by K. C. Lynn
I look back at Kyle through my watery gaze. “What have you done to her?”
He smirks. “Emily, meet Cassie. She, like you, has been a very bad girl.”
“Holy fuck!” I hear both Nick and Ryder curse.
I quickly recall that Cassie is the missing girl and realize my father must have had her here for weeks. “Kyle, please, you don’t have to do this. I’m begging you…”
“Save your breath, Emily. This goes way above me, but like I said, if you would have fucking listened to me I could have protected you. Instead you chose Jameson.” He shakes his head in disappointment. “I do believe though that I have convinced them to spare your life. You’re just going to have a new life now, somewhere far away.” He smirks tauntingly and walks closer to me. The girl shirks back in fear the closer he gets. I try hard not to do the same, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. He leans down then grabs me by my hair and yanks my head back. I bite back a cry at the stinging pain. He brings his face only a mere inch from mine. “But they don’t get you until I’m done with you, and I am going to fucking collect what you so self-righteously have kept from me all of these years.”
The way he talks about me as if I belong to him makes my blood boil. “No part of me has ever belonged to you and I never will,” I choke out.
He chuckles but there’s nothing funny-sounding about it. Shaking his head, he releases my hair then slaps me again, knocking me over. My head hits the cement floor with a loud crack. I grab it and scream at the sheer agony ripping through me. Ryder’s roar through the wire has my head feeling like it’s going to explode. He’s yelling something at me, but I can’t understand him. The pain becomes too much and before I can stop myself I reach in and quickly rip the tiny ear bud out.
Kyle doesn’t pay notice to it and thinks I’m just grabbing at my head. “You still haven’t learned when to shut that pretty mouth of yours.” I cry out again when his foot connects with my ribs. My breath stalls in my lungs and I desperately try to gasp for breath, the pain robbing me of air.
“That’s enough, Kyle.”
Kyle hauls me up and locks an arm around my throat, keeping me snug against him. I try to focus through my blurry vision, and stare into the faces of the men who ruined my life. Archer Benedict, Vincent Prescott and my father.
I make eye contact with my father, a moment of silence stretching between us. “Why?” I ask, not knowing what else to say.
“I tried to warn you, Emily, but you went against me.” That’s all he says, no explanation, no hint of remorse. Nothing.
“You killed Rosa,” I state through clenched teeth.
“I did what I had to do. If she hadn’t gotten snoopy she would have been fine. But when she found Cassie…” He shrugs. “I had no choice.”
Fury erupts through me as he talks about it so nonchalantly, acting as if he didn’t rip away from me one of the most important people in my life. Like he didn’t murder a beautiful, loving woman in cold blood.
“I hate you!” I scream on a sob. “How could you do that to her? How could you do this to me? Your own daughter!”
“You have no one to blame but yourself for this predicament you’re in. You refused to listen to reason, Emily.”
I stare back at him aghast, but my attention gets drawn away when Paul Kensington comes rushing in looking panicked. When he gets a good look at me his gaze darts away, seeming remorseful.
“Yes, this is true.” Archer cuts in now with a sigh. “It’s unfortunate it has come to this, Emily, but you left us no choice. After you got your sight back I figured you had remembered, but when your father assured me you hadn’t I was nice enough to leave you be. But then you wanted to do the hypnotherapy, and we couldn’t let that happen.”
“It’s your fault I went blind. It’s all of your faults,” I seethe.
“I wasn’t a part of it, Emily,” Paul mutters. Again I notice how regretful he looks.
Why is he involved in this then?
Archer chimes back in. “I wouldn’t be upset by that. Your disability was the only thing that kept you alive all of these years. And, thanks to your boyfriend, you were saved a second time in front of that theatre. By the way, where is he? We are having difficulties finding him and I’d like to tie up all of my loose ends tonight before we leave.”
I ignore his question about Ryder. “So it wasn’t a drive-by shooting. It was you?” I ask, wanting to get his confession on tape.
