The room is sparse, furnished with the bed I’m on, a night table to my left, and a chair. I don’t focus on the decor as much. How could I when the wall is littered with photo after photo of me, even from when I lived in New York?
I struggle to break free of his hold, but he’s strong, his grip on my forearm never faltering.
“Stay still or I cuff you to the bed.”
My body goes rigid at the thought.
He stares down at me, but I don’t allow my gaze to meet his. I will not show him my fear.
Be calm, Marley.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, Marley,” he says through gritted teeth. “You don’t want to be on my bad side.”
Steeling myself against panic, my eyes meet his. I swear I know him. But how?
“Good girl.” He nuzzles my neck, inhaling my scent. It takes everything I am not to vomit. “You smell so good like I knew you would.” He groans. “Now, here’s how this is going to go. You and I are traveling in the next hour. If you’re good, I might tell you where. All you have to do is cooperate with me.”
“Who are you and what do you want from me?”
“Who am I indeed,” he states, smirking. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He stands, towering over me. “I met you the other day, but it seems I wasn’t memorable.”
I consider making a break for it since the door behind him is open, but without knowing what lies on the other side, it would be stupid to make an attempt. Since he mentioned traveling, it might give me an opportunity to escape en route.
“You wouldn’t happen to be thinking about escape, are you baby?” He fists my hair, jerking my head back. Leaning in close, he growls, “There is none.”
Whimpering, I feel the tears coming, despair settling in. Maybe Cole will find me. He has to know I’m missing by now. He was due to be at my place by nine.
“Originally, I wanted you to guess my identity. The woman who ruined my life should know exactly who I am before I punish her.”
“I didn’t—”
“Oh, yes. You did.” He folds his arms across his chest. “Ignorance of the truth is not an excuse, but I promise to be fair. After all, how could you know what our father would do?”
“You’re my …” I gasp, sick to my stomach. “And I’m your …” My hand covers my mouth in shock.
“Half-brother, Noah. Nice to finally meet you, officially, that is. Last week I went by Paul.”
“The guy from the bar?” I blurt out, finally remembering
He winks at me.
“The one and only. I know it’s wrong on so many levels,” he shrugs, “but I’m attracted to you.” He moistens his lips as if preparing to kiss me. “The first time I saw you I knew I had to have you. To be honest, I didn’t expect it, but here we are.”
Gripping me by the neck with one hand, he forces my back to the mattress. Before I know it, he manages to chain one of my wrists with his other hand to the left shackle, the right one following suit.
“Don’t you feel it, Marley?” He skims his knuckles along the curve of my breast, pinching my nipple. “Our connection is strong, more powerful than it is with the man who tried to take you away from me. I thought about killing him like I did your …” He trails off, leaving me to wonder who else he’s hurt on my behalf.
“Never mind that.” He gives a knowing smile.
“A vision of you came to me while I was in your bed the other day, stroking myself.”
“You were in my bed?”
“Yes,” he admits proudly. “It felt like you were right there with me, bringing me to climax. It’s when I knew for certain, I couldn’t let you go. No matter how mad I am at you.” He cups me in between my legs and I panic, the cuffs making a clanging noise against the bars as I struggle.
“So warm,” he mumbles against my neck, pressing one hand on my shoulder to still me.
“Please don’t,” I plead, helplessly. He lingers, his fingers toying with the buttons on my jeans.
“It would be so easy,” he rasps in my ear, “taking you the way I want right now and making you mine. And I know you’d love it. But, we don’t have time.”
Rising from the bed, he straightens his clothing, his erection obvious.
“Be a good little hostage and stay quiet.” He laughs, his expression smug. “As if anyone could hear you scream.”
He leaves me alone, behind a locked door with no way to escape. At least he has the courtesy to leave the light on. It’s times like these, I wish my knowledge about things such as self-defense and escaping were vast.
I have a fucking half-brother.
