Lana: I’ll admit I like the idea of you being in my bed. Being able to touch you or kiss you whenever I want, yea I like that idea.
Ash: You’re killing me. I promise when dad gets back home I’ll be in your bed so much you will be trying to kick me out.
Lana: well until then I’ll just have to dream about you being here.
Lana: I’m going to try and get some sleep, DON’T hesitate to call if you need me! Hope you have a good night. I’ll talk to you tomorrow xoxo
Ash: Sweet dreams love xoxo
As tired as I am I have a feeling tonight is going to be a long one where I watch the clock more than I sleep. Maybe I should just take something to help me sleep. I hate taking anything to make me sleep, though; I am always afraid I may sleep too deep where if someone needs me I won’t hear the phone when they call. The real reason is I am afraid that I will sleep too deep to hear if someone is trying to get into my house, yea I’ll blame that shit on Josh, I never had a problem sleeping until he turned into the bat-shit crazy bastard he is now. But since my head is spinning with the information that Ash really is Blake, I may have to take something to get any sleep at all. One night of incoherence isn’t going to kill me.
I take my sleep med and take a long hot bath. I can feel the medicine starting to kick in, so I decide to get out before I pass out in the bathtub and drown. Once I’m in my comfy pj's, I lay down and relax into my pile of pillows. Ash laughed at me the first time he saw how many pillows I have on my bed. I don’t know why, but I just like a lot of pillows. I can feel the pull of sleep already so maybe it won’t be a clock watching night after all.
I jerk awake and look at the clock. It reads 2:30 am. I feel like I have been asleep for days, but it has only been a couple of hours. I flop back down onto my pillows with a heavy sigh. Then I hear him.
“Well, well look who decided to wake up.”
I sit up and turn the bedside light on, but the room is empty. I blow out a sigh of relief. Fucking sleeping pills, I hate when they cause lucid dreams. I could have sworn I really heard Josh in my room. It felt so real, though, enough that I am not sure if it was just the medicine, but it has to be because the room is empty.
I turn the light back off and settle back down into my pillows. Just as I am dozing back off I feel the bed dip and before I can move Josh is sitting over me, and he has hold of both of my hands.
“It makes me happy to see that your bed is empty, I knew you missed me. You will never get away again; I told you before you belong to me.”
Get the fuck off of me Josh. I don’t belong to anyone. How many times do I have to tell you that? We could have been great together had you not gone bat-shit crazy, oh and if you hadn’t killed my brother. That really kind of draws the line for me, you knew how much I love Jake yet you still took him away from me. So fuck you, I will never belong to you, I would rather die.
“You’re right I did kill Jake, but only because he found out some things he shouldn’t have and he was going to tell you to stay away from me because of it. You would have listened to him too; you always did what big brother told you to do. I couldn’t have him getting in the way, so I just took care of it. Then you tried to leave me anyway. You will need to be punished for that, but I am willing to forgive you since you were grieving for your brother.”
You crazier than I thought if you really think that I am going to willingly go anywhere with you especially now that you have admitted that you killed Jake, he was the only family I had left and you took him away from me. So fuck you, I will fight you tooth and nail, even if it means I die, but I will NEVER, you hear me NEVER be yours.
“You are mine; I will give you time to come to terms with things once we are out of this town and we are set up somewhere it is just you and me. For now, though, unfortunately, you have caught the attention of my brother, and he won’t let me leave town with you just yet. He said he needs you; so part of your punishment for leaving me is letting Andrew use you for his needs whatever they may be.”
As soon as I feel him loosen his grip on my hands just a little, I start fighting. I’ll be damned I am going to go anywhere with him easily. My movements are still a little slower than normal because of the medicine I took, damn it. This is why I do not like to take them.
He is able to grab my hands again, only this time he raises them up above my head. “I can’t wait to have you all to myself. I have the perfect place to tie you up. There are hooks in the ceiling so I can stretch your bound arms above your head. I have all kinds of tools to play with. You will learn to be my dirty little whore, everything you do will be to please me.”
I am still struggling against him when he puts the cloth over my mouth and nose. He knows I am holding my breath.
“Go ahead, I like breath play, but we both know you are going to have to breath sooner or later.” He is right. Unfortunately, I am going to have to breathe in eventually, and it’s not going to take very long.
I finally can’t take it anymore, and I gasp for a breath. The smell is sweet. The rag is covered in chloroform, at least that is what I suspect it is. It doesn’t take long until I can feel myself going back under. I try to fight it, but there is no use. Everything just goes black.
When I come too, I am tied to a chair. At least I still have my pjs on. Then I hear it, someone is screaming. I realize then that it was that screaming that helped bring me back to consciousness.
My memories are foggy; I remember taking medicine to help me sleep, then dreaming that Josh was in my room. Son of a bitch, it wasn’t a dream, the bastard really did break into my house.
So where the hell am I, and who is screaming?
