Broken Wings

by Sweet, Izzy

We’re well and truly fucked.

  If the men outside try to force their way in, I’ll have no choice but to call the police. And if I have to call the police, Mikhail will be able to find us.

  We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

  Another loud, booming knock rattles the front door then a deep male voice shouts, “Open the fucking door! I know you’re in there, Allie!”

  The sound of my name being shouted causes my heart and lungs to freeze behind my ribs. I’m so shocked and scared, I could fall over and fucking die from fright right this second.

  I was wrong.

  He found us… Somehow, Mikhail found us….

  Levi squirms in my arms and I realize I’m squeezing him too tight. Loosening my arms, my mind races, trying to figure out a plan to protect him.

  I have to figure out a way to protect him.

  Another round of loud, booming knocks echoes throughout the house.

  “I swear to god if you don’t open this fucking door, I’ll break it down!” the man roars.

  Not knowing what else to do, I shout back, “I called the police! They’ll be here any minute!”

  Pulling Levi up to his feet, my eyes dart around the room and land on the closet.

  I haven’t called the police yet, but there’s no reason not to now once I get my hands on my phone.

  But I need to hide Levi first. I need to buy him some time. Given how far out we are, I have no clue how long it will take the police to get here.

  A couple of seconds could be the difference between life and death.

  And I know without a doubt that if these guys hand us over to Mikhail, we’re dead.

  “I don’t care about the fucking pigs!” the man yells as I drag Levi over to the closet. “Last chance, Allie. Open the door or I’m breaking it down!”

  “Stay here, honey, and whatever you do, whatever you hear, don’t come out,” I whisper into Levi’s ear and then shut the closet door.

  His whimper of fear tears at my heart, but I can’t let it slow me down.

  Making a dash for my phone, I grab my purse and tip it over, spilling everything onto the floor while I yell back, “Okay! I’m coming! Give me a minute!”

  The house is blissfully silent for the ten seconds it takes me to pick my phone out of the mess.

  Then there’s a loud boom that seems to shake the very foundations.

  “I said I’d be there in a minute!” I shriek in desperation as I run out of the room.

  My fingers fumble, struggling to slide my phone on. I know there’s an emergency function but fuck if I remember how to use it.

  Running down the stairs, I trip and nearly fall down and break my neck when another loud boom hits the front door.

  From here, I can see the frame around the door starting to crack.

  Shit.

  Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I only have seconds to figure out my plan of action. I need a weapon to hold these guys off. I don’t have a gun, but maybe there’s something I could use in the kitchen...

  Pure terror claws up my throat from my chest as I run past the door and hear the men outside counting.

  “One… two…”

  Behind me the door bursts open and I whip around to get a look at what I’m up against.

  Chests heaving, three men look back at me. Three big, dangerous looking men dressed in black leather vests and covered in ink.

  I instantly recognize the guy on the right, the blond from Walmart, but it’s the guy in the middle, the guy with dark hair and blazing eyes, that seems like the biggest threat.

  It’s not his tall, muscular frame that causes alarm bells to ring in my head, or all the tattoos covering most of his exposed skin.

  No, it’s his face. A face that’s so damn beautiful and scary at the same time he could very well be the son of Satan.

  “Allie,” he growls, staring at me with an intensity that pins me to the spot and steals all my breath.

  There’s something in the way he looks at me and says my name… something that’s both intimate and violent at the same time.

  He takes one step inside, scuffed, black boot landing heavy on the door they knocked over, and I suddenly remember how to move again.

  I also remember I haven’t called the police yet.

  Thumb swiping across my phone, I quickly dial 911 and hit the green button as I make a desperate dash for the kitchen.

  I can barely hear the sound of the phone ringing over the heavy footsteps pounding behind me.

  Running like my fucking life depends on it, I slam into the counter once I reach the kitchen and search frantically through the trash for a knife, a fork, anything I can use to keep the men back.

  “911, what’s your emergency?”

  “Help!” I scream at the phone. “They’re trying to kill—”

  A hand slaps over my mouth, cutting off my plea.

  I scream against the smothering palm. Then I reach up with my free hand, trying and failing to yank away the firm arm connected to the hand.

  “Ma’am? Ma’am?! Are you there? Where are you? Are you okay?”

  The phone is slapped from my grip and I hear it clatter to the floor a second before the man behind me wraps his other arm around my chest and pants by my ear, “Do something with that.”

  “Sure thing, boss man,” one of the other men says.

  Every last bit of hope that Levi and I could survive this dies when I hear the unmistakable sound of my phone crunching beneath a stomping boot.

  “No!” I wail against the hand still pressed firmly over my mouth and fight to escape the arms around me with all the strength I have left.

  The man’s arms tighten around me, squeezing me against his body.

  Twisting, squirming, I try everything I can think of to get free, but his grip on me only tightens until he’s crushing my ribs.

  My captor presses his mouth against my ear and breathes, “Fuck, it’s been so long… Keep fighting me, Allie. The way your sweet ass is rubbing against my cock is turning me on.”

  I immediately freeze in horror.

  Oh god…

  My mind completely blanks out for a moment.

