“Do it!” he roared, lowering the gun so it was aimed at my heart. “Do it Lisa. Tie Thomas up or I’ll shoot you and then do it myself.”
As if in a dream, I did as I was told.
“Now get on the floor behind him,” Seth said.
I didn’t move. Fuck him.
He cocked the trigger and pushed the barrel of it against my temple. Those hands that had caressed me, made love to me, and reassured me were now threatening to kill me.
“Just listen to him, Lisa,” Kaya said. “Please.”
My hands were secured to Thomas’s and I remained frozen in stunned silence as the weight of reality began multiplying. When Seth was satisfied Thomas and I were secure, he focused on Kaya again, who all the while had remained perfectly still. It was obvious that she didn’t want to put our lives in jeopardy even after what Thomas did to her. Even though I agreed she should trade her life for Luke’s.
“Why are you doing this?” she said to Seth as he checked the knots around her wrists.
“I can’t let you leave again,” Seth replied, voice monotone. “I’ll never get you back if I do.”
Kaya studied him a moment, then spoke softly. “But why do you even care?”
“Care?” Seth said, pulling back with exasperation. “You think that I care? It’s more than that. Jeezus. I risked everything for you. No. I don’t care, Rayna. I love you. Always have and always will.”
Dead silence. Astonished silence. Disturbing silence.
“Rayna?” Kaya said carefully. “Uh, Seth, I am Kaya. Not Rayna.”
Confusion swirled in Seth’s eyes and he shook his head irritably. “Yes. I know who you are, Kaya Lowen, I’m not an idiot!”He was flustered. Embarrassed. Checked his watch. “Tell me,” he said, clearing his throat loudly. “How is your head, Kaya Lowen?”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were on me, nodding discreetly that she understood when I jutted my chin toward my ankle, alerting her to the gun I kept there.
“Your head?” Seth asked her again.
Kaya tested her neck, tilting her chin side to side, and winced with a gasp. “It hurts.”
The innocent, syrupy-sweet tone of her voice made Thomas’s breath catch and Seth fold like a taco.
“Maybe you could get me a glass of water?” she said, brilliant green-eyes shining, long lashes fluttering. “You look like you could use some too, Seth. It’s been a long day for both of us.”
Completely disarmed, Seth’s gruff exterior melted away and he strode into the kitchen. When the water tap came on, Kaya furiously gnawed at the ropes around her wrists with her teeth. When it went off, she straightened up and put on a sweet smile.
“Thanks,” she said.
Seth kneeled before her, tipping the glass to her mouth, and I prayed that he wasn’t drugging her again. I felt Thomas’s fingers working at my restraints while Kaya licked water from her lips, slowly, mesmerizing Seth with her every move and knowing that’s exactly what she was doing.
“So, what’s next?” she asked, keeping him focused, distracted.
Seth gulped. “I’ll know soon enough.”
Kaya batted her eyes innocently. “What are you going to do with me?”
Forehead wrinkling in concentration, Seth rubbed his temple then pulled at his shirt collar as if the room had grown unbearably hot. He had his face a little too close to Kaya’s when he answered. “Listen, you’ll be fine.” He pushed her hair over her shoulder. Patted the vial that I knew was in his coat pocket. His eyes narrowed on Kaya’s mouth, and I watched in horror as he put a finger to her lips.
“Seth!” I barked, breaking his spell. “What are you doing?”
He flinched like he’d forgotten Thomas and I were in the room. Trembling, he backed away.
“Have you lost your damn mind?” I threw the words like knives. “What about… us? We were a thing, remember that? Like, about four hours ago? What happened? What’s going on?”
I felt pure panic. The ability to remain calm and think things through, analyze and debate, was gone.
“I’m sorry I involved you in this, Lisa,” he said. “I didn’t think things would go this way. I wish I could trust you but your loyalty to Luke outweighs your common sense. And you, too, Thomas. Even though you tried to do what’s right, I have a feeling you will do whatever Kaya wants, and I have to protect her no matter what.”