Chapter 26
Ash
It has been another long day, but hopefully, this will be the las night I have to spend in the ICU waiting room. If dad has a good night, he will be moved into a regular room tomorrow. I look back at my last test from Lana. I know it is sappy but just seeing the message from her makes me smile. This girl got under my skin fast.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” I look up and see Leo standing in the doorway to the waiting room. Hey man. What are you up too? He holds up a Taco Bell bag. “I figured there was a good chance you didn’t eat dinner or at all today so I grabbed you a couple of tacos, and I wanted to tell you about my conversation with Lana earlier this evening.” You’re right I’m starving. I thought Clara was bringing me something to eat, but I haven’t seen her and Hunter yet; so thanks for the tacos. As if on cue my stomach growls.
Lana text me goodnight earlier but she did not mention anything about talking to you, and since you are here to talk about it then I am going to guess that it was on purpose that she didn’t say anything. Leo shakes his head and smiles. “Yeah, she is a stubborn one that girl. Anyway, I just thought you would want to know she is pretty determined to kick us, as security, to the curb. She wants us to focus on Andrew and keeping your family safe. I told her it wouldn’t happen, she is family, whether you guys are together or not. Plus, now that we know Josh and Andrew are brothers that really puts her in the crosshairs. But you know how she is; she is hell-bent that no gets hurt because of her. So I just wanted to give you a heads up that she is going to tell you to focus on our case and not her. Oh, and there is something she wants to….”
Before he finishes talking, Hunter steps into the room. “Hey guys, I just wanted check in. Where’s Clara?”
What the hell do you mean where’s Clara? She is supposed to be with you! Both Leo and I are both on our feet and headed toward him now.
“We got to the hospital a few hours ago. I got a page when we were in the elevator. We both got off on this floor but I had to go into the back, but I saw her walk down the hall. The hall was empty, so I went on into the back just before she reached the waiting room. “
She never came in here. I notice Hunter patting his pockets.
“Damn it; she has my keys. You don’t think she would have left alone; she knows it’s not safe right now.”
Come on let’s head out to your car. Leo, you head down to security and talk them into letting you review the cameras.
As soon as we get to the garage, we see his car. The passenger side door is open, and Clara’s purse is spilled out onto the ground. I call Leo, I don’t care how we do it, but we have to look at that footage, look for the garage level three. They took her man!! They fucking took her, right here from under us.
I turn to head down to security to meet Leo, and I see Hunter standing there just staring at the open car door. I turn him around and tell him to follow me.
When we step into security, the film is running. It has just gotten to when they grabbed her. Once she is in the van Andrew turns to the camera and flips it off. He knew I would see it. FUCK!
I realize Leo is already on the phone getting the guys working on this. When I turn to leave I see Hunter, damn I forgot he was here. He is staring at the screen. He is pale, and I can see panic written all over him. I can also already see regret. I grab his arm and make him look at me.
Hunter listen to me. This is not your fault. Clara would have eventually found a way to be without any of us around; she is stubborn that way. Do not start blaming yourself. We are going to find her and bring her home. Right now, though, I need you to be here and watch over dad. I need to know that someone I trust is here with him so I can find Clara. He shakes his head “How can you trust me, I let them take her.” Hunter, you need to snap out of it, you did not let them take her, Clara knew it was not safe to go out alone, but she did anyway. I do not blame you and neither will she. But we do need you to keep our dad safe. I can see when he shakes off the panic and goes back into doctor mode. He shakes his head in agreement and walks out of the security office.
We send the footage to our work server so the guys can start processing it. On the way to the truck, we get a message from Neil. He has already tapped into traffic cameras around the area. He sent us a video of them changing vehicles.
Leo immediately starts cussing when he sees it. Before I can ask him what he saw he is on the phone telling Brad to quick step it to Lana’s house. When he hangs up the phone and looks at me, he tells me that he saw that car pass by Lana’s house earlier. He had no reason to suspect anything because the car actually does belong to one of her neighbors.
I look at the clock on my phone; it reads 3:00 AM, fuck where did the time go. I call Lana’s cell phone, I hate to wake her up, but I need to know she is safe. She just messaged me a little while ago, well it has been a couple of hours now, but still. I cannot even begin to process the fact that that asshole may have both my sister and Lana.
Fuck, she is not answering
“Son of a bitch, I knew I should have stayed with her. I stayed until I saw her lights go out about one. When I did my last check, everything was quiet. There were no strange cars on her street; nothing was out of place. That should have been a blaring red flag!” Leo, you know this is not your fault. We don’t even know for sure yet, let’s wait for the call from Brad. Before I even get the sentence out my phone lights up with Brads picture.
“Man, I’m sorry, but she is gone. It looks like they used chloroform to knock her out, the rag was on her bed. There was also a bottle of Ambien out, so she may have already been a little out of it if she took them before bed. That Josh bastard did leave you a note, he is a sick fuck too. I’m sending you and the guys a picture of the note. I will lock the house up and meet up with you guys. I know you don’t want to hear it, but don’t worry we are going to get them both back.
The message with the note comes in as soon as we hang up.
“She is my Lana, not your precious Ali. You will never touch her again. I will cut her into pieces and scatter them, so you will never find her before I ever let you have her again.”
I look over at Leo. What the fuck is that about? His Lana, and who is Ali?
