I make my way up the next step and my heart begins to race. From inside a window to the left of the front door, I see a shadow pass by.
I crane my head over my shoulder to glance at Katie and she seems to be uneasy too. And then a certain kind of look passes over her eyes and she cocks her head to the side, looks straight towards the row of garages. I lean with one foot towards her to try and see whatever it is that she's seeing.
And then she locks her eyes with mine and I know that something is wrong. She's breathing heavy and hard, her chest heaving with every deep inhale. It's like she's seen a ghost. Before I can inquire why, she's racing down the steps and towards the garage.
I immediately move to give chase to her but feel a hand upon my shoulder. I jerk in place and spin around on my feet with my gun aimed squarely at another man in a business suit.
"Who the hell are you?" he growls out. His hand is firmly at his side, firmly planted against a gun on his holster but I have the upper hand here. I'm the one with the gun pointed at him and all it’s going to take is one squeeze of the trigger.
From around the side of the house, I hear Katie scream something but I can't quite make out what it is that she's saying. It's enough of a distraction though that the man in front of me is able to knock the gun out of my hands. And when I turn back to look at him, he's lunging towards me. He wraps his arms around my body and throws me backwards so that I am pushed down the remainder of the steps and land on the hard ground beneath me. He shuffles himself on top of me, straddles me before he launches a fist against my face and then another.
I grunt out in pain and try to force him off of me but he’s simply too strong and I'm too distracted by Katie continuously screaming for something in the background.
I try to throttle him at his throat but he manages to knock my hands away before wrapping his own hands around my throat. I gasp and fight to breathe under his weight but it doesn't seem to be much use. I switch up tactics and while he's busy trying to strangle the life from me, I begin to claw at his side trying to gain possession of his gun.
"You're going to regret coming to this house," he grinds out as he continues to strangle the life from me. "You never should have come here."
I don't know anything about this man, but I can gather that he doesn't know me and he definitely doesn't know why I'm here. I manage to finally grab the butt of his gun and immediately push it against his head. I can see the fear falling over him as his eyes flash and his entire body freezes. He releases my throat from his grasp and tries to put his hands up in the air to surrender. Little does he know, he's far too late.
I pull the trigger.
Blood splatters all over me. I thrust myself upwards and roll his heavy dead body off me. And when I stand up, I drag my arm over my face to clear as much as the blood as I can. I shove his gun into the back of my waistband and quickly try to figure out my next step. His gun didn't have a silencer on it so by now everyone is going to know that something is going down outside.
Katie has stopped screaming and even if I wanted to find her right now, I wouldn't know where to look. Instead, I force myself to focus on the task at hand. That task being to find out if my sister is here at all.
With a newfound focus, I march up the steps with my gun in hand and open the front door.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
KATIE
"Victor?" I scream out for my brother because I know I saw him. I know I'm not just imagining things like a crazy person. When I was standing on those porch steps with Dominic, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lurking over by the garage. And he was staring at me with a certain look. I've seen that look before. I know it. I remember even after eight years apart. That was my brother and now he's gone like a shadow in the night.
As I cut in front of the six-car garage, my eyes are searching for him. It's too dark, though, to get a good look at anything back here. There are no lights coming from inside the house anymore.
Under any other circumstances, right now I would be terrified. But I have too much to fight for right now. I'm too close to getting what I've been after for the last eight years and I'm not about to let fear stop me.
"Victor?" I yell out a little lower than before. At first, when I first saw him, I couldn't contain my emotions. I couldn't think logically or think straight. All I wanted in that moment was to get to him and I wasn't thinking about the consequences of alerting anyone else.
From behind me, I hear the sound of gunfire. And I immediately know that Dominic isn't the one who pulled the trigger because he had a silencer on his gun. I twist around in place to try to gather where the gunfire is coming from and it sounds like it's coming from the front porch. My heart races faster, if that’s even possible, and I curse myself under my breath for getting myself into this position.
He's still going to be in this compound but right now all I can think is that I've led Dominic to his death. I begin pacing real slow, holding my hand against the exterior of the house as I slowly make my way back towards the front of the house.
Something from behind me steals my attention.
Footsteps maybe.
I twist around on my feet and try to contain the out-of-control pounding of my heart, but I know right now it's no use. I might not die from gunfire tonight. I might just die from a heart attack. As much as I tried to prepare myself for this, I'm forced to recognize that I am not cut out for this. I'm not cut out for this life I've been living. All of this time, it's like I've been putting up a front. I'm not as strong as I'd like to believe.
My eyes are slowly adjusting to the darkness. From my calculations, I imagine someone has cut the power from inside. It’s the only logical reason for why it's gotten so dark out here.
I hear footsteps from in front of me again and though I'm not one to usually step into the unknown, I find myself drifting slowly towards the footsteps.
