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The line went dead.
With that, I set off back down to the bar. With Harleigh gone, they needed help down there. It seemed none of them realized just how much she did to keep the place running. It was all hands on deck to ensure it didn’t fall apart while she was away. All hell would break loose when she came back if things weren’t as they should be.
Brax was sitting at the bar in his usual seat. We tried and failed to get him to stay clear of here. She didn’t want him involved, but who could really blame him for wanting to be here? Hunter was standing on the other side of the bar, trying to act like they weren’t commiserating together. Both of them lifted their beers to their mouths at the exact same time.
When they glanced my way, the pain of her absence was clearly written on their faces. So I did the only thing I could do, I joined them. Something told me we’d be up to the same thing as last night: drinking entirely too much for our own good.
All of us wanted to be close by when we got the call that she was coming back.
We all hoped it would come soon.
ChapterSix
HARLEIGH
For three days straight,the same dank and dark basement was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.
Or maybe it was a cellar.
I honestly had no idea.
Something had changed, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I glanced around and realized, for the first time in three days I was alone. It didn’t surprise me they had removed everyone from this dungeon while I slept. It was hard not to imagine the cellar at Spring Hills, where we found the boys being held by Cora the Whora. No matter how modern that place looked, it was the same prison I was currently sitting in.
I thought back to a couple of days ago, when I first stirred in this very spot.
When I opened my eyes, the only thing I was sure of, was that I wasn’t alone. No matter how silent they were trying to be, I could hear their breathing over the deafening quiet. As I glanced around at my surroundings, the first thing I spotted was multiple mattresses strewn around on the floor.
Atop them were several other women.
Even with just one lightbulb dangling in the centre of the room, it was obvious they were in awful shape. Their bodies were dirty, barely clothed, and they were in various stages of malnutrition. It didn’t take a genius to realize what type of situation I had found myself in. I had only been gone for maybe a week now, and I doubted I looked any better. But I couldn’t think about that now.
My captors barely spoke to me.
After multiple attempts to get one of them to converse with me, I gave up. It was obvious I wasn’t going to get anywhere with them, and I didn’t want to bring any undue attention to us by making noise. I wished they would tell me something. I had no idea where they were keeping me, but it had to be some distance away from home based on the time it took for them to get me here.
The first couple of days went by in a blur.
Even when I was unconscious, there was a cloth bag over my head. The whole ride over here, they never removed it. Since it wasn’t still over my head, they must have removed it when they brought me down here.
It took everything in me not to think about what had been happening to me while I was out. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, or even what day it was.
One thing that concerned me was there was no way to tell what cocktail of drugs they’d shot into my veins to ensure I stayed under. All I knew was they didn’t seem to give it to me anymore. Two times per day, someone with a balaclava would bring us bread and some sort of watered-down stew to eat. They could have hidden the drugs in there, but I didn’t feel any different.
With a shaky breath, I dug my head back into the cold, concrete wall of my prison, my stomach clenching. I chalked it up to the shitty diet of stale bread and broth, but I know what it really is—a feeling I can't remember ever feeling since I couldn’t wake my mom up from her nap.
That moment when I realized nothing would ever be the same again. ’Cause no matter how many times I patted her shoulder and called her name, she was never going to open her eyes again.
ChapterSeven
BRAX
I hadn't seenher in seven days.
It felt like an eternity.
The woman whose presence had so swiftly become the only thing that mattered to me. I never expected the wild hellcat I encountered during my undercover mission to leave such a lasting mark on my soul.
The moment we confirmed she was actually missing, everything went to shit. The thought of what she had gone through in the last week while we searched for her made me shudder. From the worry written on everyone’s faces to the guilt each one of us felt for not paying more attention. We should have predicted that she would find a way to slip away and investigate by herself.