Funny, my bio dad has never mentioned him, not like we’ve had any heart-to-hearts. I know about my sister from his current marriage. Seriously, how many children does this man have? Now that I think about it, Noah favors him a little. Just my luck, he’s a nut job. He considers me a conquest or a girlfriend. The thought makes me ill.
As time passes, my wrist begins to ache.
The sounds of locks releasing bring my attention back to the door, and the fear I’d shoved down rears its head. Noah is crazy. Who knows what he’ll do to me next?
When the door creaks open, a familiar face comes into view, his expression stricken. I don’t think about why he’s here, but I am glad he is.
“Oh my God, Marley. I’m so sorry.”
“What do you have to be sorry for?” I frown, my voice is surprisingly steady.
“Noah, he didn’t say …”
My eyes widen.
“You know him, Don?”
Nodding slowly, he looks sorrowful.
“He said he wanted to meet his sister and asked for my help. I told him no, but then he knew things about me.” Don flashes this far-off expression. “I had to.”
“What did you do?”
Reaching in his pocket, he pulls on a key and begins working on my cuffs. “It doesn’t matter now. I won’t let him hurt you.”
I go along with Dr. Hughes for now since he’s my only means of my escape.
“What are you doing, Don?” A cold voice asks from the doorway. “Because I distinctly said your job is to steer her search party in the opposite direction. Yet here you are trying to steal her from me.”
“She appeared hurt and I was checking her wrists,” he lies, expressing a look that says be ready.
“Lies don’t become you, Don. Walk away now and you won’t get hurt.”
“Sure thing, Noah.”
In a flash, Don whips around, shoving him. He stumbles, allowing me to make a break for it. I dash around Don, seconds away from reaching the exit, but a hand grips my hair like a vice just like in my bedroom. I scream, pain radiating from my scalp. Somehow, Noah shoves me forward, my forehead banging against the door frame. I see stars, the slam forcing me to lose my footing and fall to the floor.
I hear a series of grunts and then sound of agony behind me as I regain my bearings. Grabbing the wall for assistance, I’m eventually able to stand. However, I must have taken too long, my captor hooks his arm around me from behind.
I glance down at his hands, and their wet with blood, red splatters coating his forearms. He lifts me from the floor and whirls me around. I pale at the sight of Don, writhing in pain with a knife protruding from his abdomen. There’s so much blood, and it’s pooling around him.
“See what you made me do, Marley.” Noah snarls. “I’m not a fan of killing people unless there is a purpose. Don was useful, but he had to go and get a conscience. Tsk tsk tsk.”
“Let me go.” I wriggle as best I can under his ironclad hold. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about you.”
“I know. Because no one will ever find you.” A chill runs through me. “I had hoped you and I would have an uneventful trip, but I see Don has made it impossible.”
I sense him reaching for something in his back pocket, but he’s so damn strong I can’t get myself free. Before I know it, he pokes me in my arm with a needle and the substance is fast-acting. Once again, my eyes g
row heavy and the little fight I have left dies.
Noah
My sleeping beauty.
I stare at her, passed out on the passenger side of my SUV while waiting at the red light. I don’t have the heart to punish her anymore, as long as she stays compliant. It’s our father’s fault and her bitch of a mother getting me disowned and written out of his will. I’m his only son and entitled to everything. So, what, he has another daughter. I’ll take care of my sister when it becomes necessary. She isn’t as pure as Marley anyway. I hope Marley doesn’t hate me for what I did in the past. I was angry. I’m sorry I caused her so much pain but it’s my turn to make her feel better.
Not Cole.
The drugs should keep her asleep for the duration of our trip. If she wakes, I’ll dose her again. She and I have one more stop to make before we disappear forever.
19
The Shit Has Hit the Fan
Affirmation #97
I will survive the heartache. I’ve done it once before.
Marley
I awake to a shouting voice, but I’m so drowsy from the drugs I can barely open my eyes.
