The man I stabbed and the man in front of him are both in expensive-looking suits and their cologne is sweeping through the small room, overtaking the mustiness of the cell. The man in the front is looking over me like he is examining me, a cigarette in his hand in front of him.
“What do we know about her?” His voice is sharp like his eyes that are looking over my body.
The man behind him, who hasn’t stopped glaring at me since he laid eyes on me opens his mouth to talk and when I hear the ragged whisper that comes out, I know for sure that he wants to kill me. “She’s been hiding on a horse ranch northof here, sir, we sent a team to take care of the family and burn the house, but they haven’t checked in yet.”
Maybe that means that Mason and his guys were able to take care of them, maybe they are all still alive.
His head tilts to the side just a fraction, but his eyes don’t leave me, they are small and beady like a snake, and he gives me the creeps. “Why not? They’re just a bunch of hillbillys.”
Rolling his head from side to side, the popping sounds in his neck echo through the small cell, “We’re looking into it, sir.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty-six, her brother misrepresented her age when he first sold her. He led us to believe she was younger.”
The man in front takes a drag off his cigarette as he looks at me, his exhale of smoke billows into my cell and nausea squeezes my stomach again.
“There is a transport tonight to The Gulf, we can put her on it. They won’t care about her age down there, just that she has a hole.”
My nails dig into the skin on my thighs as I squeeze my knees tight against my chest, sweat beads along my hairline regardless of the cold. If they put me on a transport, I’m lost, my mind starts to race in every possible direction that could get me out of here.
As he turns to walk away, the glare on the guy behind him turns to a sneer, his lips tipping up on one side. If I had x-ray vision, I would be able to look into his brain and see all the ways that he wants me to suffer.
If he lets me out of here alive.
***
I end up having to use the bucket.
Several hours have gone by since they left me down here, at least it feels like hours. My mind has started playing trickson me and I’m second-guessing my decision to walk into this nightmare. But they said they would take Lainey Rai if I didn’t.
I didn’t think it through when I read the note, I just reacted.
Maybe I should have gone to Mason with the note instead of trying to do this on my own, I don’t know what made me think that I could do this by myself. My heart sinks as I hear my brother’s voice in my head ‘why would he want to keep you around’?
Mason told me he would do whatever it takes to keep me safe.
I think I fucked up.
The squeak of the door fills the silence of the room and another man I’ve never seen before steps up to the bars with a key, “Time to go.”
He swings the door open and drops the key into the pocket of his jeans. He’s not dressed as nice as the guys who were here before, and he looks like he would rather be anywhere else but here.
Unfolding my body to set my feet on the floor, I say, “Where are we going?”
“To Disneyland.” His voice is flat, and he stares at me blankly, his hand gripping one of the bars.
I curl my fingers tighter around the edge of the cot knowing that this is the beginning of my end, resisting the urge to place my hand over my stomach. The last thing I want to do is bring that to their attention.
My breaths are shallow, fear is clutching my chest and as I stare at the guy I wonder if there is any path that could possibly lead to him letting me go.
Irritation flashes across his face and he says, “If I have to come in there and get ya, I ain’t gonna be nice.”
Standing on shaky legs, I slowly step toward him, “If you let me go, I won’t tell anyone that I saw you here.”
He snorts and cocks his head to the side as he stares at me, “I ain’t never heard that before.”
I’ll take that as a no.