  My brain shutting down in an act of self-preservation, unable to handle the full gravity of my current situation.

  Because there are worse things than death…

  “Are you done now? We were just getting started.” My captor chuckles and then I feel his nose dragging down my neck.

  I’m so afraid to move right now, so afraid of doing something that will provoke him, even my lungs stop filling with air.

  Reaching the hollow of my throat, he breathes in deep and then groans. “Fuck, Allie. You still smell the same after all these years…”

  A whimper builds inside me as his nose nudges against me again and he drags his face back up to breathe in my hair.

  His chest rises, pressing against my back.

  “Goddamn… I forgot just how intoxicating you are…”

  His hand over my mouth slips a little and I seize on the opportunity. Biting down, I sink my teeth into his finger.

  “Fuck!” he roars and jerks away from me.

  Shoving him away, I push past him and run for the front of the house.

  The blond guy from Walmart steps into my path with a smirk and a look of bemusement on his face. He makes a grab for me.

  I stumble, nearly falling on my ass avoiding him, and then duck under his arms.

  “Don’t you fucking touch her, Poster Boy!” the guy I just bit bellows and the blond guy immediately backs off, throwing his hands up in the air.

  My feet slide against the garbage on the floor as I straighten and I lose a little momentum, but I’m determined to get to Levi.

  If I can get back up to the room, I can use his iPad to call the police again.

  Air wheezing in and out of my lungs, spots dance in front of my eyes as I push my body past its limit.

  The third guy with black hair and green eyes stands in front of where
the front door used to be, arms crossed over his chest, but he’s not even a concern right now.

  No, the concern is the thundering sound of footsteps gaining on me.

  Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I grab onto the banister and use it to swing myself up.

  I make it up the first couple of steps fine, but for some reason I trip on the third and go down. My knee connects hard on the step below me and pain vibrates throughout my entire leg.

  I’m so close… so fucking close…

  With no time to wallow in the pain or catch my breath, I look to the top of the stairs, focusing on my goal, and try to get to my feet.

  The shadows move at the top of the landing as my body strains to do what I’m demanding of it and a little face peeks out at me.

  Levi’s out of the closet…

  My blood runs cold and I shake my head, my eyes pleading with him, begging him to go back to the room.

  Arms so weak they might as well be made of rubber, I finally manage to push myself up and get to my feet.

  But a scream rips out of my throat as two hands wrap around my waist.

  I’m promptly grabbed, lifted, and slung over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

  “I’m really fucking sick of you running away from me, Allie! Really fucking sick of it!” the guy I bit yells.

  I was so close… so fucking close to reaching Levi…

  Scared, frustrated, and half-crazed from all the shit I’ve been through, I scream again and start pounding on his back. “Let me go! Please! Let me go!”

  “Stop that,” he grunts and gives my ass a hard smack before he swings around and starts stomping away from the stairs.

  My fists pause as my brain registers the pain in my ass then I scream again in helpless fury and start punching him again.

  “Coy, my boy, I don’t think the little lady appreciates the way you’re handling her,” a rough, scratchy voice chuckles.

  “I don’t give a fuck what she appreciates, Grem,” my captor snaps back. “Not when she’s trying to—”

  “Get off my mommy!” Levi yells and I look up to see him flying down the stairs with his fists up.

  “Levi, no!” I shriek as the bag of dicks holding me swings back around, cutting off my view.

  “What the fuck?” Mr. Bag of Dicks growls before he lets out a loud grunt of pain.

  Doubling over, his grip on me goes slack and I drop to the floor with a thud, landing hard on my ass.

  I scramble away from him as he gasps, “Fuck,” and grabs his groin.

  With tears in his eyes and his face flushed red from anger, Levi starts to take another swing at the guy, but I manage to crawl over to him on my knees, wrap my arms around him, and pull him away.

  “Goddammit, he got me right in the balls,” the bent-over guy croaks.

  At first, Levi tries to fight me, but when I hold tight, he collapses against me and bursts into sobs. My heart fucking breaking, I hold him close and get to my feet, looking for a way out.

  The black-haired man standing in the doorway looks at me before he looks to the guy still hunched over, holding his balls.

  Shaking his head, he mutters, “Well, ain’t this a complete shitshow now. Can’t say you didn’t deserve it, though.”

  With him still standing in the doorway and the guy clutching his balls blocking the stairs, I twist around, intending to head to the back of the house.

  But the blond guy from Walmart steps in front of me, cutting off that way as well.

  Stuck between the three of them, we’re trapped with no way out.

  “Please…” I plead, turning back around to look at the black-haired guy standing in the doorway.

  Out of the three of them, he seems like he’s the least on board with what’s going down. He also looks like the one who could be financially persuaded the most. There’s literally duct tape on his vest and covering his boots.

  “I have money, I’ll pay you more than whatever he’s offering,” I tell him.

  The guy shakes his head slowly, almost sadly, as he looks back at me. “Ain’t no one payin’ me for this, darlin’.”

  “Then why?” I ask, staring into his green eyes, trying to understand.

  If they’re not doing this for money, what the fuck are they doing it for?

