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“Emilia, go and sit on the cot. Use the blanket to get warm.” She pointed to the one along the left wall and I hobbled over without complaint. Kicking off my heels, I sank down awkwardly onto the cot, then shuffled until I was sitting up on it with my back to the wall.
Pulling the blanket around me, I held it close, letting the heaviness of it surround me and warm me up. Janet looked at Helena. “Go and get some water from the fridge.”
“You go and get it.”
“Helena!” Anger flashed in Janet’s eyes and she looked dangerously close to losing her shit. I didn’t want to see what would happen if she did, so I prayed Helena would move. “Do what you’re told right now or you won’t get a penny. I won’t hesitate to leave you behind, girl. See how well you cope facing the music on your own.”
My half-sister stood and flounced out of the room without a word. When she opened the door, she held up her phone and turned the light on to illuminate a pathway to the kitchen. When she returned, she had three bottles of water tucked underneath one arm.
“Here.” She dumped the bottles on the table and one promptly rolled off it.
Janet sighed and leaned over to pick it up before placing it on the table with the others. She selected a different bottle and came over to me with it in hand. “Here you go, baby girl. You need to keep hydrated.”
I took the bottle from her, the cold stinging my grazed palm. As much as I wanted to gulp the entire thing down, I didn’t want to have to use the restroom again any time soon, so I uncapped it and sipped the soothing liquid inside. My throat and lips were dry, and the water was refreshing.
I was starting to feel a little warmer now that I was wrapped in a blanket, but what I really wanted was a long, hot shower. Preferably with Jase in it.
That image flashed into my mind and I found it strangely comforting. I could almost feel his lips on mine, his hands running over my bare skin. The very idea warmed me up more than the blanket ever could, and as soon as possible I was going to have that shower with my fiancé and enjoy every fucking second of it.
But for now, I had to concentrate on staying awake…and staying alive.
The tension between my mother and Helena hung heavily in the air, but I didn’t want to get involved. Helena had made it obvious she had a temper which could be triggered at the drop of a hat, and I didn’t trust that she wouldn’t lash out at me again.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Her tone was whiny. “Just sit here all night? How long is it going to take Jason to get the money?”
“You’re going to have to be patient, Helena. He can’t just pull such a large sum out of nowhere. He needs twenty-four hours to gather it and make the other arrangements.”
Other arrangements? Oh God. What else had they demanded he give them? What if he couldn’t do whatever it was, or get all the money they’d asked for? How much did they want?
Helena’s face paled. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re stuck here with this bitch for a whole day?”
Before I could register what was happening, Janet had whipped out a gun from behind her back and jammed it underneath Helena’s chin, pushing her head back. “Would you prefer to stop breathing?”
Fear tore through me at the scene unfolding before my eyes. They were both fucking crazy. I was stuck in a tiny room in the cold and dark with these women, and I had no doubt either of them would turn on me in a heartbeat if I gave them cause to do so.
I could see the fleeting look of horror in Helena’s face, but then she did something I had not expected: she began to laugh. “Get the fucking gun away from me, you crazy old bitch.” She shoved the barrel away from her face and pointed it in my direction. “She’s the one you’re going to shoot, not me.”
Janet eventually put the gun away. “Don’t push me too far, young lady. You’ll regret it.” She pulled out her cell and checked it.
“What time is it?” Helena sounded bored.
“Almost midnight.”
Midnight. I’d met with Helena at Meteor just before five, so I’d been gone for about seven hours. It felt like seven days.
Janet went over to her other daughter and patted her head as though she were an obedient dog. “Why don’t you lie down and get some rest? I’ll wake you if anything exciting happens.”
Helena threw me a baleful look. “I’m okay for now. Maybe you should check in with Jason and see what progress he’s made. The sooner we get the money, the sooner we can get the fuck out of here. The longer we stay, the more chance there is that he might find us.”
“He’s too busy trying to organize everything we asked for to be looking for us, Helena. He won’t chance going to the authorities, not after I told him I’d kill Emilia if he did.”
The smile on Helena’s face as she looked over at me was vicious. “He won’t risk that.”
“No. He seems to really love her.”
“Fuck knows why.” Helena pouted. “She’s nothing special. Plain to look at. Doesn’t seem particularly smart. Certainly didn’t have the brains to work out who I was or what I was doing. Can’t imagine she’d be able to satisfy him in bed.” She made a show of licking her lips. “Not like I could.”
The idea of Helena touching Jase intimately made me cringe, and I had to fight not to show my disgust physically. I had been beating myself up for not realizing who she was from the beginning, and it made me sick to think we’d allowed her access to certain parts of our business.
