Play Along

by T L Swan

  I pick up my phone and scroll to my contacts. I have two. Stace and his mom. I narrow my eyes as I stare at the phone and I click on her number, it rings.

  Ring, ring.

  Ring, ring.

  It picks up and I stay silent.

  Nobody answers, but I know someone is there listening.

  Fuck.

  I frown as I listen.

  Why isn’t she saying hello?

  I close my eyes as I think. What if this is a trap?

  What if they are going to trace my phone? What the fuck have I done?

  I instantly hang up. I stand up and throw my hands around in the air in a panic. Oh my God, oh my God. I have fifteen minutes before they can trace where I am. What am I going to do?

  My phone beeps a text on the side table, and goosebumps scatter all over my body. I watch it for a few moments in the dark silence with one hand over my mouth. Slowly, I pick it up to see that a video has been sent as a text. I click it open and the blood drains from my face.

  A middle aged woman is tied to a chair in a darkened factory. She is black and blue.

  Stace’s mom.

  Oh dear God. Tears fill my eyes. They have her. They’re going to kill her.

  I’m jolted back to life to the sound of my father’s strong voice through the video.

  “Roshina. Hand yourself over or she will have same fate as your mother. You have ten minutes.”

  The screen goes black.

  My heart starts to thump at my loss of power.

  Déjà vu.

  How does he do this? How does he manipulate me and gain control over every damn circumstance? I taste the hot, salty tears as they run down my face. This isn’t an idle threat. I know he will kill her without a second thought. I walk into the bathroom and stare at my reflection in the mirror where a scared child stares back at me—the same scared child who lost her mother at his evil hands. I can’t. I won’t let that happen. Stace has already lost his father and brother. I can’t let him lose her, too.

  His whole family will be gone, just like mine.

  The loneliness… Oh, I can’t even think of it. It hurts my heart to remember my mom and the way she died.

  For a moment, I sit on the edge of the bathtub, knowing that somehow, all along I knew this was coming. I begin to mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. All those days at the shooting range, all those early morning kickboxing classes, the weekly grief counseling and anger management. It starts a fire in my stomach.

  I’ve had it.

  He’s got it coming to him… and I’m going to give it.

  How fucking dare he try to ruin my life, yet again? Fury starts to pump through my bloodstream. I go to the bathroom, straighten myself up, and without a thought, I head out the door and into the corridor. I turn and walk down to our old room where I can hear the numerous men’s voices on the other side.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  A tall man in a suit answers and a trace of a smile covers his face, as if he was expecting me.

  I glare at him, the hatred for my father so thick in my blood that it clogs my arteries. “My name is Roshina Vikinos.” The men all glance at each other.

  “Take me to my father.”

  * * *

  I sit in the car with a man on either side of me and another two in the front. I’m not tied or bound. He knows he has me, I have no choice but to be here and I have no choice but to kill or be killed. I won’t let her die at his hands like my own beautiful mother did, and I’m sure as shit not letting my Stace come to try and get her out of this.

  He would be dead on sight.

  I have more of a chance than he does.

  We drive for over an hour. It’s early morning and I watch as the people in cars around us all head off to their day at work like everything is normal. It is for them. I wonder what normal feels like? My whole world is collapsing again. It’s like I’m watching it play out in a movie… all my worst fears brought to life.

  Armageddon.

  The farther we drive from my love, the more I feel the sanity leave my body.

  I’ve never felt so fucking crazy.

  At least his men are with me and Stace is free to try and escape.

  Run, baby.

  I close my eyes. Even though I have distanced them away from Stace, I know the police will be chasing him down. He has no money. What’s he going to do?

  Where will he sleep tonight?

  “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “No,” the driver snaps.

  “Where the hell am I going to go?”

  “We are nearly there.” He growls.

  “I’m going to piss in your car, asshole.”

  “Do it and see what happens to you.”

  The man next to me smirks and I elbow him hard in the stomach. He doubles over and the man on the other side of me bursts out laughing.

  “Shut up or your next,” I snap.

  They are all so happy with themselves. They came up with the goods. Makes me sick. Their pay increase for bringing me in will be substantial.

  Fucking assholes.

  My anger simmers beneath the surface and I clench my fists in front of me. If I’m going to go down, I’m going down fighting. He has no idea what I am capable of, and in all honesty, neither do I.

  I am his daughter.

  We drive into an industrial estate with huge factories on large lots of land, and I study the surroundings carefully, still hopeful that I can fight my way out of this mess. Stace’s mom is a whole other problem. I have to get them to let her go first and then I can fight. If she is there with me, I have no chance of escaping. How do you run and hide with an elderly lady who is injured?

  I hope she’s okay.

  The car turns into a long driveway and we travel off the main road and across open land through a windy dirt road for a few kilometres. How the hell am I going to get out of here? There is nowhere to hide, acres for as far as I see. I feel my apprehension rise. We come to a slow halt in front of a huge, old warehouse, and are greeted by three men holding semi-automatic guns, guarding the door and waiting out the front for our arrival.

