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Lukus pressed his already heavy foot down harder on the gas pedal, running traffic lights and stop signs. The building was in sight when he heard a now out-of-breath Aiden reaching the top of the seven flights of stairs.
Silence hung in the air. Lukus's anticipation turned to dread with two words from the cop at the other end of the line.
"Holy fuck."
The call dropped. And so did Lukus's stomach.
* * *
Tiffany
Tiffany woke in a panic, bile rising in her throat as fear gripped hard. It took her a few long seconds in her disoriented state to remember why.
Jake Davenport shot Markus and Derek and now he's going to rape Bri and me.
It took a moment for her to get her bearings. It hurt to move her head. She slowly scanned the space, realizing she was lying on the floor of a small foyer, on a level of the building new to her. A long, dark hallway stretched out in opposite directions off the vestibule. If she didn't know better, she'd swear they were in a hotel. Only the placard identifying the floor as 'The Punishment Playrooms' told her they were still in Lukus's building.
Deep down she wanted to curl up in a ball and sob, lie there, and wait to die. But as she listened to Jake Davenport tormenting her best friend with promises that her husband had just died at his hand, something stronger took root in Tiffany's heart. It wasn't fear or grief. It was sheer, unadulterated fury. How dare this asshole come into Lukus's home—herhome—and hurt the people she loved?
Anger spurred Tiff onto her knees. She had to wait to catch her balance before pushing to her feet. She launched herself onto Jake's back, wrapping her legs around his waist from behind, attempting to strangle him as she locked her arm around his neck, pulling him away from Brianna.
She knew within seconds that he was too strong, but she had succeeded at one thing; he'd released Brianna. Tiffany prayed her best friend would scramble away to go get help, but Bri crumpled to the floor like a rag doll, sobbing.
The struggle lasted only seconds, but when Jake couldn't extricate himself from Tiffany's determined grip, he took large steps backwards, slamming her against the wall of the long hallway. The contact pressed the cell phone in her back pocket against her ass. She was praying it wasn't broken when the next blow knocked the wind out of her. She cracked her head against the wall again. The spots returned to her vision as she loosened her grip. Jake stepped forward, letting her collapse to the floor.
All she'd managed to do was to piss their captor off even more, but she didn't regret it. If they had a hope or a prayer of making it out of this alive, she needed to slow things down. Waste time. Keep them in the building as long as possible.
Jake stepped closer, leaning down to grab her long hair and yanking up, hard, pulling Tiff to her feet while simultaneously tearing chunks of blonde hair from her scalp.
When she was vertical, he gripped her by the upper arms, shaking her as he lectured her. "If I were you, I'd get with the program here, Tiffany. I'm taking notes, and believe me, you aren't going to like the dungeon I built for my little pain slut over there. Unlike Brianna, you're going to find the dozens of tortures I have planned for you more than you can bear. You're gonna end up wishing you'd died like Markus."
Brianna must have been semi-conscious because her forlorn wails of grief were renewed at his words.
Jake dislodged his pistol from his waistband, pointing it directly at Tiffany's throbbing forehead. "Now, I suggest you get over there, and get Brianna on her feet and moving."
She met his gaze with a steely resolve. "Lukus will come for us and when he does, you're going to die."
Jake's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Oh, I have no doubt Mitchell will try to find you, but I'm prepared to win our little game of hide-and-go-seek. Now move."
He stepped aside and shoved her towards Brianna. "Help her up and get moving to the right. We're going to the last door at the end of the hall."
Tiff walked as slowly as she could and took her sweet time crouching down to reach out to Brianna. She stroked the wet hair away from her friend's face to see that the skin around her right eye was beginning to bruise, having been struck by their captor. "He's going to be okay. You have to believe that."
Tiff barely caught her whisper. "Do you really think so?" Hope flickered in Bri's broken-hearted, brown eyes.
She wasn't going to dampen the first spark of hope she'd seen from Brianna since Jake had arrived. "I truly think so."
Brianna visibly released some of her tension at her best friend's words. Tiffany prayed she'd spoken the truth even as the cold steel of Jake's weapon connected with the skin at the back of her neck. One squeeze of his trigger and she'd be paralyzed for life at best—and dead, at worst. She forced herself to cooperate. "Come on. Let me help you up."
Once the women were on their feet, Jake shoved them to get them moving. They may have been going forward, but it was at a snail's pace, as Bri didn't move her feet, forcing Tiff to almost drag her. "I know you can move faster than that, Tiffany. Pick up the pace." Jake Davenport's voice simmered with evil behind her.
Tiffany held Brianna up as the women moved the way Jake wanted them to go. Her best friend was almost comatose in her fear and grief over Markus. As a result, Tiffany knew it was going to be up to her if they were going to get out of this alive.
She talked softly to Brianna in spite of the barrel of the gun now pressing into her lower back. "Come on, Bri. Can you walk?"
It was as if she'd never spoken. Tears streaked down Brianna's pale face. She was in shock. Unfortunately, Davenport didn't give a shit. When Brianna slumped to the floor and out of Tiff's grasp, he lost all patience, stepping around them, stuffing his gun into the waistband of his wrinkled dress slacks before leaning down to yank his captive up, throwing her over his shoulder as if she were a bag of flour.
He'd let go and Tiffany took advantage, edging backwards and running back the few feet to the elevator. She frantically pressed both the 'up' and 'down' buttons, determined to get away to bring help for Brianna—yet she never got the chance. Jake arrived at her side, slamming her forward against the cold metal of the lift door.