And then, I swear I can hear footsteps from behind me like I'm being surrounded on all sides. I stop in place and wish to hell that Dominic was here with me right now. I wish that I had stayed with Dominic because if he's hurt, maybe I could have prevented that. But there's nothing in the world to distract me like the thought of seeing my brother. I begin to reevaluate that thought in my head and began to believe that it was only my mind playing tricks on me.
Feeling as if there are people all around me, I decide to do what my gut is telling me to do. It tells me to race forward without a care in the world. It tells me to find some shelter or somewhere to hide long enough so I can gather my thoughts and come up with a new plan. And that’s just what I do. I kick one foot in front of the other and then race past the series of garages and towards the back of the house. And just as I'm about to round the corner and onto the beachy back yard, a hand wraps around my mouth.
I try to let out a scream but my voice is muffled against the hand of a complete stranger. The man pulls me backwards against the side of the house and then holds me in place while he breathes against the back of my neck.
I try to struggle against his grasp, try to break free from him but it's no use. He’s stronger than me and there's almost no point in fighting the inevitable. My cries continue to be muffled against his hand as my eyes close. Whatever is about to happen, I don't want to see it. I don't want the last thing I ever see to be this unknown mansion. In my head and behind closed eyes, there's a darkness before me that looks just like a clean chalkboard. I imagine thoughts of me and my brother at a younger time because that's the last thing I want to see before I die.
The man reaffirms his grip on me and holds me even tighter than before. His touch forces me to open up my eyes. No longer can I hide in a fantasy.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the man whispers in my ear, sending a chill down my spine. "What are you doing here with him?"
It can't be, I think to myself. I struggle against the man's grasp once more and this time I finally manage to break free. I spin around on my feet and when I see him standing there, it makes everything wort
h it. I knew I wasn't crazy when I saw him.
"Victor?" I take a measured step towards him while I shake my head in disbelief that this is actually happening. A soft, warm smile hitches across my lips as tears began to pool in the corners of my eyes. They're not sad tears though. Not even close. "I thought I lost you forever," I say as I began to sniffle and my words become muffled. "We need to go."
He doesn't seem as happy to see me though. He just stands there with the same blank expression and it's like my words don't move him at all. I instantly begin to think that he doesn't recognize me the way I recognize him. It's only been eight years, though, and he was an adult when he was taken so he should remember me unless for some reason, he’s shut all memories of me out.
"Don't you recognize me?" I question softly as I take another measured step towards him but he just about breaks my heart in half when he takes two steps back, reaches for his gun…
And then he aims it squarely at my face.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DOMINIC
I step through the creaky front door as slowly and quietly as humanly possible. And as I step inside and close the door gently behind me, the first place I look for any unsuspecting personnel is to my left where I've seen a shadow from outside.
It's a large formal dining room but there's nobody there. Nobody that I can see anyways. I know that someone had to have heard the shot I fired through the unnamed man's brain outside. Whether I like it or not, someone knows we're here.
Instead of just looking for my sister now though, I'm now looking for Katie too. I couldn't quite make out what she was screaming about but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. I take a little bit of comfort in knowing that most likely someone wouldn't kill her. For better or worse, villains always seem to treat women just a little bit differently. If it were me they found, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. But because she's a beautiful woman, they probably think that they can use her for leverage.
Being used for leverage is certainly better than being dead.
I don’t have time to make a proper sweep of the entire house so once I confirm that there’s nobody in the formal dining room, I exit back out into the foyer and cut across it to check an office situated just across. I open the first of two old-fashioned wooden doors and peek inside but all I see is pitch-black darkness. I pull the door closed behind me and just as I exit back out into the foyer, the lights all go out.
"Shit," I grind out and reach for my phone with my spare hand. When the screen lights up, I realize that there is no internet or cell phone connection either. Someone is using a data blocker. I shove the phone back into my pocket and make my way down the dark hall. I briefly think about using my phone's flashlight to light the way but I don't want to give away my position if I don't have to.
My eyes slowly adjust to the darkness but even as they adjust, I know I will never be able to see properly enough to do my job. I have no advantage here. This isn't my territory and I've lost the elements of surprise. Whoever is here in this house with me will know the floor plan. They will be more able to get around in the absolute darkness.
I make sure to stay as close to the walls as possible as I continue making my way down a long hallway that looks to bleed into the oversized kitchen and entertaining area. From just up ahead, at the end of the hallway, a faint sliver of moonlight passes through oversized windows. It lights up the kitchen with just enough light so that I'm able to see efficiently. Once I come to the end of the hallway, I force myself back against the wall. I crane my head around the corner to check both the kitchen and living room, but again there doesn't seem to be anyone there.
I'm starting to believe that all of the cars parked outside are nothing more than decoys. By now, in any other situation, I'd be flanked on all sides by opposing forces. Unless of course they're all hiding together on one of the two upper floors.
