by Claire Adams
“We need Levi. And he has feelings for you. I know he does.”
“No offense or anything, but you don’t strike me as the authority on love and relationships.”
“You don’t need to believe it, but trust me—we wouldn’t have gone through the trouble to get you here if we didn’t think that it was going to work. I can prove it, too.”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?”
Alfie held up his phone. “I’ve called him about a dozen times and sent just as many texts, but he’s ignoring me. He’s been doing this as of late.”
“Okay,” I said. “So how does that prove anything about how he feels about me?” “We’re going to call him again,” Alfie said, “but this time we’re going to call him from your phone. Where is your phone? I bet he’ll pick up if he sees that it’s your number.”
“My phone is in my pocket,” I said. “So if you untie me, I’ll get it out for you.”
He smiled. “Nice try, love. I’ll just help myself to it.”
He came over and stood in front of me, then he reached down and unzipped the little side pocket on my shorts. He let his fingers rest on my thigh for a second, and then he pulled the phone out. I stared straight ahead and tried to keep my face expressionless.
“What’s your passcode?” Alfie asked.
“Eight-nine-seven-nine.”
He tapped it in. “Okay,” he said. “I’m going to call him. You’re going to say hello. Nice and clear so he knows it’s you.” He held the phone up to my ear. It rang once, then again, and then I heard Levi’s voice.
“Isla?” he said, and I could hear a frantic note in his tone.
“Levi,” I said, “it’s me—” Alfie pulled the phone away.
“And guess who she’s with, mate!” he said jovially. “Yes, it’s me. No—obviously I’m not just having a go at you. How else would I have her phone? You heard her say your name just then, didn’t you? Yes, she’s here. Where? At Jasper’s flat. Where you should be headed, as a matter of fact. If you want to get your girlfriend back.” There was a pause. “No, I’m not going to put her back on the line. Obviously she’s here—how else would we be calling you from her phone? If you want to see her, I suggest you get your arse over here, pronto.” Alfie hung up, looking extremely pleased with himself, as though he were a dog that just figured out it was supposed to shit outside and not on the living room carpet. He dropped the phone into my lap.
“I imagine he’ll be calling you back—” He was interrupted by the phone ringing. Levi. “How predictable. But we’re not going to answer it—we’ll let him sweat it a little. He’s probably not too accustomed to finding himself in a situation like this, eh?” He looked at me for confirmation.
“You know, I could just give you the money,” I said. “If you’d let me go. Instead of playing this silly little game with Levi.”
They both laughed. “You don’t have the kind of money we’re looking for,” Alfie said. “I need quite a bit. Well, it’s a lot for people like us; not so much for Levi. Which is why it’s too bad that this whole thing turned into what it did; there was no need for it. He could’ve just given me the money when I originally asked and I would’ve happily gone on my way. He’s just turned this into a much bigger deal than it really needs to be.”
“How much money do you need?”
“Two million dollars.”
“Two million dollars?”
“Yes. It’s not just me; I’ve got people that work for me. And they aren’t some amateurs just looking for pocket change. I take care of my guys. I might not be a traditional employer, but I’m a good one.”
“Sure,” I said. “Whatever you tell yourself. I’m not joking though; if you want the money, I can give it to you. You just need to let me go first.”
“You’re tenacious, I’ll give you that much. American girls are, in my experience. But you really must think I’m stupid. I know the second I untie you from that chair, you’re going to try to escape—emphasis on the word try—which means me or Jasper here is going to have to really hurt you to get you to understand that we mean business. And the truth is, we’re not really trying to hurt anyone. So I think it’d be better if we just did things our way. Let’s be honest, while we’re at it: You don’t have that kind of money.”
“Yes I do. And if that’s what it takes for me to be able to get the hell out of here, I’ll give it to you. I don’t have as much money as Levi, but I’ve got enough that I can give you what you want.”
Alfie frowned. “You a trust fund baby, too?”
“No.”
“So how do you have that much money then?”
“I—”
“Bollocks,” Jasper said, interrupting me. “She’s just trying to talk her way out of this. Don’t listen to her, Alfie. You talked to Levi; he’ll be here soon. Let’s just deal with him.”
“I don’t expect that he’d be dilly dallying,” Alfie said. “That would be rather rude, considering he knows you’re here.” He took a step closer to me. For a second, I thought he was going to untie the rope, tell me to initiate the transfer if I really did have the money. I would do it; I just wanted to get out. If I never saw Levi again, well, that was okay with me. “I need him to know that we’re serious,” Alfie was saying. “Since you don’t seem to taking us that seriously, either. Sorry about this, love.”
I was about to ask him what he was sorry for when he made a fist and punched me in the face. Stars exploded across my vision and both my eyes began to water. I felt a gush of blood from my nose.
33.
Levi
The line went dead.
“Isla!” I shouted, even though I knew the call was disconnected.
He had Isla.
That was who Joel had seen pick Isla up: Alfie.
