He roughly tossed me into the back seat of a large SUV. Inside, I found my mother in her drunken haze sitting beside Octavius, who was creepily smiling at me.
I pushed myself up and dove for the still open door. My father slammed it shut, narrowly missing my face, and then I heard the unmistakable sound of the doors locking.
I whirled around. “What in the hell is going on?” I screamed.
My mother didn’t so much as twitch, despite my screaming. Octavius, however, casually leaned back in his seat, propping his elbows beside the headrests. “Allow me to explain, Annabelle. You see, your parents borrowed quite a large sum of money from me and have been unable to pay it back. As per our agreement, your parents must work off their debt on my family’s dairy farm. To prevent people from trying to skip out on their debt, I require them, as well as their families, to live on the property until the debt is paid off.”
No. No, no, no, no, no. “What about my stuff? I need my clothes and all of my other things!” I was grasping at straws, but I thought if I could get him to let me go back inside the house, I could figure out a way to get away from him. If I could just get to Gram and Pop, they would help me.
“I’ll arrange for some of my men to pack up your belongings and have them delivered to your room on the property.”
“What about my job? I have to be at work in an hour!” I shrieked.
“You won’t be working anywhere other than the farm.”
“No!” I screamed and lunged for him. I wrapped my hands around his throat and managed to get in two good shakes before I was pulled away and forcefully placed in the rear row of seating.
Octavius cleared his throat and smoothed his rumpled shirt. “I would advise you not to try anything like that again. This is your only warning.”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
He sighed in exasperation. “Fine. Have it your way.” He raised his hand in the air and made some gesture. Suddenly, two men came at me. Asshole One cuffed my hands behind my back while Asshole Two placed a gag in my mouth and fastened my seatbelt.
“You’ll learn, Annabelle. If you do as I say, things will go smoothly, but I will not tolerate disrespect from you or anyone else.”
Well, I was in for a bumpy ride because there was no way in hell I would ever respect a little weasel like him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Phoenix
When I stepped onto the front porch, I wasn’t sure if I should knock or not. It was technically still my home, but it felt strange to walk right in since I hadn’t lived there in almost a year. Plus, Gram and Pop weren’t expecting me. Had they known I was back from deployment and coming home for a few weeks, they would have met me at the airport.
I knocked on the door as I pushed it open. “Anybody home?” I called out.
“Phoenix!!” Gram shrieked and came at me full speed ahead. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming home?” she asked as she cried against my shoulder. “Let me get a look at you. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No, Gram. I’m just fine. I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise. I have a few weeks of leave before I have to be back at the base.”
“Come on in the kitchen and let me make you something to eat. Oh, I need to call Pop and tell him your home,” she rambled as she made her way to the kitchen. “He had to run some papers into town, but he should be on his way back by now.”
When she finally took a breath, I asked, “Gram, where’s Annabelle?” I hadn’t been able to talk to her since the day I left and I was anxious to see her or at least hear her voice. When I left, she didn’t have a phone and refused to let me buy her one. Instead, we’d planned on me calling the store to chat with her and Gram when they were both working. However, every time I called, Annabelle was either not working or had just stepped out.
Gram turned around to face me and the look on her face had my blood turning to ice. She slowly approached the table and sat down beside me, grabbing my hand with hers. “Sweetheart,” she said and her voice cracked. “We don’t know where she is. We tried to—”
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know where she is?” I roared, jumping to my feet and knocking the kitchen chair over.
Gram’s sniffles turned into sobs. The front door flew open and there was Pop. “Phoenix Alexander Black, sit your ass down and apologize to your Gram. You know better than to take that tone with her!”
“Gram, I-I’m sorry. I just...I don’t understand. Where is she?” I asked, desperate for any morsel of information.
“Phoenix,” Pop said, taking a seat beside Gram. “We don’t know where she is. After you left, everything was fine for a few weeks. Then, one day she didn’t show up for work at the shop. We knew she didn’t have a phone, so I rode out to her house to check on her. No one came to the door and it looked like no one was home. Macy showed up at the shop that afternoon to take Annabelle home from work and was equally concerned when we told her what was going on. She promised to call if she heard from Annabelle and we promised to do the same. I went back to the house for the next two days with no luck. I did get the guys at the police station to let me file a missing person's report, though there wasn’t much they could do other than monitor the property for activity. Since her parents were gone, too, it appeared like the family moved. I even checked with the post office to see if they left a forwarding address. I wanted answers and I knew you would, too, so, after I left the police station, I called a friend of mine who’s a private investigator and he’s been looking for her and her family ever since.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, barely managing to contain my anger. It wasn’t Pop’s fault, or Gram’s, but I was furious and I was close to taking it out on them.
“Because we love you. Think about it, Phoenix. If we told you Annabelle had disappeared while you were overseas, it would have been hell on you to know you were stuck over there and couldn’t do a thing about it. You would have likely gotten yourself killed or court-martialed. I made the decision to keep it from you for your own good and I’m not sorry for it.” He paused for a moment and softened his tone, “And a part of me thought we would find her and have her here with us by the time you got back. I’m so sorry, my boy.”
I nodded in acknowledgment, keeping my eyes on my clasped hands in my lap. Slowly taking in a deep breath, I rose to my feet. “I’m going to head out for a bit. I need some time to myself.”
