“Yeah?”
“Where can I put this sick fuck?”
“There’s a supply closet on the right just outside of the room you’re in. Stuff him in there. So far, your path is clear, so go to the security room. I’ll explain when you get there.”
Hayden and I share a look of confusion. What could possibly be so important in there that we need to hold off on rescuing Kelsey to see?
We stashed his unconscious body in the closet and made it to the security room without issue.
“Alright, what now?” Hayden asks for me.
“I have some footage pulled up on the screens. You need to see this before you get to Kelsey. I have our medic team on the way. She’s going to require extensive care and tests.”
My heart sinks, and anger has blood rushing in my ears. My finger hovers over the mouse, hesitant to click play. I love causing pain to my enemies, but pain inflicted on what’s mine strikes a different nerve. Honestly, the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she would be mine. I just have to make her see that for herself after I get her back. I’ve thought about her nonstop since the first time we ever spoke, and when she wrote her number on my wrist in her sloppy, drunken handwriting, my heart was doing backflips in my chest.
I finally built the courage to hit play. We’re taken back to hours before when they first brought Kelsey here. They pull up in the Mercedes we searched for. There are two men, maybe in their late twenties or early thirties. I watch as the passenger exits, and he smiles at Kelsey, but the smile is far from friendly. After Kelsey is pulled out, sheimmediately drops him to the ground with a kick to his dick and bolts for the woods.
“That’s our fucking girl!!” Hayden exclaims, and a little bit of hope forms in my heart. Two questions are running through my head right now. One, did she escape? And two, if she did, where the hell could she be?
A group of men runs after her, and one of them fires a gun. I’ve never felt panic the way I’m feeling it right now. This utterly helpless feeling. We’re too fucking late, she’s probably dead somewhere, and I will never be able to live with myself.
The video cuts to another clip where Kelsey is draped over a man’s shoulder. Blood steadily drips from her face, but her matted brown hair covers it so I can’t see where it’s coming from. She’s covered in dirt and bruises, with sticks and leaves poking out of her hair. My heart cracks. She’s so tiny and lifeless. I look at Hayden, who looks equally as devastated.
The next clip begins. I’m speechless as I watch the girl of my dreams—very much alive—restrained to the hospital bed in the medical room.
“Hello, dear. I’m Lilith,” that voice.Thatspecific voice elicits goosebumps to rise across my arms and neck. I’ve heard that voice once before, and a memory comes whooshing back to me.
“Hello, Shadow.” Greets the voice from the other end of the phone. I gulp as realization strikes me. The emails I’ve received for weeks were from her. Telling me to join her and all will be rainbows and unicorns. I never fell for the scheme. I never will.This is my OP, and I’ll be damned if I hand it all over for “freedom” as she’s called it. Threatening to turn me in to the FEDS if I don’t comply.
Despite my lack of acknowledgment, she continues. “Have you made your decision yet?”
I hang up the phone because she’ll never get what she wants from me, and I’d love to see her try to take it.
Moments later, I received another email titled, “This is the bed you’ve made, now lie in it.” A shudder runs through me as I click block and delete. That was such a weird thing to say.
That was the day I paid off the mayor to cover our tracks and prevent any legal issues from arising. That was also four years ago, so I had forgotten all about it and tied it up to nothing more than a failed attempt at taking my OP.
Based on Kelsey’s body language, I can tell she knows Lilith. Kelsey’s scared and obviously trembling. Then Lilith speaks again, confirming what I was thinking. But it doesn’t make any sense. How would they know each other? That clip ends and cuts to that bastard doctor injecting Kelsey with something he calls his special serum to help intakes adjust. White-hot rage pulses through my veins. My teeth are clenched painfully tight, and I feel my jaw pop. The end of the clip shows where they took her, but minutes before, a masked man entered the dark room. I shove his appearance to memory for future use and stand abruptly.
“We need to find Stub and this man who went into her room,” I say, rushing towards the door.
“The last footage’s timestamp was in the past hour, so hopefully we’ve made it in time.”
He doesn’t have to say what we’re hoping hasn’t happened yet. We’ve seen enough to know what happens in places like this.
A throat clears in my ear, “The man that was in the room with Kelsey goes by Rocky.”
“What do you mean bywas, T?” I ask with a snarl. He was supposed to be on top of this shit.
“He’s headed your way. I suggest keeping him for interrogation, too.”
“Gee, thanks for the notice.” I snark. I can basically hear his eyes rolling. I know he’s doing a lot right now, and I should be more appreciative, but this is my and Hayden’s lives on the line, and without us, Kelsey may never be rescued. The last thing we need is somebody sneaking up on us and potentially having the upper hand.
Stepping back out into the hall, we stand side by side with our arms relaxed in front of us. The alarms continue to blare and have become nothing more than background noise at this point. One hand holding our guns and the other rests on our wrists. Ready to fire if need be. I would prefer not to make the fucker bleed very much, considering I need all the information he has and will need to save that bloodshed for future torture.
The door hinges groan as the once-masked man rushes through it as if in a hurry.
“Got somewhere to be?” I ask in my signature asshole voice.
