AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This isn’t the time to ask me any questions,” Russo said flatly. “I’m in charge here. It’s my right, you know? After all this time searching for you. We're getting out of here so I can talk to you without that idiot watching our every move."
"I don't want to go with you."
He hauled off and hit me, hard enough that I landed on the ground. I heard Caspian shouting. When I looked in his direction, I saw him running toward us. “No, Caspian, stay away,” I said weakly.
Too late. Russo raised his pistol and shot Caspian in the chest.
Caspian jerked and collapsed to the ground. Blood seeped through his flannel shirt. I screamed and lurched to my feet, stumbling over rocks to get to him. He lay too still. Blood seeped onto the gray rock. But Russo was too fast for me. He grabbed me in a choke hold and pulled me away from the river. Away from Caspian.
Then, everything went black.
I woke sometime laterto darkness. For a moment, I had no idea where I was. Then I remembered. The needle. It had rendered me useless and robbed me of any memory as to how I got here. I felt around me. I was on a cot or twin bed with a hard, narrow mattress. Breathing in gasps, I strained to see in the dark. There might be another bed across from me. A sliver of light from one wall told me it was probably a window. I threw back the blanket and put my feet onto the floor. A rough texture met my toes. No rug or carpet, but not tile either. Possibly an unfinished wood floor. I reached down to feel with my fingertips and detected grooves and bumps. The walls seemed made of the same material. Like a crude coffin.
My body hurt as if I’d been tossed about. Had that happened when he brought me here unconscious? Or had he hurt me while I was passed out? I was no longer dressed in the dress I’d been wearing but instead wore bulky sweatpants and an oversize T-shirt. He’d undressed me and put me in different clothes? He’d seen me naked.
Nausea churned my stomach. I was afraid I might be sick.
Keep it together.
Caspian. Was he dead? Would anyone find him if he was hurt but unable to walk?
I inched my way over to the window, and I lifted one corner just slightly to see that night had fallen while I was in my drug-induced sleep. How long had I been out?
Before I could ponder that or anything else further, the door to the room burst open and Russo appeared, holding a flashlight. He turned it off and flipped on a light switch, temporarily blinding me.
“You’re awake,” Russo said. “Are you hungry?”
I shook my head, taking him in. Instead of the black clothes he’d been in earlier, he now wore a pair of denim overalls. The same receding hairline, gray eyes, and large mole on his left cheek I remembered from the couple times I’d gotten a good look at him back in Seattle.
“You might be later, once I show you around,” Russo said. “You’ll need to keep your strength up.”
For what?Deep breaths. Stay calm.“Where are my clothes?” I asked, looking around the small room. The walls were made of uneven boards, as was the floor. A fishing cabin maybe? Not a place anyone lived permanently, I wouldn’t think. At least not originally. Russo must be living here. Hiding out?
“I hung your clothes up for you in the closet. But the nights are chilly at this elevation, and I wanted you to stay warm.”
Elevation. That meant we were in the mountains. “What day is it? How long have I been here?”
“It’s the same day. You slept a good eight hours though. Glory be, it was hard to get you out of the van. You’re like carrying a dead body. I need to get in better shape if I’m going to keep up with you.”
Keep up with me? Where were we going?
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“Just your love. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. For us to be a family.”
My fingers tingled with fear.Your love.What was he planning on doing to me? “What are you talking about—family?”
“This is going to come as a shock, so forgive me for being so blunt. I’m your brother. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time, but you refused to let me explain myself. I would never hurt you.”
My brother? Was it true? My father could certainly have had other children. Maybe he’d abandoned Russo the same way he had me.
“How do you know that?” I asked. Even if he was mistaken or lying, it would serve me better to act as if he was right.
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Russo said. “Heather, our sister, is here too, and I’d rather not explain the whole thing twice.”
“Heather?” A sister and a brother. I’d always wondered if my biological father had had more children. Now I knew. “Are you in on this together?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by together?”