The scars on Seth’s cheek from Kaya’s fingernails seemed to darken. They were a reminder of exactly what he was capable of. “And why is that?” I asked. “I would like to know. Dear Lord, if anything, you owe me a reason why.”
Seth stood, the gun hanging idly by his side as he resumed pacing. Turmoil etched deeper lines in his face. “She’s worth a billion dollars, Lisa. Giving her up is like winning the lottery and then tearing up the check. A billion dollars…” His eyes drifted to Kaya, and he eyed her hungrily. “Because of her, I can have everything I’ve always wanted.”
I gulped so hard it hurt. Money wasn’t his only motive. “What have you always wanted?”
“You ask too many questions,” Seth snarled.
Kaya spoke softly. “If you let me go, I’ll give you all the money you want. You know I can do that, Seth.”
Another glance at his watch. “No,” he said. “If I let you go, you will get yourself killed and I’ll have nothing.”
Thomas was working at the knots again. I could feel them loosening and the circulation coming back into my fingers. The timing would have to be exactly right for me to get the gun from my ankle before Seth could take aim. But then what? If I had to, could I shoot him?
Kaya wiggled to the edge of the couch. Her feet were on the floor, her hands in her lap, and she appeared unfazed by Seth’s madness. “Lisa loves you,” she said softly, lowering her voice and leaning forward as if she were Seth’s best friend concerned about his relationship. “You shouldn’t just throw that away. You were good together.”
Seth kneeled before Kaya, examining her slender hands under the pretense of checking the knots he’d tied. “I do love her,” he said.
That hefty word-punch to the head sent me reeling with guilt and regret at having thoughts of shooting him.
“But she’s not Rayna. And I’ve come to realize the only way I can fill the loss of losing the love of my life is with you, Kaya Lowen. Alive or otherwise.”
Regrets and guilt be damned.
At my back I could feel Thomas tense as he let out a low growl—he’d gotten my hands free. Time slowed when Kaya asked for another sip of water. Then, it came to a terrifyingly clear halt when she picked up her feet and slammed them into Seth’s knees. The glass fell from his hands as she launched herself at him. My pant leg fought me momentarily and once my finger was on the trigger, I hesitated long enough for Seth to shove Kaya off him.
Then I aimed…
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t shoot him.
Seth swung his gun in my direction, and I could see by the way his jaw was set in determination that I might not have a choice. A siren outside blocked out Kaya yelling as she pounded her fists at his back, momentarily throwing off his aim and a clear shot at me. But he recovered quickly, and there was no doubt when he refocused that he was intent on ending my life.
So, I ended his first.
Everything hurt. Even the light from the lone dangling bulb stung my eyes, so I kept them shut. I didn’t want to look at the metal instruments laid out on a silver tray, mere feet from my chained ankles, anyway. Or the whips that The Girl liked to flick across my bare skin. Or Sindra, quiet and limp, chained and hanging from the ceiling, probably dead.
At least I’d lost all feeling in my hands. The raw skin and bruised bones under the shackles around my wrists were only a dull ache now, and my consciousness was fleeting. I would fall in between being awake, and being asleep, and the strange drugs flowing through my veins confused each state. “Be a good boy and I’ll bring you something from your past to play with,” the purple-haired girl had said before I’d dri
fted off the last time. “I’ll show you that I’m not all that bad.”
Did I dream? I wasn’t sure.
Sometimes I heard other voices. One I didn’t recognize—deep, husky, and definitely male—kept calling my name and telling me to stay strong. It could have been The Girl playing one of her tricks though, so I ignored it.
The creak of rusty hinges as a door opened caused a shiver to roll up my spine and the welts on my back to burn madly. I tried to keep my legs straight so I wasn’t hanging from my wrists, but the strength to stand just wasn’t in me anymore. I was giving in to the pain that surged through my shoulders, my neck, and every part of me that The Girl had toyed with. I was close to breaking. So, I did the only thing that kept me sane—I thought of her.
