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He shakes his head. “I just turned my phone on after dinner. She’s been calling me but didn’t want to bombard me with messages.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I ask. “She’s missing?”
“Missing.”
Without another word, both Coleman and my dad stand. “We must find her, then,” my dad states.
I know this is just because he doesn’t want her to find out about him and go to the police. But I’m still a bit taken aback that he would care to help. He usually lets us handle the dirty work these days and just sits back.
“We must,” I agree. “Now.”
Without another word, the four of us rush out of the house. Mom is upstairs in her bath with her book, and I watch as Dad sends her a text. I climb into Coleman’s SUV, knowing I’m not in a state to drive. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea.
Minutes later, we are at my building. As we rush up to the penthouse, for the first time in my life, I wish I didn’t live on the top floor.
When I arrive at the hall, I see the back of Allison’s blonde hair, and when she spins around, the look of absolute worry, stress, and pain that is etched across her face tells me this is really fucking serious.
My entire body deflates.
My heart sinks, and my spine straightens.
Something has happened to my woman.
Someone dies tonight.
ChapterThirty-Seven
PARKER
Minutes,hours, seconds, I’m not sure how quickly or slowly time passes, but I stare at the door, waiting for Ray to open it and take me back out into the living room. Take me back out to those men and to my fate.
My stomach lurches, thinking about the pain that will no doubt fill both my mind and body. If I had anything to throw up, I would probably do that right about now. But I haven’t eaten since yesterday sometime, at least I think it was yesterday. I’m not quite sure at this point how long I’ve been here.
I close my eyes but don’t fall asleep, but I do rest. It’s not like I can do anything else. I must doze off because I’m startled by the sound of the door opening. The initial excitement of who it could be disappears after realization sets in of where I am and what’s going on. I had a moment of forgetfulness, and it was beautiful.
“He hasn’t responded to me,” Ray announces. “I guess he doesn’t give a shit.” He shrugs a shoulder as if it’s all the same to him. “Maybe he’ll care once he sees the video. Maybe he won’t, but I’ll feel better no matter what.”
I take a moment to really take him in. Fear aside, the man isn’t what I would consider manly. He’s thin, a little shorter than Wells, and seems almost frail. If I saw him walking down the street, I wouldn’t even look twice.
He looks like he works behind a desk, like he’s worked there his whole life. I don’t think he goes to the gym, and if I had to guess, his diet doesn’t include much protein. I shouldn’t judge him, except in this moment, I feel like judging him is appropriate since he’s about to torture and likely murder me.
Ray takes a step into the room, then another. I’ve tried to think of several different scenarios of how I could try to get out of this, but none of them play out with me coming out the winner in my mind, so I decide against them. I should just take whatever fate I’m handed and shut up about it.
It’s not like I’ve done anything exceptional in my life to warrant being saved. When Ray is directly in front of me, I brace myself to feel his fingers in my hair, but they don’t come. Instead, he grunts, and then I hear him let out a laugh.
Lifting my gaze to him, my eyes widen when I see that he has his phone to his ear. “So you got my message?” he asks. “Yes. I’m looking at her. She’s breathing for now. Untouched as well,” he states.
I want to scream that isn’t exactly true. He’s a fucking liar. My scalp has never hurt so badly in my life, and my cheek is still pulsing from the back of his hand. His eyes sparkle as they watch me.
Either he can tell the defiance is building inside of me, or he’s excited about whatever it is that Wells is saying on the other end of the line. I’m not quite sure. I’m going with he’s excited about what is going to happen next because, deep down, this asshole is sadistic as shit.
“You better hurry and find her. I have plans already set into motion.”
I doubt that Wells can respond because Ray ends the call seconds after he finishes speaking. His sparkly eyes search mine for just a moment before he lets out a chuckle of laughter, then he crouches down in front of me.
“Let’s get you cleaned up. They want a pretty package to destroy.”
My heart squeezes at the same time my stomach drops. I force myself to stand, my knees trembling, threatening to buckle as I stare straight ahead. It takes everything I have to follow this man into another room and then into a bathroom.
