by Brooks,Anna
I was ripped from my bed at three in the morning, hours after Ty was with me, and as I was being thrown into the backseat of a black SUV, Marco’s face was the first thing I saw. He sneered at me, and I knew that this was it, but when his hands palmed my breasts then went down to my stomach, he paused.
He lifted my nightgown and shook his head. “Well, this is unexpected … but delightful. Does he know?”
I shook my head and feared for my life. My baby’s life.
“Even better.”
He handled me with as much care as you would expect from a kidnapper. When we pulled up to a house, I was surprised to see how beautiful it was. The scenery was breathtaking, and I’d appreciate it any other time, but the dense trees only meant obstacles for me to make my way through if I were to escape.
He led me through the immaculate house and down to the basement, where it was the opposite of the expensive furniture and paintings upstairs. Instead, I found wet cement floors, spider webs, and darkness.
Now, I sit and try to listen for any sound. Footsteps scatter above me. Voices, laughter. A door opens and closes. But nobody comes for me.
Hours, at least, have to pass. My eyelids become heavy, but I shake my head and smack my face to try to stay awake. He was able to get to me when I was asleep, so I’m afraid of what would happen if I fall asleep here.
The dim light hanging from the ceiling gives me no indication as to how much time has passed in the windowless room. Silence descends upon me and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, my internal instincts preparing me for something.
But nothing happens. I urinate in the bucket two more times, and somewhere between, I fall asleep. I’m thirsty. So thirsty. My mouth is like sandpaper, and my stomach rumbles with emptiness. I rub it and talk to my baby, ensuring her that everything will be okay. I try to tell her that her daddy will save us, but I’m beginning to think it’s not going to happen.
I shake the shackles, cutting open the flesh on my legs, and I pull so hard one of my fingernails breaks off. I scream at the excruciating pain and fall back onto the bed, clutching my hand as blood trickles down my finger.
My body shakes as sobs tear through me, pain from hunger and thirst along with my finger force me to scream at the top of my lungs. Fear of dying here chained up like an animal makes me pound on the mattress.
I don’t hear him come in, but when the door slams against the wall, I scream even louder. His hands grab my hair, and he yanks me up. “Shut up.” He slaps me across the face, and I fall to the bed.
“Fuck you!” I shout and push myself up again. When I try to stand, I’m so weak I fall to the cold cement floor. “Please,” I beg, when he makes no attempt to help me. “I’m so thirsty.”
I look up at him, and the evil glint in his eye causes a chill to run down my spine. He unzips his pants and pulls out his dick, the uncircumcised head pointed right at me. “You drink it down, and I’ll get you some food.”
I gag at the thought. “There’s a baby inside me. Don’t you have a fucking heart? I’m starving.”
“If it weren’t for that bastard’s seed growing inside you, I’d already have broken you in like I’ve wanted to. But, as they say, patience is a virtue. You’re a fun pawn to have. And I’m a patient man, Jessa. I’ve waited this long. I can wait a few more months until that thing is out of your belly.”
“No, don’t hurt my baby,” I plead, grabbing my stomach like a lifeline.
“I’m not going to hurt it. I’ll just make a pretty penny off it. What happens after that isn’t up to me. Now, enough talking.” He begins jerking himself and uses his other hand to pull me up by my hair. I screech at the contact and then close my eyes as he pulls my face closer to him. “I have no heart, Jessa. But I do have food and water, so if you wanna live and have that little spawn of yours survive, you’d better open up and swallow every last drop.”
My lips plaster together, and I shake my head erratically.
“No?” he grunts.
I dare not open my mouth to speak, but he slaps the side of my face. “I’ve dreamed about having your pretty lips around me since the moment I saw you. So, let me rephrase. Open your mouth.”
My head shakes so hard my brain hurts. He grips my chin with one hand and forces my head up. I push at him, and he steps back.
“Rico!”
Four seconds later, another man enters the room. I recognize him as the driver. “Yeah, boss?”
