by Lindsey Gray
“You’ve been a very bad girl, my little Lucy.” Viktor was caressing her cheek as the room came back into focus. “Now, Finn will have to be punished.”
For three days, she hardly slept or ate. The girls had been told Finn was sick and he’d be able to play with them when he was feeling better. Chloe even wanted Lucy to help her make a get well soon card. She kissed her forehead before taking off for the bathroom so she could cry in private.
During those days, Camille watched Lucy’s every move. She slept next to her. She watched her take care of all the girls’ needs. She even watched her in the shower, yet she never touched her. Camille left that to her husband.
On the third day, Camille had gone out into the backyard to play with the girls while Lucy stayed inside to work on dinner. She felt safe enough knowing Viktor was out, but she couldn’t resist the urge to look for Finn.
She had slipped the pork roast into the oven and was about to sneak off to do some snooping when Viktor surprised her from behind.
“I’m glad we finally have some alone time together.” He roughly yanked her skirt up, ripped her underwear down, and threw her over to the kitchen island.
“Please. Don’t do this.” Lucy tried to get the words out as the tears filled her eyes.
He bent her over the island until her chest was pressed flush against the cold countertop. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, the fear overcoming her, causing her entire body to shake. She bit her lip to contain the scream welling up inside her as he groped her.
“Oh, my little Lucy. You’re even tighter than my Finn was.”
“Don’t you dare!” Lucy screamed but Viktor pushed her down so hard, she hit her nose on the hard tiles covering the island, making her eyes tear up even more.
“I will do whatever I want. I’m in control here.” He punctuated his point by pushing harder against her tender flesh. As she winched from the pain, blood dripped from her nose, and it seemed to send a wave of sick pleasure through him.
Her shaking turned violent as the terror of what was about to happen sank in. Her skin broke out in a cold sweat as she felt one hand softly move down her spine. She knew he would take her virginity, something she would never get back. As terrified as she was, her anger at him taking it brought back her fighting instinct.
He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck just before Lucy heard him unzip his jeans. He adjusted himself behind her. She clenched her jaw and fisted her hands, ready to strike when she felt part of him enter her.
The kitchen door swung open so fast, neither Lucy nor Viktor had time to move.
When Chloe came running in, Lucy had never been so relieved to see the child in her entire life.
“Lucy?” Chloe looked at both her father and Lucy questioningly.
Both Lucy and Viktor’s lower bodies were hidden from Chloe by the island.
“Lucy hurt her back, and I was just trying to help her.” Viktor released his hold on the back of her neck and ran his hand down her spine as he pulled back and inconspicuously zipped his jeans back up.
“Why is your nose bleeding then?” Chloe questioned as she tipped her head to the side.
Lucy stood up as Viktor kicked her underwear over to her feet. She reached up and brushed away a few tears before she grabbed a towel to wipe the blood away from her nose “It just happens sometimes. Don’t worry about it.” Lucy felt her legs trembling.
“I guess you don’t want to play tag then. Daddy, will you come play?”
“Sure, angel.” Viktor walked over and took Chloe’s hand. Before going through the door, he turned back to Lucy. “We can finish this later.”
“Don’t count on it.” Lucy whispered in a shaky breath as she continued to put pressure on her nose.
When the door shut behind them, Lucy pulled on her underwear and ran up to her bedroom.
For hours, she lay curled in a ball on the bed and cried, racking her brain for answers. Eventually, exhaustion set in, and she let her body slip into the darkness.
She woke when a light flipped on. Finn was there, sitting on the edge of the bed. He was still wearing the same pajama pants he had on the last time Lucy had seen him. As she moved closer, she realized what Viktor had been doing to entertain himself.
“This is all he did.”
“All? Finn.” Lucy knelt down on the floor in front of him to see various stages of red, purple, and blue welts covering his back and torso. Her fingers gently made their way down his rib cage. All she wanted to do was take away his pain. Hers meant nothing at that moment.
She placed her lips to his chest, right above his heart. He brushed his fingers through her hair as she trailed kisses all over his torso. She laid him down on his stomach and went to work on his back. Before she could finish, he was fast asleep. She pulled the blankets over them and snuggled into his side.
The next morning, Lucy helped him out of his pants and into the shower.
“I’m not ready to let go of you yet.” Finn held Lucy’s wrist in his hand as he stepped in. “Come with me.”
She slipped off her clothes. She took his hand and stepped into the steaming hot shower. Lucy lathered him up, trying to wash away as much of the pain as she could. Finn would hold her, kiss her, but she knew whatever Viktor had done had left another scar on Finn’s soul.
The door to the bathroom opened and Camille stepped in. “The girls want to go swimming.”
Finn pulled Lucy into him under the running water. They could see Camille’s eyes ogling their naked bodies.
“I’ll leave you something to wear.” She placed their bathing suits on the counter. She sucked on her fingertip while taking a final look.
“We’ll be down in a few minutes,” Lucy said. That seemed to pull Camille out of her euphoric state. She left the bathroom, and Lucy traded Finn’s arms for a fluffy bath towel.