Her beautiful smile. The way her face lit up and made me feel like I was ten feet off the ground. The berry red color of her mouth and the way she’d bite away at her lower lip when she was nervous. How her hair felt in my hands, her skin beneath my fingertips, the shine in her eyes when I said her name… Kaya. God, I loved her. I would give anything, anything, just to tell her that.
“Luke?”
Her voice. Her smile.
I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter, not wanting to let go whatever dream I was falling into. If this was the last vision I had before the impending death waiting for me, I would hold on to it with everything I had.
“Luke, can you hear me?”
She was so stunningly beautiful that all I could do was stare. Her midnight hair flowed down past her shoulders and milky white skin glowed against the deep emerald color of her dress. It was the same dress she was wearing when I first saw her in the garden. A long slit ran from her ankle to the top of her thigh and the silk hugged her tiny waist and chest tightly. She was bathed in soft light, making her shimmer. The love of my life was reaching for me…
“What did they do to you?” she asked.
I wanted to answer, but I had no words. It was as if my mind was disconnected from my body. Her breath was hot on my skin as her hand brushed my cheek. Like an angel she hovered around me. I could feel the warmth of her, hear the air rushing in and out of her lungs. Maybe I wasn’t dreaming. Maybe this was real, and she was saving me…
Impossible. Wishful thinking.
“I’m going to get you out of here. Don’t worry,” she said.
I nodded, I think.
She wrapped her arms around me. For the first time in ages, I was warm. I felt the shackles loosen from my ankles, and I tried to thank her. Tried to tell her how much I loved her. Then my arms dropped to my sides and I was unable to do anything but fall to my knees, hands free and limp in my lap. She gripped my shoulders, holding me up.
“Kaya…” I said, finally finding my voice. The sound of it in the room made the vision of her disappear.
“C’mon, wake up, Luke,” said someone who wasn’t Kaya, and a hand gave a few light slaps to my cheek.
I’d imagined her? But the shackles were gone from my wrists and ankles. I was on my knees. There was someone next to me…
“For God’s sake, Luke, wake up.”
No. Couldn’t be.
Forcing my eyelids apart, I was shocked to see familiar dark irises, dark skin, and a face I’d become all too familiar with over the past few weeks. I blinked in shock as the circulation started to come back into my hands. Along with it came pain. Pain everywhere. Gasping, I fought to breathe.
“Luke. It’s me—Oliver. Can you see me now? C’mon man, say something.”
“I… uh…” My throat was so dry I couldn’t get a word out.
He had a glass in his hands and a panicked look on his face. “Drink,” he ordered.
I gulped down water then promptly threw it up. Oliver patiently made me drink more, and it was then that I noticed a body on the floor behind him—a Labcoat flat on his stomach and head twisted to the side. Oliver was sweating, beads of it rolling off his forehead and there was a cut on his cheekbone. He was breathing heavy, like he’d been running. Or fighting. And all at once reality snapped into place.
“Oliver?” I said, making sure it was really him and I wasn’t hallucinating again.
He smiled. “Ah. There you are.” Relief momentarily washed over him. “Can you stand?”
He’d put a blanket around my shoulders. I clutched it tightly, pulling it across my chest and wincing at every fiber that met my skin. With Oliver’s help, I got to my feet, but had a tough time staying upright.
“How did you find me?” I asked, wishing I could see straight. Wishing my muscles would wake up and fully co-operate. My heart rate was too fast. My vision too blurry.
“Let’s just say I spent a while down here myself. Unfortunately.”
My desperation to get out was overwhelming.
“Listen, Luke, I had a bit of help getting down here, but now I’m on my own. We’ve got about five minutes before every alarm in the building goes off, so we gotta act fast, all right? You have to do as I say.”
I glanced at the silver tray with the scary tubes and injection needles, and then at Sindra’s lifeless body just hanging there. I motioned toward her, but Oliver just shook his head and started dragging me across the room. I stumbled along beside him, my arm over his shoulder, leaning on him to stay upright. We stepped over another Labcoat face down on the ground, and I’d hoped to see a flash of purple hair or the cactus tattoo, but it wasn’t The Girl.
Once we were through the doorway, the stench of human odor hit me like a wall. The door to the stairs seemed forever away while we passed by rows of metal bars. I realized there were people behind them.