“Hold her arms back for me.”
“Sure thing.” He starts walking toward me, and I try to fight. “Stop fighting, Jessa,” Rico whispers.
I scream and shake and do whatever I can, but I’m no match for two men. Especially since I’m dehydrated and starving and trying to protect my baby at the same time.
Marco grabs my chin again as Rico holds my arms behind my back. He sits behind me and squeezes my head between his knees. Marco’s hand moves faster up and down his shaft, and I try to hold my mouth shut, but he squeezes so hard I’m forced to open it. Just as another scream is about to come out of me, he grunts, and his semen hits my tongue. I gag and spit as he tucks himself back in his pants, vomit creeping up my throat and landing on the floor as I cough.
Rico chuckles as he pushes me forward.
“Get her a slice of bread and water.” Marco pats my cheek before he walks out.
My tears mix with his disgusting bodily fluid, and I wipe my face on the sheet, ready to just give up and shut down, but then I feel it. A kick. My baby. She’s telling me not to give up. To keep fighting.
So I decide to do just that.
Once Rico delivers my bread, I scarf it down and sip the water, not wanting to upset my stomach more than it already is. I save half of the bottle and set it on the floor then fiddle with the locking mechanism. Like every other time, it won’t budge. I’ve pulled, tugged, and yanked to no avail. Instead of wasting my energy on trying to escape the industrial strength chain, I save it for when I’ll need it … which I fear will be sooner rather than later.
I stare at the ceiling for what feels like hours. I’m so tired that when I fall asleep, it feels like I’m drifting in and out of consciousness. While I’m dreaming, I make plans. What I want to do to Marco. What I picture Ty doing to him when he comes to rescue me.
But of course, when I wake up, I’m still alone. And cold. And scared.
Finally, footsteps get louder, and when Marco opens the door, I realize that Ty isn’t coming … Nobody’s going to save me.
“Do I need assistance this time?” He doesn’t waste time and starts unzipping his pants.
My temporary courage vanishes, and I hang my head, emotion clogging my throat. “Why?”
“That’s a good question, isn’t it?”
I nod in answer.
“It started out as something different. Revenge. Vengeance. Retribution. Oh, but it’s changed now. He thinks I don’t know. This is his reminder that I know everything. Everyone.” He yanks my head up by my hair. “Nobody betrays me. And he betrayed me, so now, he must pay.”
He presses his penis to my lips, and I open my mouth. The moment the tip of his dick slides over my tongue, I bite … hard. Marco screams and punches me in the side of the head, causing me to really lose consciousness.
Chapter 15
Ty
“It’s been three fucking days, Jay. I’m not waiting a second longer.” I pace his office and squeeze my fists together so I don’t break something else. I’ve already put a hole through this wall, and he told me if I broke anything else, he’d throw me in a cell until they found her. I can’t let anyone else be the first person she sees when we finally find her.
I can’t let myself think about what Marco’s doing to her. I’ve seen him in action … He’s ruthless, heartless; the man doesn’t have an ounce of feeling in his body. He wants me, not her, so my only salvation is that he’s keeping her alive until I show up.
He’s figured it out.
And in order to pay me back for betraying
him, he’s taken the only thing in the world I care about. With that thought, my jaw grinds so hard I’m surprised I don’t break my teeth.
Jessa’s going to need me. So, for her, I’ll keep my temper in check.
I’m just about to leave his office when Neil comes barreling through the door. He wasn’t part of our operation until recently. He tried to prove that we could trust him, and for all intents and purposes, he passed. But I’ve never fully trusted him. I didn’t meet him until the night of her kidnapping because I didn’t want to see the man who is with my woman. Who was where I should have been. Where I belong.
But then he told me. He explained it. Their relationship. About the baby. My baby. She was trying to tell me, and I fucking ran away like a little bitch. And that night, Marco fucking took her. It’s my fault. All of it. Everything’s my fucking fault.
But I will make it up to her. I promise that.
“Got a location,” Neil says.