  Do they get some sick, twisted kick out of picking on women and kids?

  “You know why, Allie,” the guy that got punched in the balls rasps and looks at Levi.

  The strangest expression passes over his face, an expression that both confuses and scares the hell out of me.

  I turn to fully face him and push Levi behind me, using my body as a shield to protect him.

  “No, I don’t know why you’re doing this! I don’t know what you want!” I insist.

  If they’re not here because Mikhail paid them, why are they here?

  And how does this asshole know my name?

  Why does he keep using it like he knows me?

  Straightening to his full height, the dark-haired jerk that Levi punched takes a step toward me and growls, “I want what’s mine.”

  “Coy,” the guy blocking the front door warns, “somethin’ ain’t right about this…”

  So that’s his name, Coy.

  And why does it seem so familiar? Where have I heard it before?

  “Stay outta this, Grem,” Coy snaps back as he stalks toward me. “That’s a fuckin’ order.”

  Staring up at Coy, staring into his hard, determined face bearing down on me, the mysterious sense of familiarity grows, pulsing behind my temples and flustering the hell out of me.

  I don’t know how much more of this crazy nightmare I can take.

  “Then take what’s yours and leave!” I beg.

  Coy’s lips stretch into a grin and he looks downright devilish as he purrs, “That’s exactly what I’m doin’.”

  He keeps stalking toward me, though.

  And I don’t know what the fuck to make of it.

  Stretching out my arm, I back Levi up, trying to keep some distance between us. “Please, I don’t know what you want, but whatever it is you can have it. We won’t put up a fight. Just leave us alone!”

  “Oh, you know what I want,” Coy says ominously as he backs us up until we’re trapped against the wall.

  “Mommy,” Levi whimpers and clutches at my shirt.

  And that’s it, I can’t take any more of this torture. I can’t take any more of this hell we’re being put through.

  “I don’t know what you want!” I shout at him, so scared, angry, and confused I can’t think straight.

  “I want my son!” Coy roars back at me as he stops in front of me. “And I want to know why you disappeared!”

  “What?” I flinch and gasp at him.

  What the fuck is he talking about?

  Does he somehow believe I’m hiding his kid? Is that why he’s doing this? Is that why he’s so pissed?

  Chest heaving and face darkening with anger, he snarls, “Don’t play dumb, Allie. Don’t.”

  I shake my head because none of this makes sense. “I don’t know where your son is. I think you got some bad information because we just got here…”

  Coy clenches his jaw and grits out, “He’s standing right behind you.”

  “Levi?” I scoff.

  What the fuck?

  Is this guy on drugs or something?

  “He’s mine,” he insists.

  “He can’t be!” I argue, growing angry myself. Are we seriously being put through this because these guys are coked-up crackheads? “His father passed away in a car accident five years ago.”

  “Look at him, Allie,” he says.

  And the idea is so ludicrous, I scoff at him again. “You’re crazy.”

  “Coy…” the guy in the doorway says, sounding uneasy.

  Coy turns his head just enough to roar at him, “I said stay the fuck out of this, Grem!” then he looks back at me. “Look at him and tell me he’s not mine!” he insists so vehemently I decide
to give in, hoping he’ll back off and go away.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I look down at Levi’s head.

  Yeah, so they both have the same color of hair…

  So what? Lot’s of people have that color. Dark brown is pretty common.

  Sensing my attention, Levi tips his face up to peer at me and my head starts to go fuzzy.

  I glance back at Coy, checking the color of his eyes, and then look back at Levi.

  They both have blue eyes, a blue that’s so dark it’s almost black.

  “So you look a little alike… Lots of people look alike that aren’t related,” I choke out, suddenly feeling off kilter.

  It’s Coy’s turn to scoff. “A little alike? He’s the spittin’ fuckin’ image of me.”

  I look between the two of them again, the fuzzy feeling in my head expanding. I shake my head, trying to make it go away, but that only seems to make it worse.

  Something is wrong with me and I don’t know what the fuck is happening.

  Why does the world feel like it’s flipped and I’m hanging upside down with all the blood rushing to my head?

  “He can’t be… he can’t,” I say weakly, and fuck, I think I’m going to faint.

  I take one stumbling step to the side and slap my hand against the wall to keep from falling over.

  “Deny it all you want, Allie, but he’s my boy,” Coy says, following me and stepping into me.

  I tip my head back to look up at Coy and it’s a big mistake. The image I saw earlier of Levi grown up flashes in front of my eyes.

  An image that looks like a younger version of Coy’s face.

  My knees go out, but as if he expected it, Coy is there to catch me.

  I don’t know if I’m saying it to him or to myself, but as Coy’s arm wraps around me, I gasp, “But… I don’t even know you… it’s impossible…”

  “He’s mine,” Coy says as darkness closes in on me, “and so are you, Allie.”

  Chapter Nine

  Coy

  “Ah, fuck!” I shout as Allie collapses in my arms, and for a split second I’m almost paralyzed from the feeling of her skin finally touching my hands after all these years.

  “Mommy!” the little boy whimpers before trying to pull her away from me.

  Fucking hell! What a fuckin’ clusterfuck.