cursed myself for the thousandth time for answering that damn door. No I saw him every day as he sat there, taunting me. I finally learned his name-Damian.
"How about we get Mommy on the phone?" Damian asked, waving a phone in front of me. "Would you like that? Talking with your mother? Telling her what a psychotic person her ex-boyfriend is?" I didn't say anything; I was not really sure that I should. I hadn't said anything for a few days now. "Go ahead, darling." He held the phone out to me. "Dial." I just stared up at him. "Do I have to make you do it?"
I watched him as I slowly dialed the phone and put it onto speaker mode, as he instructed. I heard the ringing and began hoping my parents had changed their number since my disappearance. Unfortunately, they hadn't. The police may have advised them against it.
"Hello?" Mom answered, sounding tired. Damian smirked. I guess Mom had always sounded the same on the phone. "Hello?"
"Good evening, Madison," Damian said. I heard Mom gasp and then flinch, as it sounded as if she had dropped the phone. There were more voices and then there was Dad's.
"What the hell did you do to my daughter?" Dad asked.
"Oh, Riley? She's absolutely fine," Damian said. He held the phone out to me again and raised his voice. "Go ahead, darling. Tell them how fine you are."
I opened my mouth, but couldn't get anything out.
"Riley? Riley please say something," Dad begged.
"Daddy, I'm so sorry. I never should have opened the door. It's bricked in!" I said. I hoped he would get the hint that I had just thrown.
"Riley, don't panic. Just keep calm. We're gonna..." Dad was saying, but Damian turned the speaker off and held the phone to his head.
"So sorry, didn't get to catch that," Damian said. "Oh, by the way, tell the cops to stop trying to trace the call. I already made sure they can't." With that, he hung up the phone.
Meanwhile:
Orion looked at the officer, who shook his head sadly. He slowly hung up the phone and stayed still for a while.
"Why did you even date him in the first place?" Orion asked, spinning around to face his wife. "What the hell was so attractive about him that got you to date him? He's not only fucked with your life, but the whole damn family's lives!"
"I was fifteen when I met him!" Madison explained. "He was the first boyfriend I actually had and there was a time when he was a nice guy!"
"Two fucking years, Madison and for the most part he wasn't nice," Orion said. Madison didn't even bother asking how he knew. She just glared at her brother.
"Okay, it's one thing to tell him some aspects of previous relationships, but to tell him the whole damn story!" Madison yelled. "God dammit, Andy!"
"What?" Andy asked. "It's not my fault that Orion fell head over fucking heels in love with you."
"Well, who introduced us?" Madison asked.
"Uh, you guys did it yourselves," Andy said. "He came to the restaurant before I brought him in."
Madison made several attempts at saying something, but couldn't think of anything. It was clear she was getting more and more frustrated. Orion and Andy couldn't help but feel that they had gone back in time twenty years. "God, I hate you two right now!" Madison yelled, making a sound that resembled a growl before stomping up to her room.
"What the hell was that about?" Noah asked, looking at his father and uncle.
"That was your mom letting out twenty years of anger," Andy said.
"Gosh, Dad, you are in big trouble!" Noah warned. Orion narrowed his eyes at his son before heading to the door. "Wait, where are you going?"
"I have to get out of here," Orion said. "I need to drive around and see if I can't find something." He threw on his jacket and left. He drove around streets that he knew too well now, driving for hours, only stopping one time so that he could get gas. He got back to the house just as everyone was running out of it. "What's going on?"
"They have Damian!" Madison shouted, running over to the passenger side of the car. "Come on, let's go!"
Noah, Landon and Bridgette got into the back and Orion drove off to the police station. It was stressful not knowing if they would ever get Riley back and they couldn't get there fast enough. They were led into the room on the other side of the two-way mirror. Damian was sitting in the chair facing the mirror, his hands cuffed behind his back.
"We looked all through the house, but there was no sign of your daughter," one of the
officers said.
"I want to talk to him," Madison demanded, tapping her fingers on her chin and her toes on the ground.
"Ma'am, we don't advise it," the presiding officer said.
"Dammit, the man took my daughter! I want to talk to him!" Madison snapped. Everyone in the room stared at her. "I don't care who the hell comes into that room with me, but I'm getting some words with him."