“Wake up, Marley.” The feminine voice yells at me.
Not Noah.
She’s not yelling either. It’s more like a loud whisper. The woman comes into focus and, if my eyes weren’t so heavy, they’d bug out at her identity.
“Taylor,” I mumble sleepily.
“Yes, it’s me.” Her expression appears relieved. “You have to get out of the car before he comes back.”
“Car?” I frown, not recalling how I ended up here.
"Yes, honey.” She grips me by my forearms, pulling me toward her. “That’s it, Marley, plant your feet on the ground. I’ll steady you.”
“Thanks.” I survey our surroundings, realizing we’re in an unfamiliar wooded area. The orange hue of the sky tells me sunrise is upon us and also makes me wonder how long I’ve been asleep.
“Where are we?”
“Not sure. I was hiding in the back of his SUV, but before my phone died an hour ago, I think the cops were —”
A fist comes out of nowhere, landing on the side of Taylor’s head. She collapses to the ground, unconscious, my body falling on top of her still form. Noah bends at the waist and scoops me up, pressing his front to my back. I struggle, but he’s too damn strong, and my brain is still cloudy from the drugs.
“Jeez, Marley. How many of your saviors do I need to kill tonight?” He nudges a motionless Taylor with his foot. “I’ll deal with her later. You and I have someplace to be.”
He drags me deeper in the woods toward a cabin in the distance. I consider screaming for help, but with no other buildings in sight, there’s no point. Noah has me right where he wants me. Perhaps I can appeal to his sense of family. I am his sister, after all.
My plan is shot to hell as soon as we step over the threshold. My eyes widen at the sight— my mom and Aaron, bloodied, bound, gagged, and laying on the floor. My mother's gaze flashes with fear as soon as her eyes meet mine. She whimpers.
“I told you not to make a fucking sound, Geraldine,” he growls, kicking her. My bio dad glares at him with unbridled fury. “As usual, you don’t listen. That doesn’t matter any longer.”
Instead of tossing me on the floor with my mom and Aaron, Noah sets my feet on the ground. Then, he guides me to a chair in the kitchen in front of the stove.
“Give me a minute, baby.” He reaches out to touch my face and I jerk away. “Don’t,” he snarls, fisting my hair. I cry out, the pain unbearable.
Without warning, he presses his lips to mine and I cringe. I attempt to steer my mind to a happy thought, an escape from this sick man's fantasy. I fail when the force of his tongue passes the seam of my lips, a reminder of how fucked I am.
“That was nice.” He smiles at me, his expression heated. “Later,” he murmurs, twirling a lock of my hair. This time, I remain still and it pleases him.
After our sick exchange, Noah moves, setting two more chairs across from me. He pulls my mom and his dad to a sitting position, binding them to their respective chairs. My mom and Aaron gape at him as if coming to terms with how crazy he is for the first time.
“Awesome.” He clasps his hands together as if he’s bringing a classroom of students to attention.
“Tonight, I brought all of us together for many reasons.” He reaches in his back pocket, producing a large hunting knife. Pointing the tip of the blade in my bio dad’s direction, he declares, “I’m disappointed in you, Father. First, you shipped me off to a mental institution, your way of erasing me from your perfect life. Then you wrote me out of your will, and finally, you hid Marley from me.” Noah shouts the last part of his sentence.
“What do you say to that, Father?”
Using the tip of his knife, he slides the fabric covering my bio dad’s mouth, slicing the skin on his upper lip.
“Noah,” he pleads, “son, let me call the doctor. I’ll take you back to the hospital where they’ll help you.”
“I don’t need any help,” he snaps, gripping the handle of the knife so tight it may possibly break. “You had them keep me drugged and confused, giving you the chance to imprison me without any protest. It didn’t work. I have your money and Marley belongs to me.”
“No, Noah. She’s your sister.”
“How long has he felt this way?” I asks, truly curious about the depths of his crazy.