I felt the strange sensation of being completely powerless, which wasn’t something that I was accustomed to feeling. I could fix this—I had what he wanted. Of course I would give him the money he wanted, but I fucking hated that he’d gotten Isla involved in this. I saw a taxi approaching and I walked out into the road, hand raised, not caring that another car almost took me out. The driver blasted the horn and leaned his head out the window and unleashed a few choice words my way, but I barely even heard him. I got into the taxi and told the driver the address to Jasper’s flat. There was traffic, and as the taxi inched along, I tried not to think of all the terrible things they might be doing to Isla.
I’d met Jasper a few times before, and while I didn’t think he was a bad guy, he struck me as the sort who would do exactly what Alfie said.
They must’ve got her when she left after she walked in on Ella and me. How did he do it? Did he just snatch her? Or did he pretend that he was going to take her somewhere, act like he was her friend?
“Can’t you go any faster?” I asked.
“The car would need to grow a pair of wings for that to happen,” the driver said. “I cannot control the traffic.”
I was tempted to jump out and run the rest of the way there, but it was a few miles, at least. The light turned green and the cars began to move again.
When we got there, I threw a handful of bills at the cab driver, not bothering to count it. It was way more than the fare cost, so I knew he wouldn’t complain. I found Jasper’s door and banged on it. I waited what felt like an eternity, and then the door opened, Jasper standing on the other side, a strangely comical smile on his face, like I was coming over for a bachelor party or some fun event.
“Levi,” he said. “C’mon in.”
He stepped back and I nearly bowled him over. “Where the fuck is Alfie?” I said.
“Man of the hour!” Alfie appeared from the living room. He came over and tried to clap me on the back but I stiffened and stepped back. This was not the time for niceties.
“Where’s Isla?” I said.
“Hold up now, mate. We’ll get to that. Glad that you could finally find the time to acknowledge us.”
“Alfie, stop it.
This has gotten way out of control. You’ve taken someone hostage. Do you really think that was such a good idea?”
He looked at Jasper and the nodded. “Well, yeah, mate. I would say it was a good idea. You’re here, aren’t you?”
I pursed my lips and took a deep breath. I swore I could feel my blood pressure rising by the second.
“So you’re going to let her go?” I said. “I’ll give you whatever you want, just let her go.”
Alfie smiled. “We’re not going to hurt her,” he said. “Well, any more than we already have. I knew she’d be enough to get you here, though. Didn’t I say that, Jasper?”
“You did.”
“And you were right. Where is she?”
“What—you don’t believe that I wouldn’t hurt her?” he asked.
“Where is she?” I repeated.
“Follow me.”
I followed him through the living room, down a short hallway to a bedroom. And there she was. Sitting in a chair, her hands tied behind her back. I couldn’t gauge her reaction when she saw me. There was a trickle of blood from her nose, and the right side of her face was blotchy red and starting to swell a little.
“Isla,” I said.
“Hi, Levi.”
She didn’t seem scared, which I took as a good sign. I glared at Alfie. “I thought you said you weren’t going to hurt her.” I hoped they hadn’t done anything else to her. What a fucking dick head. Of course Alfie would have no qualms hitting a woman.
“I regret having to do that,” Alfie said. “Isla knows this. And now you know this. But it had to be done so you’d know that we’re serious about this, and if you want to make things more difficult than they have to be, more bad things will have to happen. I’m hoping that this won’t be the case, though.”
“It won’t,” I said. “Let’s just get this over with so we can get out of here. What do you want?”
“You’re going to call the bank and authorize them to do a wire transfer to my account. Let’s say a million dollars, which I know is pocket change for you.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m not doing it until you give me your word that you’re going to Isla go. If you want to keep me here, fine. You have to let her go.”
“Awww.” Alfie made goo-goo eyes at Jasper. “Innit sweet? Look at how he loves her. It’s bloody obvious how much he cares about you, love,” he said, looking at Isla. “Even if the only reason you got involved with him in the first place was to get revenge. Can’t say I really blame you; I know what a tosser this prick can be. Strutting around like he’s got the biggest cock in the place. Did you know that Levi?” he asked. “Right before you got here, Isla told us something I think you might find interesting.” I ignored him, but he continued on. “She told us that she never really liked you to begin with. That this whole thing was about revenge. Interesting, innit?”
“Sure, Alfie,” I said. “Whatever you say. Is that what you’ve been doing this whole time that you’ve been waiting for me? Making up these ridiculous little stories?”
“Oh, we didn’t make it up,” Alfie said. “Why would I make up something like that? No, Isla volunteered this information free and clear. Project Revenge. Because you used to make fun of her. She was overweight. Hard to believe now. She’s got a pretty face anyway; I wouldn’t have made fun of a bird like that for being overweight. But maybe I’m more of a gentleman than you are.”
I wanted to think that he was just saying this to start shit, to try to get me worked up, but I could tell by the way Isla wouldn’t look at me that he was being honest. Besides, how else would he know that she used to be overweight? I tried to keep my face impassive; I didn’t want to let either of them know how much that actually bothered me.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you can’t say anything nice about someone, you shouldn’t say anything about them at all?” Jasper asked, and then he cackled with laughter, clearly thinking he was some mastermind for coming up with a line like that.