Once my sweep of the primary areas of the first floor is complete, I make my way back down the marbled hallway to the front door. And then I crane my head to look upstairs at a loft that hangs over the foyer. It's dark as hell up there, even darker than it is on the first floor. Just as I had done in the hallway, I stick as close as possible to the wall as I begin to ascend the long and winding stairwell.
I want to call out for my sister so damn bad but I know that I can't. I know that the only element of surprise I might have left is my position in this very house. I can tell that the flooring of the stairwell is relatively new because in an old house like this, they should be creaking with every step but they don't. It's a sigh of relief in a night filled with the idea that if something can go wrong, it will.
Once I reach the top of the landing, I'm even more careful than I was before. I step slowly with one foot in front of the other as I make my way across the open-air loft. There is a row of doors along the hallway just on the other side of the loft.
It really would have been nice if Alice or Tosha could have gotten the schematics or blueprints for this place. Going in blind is going to get me killed. As I'm cutting across the open loft, I hear the front door open and then close from downstairs.
I crane my head over my shoulder first and then twist around on my feet so that I'm facing the landing of the stairs. And then quickly but as quietly as possible I made my way back to the landing so that I can get a good look at the downstairs.
Looking down the stairs from up here, I can see much better because even though there's not a lot of light downstairs, the moonlight still streams through the kitchen windows and lights up the hall in a pale light.
Up here, it's pitch-dark blackness.
The only thing I can hear is the pounding of my own heart, threatening to beat right out of my chest. This isn't my first rodeo with danger. I've been down this road a thousand times before, but this time it's different because the stakes are so damn high.
Faintly, I can hear someone stepping across the marble tiled floor of the foyer. But no matter how hard I try or from what angle I look down from, I can't see who it is.
I ready my gun at my side and began pacing slowly down the steps, hoping that they are as quiet as they were when I was coming up them. One noisy creak could be the death of me.
Literally.
With my gun held in front of me, my finger just itching to pull the trigger, I cling to the wall as I take one step down the stairs at a time. I'm as careful as I can be but with each step, the curiosity seems to get the better of me. I go faster and faster down the steps until my boot clatters against one of the steps, forcing me to freeze in place.
My heart races even faster now.
I force myself to continue my way down the stairs, knowing that if someone did in fact hear me, I might as well be as good as dead. I try to steady my breathing but it’s a difficult task when my heart feels like it's about to jump out of my chest. Growing impatient and deciding to take a little bit of a risk, I step towards the railing, pulling myself away from the wall. I glance down into the foyer and see a womanly silhouette of someone who appears to be wearing a dress.
My heart runs cold for a split second as I realize I'm probably looking right at my sister. I know it's not Katie because she's not wearing a dress. I don't know what my sister is wearing either considering the only footage I've seen of her is footage that was recorded nine months ago. But in those videos, she clearly favored flowery print dresses.
In the back of my mind, I know I have to be careful with this. I know that I have to think with my head instead of my heart. I know that this could just as easily be someone who is not my sister, but I just can't convince myself to play this one safe.
"Shelby?" I call out in somewhat of a lowly whisper. It does the trick though and she can clearly hear me because she cranes her head to look right up at me. And with the soft filtered light lit against her face, I can swear that it's her. "Oh my God…"
I throw all caution to the wind and begin racing down the steps. I shove my gun into my holster and hold onto the railing so the excitement doesn't get t
he best of me and I find myself speeding down the steps. As soon as I hit the landing and go to approach her, she spins on her feet and races towards the kitchen.
Something is telling me that it's not her but I ignore that voice in my head and give chase. My boots clatter against the hard marble floors as I race forward and towards the woman who I believe could be my sister. She cuts into the kitchen and turns left, out of sight.
And just as I exit the hallway and into the kitchen, all of the lights in the mansion flash back on.
And though my eyes want to adjust against the light, I can't force myself to look away when I realize that I'm standing right in front of her. I finally found her and to be honest, I can't quite make sense of the feelings that I'm feeling. I can't make heads from tails and though I know I'm beyond happy, I still can't manage to force any words from my lips.
All my lips do is tremble. My entire body shakes too. I've been waiting for this moment for so long that I don't know how to react when it’s become my reality. I have had so many dreams where I have found her before and every time I woke up, I wanted to go back to sleep so bad that I didn't care if I never woke up again.
And here she is, after all of these years, standing right in front of me.
She looks just the way I last saw her. It's like she hasn't aged a single day in the last ten years. Our mother was much the same way, she never aged either. I, on the other hand, could never quite get so lucky.
Long brown hair flows down her back and her tan skin is contrasted against hazel eyes that match mine. She has almost invisible freckles dotted along her complexion but they're not invisible to me.
I began to step towards her with a warm smile written all over my face. I don't think I'd be any more capable of showing how happy I am in this moment. I know that the two of us don't have a lot of time together before we have to find Katie and get the hell out of here, but I need just this one minute with her.
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