by Lila Rose
When I didn’t reply, he sent another. I can get you out.
Panic seized me. No! I quickly replied.
Ryan: Why the fuck not?
He wouldn’t understand. He didn’t know, and all I wanted to do was hide the phone. My fingers flew over the letters. I just can’t. Not yet.
My ears pricked up at the sound of an engine revving hard out the front.
Gloria was home.
I gripped my phone. Go inside. Don’t worry about me. I tried.
Ryan: Emmie. I can’t do that.
Gloria must have slammed her door hard enough for it to ring through the neighbourhood. She couldn’t catch me with my phone.
Emmie: Please, please go inside. I have to hide my phone. Don’t text. PLEASE, I begged, before running across the room and slipping the phone away. I didn’t know if Ryan would do as I asked, but I hoped. I really hoped.
Voices above rose. I quickly raced back to the bed and sat on it, curling my legs up to wrap my arms around my knees.
What would Lenny tell Gloria?
Was he suspicious at all?
Why did he go outside when Ryan was calling out?
Did I screw everything up?
My heart hammered hard in my chest. I didn’t know what to think, what to do; all I could do was wait. Why did I message a man who seemed to care?
I should have left it alone.
Why had Ryan lied about his name?
If Ryan saw me, did that mean Lenny also did?
Footsteps pounded on the floor above. I gripped my arms tightly, knowing I would probably bruise from it, but I couldn’t stop.
The door opened, someone slammed their feet on the stairs.
Gloria’s jean-clad legs came into view.
Shit, shit, shit.
Did she have a weapon on her? Would she consider killing Ryan? Was Lenny smart enough to actually suspect something?
Her hard gaze clashed with mine.
Jesus, what would I usually do when she came down? Did my expression give anything away? Was I actually looking normal?
“Did you speak with the neighbour?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What? No.” I shook my head.
Her lips thinned. She stormed forward. I raised my arms, batted at her hands, but she managed to grab my hair and neck, tugging me roughly from the bed. She shook me. I gripped at each of her wrists to try and stop the lack of air and scalding pain shooting over my scalp.
“Did you talk to the neighbour?” she demanded, spittle dripping from her mouth.
“No!” I choked.
She dropped her hold. When my body slumped to the floor, I dragged in ragged breaths. How could I make her believe me? I didn’t see an option. I would just try as I was and hope I wasn’t too hurt by the end of it.
“I’ll ask one more time. Did you talk to the neighbour?”
I shook my head.
“Answer me,” she snarled before her booted foot connected to my stomach.
“No!” I yelled, folding in on myself. “No, no, no,” I repeated again and again.
My hair was gripped once more, my head forced back so she could stare down at my tear-streaked face. “If I find out you have, I’m heading over to that bitch’s place and will make sure she pays for your lies.”
“I didn’t. I haven’t said anything. W-why are you asking me?”
Please, please believe me.
“Gloria,” Lenny called down the stairs. “A car just pulled up next door.”
“Better start praying nothing comes to bite us on the arse,” she threatened before throwing her hand out, still attached to my hair. I fell to my back from the force. She swiftly left the room.
Slowly, I sat up, wincing from the ache in my stomach. At least this time I didn’t think anything was broken. A door above opened and closed with force. Sounds of muffled voices touched my ears. Standing, I staggered over to the bed and climbed on. I moved my head to the side so my ear was closer to the opened window. Only it didn’t help to clear the voices up. They must have been all the way out the front.
Sighing, I shifted around and slid down to sit on the bed. I cringed. My hands went to my stomach to rest against it. A new bruise would appear later, or at least by the next day.
Still, it was worth it. Keeping Ryan safe would always be worth it.
I crossed my fingers and prayed Gloria didn’t come back in, knowing somehow I had lied.
If she did, I wasn’t sure she’d keep me around for me to inherit the money. Then again, I wasn’t sure Ryan would sit by and let me stay in here with them… but he had to. I had to make him see sense, that saving lives over mine was more important to me than anything.
Could I tell him everything?
Would he understand?
Harriet’s and her family’s lives were at stake, so he had to understand.
He had to.
Not only for Harriet, but for his life, his friends’. If Gloria found out anything, they would all be hunted. Unless Ryan got to her first….
Groaning, I hit my head against the wall behind me.
There I went again, giving myself hope that I could escape this hellhole sooner than I would be able to when I tried on my own.
It was because I believed Ryan, how he’d said he couldn’t leave me where I was. He seemed like a man who would do anything for someone in need, or was I just playing him up in my mind? Matching him to the stars I already had in my eyes for him?
My body jolted when a door above slammed. I waited for the dooming footsteps to come my way. When they didn’t, I sighed in relief. Whatever Ryan had said or whoever turned up at his place had somehow shown Gloria I wasn’t at fault.
How long would that last though?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WARDEN
M y phone stayed silent. Even when I pressed the button to light up the screen over and over, nothing new appeared. My gut felt shredded from the worry. I’d thought I’d heard someone yell not a few moments before, and I wanted to run over there, barge through the door, and demand to know what in the ever-loving fuck was going on.
But I didn’t.