After their shower, Lucy looked at the swimsuit Camille had left for her. It was a bikini, if you could even call it that. The top looked like two green triangles attached with dental floss. The bottoms weren’t much better. A swatch of green fabric tied together at each side. In any other situation, Finn thought he might have found her incredibly sexy. Just knowing her assets were on display to their captors as they leered at her made every part of him burn.
Finn put on a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt. He assumed that Viktor didn’t want to show off his handiwork to the girls.
“Lucy dear, we wouldn’t want you to burn. Finn,” Viktor drawled as he threw him a bottle of sunscreen, “Why don’t you put some of this on Lucy. Make sure to cover every inch. We wouldn’t want to harm her flawless skin.”
Lucy stood, her limbs slightly shaking at Viktor’s lust filled words. Finn opened the bottle. He started on her legs, rubbing the lotion all the way up her thighs and across her exposed cheeks. He worked over her back and both her arms. She turned to him, and they started to forget that there was anyone watching. He traced little circles across her stomach as he rubbed the lotion in. Finn let his fingers trail between her breasts and across her collarbone. He brought his hand up to her cheek and pressed her slick body against his as he kissed her lips, getting lost in each breath.
“Come to bed, darling. I know you’re exhausted.” Claire motioned for her husband to come to her.
Claire was still the vigilant caretaker she’d always been. She worried about everyone else before giving her own needs a thought.
Murphy moved from the chair next to their bedroom window to stand with her at the foot of their bed. Her skin was pale, and the dark circles beneath her beautiful eyes matched his. He let his hands rest on her hips as hers lay on his chest.
“I could say the same for you.” He caressed the apple of her cheek. “You look like you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months.”
“One month, two weeks, and four days,” she corrected him.
Finn and Lucy had gone missing two days before Finn’s eighteenth birthday, and it was already the middle of July.
“We
can’t go on living like this. I just don’t think this family can take it.” Claire’s silent tears dampened Murphy’s chest.
He wrapped his arms around her as the sound of her cries filled the room.
Murphy knew she was right. Their family was breaking apart.
He turned off the lights and pulled his wife into their bed. He let his mind wander as they huddled next to each other, begging sleep to come.
Just like every other night, it didn’t come willingly. Murphy’s mind wandered to what Finn and Lucy were dreaming about, if they were even sleeping at all. He knew it wasn’t a coincidence when Viktor disappeared just days after Finn. Viktor was involved; of that, he was sure. Murphy also knew Camille had made a lot of money selling a patent on some computer chip she had designed, so their resources were endless. They could be anywhere in the world, and not one person Murphy had hired could find them.
Lane was doing his best, working with the authorities, and trying to keep everyone optimistic. Murphy knew the pain he was feeling. Between his two children, Finn had always been the more independent one. That had changed when he came home from Two Roads. He never wanted to leave. Murphy felt so guilty for making him stay at that school for so long. They’d lost so much time with him and unknowingly gave Viktor five years to do unspeakable things to him. He knew he would do anything to make it up to his son. Anything.
Claire coped by keeping herself occupied. Her garden rivaled Martha Stewart’s. She worked on it whenever she wasn’t trying to keep the rest of them together. It seemed to be the only thing that distracted her.
Aiden had set up a website to get the word out, featuring Finn and Lucy’s story. It also had information on how to contact authorities with any information leading to their discovery. They could hardly tear Aiden away from the computer. His laptop was on even while he slept.
Jack and Aiden had moved into the guest room while Rylan wouldn’t come out of Finn’s room. Jack seemed to be the only thing keeping them all together. Murphy thought Jack was angry for not seeing what was going on with Finn in the first place. Then he was angry with Finn for taking his twin sister away from him. He channeled his anger into something positive. He went on TV, the radio, and the Internet, getting the story out to as many people as he could. Within the first week of their disappearance, he managed to appear on every major cable-news network and even a few international news channels. He diligently made sure that no one forgot about Finn and Lucy.
As for Rylan, she was barely functioning. At first, she locked herself in Finn’s room. Jack waited patiently, camped out at the door. She finally let him in only to park herself in Finn’s favorite chair. He spent hours holding her, trying to persuade her to come out. She seemed terrified to lose her connection with Finn. Being in his room made her feel closer to him. She said she could see him in Lucy’s arms there, sleeping on that chair. Jack got her to come out occasionally to take walks through the woods behind the house like she and Lucy use to.
Their first semester of college was quickly approaching. All of the kids adamantly refused to go. They all said college wasn’t going anywhere and they’d worry about it when Finn and Lucy came home. Murphy could hardly blame any of them. He had to force himself to go to work every day.
They wished they had something to hold onto. There was nothing. No witnesses. The authorities couldn’t find Finn’s car. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. All they could do now was pray every day that they were still alive. Murphy knew Viktor was no longer the man he had known, but he never thought he’d be capable of murder.
Murphy rolled over to find Claire asleep, finally. It was two o’clock in the morning. He wrapped his arm around her waist, let his eyes close, and sank back into the blackness.
“The site has received over a million hits this week alone,” Aiden said before took a drink of his coffee.
“What’s everyone in the mood for this morning? I can do pancakes or omelets, whatever.” Claire was pulling supplies out of the refrigerator.
