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I’m naked. And hanging by my arms.
Diego.
The name whispers in my head. Despite Benjamin being the one who held the gun on me, it’s Diego who has me. I know this with one-hundred percent certainty. The question is, why would Benjamin help him?
A more pressing question is, what happened to Remi and Elijah?
Oh, God, please let them be okay.
The last I saw of them, Remi was trying to talk to Benjamin right before he hit her with the butt of his gun. Thankfully, he was prepared to catch Elijah before the baby hit the floor when she passed out. Anger and fear mingled together as he held that baby in his arms to calm him down and kiss his forehead, like he cared for him. He then pointed the gun at me and told me to tie her up with the rope he threw at me. I did as he commanded, but did a shit job at it, hoping she would get loose as soon as she woke up. After I was done, he set Elijah down beside his mother, whispered an apology, and then turned to me. The hit to the side of my head was fast, and it only took seconds for my vision to blur and darkness to consume me.
My shoulders and neck scream in protest, but I manage to lift my head. It takes me a moment for my eyes to focus. I’m in a house. A nice-looking house with pictures on the walls, decorative pillows on the couch, DVDs and CDs on a shelf beside a flat screen TV. Everything looks so normal, warm and inviting. It’s all very deceptive.
“Lookie who’s finally decided to join us.”
The familiar voice sends chills down my spine. I glance over to where it came from and see Diego sitting in a chair, one leg crossed over the other, a glass filled with amber liquid in one hand and the other stroking a woman’s head. She stares at me with wide scared eyes as she clutches a little girl to her chest. The woman only has on a pair of panties and bra and her face sports several bruises. The little girl has on a long sleep shirt with matching sleep pants. She has a scratch beside her eye and one on her chin, but otherwise she’s got no other visible wounds that I can see. I just pray there’re not any that are hidden.
Pain slams into my chest at the fear on the girl’s face. Her chest heaves and she hiccoughs as she cri
es.
From the pictures on the wall of Benjamin, this girl, and woman, they have to be Benjamin’s daughter and her mother. Is that why he helped Diego? To protect them?
“Where’s Remi and Elijah?” I croak.
He flashes his teeth. “The bitch and brat are still at the restaurant as far as I know.”
My eyes flicker back at the woman and child. “Let them go, Diego. You have me now. There’s no reason to keep them.”
With his eyes still locked on me, he fists the woman’s hair and yanks her head back. She winces but doesn’t cry out.
“I’m still undecided if I want to let them go. I guess it really depends on how cooperative you are.”
I lick my dry lips. “I have the chip. Let them go, and I’ll give it to you.”
His laugh is evil and filled with menace. “After weeks of denying you had it, why would I believe you have it now? How do I know this isn’t just a ploy to get me to let them go?”
“Because I’ve had it this whole time, I just didn’t know I had it. Someone hid it in my birth control pack.”
He lifts his glass to his lips, takes a sip, and sets it down before getting up from his chair. The little girl whimpers and the woman shoves her face against her chest, shielding her eyes from whatever Diego has planned.
“Now who would be stupid enough to do that?”
“I don’t know.” It has to be one of his staff. They were the only ones who had access to my purse that night.
“Hmm…. You know, that’s pretty fucking funny,” Diego remarks, coming my way. “All this time you had the chip.” He puts a finger on the center of my stomach and trails it down to my public bone. My arms jerk in their bindings when I try to lean away from his touch. My feet are barely on the floor, so I don’t get far. “All this time you could have stopped your dog from being slaughtered. You could have stopped your friend from being sliced up by my knife. This poor woman and her child would be safely nestled in their cozy house painting each other’s nails or some shit. And Benjamin….” He trails off and laughs. “The unlucky bastard on the floor behind you would still be alive.”
“I hate you,” I choke out on a sob. “I hate you so much. I hope whatever JW does to you is drawn out painfully slow.”
He tsks. “Now, now. Your little sheriff boyfriend won’t be doing any such thing.”
He produces a knife. One that I’ve seen before. It’s the same one that used to sit on Diego’s dresser. It’s long and looks just as deadly as it actually is. I asked him about it once and he said he likes to hunt sometimes and he uses it to gut his kills. My stomach swirls with nausea when I realize his prey wasn’t animals like I assumed, but people. Women in particular.
“He’ll come after you and he won’t stop until he finds you.”
I try to put on a brave face, to not let him see the fear coursing through me. But when he places the tip of the blade at one of my nipples, I can’t help the terror-filled whimper that leaves my throat.
Hurry, JW, my mind screams.