"We'll see what we can do," another officer said. Ten minutes later, accompanied by two officers while everyone else stayed in the other room, Madison entered the interrogation room.
"Well, hey there, baby. Long time, no see," Damian said. "What's it been? Twenty years now, right? How's that kid doing? You know I'm surprised that the girl has so much trouble when, by all rights, the other one should. After all, I did almost kill him, didn't I?"
"You sick twisted son of a bitch!" Madison screamed. One of the officers grabbed her, before she could take two steps. "I swear if you hurt my daughter in any way, I don't care where the hell you are, I am ripping that fucking dick off."
"Well sure, if you can find her in time," Damian taunted her. "I didn't lay a hand on her after I locked her up. Anything that's happened to her since then is her own fault."
"Where the hell is she?" Madison asked, shaking off the officer. The corner of Damian's mouth twitched in a half smile. "Damian!"
"Oh it's a safe place," Damian said. "May not be the cosiest of places, but its safe enough. And hidden, unless you know where it is, of course."
"Since when did you become the Riddler?" Madison asked.
"Twenty years in prison does that to ya, baby. But you know, maybe I should have fucked your girl senseless. After all, you were quite impressive-like mother like daughter and all that shit." Madison started towards him again, and it took both the officers to hold her back and drag her out.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Orion muttered.
"Safe, not the cosiest, hidden unless you know where it is," Landon repeated, speaking for the first time in quite a few hours. "What was it that Riley said?"
"Sorry that she opened the door," Orion said.
"No-after that."
"It's bricked in," Orion said, thinking about what his daughter had said to him.
"I need a computer," Landon announced. They were led into another room that had a few computers. Orion watched as the younger man typed quickly in a location search. "Where did they find him?"
"About an hour outside of town," Orion said. "Why?"
"Because I know where Riley is," Landon told him, hitting the print button.
CHAPTER FOURTY-SEVEN
THEY WERE FOLLOWED by two squad cars and an ambulance. Landon didn't answer Orion every time the panicked father asked about where they were going. Although, once they got there it seemed pretty obvious. Landon had barely taken the key out of the ignition, before the two were out of the car and running through a field.
"Here, here, here!" Landon said, leading Orion to where the ground sloped. Just as he had thought, there was a big steel door in the ground, almost like a cellar door. It was a short distance from an old broken down farmhouse. He groaned in dismay when he saw a lock on the door. "Oh no, COME ON!"
"Look out," one of the police officers said, approaching them with an axe. He began hacking at the lock and it broke off after a few swings. The door was wrenched open and the men ran down a small flight of stairs.
And then they froze. A single, dull, flickering light bulb was the only source of light. In the far corner of the room was a huddled up, unmoving figure. It didn't take long for Orion to realize that it was his daughter and he ran across the cellar towards her. Landon came to his senses and followed.
"Riley!" Orion shouted, shaking her lightly, as he sat on the dirty ground with her head now rested on his lap. She looked a mess. Her usually glossy sandy blonde hair was almost brown with dirt and tangled. Her skin had smudges of dirt all over and she looked quite pale-almost like a Dalmatian. Her already thin body had gotten smaller and, once they got the ropes off, her wrists were red, raw and bloody.
"Riley, come on, breathe!" Landon said. "Is she even breathing?"
"Shit!" Orion said, hating himself for not even thinking of that. He put her head on the ground and checked for a pulse. He couldn't find one. "No, this can't be happening."
"Damn it!" Landon said.
He did the first thing that came to his mind and started CPR. Orion took over the chest compressions after a few rounds. They wouldn't give up, even after the cellar had filled up with police officers and paramedics. It took a few minutes, but finally Riley lurched upwards a bit, gasping for breath. Landon sat back on his heels and let the paramedics put a breathing mask on her. She was still unconscious, but it didn't matter because she was alive.
Everyone else arrived at the hospital within an hour. It was too risky to move Riley all the way back to Knightsbridge, so they had to settle for Beacon's hospital. She was put under constant supervision. She was put on an artificial respirator for the time being, until they were sure she could breathe properly herself.
"Can we see her?" Bridgette asked, looking at the nurse who had told them everything that was going on.