“I didn’t know my mother because she died when I was little,” I said. “So no, she never did tell me that.”
“All right, all right,” Alfie said. “This isn’t some group therapy session. You take care of initiating that wire transfer and then the two of you can be on your way, all right?”
“Yeah, fine.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made the call. It took less than five minutes, and then it was done.
“There,” I said. “All set. Now let her go.”
“We will. But you know, I keep thinking about this Project Revenge.” Alfie smiled. “I like that.” He looked back at me. “We’ll let your girl go. We’ll let you go, too. But not before we give you a little something to remember us by.”
“What?” I said. “Trust me, Alfie, I’ll remember you.”
Jasper stood over by Isla. I felt my muscles tense. If they were going to try anything at all with her, I would beat both of them to bloody fucking pulps.
Alfie pulled a switchblade from his pocket and opened it.
“Wait a second! What are you doing?” Isla said. “He gave you the money; you said you’d let us go. You said that no one was going to get hurt. You gave him your word.”
Alfie nodded. “I did give him my word—that I was going to let you go. I don’t know if I said he wasn’t going to get hurt. But don’t worry, love. This knife cuts like a razor—it won’t hurt that much at all.”
Before either of us had a chance to react, Alfie spun around and slashed the knife down my right side of my face, from just below my eye all the way down to my jawbone. He was right, the motherfucker: It didn’t hurt.
Not at first, at least. Isla screamed, though, and I could feel warm blood spilling down my neck. I brought my fingertips up to my face, felt the way the skin had been split and separated. It was starting to sting; it felt like one long, continuous wasp sting.
“I’m okay,” I said to Isla. “It’s okay.” I glared at Alfie. “What the fuck was that for?”
He snapped the blade shut and slipped it back into his pocket. “My own little Project Revenge, I suppose,” he said, looking inordinately pleased with himself. “You think you can just go around and do whatever the hell it is you want. You think your shit doesn’t stink, you think you can use your money and good looks to get you in and out of anything. Which just isn’t the case all the time. I want you to know that. And not only that, I want you to remember that. That should leave a nice scar that you’ll see every time you look in the mirror. Which I imagine is a lot, for a bloke like yourself.”
“Great,” I said. Talking felt weird. My voice sounded the same, but the right side of my face felt like it was going to split in two. Oh, wait, it already was split in two. “So you’ve disfigured me. Do you feel better about yourself now? Do you feel like this has been your contribution to society? Does your dick feel bigger now?”
I needed to just shut the fuck up, I knew this, but I couldn’t seem to stop the words that were spilling out of my mouth. Yes, Alfie had put his knife away, but it would’ve been easy enough for him to get it back out, and when it really came down to it, how well did I know Alfie? Alfie and I weren’t friends, I realized. Perhaps I’d known it all along, but I’d let myself think that our relationship had evolved past the point of business associates, however dubious that business might have been.
“We’re going to go,” I said. Jasper had loosened the rope around Isla’s wrists enough for her to get free. She stood up and ran over to me. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine.” She was looking at me with concern. “I don’t think you are, though.”
“As long as we can get the fuck out of here, I’m completely fine,” I said.
Alfie held his hands up. “You’re free to go, mate. I’m not going to get all crazy on you. I know it might not seem that way, but I really wasn’t looking to spill any blood.”
“No, you’re just totally fine with punching a girl in the face.”
Isla gra
bbed my arm. “Let’s go,” she said.
We walked out of the room and down the hallway and to the door. I kept waiting to feel the knife blade sinking into my back, but it never happened. Isla’s hand was on the door knob, the door was opening, then we were outside. She pulled me down around the block before stopping to look at me.
“Oh my god,” she said when I moved my hand away. Her eyes were wide. “Your face. You need to get to a hospital.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said. I could tell by the look on her face, though, that it probably looked pretty fuckin gnarly.
“You’re going to need stitches,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go.”
We walked a little way before we saw an unoccupied taxi. She hailed it and it pulled over immediately, though the driver gave us a wary look once we were in.
“Don’t get blood on the upholstery,” he said. “I just had it cleaned.”
“Centre de Salut,” I said. “That’s where we need to go.”
The driver nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s where I was going to take you, regardless of where you said you wanted to go.” He looked in the rearview mirror at Isla. “And you, miss. What happened to your face? Did the two of you get into some sort of fight?”
“No,” Isla said. “He didn’t do this to me.”
The driver raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Well that is good,” he said. “Though if he did, I’d say you were the winner of the fight.”
Isla shook her head. “We weren’t fighting.”
It probably didn’t look too good, though; Isla with her bloody nose, me with the slice down my face. When we got to the hospital, I paid the cab driver and we went into the emergency room, where we were given a clipboard and some forms and told to have a seat in the waiting room. The waiting room wasn’t full, but there was definitely an assortment of characters there. I avoided the looks people were giving us. I wasn’t the worst of the lot, but no one else was sitting there with their face sliced halfway open. I gingerly brought my hand down from where it had been pressing the side of my face. My whole face felt both warm and numb, and the blood on my hand was dried and starting to cake.