  I feel the adrenaline start to pump through me and I close my eyes in dread.

  The men get out of the car, but I stay seated. I don’t want to get out.

  “Get out.” The man I elbowed growls.

  “Go to fucking hell.”

  He reaches in the car and grabs me by the hair and I kick him hard in the face, but his grip is too strong. After a few moments of struggling, the other men help to hold me down and he drags me out. The pain in my head shoots through me and as I stand he hits me in the face and I stagger back.

  “Don’t fucking hit me again.” He growls.

  I look him square in the eye and fake a smile. “You pathetic piece of shit. He will kill you next, you’re just a number.”

  He pushes me in the back toward the door and I stumble forward. I really wish I had something more appropriate on. I’m in a black, skimpy, tight dress and my tits are half hanging out. Two of the men grab my arms and drag me though the door and suddenly fear takes over and I fight to break free.

  “Let me go,” I yell.

  I get my arm loose and I punch one of the men in the face and we begin to violently struggle. The other man hits me again, and I turn and kick him as hard as I can in the groin. He doubles over and falls to the ground. The other two men grab me and, as hard as I try, I can’t seem to break loose. The push me farther into the room and that’s when I see her.

  Oh dear God.

  Tied to a chair with her hands behind her back, her eyes so swollen from being beaten that they are closed, she looks near death.

  “What have you animals done to her?” I scream.

  I run to her. “Annette. Annette are you okay?” I cry.

  Her head is slouched and she is semi-conscious. She lifts her head slightly. “Stace,” she whimpers.

  I bend and kiss her face so that they can’t hear me. “Stace is saf
e,” I whisper. “I’m here now, I’m going to help you.” I put my hand tenderly on her head. “I’m here to help you.”

  I turn as if possessed by the devil. “Let her go!” I scream.

  The gutless men all stand still as they watch me.

  “Untie her now!” I scream. “It’s me that he wants. Tell him I’m here.”

  The men all continue to stand still.

  “Tell him!” I scream.

  My father steps out from the shadows and my heart drops as the air leaves my lungs.

  The little girl in me is terrified.

  His eyes hold mine, and he steps toward me, wearing an expensive dark suit he is the epitome of evil. “Hello, Roshina,” he replies flatly, his voice is calm and collected.

  I don’t answer as the fearful tears fill my eyes. There’s no air in here. I feel like I can’t breathe.

  “I hate you. I hate you.”

  He smiles as he stares at me and after a long pause he replies, “You are as charming as ever.”

  I stare at him through bleary tear filled eyes. How could I possibly be half of this man?

  “Where is he?” he asks calmly.

  My blood runs cold. “He’s dead,” I murmur.

  He smiles. “No, but he will be very soon.”

  His words knock me. “What do you want?” I whisper.

  “Something only you can give me.”

  I stare at him.

  He puts his hands behind his back and links his hands together and begins to pace. “I’m dying, Roshina.”

  I frown.

  “I have brain cancer.”

  I step back and his man grabs my arm and I yank it from his grip. “Don’t fucking touch me.” I growl.

  “Good. I’m glad you’re dying. It will be a blessing to the world,” I snap as I lift my chin in defiance.

  He tips his head back and laughs out loud. “I do love your drive.”

  I glare at him. “Just die already.”

  “There is something I want from you before I do, and then you can die right along side of me.”

  My eyes hold his.

  “You will marry the man that I have picked to take over my empire.”

  Fear pumps through my body and I begin to hear my heartbeat in my ears. “No, I won’t,” I snap.

  He smiles darkly. “Yes. Yes, you will.”

  I shake my head. “You are fucking crazy. Why would you possibly want me to marry your understudy? What could you possibly gain from such an arrangement?”

  “A bloodline heir. I want your son.”

  24

  I smile from shock, I think. That is the craziest, fucked up thing I have ever heard.

  A frown crosses his face and I see a trace of a weakness. “You think this is funny?”

  I laugh a deep belly aching laugh. “Your stupidity insults my intelligence.”

  He watches me intently and he lifts his chin in defiance.

  “You didn’t think to check with me on that arrangement?” I smile.

  He glares at me. ‘I don’t need to check anything. You will do as I say and you brought this on yourself when you killed my brother.”

  “I will do nothing of the fucking sort!” I yell. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  He narrows his eyes.

  “Now untie her and let her go, or I am going to kill you.”

  A broad smile crosses his face and he raises his eyebrows. “You?” He smiles, his eyes flicker around to his gophers and he points. “She’s hilarious.” He laughs and his monkeys all start laughing, too.

  “Is that a threat Roshina?”

  I step forward and spit in his face. “That’s a promise.”

  He slaps me hard across the face and I smile darkly. “How does it feel to have your own flesh and blood hate you with everything that she has?”

  His face drops as he wipes the saliva from his cheek with his forearm. That disgusting act felt better than it should.

  “Mom left you.” I lean forward and raise my eyebrow as I whisper. “Do you want to know why?”

  His eyes flicker to the men around us and I know I have hit a nerve.

  “Let her go.” I gesture to Stace’s mom.