"Yes but only a few of you at a time," the nurse said. "We can't have all of you in there. There's another young girl in the same room." Nathan, Lorne, Faith and Alice went in, and Riley was awake by the time they got there.
"Hey, sweetie pie," Lorne said. "How are you feeling?"
"How am I supposed to feel?" Riley asked, quietly.
"That's our girl," Nathan said. "What happened?"
"He didn't hurt me physically. I think he was just trying to get in mine and my parents' heads."
They left her alone for a minute before Bridgette, Noah, Andy and Shauna came in.
"Landon gets to come in by himself and he'll be in soon," Bridgette informed Riley. Her cousin was, more or less, not really listening. She was watching her brother as he talked with her roommate. The other girl had a cast on one arm and her head was wrapped up. Riley didn't know anything about her, but she was sure she was going to find out.
"You focus on getting better alright. Don't stress yourself out," Andy said. Riley smiled at her uncle.
"Although you might want to get better before the play," Bridgette joked. Riley laughed a bit, but had to stop because it irritated her lungs. Her parents came in after that.
"Oh Riley, honey, we are so sorry," Madison said, hugging her daughter. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about Damian."
"It's okay, Mom," Riley said. She looked over at Orion. "Did my hint help you?"
"Actually, it helped Landon," Orion explained. "He's the one who figured it out." Riley looked a bit surprised. "We'll let you talk to him."
She felt an instant sense of uneasiness as her parents left and her boyfriend came in.
"How are you feeling?" Landon asked, standing at the foot of the bed, a bit uneasy himself.
"For the final time, I'm fine," Riley answered, getting irritated with the question.
"Is there anything I can get for you?"
"No, thanks," Riley said.
Riley:
I didn't want to be around Landon. How weird was that? He saved my life and I couldn't stand to be near him? And he was my boyfriend, for Christ's sake! But when he came into the room, I felt almost afraid of him. Later on, I sat next to my roommate on her bed. Her name was Alison, and she was just a few months younger than Noah. She had dark red hair that reached her shoulders and blue-green eyes.
"Your brother seems really nice," Alison commented.
"So, when's the first date?" I asked, smiling. Technically I wasn't supposed to be out of bed, but I couldn't stand to lie down anymore.
"In maybe two weeks," Alison said, going red. "I think it's best to wait until I'm better."
"Well, that's good," I said. "I've only known you for an hour and you're already way better than his last girlfriend." Alison went even redder. I laughed and then winced, as a sh
arp pain shot through my side.
"What's going on with you and that last guy who came in?" Alison asked, once she made sure I was okay.
"Landon?" I asked. Alison nodded. "I...I don't know. He is my boyfriend, but I just feel so weird around him now. It's almost like I'm scared to be with him."
"Oh, that's too bad," Alison said. I blinked and stared at her.
"That's it? There's no advice you can give me or something?"
"It's actually kind of common. Teenaged girls, who get kidnapped by men, often feel odd around other men in their lives."
"But Landon's the only one I seem to have any problem with," I remarked.
"Sometimes that happens," Alison observed.
"How do you know this?"
"I was in the same place you're in about two years ago, except I was raped by my kidnapper."
"Oh my God!"
"Don't think about it, Riley. Don't try to bury any of it in your head, either. This is all stuff my therapist told me. You have to find a spot between making yourself forget about it and letting it take over your mind. It's not healthy to suppress it."
CHAPTER FOURTY-EIGHT
ALMOST AS IF she had predicted it somehow, I had to go into therapy. For the first few sessions, I sat and stared at the therapist and then she got me to start drawing things. If something she said triggered something in my mind, I was supposed to draw it. Two weeks later, I was allowed to go home, but I had to continue to visit the therapist.
When I got back, I helped Noah get ready for his date with Alison. Surprisingly enough, she didn't actually live too far away. She had just moved to Beacon, where the hospital was, and was planning to move again soon, this time closer to where we lived.
"Landon's worried about ya," Noah said, working on the buttons of his shirt. I raised an eyebrow. "Riley, you haven't talked to him since you got into the hospital. Any guy would worry about that."
If I Never Knew You Trilogy Bundle Page 23