“Wait,” I said, pulling back. There are others down here.”
I pointed into the dark. That’s all my breathless body would allow.
Oliver stopped, and an alarm sounded from somewhere over our heads. It increased the panic in his eyes.
“Ah crap,” he muttered, letting go of me. At the bars, he peered into the dark. “Who’s down here? How many of you are there? How can I get you out?”
No one replied. Or moved. Dark shapes remained unnervingly still.
“Hello?” Oliver said urgently.
The male voice that had been calling out to me, the one I thought was a trick, came from an opposite cell.
“Just leave them and go,” he said.
Oliver spun around. “Stephan?”
The thin hands of an older man wrapped around the cell bars. A kind face with a thick brown beard and glistening eyes pushed forward. Sores glazed his cheeks and his fingertips were missing fingernails—probably handiwork of The Girl.
Oliver gasped and clutched his chest.
Stephan spoke in a quiet but rushed tone. “It’s me, Oliver. I’m okay. But you must go. You and Luke are bait to get Kaya to come back here. Me and Davis are fine for now, I promise. You’ll never get this door open without a key and any minute now security will know you’re here. Please… just go.”
Oliver desperately shook the bars. “Davis? You’re in there too?”
Davis didn’t move from his cot. He just stared blankly at the floor, like the others.
“The guards take the keys with them,” Stephan said as Oliver began searching about frantically. “And Davis is fine. He’s not injured. Go…”
I knew who Stephan was from Kaya’s glowing description of him. And Davis—I’d met him on the mountain. He was full of humor and wit. Lighthearted, loud, and boisterous… This place, these people, had broken him.
I tried to stand, eager to help Oliver, but my legs failed me. I collapsed, only capable of trying to catch my breath.
“I can’t leave you, Stephan.” Oliver’s voice broke.
Levelheaded and calm, Stephan reached through the bars to clutch Oliver’s shoulder. “If you don’t get out, we are doomed down here, and so is Kaya. She will come back for him.” He glanced in my direction.
Oliver had tears in his eyes when he finally turned away, torn apart by having to leave his friends behind. When he hauled me
to my feet, Davis’s meek voice rose over the sound of the alarm.
“Don’t leave me down here Oliver. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you before at the ranch. It won’t happen again… don’t leave me…”
The desperation in Davis’s voice brought Oliver to a standstill.
“There’s no time,” Stephan hissed. “You have to go.”
“The tray… Oliver, get them the tray,” I said.
Oliver knew exactly what I meant.
He ran back to the room where I’d been whipped, tortured, and pumped full of God-knows-what, and proceeded to put everything resembling a weapon onto the silver tray next to the tubes and needles. He slipped it under the cell bars and into Stephan’s waiting hands.
“I’ll come back for you,” he said.
“I know,” Stephan replied.
Davis was off his cot, rattling the bars between him and his freedom, no longer subdued. “Don’t leave me down here, Oliver. Don’t leave…”
He kept calling out, but Oliver was dragging me relentlessly up the stairs and did not slow down even for a second. Not even when I came to my senses and told him we had to go back at least for Sindra. We couldn’t leave her there, not in the hands of The Girl.
“Sindra can rot in hell,” he said.
Faintly, I could hear the siren of an ambulance or fire truck. Two or three even. And police? Winding through a maze of dark hallways, up a few flights of stairs, and then into one corner of an elaborate ballroom and out the other, the noise eventually faded. Oliver kept us moving, sticking to the shadows, knowing which doors to hide behind and where the floor would squeak beneath his boots and my bare feet.
The day that I had broken into Kaya’s room, I’d needed a map to find it. But Oliver knew this place inside out, so I blindly trusted him to lead. My body was so weak all I could do was gasp for air and blink away the dark spots in my vision anyway. When we came to a stop, I slumped against a wall and sunk to the floor while Oliver pried open a door that read ‘staff only’. Dragging me through a locker room, down a steep flight of stairs and then entering some sort of cavernous storage area, I felt my body fading.
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