He nods. “I felt like I had no other choice at the time, but thanks to Kyle here, he suggested another alternative and I have to agree it’s a good one. I think you will make us a lot of money.”
I quickly realize what he’s talking about and I look to my father again. “You’re going to sell your own daughter?”
“Yes, he is,” Kyle responds, bringing his mouth to my ear, “but he agreed to let me have my fill first.” Complete disgust fills me, knowing my father promised him my body. But my revulsion quickly turns into panic when he begins sliding his hand in the top of my dress. I try to wiggle away but I can’t, his grip is too tight. Then the unthinkable happens – he finds the wire.
I feel him freeze behind me. “What the fuck?” Pure fear washes over me when he rips out the mic. “She’s fucking wired!” Everyone’s expression turns to utter shock.
“How is that possible?” Vincent shouts in alarm.
Kyle is the one to figure it out first. “It’s fucking, Jameson. I told you that asshole was lying. He’s a fucking cop! That’s why we can’t find him.”
Archer turns to my father, pure fury transforming his expression. “You told me you checked into his background.”
For the first time, my father looks fearful. “I- I did. It said…” A loud gunshot goes off and I watch my father drop to the ground, a bullet firmly implanted in his head.
A scream bubbles up my throat but before it can escape me Kyle drops the wire and smashes it with his foot then slams his hand over my mouth. My shocked gaze looks back at Archer to see a gun in his hand, and I quickly comprehend he just killed my father.
“Holy shit! What the fuck are you doing, Archer?” Paul shouts in alarm, seeming just as shocked as me.
“He’s been listening the entire fucking time,” Kyle yells. “We have to get the fuck out of here before they find us. Who knows how many fucking cops are here right now.”
“Grab her!” Archer orders, pointing over to Cassie. Kyle’s father runs over and unties her.
“Listen, I think we need to reassess our situation. Everything is out now; they have this all on recording. We can’t…” Paul shuts up when Archer points the gun at him.
“You are not pulling out! We are sticking to the fucking plan. Now get moving before I blow your brains out too.”
Kyle follows the others, dragging me to the other end of the room. I watch Archer put a key into a panel then suddenly an overhead door opens above us, unveiling the dark night sky and leading to god only knows where. Where are you, Ryder?
Chapter 23
Ryder
I pace back and forth like an animal, a dangerous violence rushing through my veins like hot lava. Fear has my chest constricting so fucking tight I have not been able to breathe for the past ten minutes.
At first when I heard Emily get grabbed by Prescott it took all three agents to take me down. Then it took some rationalizing from Stone before I could calm down enough to think straight. I knew he was right, if I went in guns blazing and they were alerted of feds they would kill her. I’m trying my best to treat this as any other case and use my training, but fuck is it hard. Because this is not just any case, this is my girl, the one I promised to protect.
Somehow I managed to get my rage to a simmering calm so I could focus. We went through blueprints trying to figure out where the fuck they could be, but when I heard that motherfucker strike her, all bets were off. I ran and grabbed the first security guard that was out searching for me and Nick grabbed the second, then we brought them back to the surveillance van
for questioning. I was pulled back from it after I smashed my fist into the first guy’s face and threatened to shoot his dick off if he didn’t tell us where this hidden room is. These assholes are swearing they don’t know where it is, that they were only instructed to find me then report back to Michaels. Now, five minutes later, we are still nowhere closer to finding Emily.
To say this has been the longest ten minutes of my life is the biggest fucking understatement. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that they have Cassie and she’s still alive. It’s hard for me to try and comprehend anything right now, as I listen to that bastard Prescott talk about Emily like she belongs to him.
“No part of me has ever belonged to you and I never will,” Emily chokes out.