We jog out of Jay’s office, and as we’re making our way to our vehicles, Neil shouts out an address.
I speed all the way there, and when I pull up to a large, pristine house, I don’t even have the car in park before I’m running to the front door.
In the distance, I hear Jay and Neil yelling at me to wait for backup, but I ignore them, and when one of Marco’s goons opens the front door, I don’t hesitate to shoot him in the neck. Blood shoots out of his jugular, and I step over him and walk in the open door.
More men come at me, but I’m lethal. So fucking determined. My aim is dead on, and by the time I’ve killed four more men, Jay and Neil catch up. “Fuckin’ a, Mitchell, we told you to wait. Backup’s two minutes out,” Jay chastises.
“That’s two minutes longer that she’s not with me.”
My feet pound down the stairs, figuring he’d be cliché and put her in the basement. I kick open the last door on the right.
Sure as shit, they’re in here. He’s holding her in front of him like a damn shield, her head fallen forward, her once beautiful, shining blond hair covering her face. Dirt canvases her entire body, and I growl at her bloody ankles tied to the fucking floor.
“Let her go,” I demand, training my gun at his head. But he’s smart, so he keeps himself just close enough that I can’t get a shot.
“I don’t want to. I just got her trained.” He pulls her hair, and when I see the black and blue bruise on the side of her face, my hands shake from anger.
“She’s fucking pregnant, you bastard!”
“I know. That’s the only reason she’s still alive. Figured it’d be fun to fuck with your spawn.”
How the fuck did he know it was mine? My eyes must show the shock I feel because he laughs. “You didn’t know?”
Just then, Jay and Neil enter the room, and the moment he moves his eyes from me to them, I take advantage and charge him. He wasn’t expecting the move, so I’m able to rip Jessa out of his hands. God, it’s only been three days, but I can already tell she’s lost some weight. He fucking starved her. I twist my body so my back is facing him, and a burning sensation rips through my spine. Fucker shot me in my back. I fall to the floor, landing on my side so she doesn’t hit the cement first. Jessa grunts and although it pains me that she’s hurt, she’s alive. And she’s fucking mine.
I know the guys have my back, and three shots ring through the almost empty room before the thud of Marco’s body puts a sardonic smile on my face.
“Fuck,” Jay clips as he kneels down next to me. “Call an ambulance,” he hollers to Neil.
“Already did,” he grunts. “I’m gonna shoot these fuckin’ shackles off her.”
As soon as he rapid fires two shots, Jessa’s body falls on me even more, and she moans. “Hey, baby. Can you open your eyes for me?” I rub the hair off her face and swallow down the copper taste in my throat.
She moans again, and I bite back a groan of pain as my chest begins to throb. Not the kind of throbbing it normally does when she’s near, telling me I have a purpose to be alive. No, this throbbing is one that tells me I might not be around much longer … But I saved her, so I’ve fulfilled my purpose for living, and that makes the pain bearable.
Her eyes flutter open, and she licks her dry lips and whines when she swallows.
“There she is. There’s my pretty girl.” Her scared eyes meet mine, and she becomes blurry. It takes a moment for me to realize it’s because my eyes are filling with tears … Shit, I don’t even remember the last time I cried. Don’t know if I even have before.
“Knew you’d come,” she mumbles.
I smile, and just as I’m about to tell her I’ll always come for her, everything around me blurs and darkens. I think I hear her … Jay, for sure. He’s yelling at me. But then he stops, the pain in my chest disappears, and I fall asleep with my girl in my arms.
* * *
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.” The doctor changes my bandages, and I grunt a response.
Yeah, I’m a regular fuckin’ miracle. I figure this is my reward for all the other shit I’ve had thrown at me my whole life.
“How is she?” I know that she’s alive. She’s just sleeping, which is her body’s way of healing.
“You know I can’t discuss her con—”
“How in the hell is she?” I grind out between my clenched jaw.
The doctor sighs and I sit up and put my shirt back on. I refuse to wear a fuckin’ hospital gown.