Leo clears his throat, “well boss-man that is what I was trying to tell you when the doc come in looking for Clara. Lana wanted to be the one to tell you but..”
Come on Leo, just spit it out already what did Lana want to tell me.
“Your best friend in Louisiana before you moved, his name was JJ or Jacob right, and he had a sister.”
What the hell does that have to do with...
FUCK! No…
I knew she seemed familiar, and I kept comparing her to Ali, but I didn’t think it was actually her.
“Yeah, afraid so. Lana is Ali from a long time ago. It seems like the friend JJ you had and the friend Jake I had were one and the same.”
I don’t know what to say or what to think. I am so screwed up in the head right now. I cannot afford to be screwed up right now, I need to focus, but damn.
Leo drives to the house so we can meet up with the guys so we can start looking for the girls and working on a way to save them. The ride is quiet and full of tension and stress. I know Leo is trying to give me a few minutes to process everything that I just learned. This whole situation is screwed up, and it just got that much more twisted.
Brad drives up just as we do. My phone goes off as we are walking into the house. It’s a picture message. When the picture opens, it takes everything I have not to throw the phone across the room. There are two more pictures that come in back to back. The first picture is of Clara, and the bastard has cut her shirt open, and she has a split lip. Her face is red and puffy from crying but other than that I do not see any other marks on her, yet.
The second picture is of Lana. Her shirt is cut open too, but she is braless, and there is blood on her chest. The fucker cut her. I am so fucking livid I cannot see straight. That son of a bitch is going to die, but he is going to suffer first.
The third picture is of Clara and Lana together side by side. Clara has a busted lip and has been crying and looks scared but otherwise, considering the circumstances she is alright. Lana is cut across the chest, one eye is swollen, and I can see where she has been bleeding from her nose and lip.
As bad as I don’t want the guys to see the pictures they need to so they can take in and use any information they can get from the pictures. When the pictures are on the computer screen, the entire team starts cussing, and Leo throws a bottle across the room.
The one thing that we have going for us is that we are good at what we do. Unless you take into account that they took Clara and Lana both with all of us here. But I cannot think about that right now. Just after daylight, we are able to put together enough information to have a good idea of where the girls are being kept. I want to drive over there and just start raising hell, but deep down I know better. We need to plan. Andrew and Josh will be expecting us at some point, after all, they wanted to get my attention, well now they have it.
Chapter 27
Lana
The more alert I become, the louder the screaming is. It is definitely coming from a woman. I slowly pick my head up and start to glance around the room to see if I recognize anything or anyone. The screaming has stopped and is now just quiet sobs.
“Look who is finally awake. Glad you could join the fun.” Just as he finishes talking he backhands me. I can taste the blood on my lip. I look up and see Andrew standing next to Josh. Both of them are grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
“I can see why you want to keep her for yourself Josh, and if things go as planned, then she will be all yours. That being said, I will not promise that she will be untouched or in one piece.”
They both laugh and walk across the room to a table. I don’t know how long I have been sitting here tied to this chair, but I am going to guess it has been at least an hour or so. I look around to see who else is here.
Oh, Clara! She looks straight at me; her face is all red and puffy from crying. Andrew hears me say her name and walks over to her. He grabs a handful of her hair, tips her head back to make her look at him. “Such a pretty little thing, I could have a lot of fun with you. Too bad you will have to pay for your brother’s actions.”
He lets go of her head
then tips her chair back onto just the back legs and drags her chair over next to mine. “You two can get acquainted, again, while we contact Mr. Fucking know it all. Then all that is left is waiting for him to show up so he can watch me torture you before I kill him.” When he is done talking he turns and walks back over to the table. He picks up some papers then they both walk out of the room.
This is exactly why I shouldn’t have gotten involved with anyone. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me.
Next, to me, Clara starts whispering. “My brother is so going to torcher them when he finds them.”
That makes me chuckle just a little, despite our situation. Clara was always a little feisty when she was little; it is nice to see that she hasn’t lost that over the years. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to keep the tears at bay. For all of her outward bravado, inside she is scared. If we are going to survive this, I need her to stay calm as much as possible so I do the only thing I can think of.
When she was little and would have a bad dream at night when I was babysitting, I would sit with her and hum the lullaby All Through The Night. I know she is not a little kid still, but I am hoping maybe a familiar comfort will help to soothe her. So I start to lightly hum as much of the tune that I can remember.
After a minute or so the crying has stopped so I turn my head to look at her and give her a small smile. She stares at me for a moment, and it is as if I can see when it all fall into place.
“Ali? Is it really you?”
I haven’t been called Ali in years, but yes it’s me, sweetie. I hate that I missed seeing you grow up. I have missed you guys terribly since you moved.
“Does Ash know it’s you? I’m sure he doesn’t because surely he would have told me. You were always a big sister to me. Wait he calls you Lana, and oh my gosh it was you that saved dad the other day wasn’t it? I didn’t recognize you when you came in.”
No, I don’t think Ash knows, I had my suspicions about him being Blake but never said anything because I just couldn’t let myself really believe it. I didn’t know for sure until I talked to Leo earlier tonight.
His To Protect (Four Seasons Security Book 1) Page 12