  His eyes flash to her tied to the chair.

  “Let her go and we can go to your house to discuss this grandchild.”

  “I’m not stupid.

  I smile. “Neither am I.”

  “Where is Mac?” He growls.

  “Let her go. It’s me you want. You have me.”

  I hold my hands up. “You let her go or you can shoot me dead as I fight.”

  He glares at me.

  “I can’t procreate when I’m dead.” I pause and smile sweetly. “Can I, Daddy?”

  His eyes narrow in fury and I know that my sarcasm is getting to him. I’ve got him. He needs me alive.

  I walk over to Stace’s mom and I begin to untie her hands from behind her back.

  “Stop right there,” he yells.

  “Nope.” I keep going.

  “This is your final warning.”

  “And I’m warning you. You want me to stop, get one of your monkeys to kill me.”

  I struggle with the knots and finally I wriggle her free before I help her stand.

  The roof cracks and I look up into the darkness overhead at the big timber beams. The men’s eyes rise to the ceiling and two walk around as they hold their guns in the air.

  Somebody is on the roof.

  Stace?

  I force my eyes down. Distract him.

  Two of the guards step forward and grab her by the arms.

  I turn to look at him. “What’s it going to be?” I sneer.

  “Me or her?”

  He glares at me.

  “You let her go, I do what you want,” I reply.

  He hesitates and lifts his chin in thought.

  “Your plan worked, you got me here. Now she’s not needed anymore. If you keep her or hurt her, I will fight till my death.” I shrug. “I’m happy to die today and then where will you get your heir?”

  “No, dear,” she whispers. I grab her hand and squeeze it.

  I walk her toward the door and the guards step forward and he puts his hand up in a stop signal. “You can have your way this time, Roshina,” he says calmly. “As a show of my good faith.” The men stop on the spot where they are and I usher her over to the door.

  “Go, run. Hide in the grass.”

  She shakes her head in fear. “Come with me,” she whispers.

  “Run, hide,” I whisper again so only she can hear. I open the door and push her out before she can argue and close it behind her before he changes his mind.

  I turn and face my father. “Now, let’s get down to business.”

  * * *

  Stace

  I sink to the floor and sit on the step for a moment as I let my actions sink in. I’ve done it.

  That’s it.

  I close my eyes in regret. Deep down I always knew we couldn’t be long term. I always had that annoying little voice in the back of my psyche letting me know how it would go. How could I possibly have ever imagined a future with her when we met through the kidnapping?

  She was right all along. She did deserve more from her person. I get a vision of her laughing out loud underneath me and I feel a sharp, swift kick to my stomach.

  Knowing what I am missing out on is going to make it so much harder to go on.

  Damn Vikinos for treating her the way he has. How in hell could he treat his own daughter like that? A daughter as special as she is. My blood starts to simmer, and with renewed fury I stand and turn the handle to get back out onto the floor.

  Locked.

  Fuck it.

  I stare at it for a moment, knowing I have to go to the bottom to get out. My adrenaline starts to pump. I am going to have one of two welcoming parties.

  The police or Vikinos’ men.

  I want the men. I want my revenge and I’m going to fucking get it.

  I’m furi
ous. I glance at the time on my phone. The police should be here within fifteen minutes to pick Rosh up, hopefully sooner, and then I can start my attack.

  With Rosh safe and out of harm’s way, I can go back to the original plan. I start to jog down the steps. We are on the tenth floor, so it is a fair way down. Two flights down I hear a noise in the level underneath me and I stop on the step. I peer over the handrail as I try to see what’s coming up the stairs.

  Bang, bang. Clatter.

  I frown. What is that? I lean over the rail again and see a maintenance man cleaning the rail and I pick up the pace. I jog down and come face to face with him.

  “Oh, hello.” I smile casually. “I came into the stairs by mistake and now all the doors are locked.”

  “It’s the fire stairs, the doors don’t open until you get to the bottom floor,” he replies with a shake of his head.

  “Damn, I didn’t realize.” I look around as I wait for him to offer to open the door. “So you have to walk all the way down the bottom floor every time, do you?” I ask.

  “No, I got a key.”

  “Great.” I fake a smile.

  He keeps cleaning. Am I going to have to jump this dude to get the bloody key or what? “Do you mind opening the door so I don’t have to walk all the way to the ground?” I ask.

  “I’m not supposed to. It’s against policy.”

  My eyes hold his as I sum him up.

  He shrugs. “Why not?” He shuffles over and opens the door for me.

  “Thank you.” I smile as I walk calmly into the hallway. I wait for ten minutes and then head straight toward the lifts. I watch the dial above the doors and as it opens I step out into the corridor. I look left and then right. I walk down the hallway toward our original room and I hesitate and swipe the card key across the lock. I brace myself.

  I open the door and glance around. Nobody is here.

  Huh?

  I walk through the room and they have been here, but it looks like they have just left.

  Why have they left?

  My eyes search the room as I try to work out where they have gone. Are they coming back?

  I go to the wardrobe and open the safe combination and my gun is still in there.