“She’s healing.”
I nod at him and hop off the bed.
“I highly advise against you leaving this room. You should still be observed for at least twenty-four hours.”
“My pregnant woman was tortured and tied to the ground for three fucking days. You can observe me in bed with her.”
“Mr. Mitchell, you were shot in the back. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle, let alone walking. For your sake, I strongly suggest—”
Enough of his bullshit. I don’t need to get permission from anyone to hold her. “I’m alive for her, because of her. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.”
As soon as I got to the hospital, the doctors stitched me up, and now, I’m good as new. The bullet was a through and through, and like the doctor said, miraculously didn’t cause major damage. Something about the angle I was in as I was falling. The trajectory of the bullet made its way through without hitting anything important. It’s pretty much just a flesh wound to my back and chest from the point of entry and exit. But my fuckin’ chest is sore as hell.
Eighteen hours of not seeing her are too many. I’ve gone too long; threats of her safety kept me away, when in reality, if I had been with her, he never would have gotten his hands on her.
I walk into her room and don’t hesitate to crawl into bed with her. My hand presses against her belly, gently rolling her to her back and resting her head on my chest. I wince when she sighs against my wound, but I hold her a little tighter. I’m exhausted, but I got some sleep earlier today, so I’m not missing a moment with her now. I trace my fingers over her bruise and wish I could have pummeled Marco before he died.
She moans again, and it fuckin’ tears me apart that since rescuing her, the only noises I’ve heard her make are those of pain. “Hey, baby.” I gently run my thumb over her lips and kiss the top of her head as I close my eyes and soak her in.
Chapter 16
Jessa
He holds me, and even though I should be mad at him, I snuggle deeper. His arms are about the only place I feel safe right now. His breathing is even, yet strong, brushing over the top of my head, and I blink my eyes open.
When I look down, his scarred hand rests protectively on my belly, and my eyes immediately fill with tears. He must know that I’m awake because his grip on me tightens.
“Shh … It’s okay now.”
I allow myself a good cry in his arms and cling to him like I wish I could have been doing all along. He finally sits me up and wipes my eyes with his thumbs. “Hi,” he whispers.
<
br /> “Hi.”
“Let me call a nurse.”
“How long was I out for?”
He pushes the button with a red cross on it. “It’s been almost twenty-four hours.”
“Is the baby okay?” I rub both hands on my belly and wait anxiously for his answer.
“Yes. Our baby is perfectly fine. You were dehydrated and … and shit, Jess, look at your beautiful face.” His eyes slowly scan my bruises. “Considering how long he had you for … Fuck, I expected—”
“Good morning, Ms. Crew.” The doctor walks in and offers a weak smile.
“Hello,” I say shyly. My mind is still so confused from everything.
“I know this may seem like a shortsighted question, but how do you feel?” He squirts some hand sanitizer on his hands and rubs it in.
“I’m sore. Hungry. But overall, I’m okay, I guess.”
He chuckles and nods at me. “You and this gentleman sure know how to make a remarkable recovery.”
A nurse walks in, and Ty moves enough for them to do their exam. “Aside from being dehydrated, your injuries are minimal, Ms. Crew. We’ve treated the abrasions on your ankles, and the IV is helping as well. Dinner will be brought to you shortly, but only broth and Jell-O tonight. In the morning, you can try something a little more solid.”
“Okay.” I squeeze Ty’s hand. “The baby is okay, right?”
“Yes. The OB came in and performed an ultrasound, and everything appears to be as it should. The little girl is right where she—”
“It’s a girl?” I interrupt.
“I’m sorry. I assumed you knew.” The doctor blushes.
“No, I wanted it to be a surprise.” My voice clogs with emotion, and Ty sniffles. I look over at him and catch the tail end of him wiping his eyes. “Ty,” I whisper.
His Adam’s apple works its way up and down, and he gives me a slight shake of his head. He’s not ready to talk about it. “Okay.” I lean into him and finish listening to the doctor.