“Since you were about ten or eleven. He found a picture of you and became obsessed.” Aaron’s words are calm, clear, and concise, but there’s an expression of sorrow. Weirdly, it guts me.
“You’ve never cared for me. Everything you did was for her.” Noah’s attention shifts to my mom, and he points the blade at her throat. “Maybe I should take her away from you, so you know what it feels like to lose something you love.”
“No,” Aaron cries out as Noah presses the knife against my mother’s neck, sliding it along her throat. After he draws blood, I stand but stop when he turns and glares at me.
Calmly, he says, “Sit down, baby. I’m only scaring her a little.” Then, he flashes an evil grin, and I know right there if I proceed, he’ll slit my mother’s throat.
“Good girl.”
His gaze returns to my mother. “She turned out well despite you having a hand in raising her.”
Noah returns to me, pressing a kiss to my forehead while toying with my locks again.
“This isn’t right, son, and deep down, you know it. Your job as her brother is to protect her, not be the one she needs protection from.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, Father. She and I are much, much more.”
“Oh my God, you’re sick.” My mother shrieks.
How the heck did she remove the gag?
“Tsk, tsk, Geraldine. You should only speak when spoken to. I thought my father would’ve taught you that lesson by now.”
“I won’t be silenced.”
“Shut up, Geraldine,” Aaron urges.
“Not when my daughter is being harassed by a psycho,” she snaps back.
“Funny. You seem to care more for your daughter than you did your son. At least that’s what Jamal told me.”
As soon as my brother’s name passes through his lips, I go still, my heart sinking. How would Noah have known him?
Frowning, my mother goes immediately silent.
“Did you know my brother?” I blurt out.
Smiling, he glances down at me.
“Yeah. We were friends. Really, I used him. It was the only way I could gain access to you. He was so damn protective of his baby sister. I simply wanted to meet you, see what you were about, but Jamal insisted we hang out away from his family because his mom was a tool. I did catch one glimpse of you by accident.”
He closes his eyes for a brief moment as if reliving a memory.
“You had homework and Jamal said he had to watch you. I went to an open window and peeked in. There you were, sitting next to him on the couc
h, roughhousing as siblings do. I wanted the same connection.”
Abruptly, Noah lunges forward, plunging the knife into Aaron’s leg. He presses the palm of his hand over his mouth to suppress the scream.
“Make another move, Father, I’ll shove this in her throat.” He eyes my mom. “Nod if you understand me.” Once he does, Noah yanks the blade from his leg, and joins me again, this time, gripping the nape of my neck.
“Jamal had everything I wanted. I knew I had to get rid of him.”
Something deep inside me snaps and I manage to break from his hold, knocking my chair over in the process. Whirling around, I face him, my back pressing against the wall on the opposite side of the room.
“What did you do to my brother?”
“If you come closer, I’ll tell you.”
“No. Y-you’re going to tell me now.”
He shakes his head, motioning with the knife for me to move.
Decision made, I take in a deep breath and walk into Noah’s waiting arms.
“Excellent choice.” He holds me too close, too intimate. “Your brother was flawed. His weaknesses were easy to exploit. He wanted freedom from the mental anguish of life. I gave him the means to liberate himself.”
“What does that even mean?” My mother asks, faintly from behind me.
“So, that’s where he got the drugs?” I look him straight in the eye. “From you.”
“Yes. He cried and said he didn’t want to leave you or his girlfriend behind, but I said you’d be better off without him.” There’s this glint of satisfaction in his eyes.
“I promised to watch over you. I would have too if father hadn’t had me committed. By the time I was released, you shut yourself off from everything and I had no way to access you. Until Falls Village. Here, you were free from your family, your friends, away from everything that kept us separated.” Noah trails the tip of one finger along my jawline.
His declaration changes everything.
“I hate you.”
“You won’t always feel this way.”
What Once Was Mine Page 16