When I hear the smack and her cry out in pain again, I fucking lose it. I start punching the van repeatedly, wishing it were Prescott’s face. It’s exactly what I’m going to do when I get my hands on him. “Fuck this! We aren’t waiting anymore.” Ripping my jacket off, I grab a vest from the back of the van then look at Higgins and Crowley. “Call the Chief and have him get us more backup from whoever we can trust.” Then I glance at Nick. “We’re fucking going in guns blazing.”
He nods, agreeing we can’t wait anymore. Crowley and Higgins call in for backup and secure the guards in the van.
As I’m suiting up, and loading extra ammo, I hear new voices over the wire. I listen carefully to Benedict, Prescott and Michaels. That bastard is really planning to sell his own fucking daughter. I shake my head, I really shouldn’t be surprised but for some reason I am. The more I’m listening to their plans the more I realize we need to move faster, but we aren’t fast enough.
“What the fuck?” I freeze in fear at Prescott’s shock. “She’s fucking wired!”
“Shit! Move, move, move!” All of us haul ass to the house, my heart in my throat. “Emily, we’re coming, baby, just hold on…” The sound of a gunshot has terror gripping me and almost bringing me to my knees. Then I hear the mic get smashed. “Fuck! No, no, no!”
Once we reach the house, I kick the door in and we rush in guns drawn.
“FBI, nobody move! I want everyone’s hands in the air, now!” Screams sound throughout the house as everyone follows Nick’s order.
My gaze searches for only one person, and when I find her I waste no time. I grab Caroline’s arm in a painful grip. “Where the fuck is she?”
She stares at me in shock, her face pale. “You- you’re a cop?”
Knowing we don’t have time for this shit, I drag her through the house to the hallway where Emily said she was taken. “Show me now! Where the fuck did he take her?”
She glares at me. “I’m not telling you anything.”
The last of my control snaps. Grabbing her by her throat, I pin her against the wall then put my gun to the center of her forehead.
“Easy, Jameson.” Nick warns, but I ignore it. Nothing matters right now except getting to Emily.
Please, God, don’t let that gunshot have been for her or Cassie. “Tell me where the fuck she is or I will put a fucking bullet through your head.”
She stares back at me defiantly, but there’s no denying the fear in her eyes. “What will you give me in return?”
“What?” I ask, thinking I misunderstood her.
“If I tell you where she is then I want something in exchange.”
Unfuckingbelievable. “I don’t think so, bitch. You tell me where the fuck she is, or I will make sure you suffer so miserably that you will be wishing for the fucking death penalty.” I feel her swallow under my hand, but she still says nothing. “Now!”
She flinches. “Okay, I’ll show you.” I release her throat and follow close behind her as she walks down the hall to an arch that’s built into the wall. I notice her visibly shake as she reaches in behind one of the pictures and presses something that has the wall sliding open.
I take in the dimly lit cement stairs before shouting for Crowley. He comes to the end of the hall and I push Caroline toward him. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
He nods. “Go ahead, we got it covered up here. Backup is fifteen minutes away.”
I turn back and start down the stairs with my gun drawn and Nick following close behind me. Everything is silent as we reach the bottom. We kick open every closed door we walk past to see empty bedrooms. My stomach twists at torture devices hanging on the walls.
At the end of the hall we walk into a wide-open room and I know immediately by the set up this is where the bidding takes place. When I spot the open door at the far end that leads into a cellar, I raise my gun. “FBI! Come out with your hands up.”
Everything remains silent. Nick moves to one side of the door and gets into position before I go in. My heart pounds like a fucking drum the closer I get, terrified at what I’m going to find when I walk in.
As soon as I enter I see the body. I’m both shocked and fucking relieved to see it’s Michaels. Nick leans down and feels for a pulse then shakes his head at me.
I continue to move through the room, but I know they aren’t here anymore. “Fuck! Where did they fucking go?”
“Over here!”