I hated that I didn’t. I hated that Emmie begged for me not to call her name and to stop messaging, but I did it. For her. A woman I didn’t know. All because I was concerned for her.
I pressed in Violet’s number. “Talk,” she answered.
“You nearly here?”
“Yes.”
“Travis with you?”
“When a partner calls, says to get to his place and you’re not sure why, you think he’ll come with?”
He would. For his woman.
“You’ll have to pull over a block away. Tell Travis to make his way to the backyard on foot.”
She sucked in a breath. “What the fuck, Warden?”
“Look, somethin’s happenin’ next door. Need you to show on your own. Your name’s Emily. Mine’s Jackson, and you’re my girl, but we’ve had a fight.”
She gave me nothing but silence.
“Vi, whatever is goin’ on next door is bad. I got a read off the guy Lenny, and I didn’t fuckin’ like it at all. What I do know is that there’s a woman locked in a basement. At least, I think she is. I told her I could help, but she doesn’t want it.”
“We’re nearing. I’ll get Travis to come through on foot. He’s heard you and said if you try and make a move on me, he’ll rip your balls off.”
I snorted. He could try, but I had about ten pounds on the guy. I’d put up a big fight. Not that I wanted to make a move on Vi. Christ, she was like a sister.
“I’ll be sure to keep it clean. This is a just in case. Not even sure they’ll be watchin’.”
“Be there shortly,” she said, then hung up.
Sighing, I tapped my phone to my forehead before pocketing it and making my way to the front of the house. True to her word, Vi was there shortly. Her car came to a screeching stop out the front of my place. She got out and glared up at my house. I went
to the door and opened it.
“What you doin’ here, woman?” I called loudly.
“Call me woman again and I’ll leave,” Vi answered.
We both kept our eyes on each other even when we heard the door bang open next door. It was soon closed with a slam.
“Since I left voice messages not that long ago without an answer back, I thought you weren’t talkin’ to me, dumplin’.”
Vi’s eyes narrowed even more. They told me I’d pay for the dumplin’. “You sounded like a sorry arse on the phone. Guess I needed to see it in person.”
“Come inside, Emily,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You ready to grovel, Jackson?”
We heard a sound, like someone grunted after being hit. “Hey, man,” Lenny called, and from the way he was rubbing his rib standing on their front porch next to his woman, I knew he’d taken an elbow to the side. She wanted him to get our attention.
Well, it happened, and I wanted to see what they’d say.
“Hey,” I called back.
“This is my woman, Gloria.”
“Hi.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her hard eyes.
I gave her a chin lift, and when Violet got to my side, I curled an arm around her shoulders. “This is Emily.”
Violet waved. “Hi. Nice to meet someone around here.”
“Haven’t really seen you here before,” Gloria commented.
“That’s because I have a better place than Jackson’s.”
When I caught Lenny’s look of “is she serious,” I nodded.
“If she wasn’t good at givin’ head, she’d be long gone.” For that, I got a fist to the gut. I coughed and started laughing. I grabbed her wrist before she tried it again. “Come on, dingleberry, you know I’m messin’.”
Lenny let out a snort. “Dingleberry?”
I squished Vi to my side. “My woman loves the pet names. The more unique, the better.” Leaning towards them, I added on a pretend whisper, “But I only use Emmie when I know I’m in the doghouse.”
Christ, it was making me sick acting this shit out.
I knew Vi would be feeling it too. What also gave it away was when her hand landed on my waist and she pinched me fucking hard. “How about we go in before you tell them all our damn secrets. Nice to meet you both.”
“Yeah, same,” Gloria said.
“Enjoy, brother,” Lenny said. Damn, the guy was stupid. I wasn’t completely sure we’d sold Gloria on our story, but I hoped Lenny’s stupidity would rub off on her.
I sent him a salute with a smirk that hopefully fucking said I was about to get me some.
Once inside the front door, I spotted Travis sitting on the couch. Before I could say anything, Vi dropped her arm, turned to me, and yelled, “Now tell me why I should forgive you for making out with my brother, Jackson. My brother!”
Grinding my teeth together, I mouthed, “You fuckin’ bitch.”
“Emmie, sweetheart, I told you already I didn’t know it was him. It was dark. I thought it was you climbing into bed, not him.”
Travis snorted softly.
Her lips thinned to stop from laughing. “I don’t know if I can believe you.”
“Come here, let me make it up to you.” I lifted a finger to my lips and jerked my head towards the stairs. I started for them, and Violet let out a loud moan before she tipped my damn lamp off the side table. It crashed to the floor and she cried out, “Yes, He-Man, yes.”
For fuck’s sake. Guess at least she was selling me as being good in the sack.
Shaking my head, I walked up the stairs knowing they’d both follow me. I took them into the study on the far side of the house, away from next door. When we were all in, I shut the door. Violet went to my desk and sat behind it. Travis parked his arse on the edge near her. Great, I was going to have to disinfect the hell out of it.
