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“We can?”
“Best friends.”
“But… but you’re a grown-up.”
“I’m not that much older than you. Besides, being friends with a grown-up would be kind of cool, right? We can do lots of fun things. Like eat ice cream for breakfast and play video games all day. That sounds cool, doesn’t it, Aleks?”
“Can… can I go home and we can still be friends?”
“No. Remember what I told you about your parents?”
“But… but maybe Dante can take care of me. He can talk to Mama and Papa…”
“Dante? Is that your brother?”
“Yes, he watches out for me and he—”
“He knows you’re here, Aleks. Who do you think told us about your Mama and Papa being mad at you and not wanting you anymore?”
“No… no, he… he wouldn’t do that. He… he loves me.”
“Well, maybe he does. How about you come stay with me for a while and if he wants to come see you, he will?”
“You’ll tell him where I am?”
“I will, I promise. But if you want me to do something for you, you have to do something for me.”
“Wh… what?”
“You just have to behave, Aleks. That’s all. Just do what I tell you. And you can stay with me until Dante can convince your Mama and Papa to give you another chance.”
“Um…”
“You trust your brother, right? Then he should be able to come get you real soon. But my house is much nicer than this place. You can have your own room and watch TV and eat whatever you want. As long as you behave.”
“Okay… but I can go when Dante comes?”
“Of course. But until then, we’ll be the best of special friends, how does that sound?”
“Okay.”
“My name’s Brian, Aleks. Let’s go home, okay?”
“No… no!”
“Aleks, wake up, you’re dreaming!”
“No, I don’t want to go with you!”
“Aleks, damn it, wake up!”
I jerked awake at the voice that was too deep and desperate to be Brian’s. Brian never got angry. He punished, he manipulated, he threatened, but he never raised his voice to do it. There was a slight pressure on my upper arms as I tried to get my eyes to open, but between the pounding in my head and chest and the way my eyes felt stuck together because they were dry, I couldn’t escape that moment when I’d naïvely put my hand in Brian’s and let him lead me from the dark, empty room with just the one mattress on the floor. I began to cry because I couldn’t even tell my young self to run.
Just run.
I’d never run.
I’d never even tried.
“Just behave, Aleks, and your brother will come soon.”
“And you’ll tell him I was good?”
“I’ll tell him you were the best.”
Meu melhor…
My best…
“Dante,” I whispered as I forced my eyes open. “Meu melhor,” I gasped as I sat up.
I waited for him to play the game with me. The first time I’d called him my best, he’d started making up ridiculous guesses to finish the statement and it had become our thing. Even now, we still did it and it was how I knew I was okay… that everything was finally okay.
But it wasn’t Dante’s gentle expression that met mine when I managed to focus. And it wasn’t his big hands on my upper arms.
“Vaughn,” I breathed in relief.
Until I remembered I couldn’t feel relieved around this man.
Not anymore.
I scrambled back from him and he immediately released me. My back slammed into something behind me and I realized it was a headboard.
Jesus, I was in bed with him.
I lurched away from him and would have fallen out of the bed if he hadn’t chosen that moment to latch onto my arm again. “Don’t!” I screamed and he instantly released me. I’d regained enough of my balance so that this time I didn’t fall, but I quickly got out of the bed and backed up until I was lodged into the nearest corner. I began jerking my eyes around the room to look for Father when my brain caught up to my reality.
Father was dead.
I’d seen his body for myself. I’d felt his warm blood on my skin. I’d stared into his open, empty eyes. Those eyes haunted my nightmares, just like Vaughn’s eyes dominated my dreams.
Father was dead. I knew that.
Vaughn was here.
He’d kidnapped me.
I knew that too.
But that was all I knew.
I looked down at my hands and saw they were no longer bound. Not like they’d been in the car.
I fought to remember the events after he’d told me he wasn’t taking me home, but there were only bits and pieces.
“Where are we?” I managed to get out, despite my ragged breaths. The room was dim, but not dark. It had old-looking wallpaper and there were just a few simple furnishings including a bed and dresser with a vanity mirror on it. There were two doors. One that was closed, either for a closet or a bathroom. And one that led out of the room. It was currently open and I wondered if I could make my escape through it.