“Nothing for me. I’ve got to go meet Dad. Sam’s coming down today,” Jack said as he sat down at the counter.
All ears perked up at the sound of their favorite FBI agent’s name. “Does he have something new?” Murphy asked.
Jack shrugged. “They’ve finished going through Viktor’s house again. I don’t know if he’s found anything, but he wanted to talk to Dad.” He stood up, restless. “Maybe you should come too.”
“If it’s alright with you?” Murphy asked.
Murphy looked at Jack, and as their eyes met, it was the first time in a long time that Murphy didn’t see hate clouding Jack’s expression. This time he saw something else. Fear.
“I think you should.”
After Sam basically kicked Jack out of the meeting with Murphy and Lane, Jack convinced Rylan to go for a walk with him after she reluctantly ate her lunch.
“I thought maybe you could tell me some of your favorite memories of you and Lucy.” They swung their arms as their fingers tangled together. “I know there’s about a million that I know nothing about.”
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly as her mind went through the catalog of memories. “Well…”
“Come on.” Jack was dying to know what was causing her wheels to turn in that pretty little head of hers.
“She was the first person I told about us.”
“Really? What did she say?”
“It was inevitable. She said she knew I loved you since we were kids. I guess it was kind of how I knew she was always supposed to be with Finn. Then, when I told her we made love, she wanted to know all the details.”
“I see. That seems a little strange.”
“It’s not like I didn’t ask about her and my brother.” Rylan rolled her eyes.
“Go on.”
“She wanted to know how it felt, you know like…did it hurt and was it really worth it. I told her it got better after a while, but being with you was the most amazing experience of my life.”
Jack pulled her into his arms. “You’ve never told me that before.”
“I thought you knew.”
“‘Because you make that little squeaking noise when you’re about to…”
“Yes.” She patted his chest. “I only squeak for you.”
“It’s been awhile.” He started kissing her neck.
“Here? Now?”
“Why not? We’re far enough from the house. It’ll be like when we snuck into the teacher’s lounge during Prom.”
“You are such a bad boy, Jack Butler.”
He pressed his lips to hers. “That’s why you love me.”
He spun her around and backed her up to a nearby tree. They hit the tree so hard, a branch broke and came crashing down next to them. Jack went to examine the damage.
“What is it?”
Jack picked up the small box and dusted it off. “It’s some sort of camera.” He lifted his head to see from where the branch had fallen. He examined it a little further and discovered it was solar powered and appeared to be on a wireless system. Whatever pictures were being taken were being relayed somewhere, to someone.
He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialed his father. He told him to bring Sam to the house.
Within a few hours, FBI agents were combing the grounds, looking for more cameras. They found four more hidden in trees and on telephone poles. They went to work trying to find where the images were transmitted.
“Can you tell us what kind of pictures they pulled from the memory?” Jack asked Lane.
Everyone gathered in the living room, waiting to hear back from Sam. Rylan paced, her new nervous habit.
“I’m not sure. We’ll just need to wait and see. What we really need to tell you is why Sam came to see me in the first place.”
Everyone in the room held their breath as Lane continued, “They found a basement room that had been hidden in Viktor’s house. There were two sets of clothes in the room. They’re going to perform some DNA
testing, but we identified them as what the kids were wearing when they left the lake that night.”
“At least now we are sure Viktor took them. Who knows what he’s done with them. Camille and the girls must be terrified.” Aiden sat down and opened up his laptop.
Somehow knowing Viktor actually took them didn’t make any of them feel better. They all clung to the hope that those cameras would lead them to Finn and Lucy.
Lane’s phone rang, and he grabbed it frantically. They all sat on the edge of insanity as he spoke with Sam.
Jack came up behind Rylan and wrapped his arms around her. He had to do something to stop her pacing. She held onto his forearms in a vice grip as though she would pass out if she let him go.
“They’ve traced the signal. It was actually feeding video to the source. They’re sending some agents out, but they don’t want us to get our hopes up.”
“Where? Where was it going to?” Rylan dug her nails into Jack’s skin, turning her hold into a death grip as Jack felt the pain travel up his arms.
“Montana.”
Finn had the idea, but it didn’t all come together until Olivia brought a bottle out of her parents’ room. She thought it was powder and was trying to dump it in her diaper when he caught her. He took the bottle and hid it, keeping it out of sight until he needed it.
Over the next few weeks, Finn and Lucy used the girls to help them get things they needed or to hide them. Chloe got into Camille’s dresser and found a stash of cash. She thought it was play money. Finn agreed to play grocery store with her if she would hide it for him with a couple of other things.
At four years old, Chloe was smart enough to do what he told her without asking too many questions. When she asked why Finn had her put clothes in a trash bag and taking diapers and wipes from Olivia’s room, he told her they were going on a surprise vacation. They would tell her mommy and daddy, but not until right before they were going to leave. The answer seemed plausible to her.
The day came when everything was ready. The bags. The cash. Now they just needed a distraction.
“What’s on the menu tonight?” Viktor came up behind Lucy as she was looking through a few recipe cards. She shuddered as his fingertips stroked her forearm.