I maneuver around the furnace and water tank to the back of the room where Nick is. Looking up, I stare into the dark night sky up to where they made their escape. I put my gun back in place then jump and swing myself up. I draw my weapon again and turn on my tactile light so I can take in my surroundings. I look around the deserted woods and realize we’re quite far from the house.
Once Nick gets up, I shine my light on a path of footsteps in the dirt. “They talked about a cabin, there has to be one around here. Maybe if…” Suddenly another gunshot goes off and I hear Emily scream, not sounding very far away. We haul ass toward the direction of the scream. “You go left, I’ll stay right,” I shout then push myself harder. Please let me fucking make it to her in time.
Emily
“Come on, move faster, bitch.” Kyle spits out while dragging me behind him. I continue to stumble and try to ignore the pain of the sharp earth cutting into the bottoms of my bare feet. My shoes were taken from me when I kept tripping.
Archer leads the way, his gun in hand while he mutters furiously to himself. I look over to see Cassie barely conscious as Vincent carries her over his shoulder. I don’t know what they did to her, but she couldn’t even walk.
Tears stream down my cheeks and my fear escalates the further we get. I’m terrified Ryder isn’t going to find us in time. How can he when I don’t even know where we are? I’m trying to think of a way out of this for both Cassie and me, but it’s completely dark out and I have no clue what direction the house is.
Paul walks not far behind me and I can feel him staring at me the entire time. When I glance back at him, I see him mouth something to me, but as I try to make out what he’s saying I stumble again, which pisses Kyle off. “That’s it, you’re too fucking slow.”
He’s just about to pick me up when Paul runs at him and takes him to the ground. “Run, Emily, now!” I falter for a second, thinking about Cassie, but quickly realize the only thing I can do is get help. So I start running faster than I ever have in my life.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
A gun shot rings out. I scream and cover my head as I continue to run, not knowing if it was aimed at me. I glance behind me to see Archer just shot Paul, and Kyle already up and chasing me. Just as I turn back, another shot goes off, and I feel the bullet whiz past my ear. “Oh god.” I dart left then right, weaving in and out of trees, praying they lose sight of me. My lungs burn something fierce but I don’t stop. It feels like déjà vu all over again.
I have no idea which direction I’m headed in any longer, but I don’t think it’s toward the house. My suspicion is confirmed when I reach an opening that leads to the end of a cliff. I turn around to run in another direction, only to find Kyle charging toward me. I scream again, trying to keep my pace, but I’m not fast enough. He takes me to the
ground hard, knocking the air from my lungs in one painful swoosh.
“You fucking bitch!” He rages before sending another blow across my already battered face. I don’t cry out at the pain, because I can’t breathe. “You’re going to fucking pay for that.” He hauls me up by my hair and starts dragging me toward the edge of the cliff.
“Let her go, Prescott, now!”
I sob in relief at the sound of Ryder’s voice. Kyle freezes for only a split second before locking an arm around me and bringing his knife against my throat. The sharp blade biting painfully into my sensitive skin.
“How nice of you to join us, Jameson. I’m glad you’re here to catch the show.” He taunts, but there is no denying the fear in his voice.
I stare at Ryder through blurry vision; his eyes are cold and lethal as he trains his gun on us. “It’s over, Prescott. Just let her go.”
“Actually, it’s not over. It’s just about to start. Put the gun down or I will slit her throat right now!”
Ryder shakes his head. “My bullet will reach your head before that blade even makes your attempt. Now drop the fucking knife and let her go.”
I feel Kyle walk us back, closer to the edge of the cliff. “Yeah? Will your bullet reach me before I push her off this fucking ledge? It’s a long way down, Jameson, want to find out?”
My panic escalates when I hear the rushing creek far below as we get closer to the edge. “Ryder.” I whimper in fear, feeling myself slipping into hysterics.
“Emily, baby, stay calm. Everything’s going to be okay,” he says, moving closer to us.
“Everything is not going to be okay!” Kyle screams psychotically, his tone sounding desperate.