“A couple of weeks ago, I got a text late one night from an unknown number. She wouldn’t tell me how she got it but that she just wanted to reach out. The name she gave me was Emmie.” There was no fucking way I’d tell them it was because my singing “soothed” her. “I looked into the people around my house and came up empty-handed. I tried to find out more, but she backed off. It was somethin’ in her text that had me concerned for her. I couldn’t pin it down, until just before I called you.” I paced, running a hand through my hair. “When she stopped communicating, I kept messagin’ her random shit to see if she’d open up. She didn’t. Not a single message back. But that changed when earlier, I went out on my back deck and started calling her name. She frantically texted me tellin’ me to be quiet. That was when Lenny, the dickhead next door, came out. Thought it was strange he’d appear after me being here for nearly two months. He questioned who I was yellin’ out to. I got a read on him that something was up. I asked if he was alone. He said his woman was out. I acted as if my pretend girl, Emily, was gonna give me shit, said I’d be lookin’ for something else, that maybe his woman would know someone. Thing was, when he’d said his woman was out, I caught movement in their basement window.”
“Fuck,” Travis clipped.
“Who is she?”
“Don’t have a fuckin’ clue. She won’t tell me anything. She’s scared. I know that much. They’ve got something over her or are threatenin’ her with something.”
“You want her out?” Vi queried.
“Fuck yes, but I need to make sure she’ll be safe when it happens. Need to know what they’ve got that’s keepin’ her wanting to be locked up.”
“You know for certain she’s locked up?” Violet asked.
“Never seen anyone around that house except for those two fuckers. I got a good indication she’s trapped down there.”
“How do you want to lead this?”
“Got Lan looking into them. See what he can find out. Spoke to Butch. He’s on my other case following the lead. For now, we need to watch the house, and I’m gonna try and talk to her some more through text.”
“Do you have any more information from Emmie?”
“She says she’s safe. Gotta believe it for now. Says she’s thirty, but not sure if I can believe that. I told her I could get her out. She said no. Not yet.”
“Which is why you think they have something over her,” Travis commented.
I nodded. “We need to set up cameras, front and back. I have some equipment here, but I’ll need more.”
“I’ll make a trip to work, grab what you need. Make a list.”
I went to my desk and grabbed a pen and paper, jotting down what I’d need.
“If you don’t have everything at work, I’ll get Link on to finding it,” Travis said. Link was his man. Heard of the guy, just hadn’t met him. I grunted in response.
My phone vibrated. Dropping the pen, I took it out and my chest tightened.
“It’s her,” I bit out.
“What did she say?” Violet asked.
“Please know I appreciate your offer for help, but I can’t accept it. I won’t have anyone else hurt because of me. You need to stay away from Lenny and Gloria. Stay safe, Warden. One day I will get out of here, away from them. But until then, I can’t communicate anymore. I promise I’ll be free one day. One way or another. You’ve helped me by talking to me. I’ll always treasure the small gift you’ve given me, but please, please, Warden, stay away and be safe. I won’t let them darken your door again. If you just go on with your days as you were and pretend I don’t exist, it would be better for all of us. Thank you, and I’m sorry.” I gripped the phone. If I didn’t need it, I would have fucking crushed the damn thing or thrown it.
“She doesn’t want anyone else hurt because of her,” Violet said. “Who have they hurt?”
I shook my head, not having a goddamn answer.
“She’s protecting you from them,” Travis said.
“She is,” I said, my tone rough. She didn’t know me, know what I was capable of, and yet she wanted to protect me because she feared I’d be hurt by
those fuckers. I could get her out. I had to get her out.
“Are you going to reply?” Violet asked.
I wanted to. Wanted to tell her she was crazy if she thought I’d listen and wouldn’t do anything, but that’d just make her worry. I didn’t want that.
“I’ll leave it,” I told them.
“For now,” Travis added.
“Yeah, for fuckin’ now.”
“What do you think she meant by being free one day and in one way or another?”
That part I didn’t like. It left my gut coiled in worry.
No one said anything for a moment.
Until Travis did. “We’re all thinking the same thing. She’s either going to run somehow or die trying to get free.”
“It won’t happen,” I snarled.
Violet stood and came to my side, placing her hand on my arm. “No, it won’t. I’ll go get the things you need.”
“Sweetheart,” Travis called. “If you leave now, it’ll look suspicious. As far as they know, you two have”—his upper lip rose—“fucked. I’ll go out and get the items. I’ll catch a cab when I’m far enough away. I’ll just need the keys.”
“Shit, you’re right.” Violet nodded, handing her keys over. Travis gave her a quick kiss to the temple and left. I knew he’d get out and away without being seen. He had skills.
“I hate waiting,” Violet said, heading back to the chair.
She wasn’t the only one. If I didn’t get some type of answer to any of my questions soon, I’d fucking lose it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WARDEN
It’d been about an hour, and I was back to pacing the damn floor in the tiny fucking room. Travis should be back soon and then at least I’d have something to do while setting up the system. I rocked my head side to side to try and lessen the tension in my neck, but it wouldn’t let up. I’d been up and down the stairs a million times to see if I could see or hear anything from next door, but it was quiet.
When there was a knock on my front door, Violet looked up from the computer and met my gaze. “I don’t know,” I told her curious eyes. We both made our way out of the room, down the stairs, and to the front door.