by Sam Mariano
But I have to try to save Liam.
He saved me, and this is where it got him.
Pushing my anger away, I try to clear my head. This isn’t the time to be emotional. I need to think.
Going to the closet, I pull out the go-bag Liam showed me when we first got here. I dig through it until I come to the little square of paper with a phone number jotted down.
I swallow, staring at it.
I don’t know if this person will be able or willing to help me. I don’t even know if he’ll believe me.
But I don’t know what else to do.
I wonder what time it is wherever he is as I dial the number, but there’s no time to worry about it.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings.
My heart pounds. What if he doesn’t answer? Will he call back?
A fourth ring and my anxiety intensifies.
Then a husky male voice utters, “Hello?”
I’m partially relieved, but mostly nervous. “Hi. Is this Ryder?”
I don’t even know if that’s okay to ask. Should I use his name? Should I be more discreet? Is there some kind of code or etiquette I’m unaware of?
“Who wants to know?”
I take that as a yes. “My name’s Annabelle. I was… um, I was kind of given your number by Liam. Liam Hunt,” I add, more excited than I should be that I know his last name.
“Look, I don’t care how blonde or buxom you are, it’s 2 o’clock in the goddamn morning and I was asleep.”
“I’m neither of those things. Liam’s in trouble.”
That seems to get his attention. “What?”
“I’m his… girlfriend?” I say, for lack of better word.
“What?” he says again.
“He told me you wouldn’t believe me. He told me to ask you how the ladies like the scar he gave you?”
I can hear my own heart beating as I wait for him to say something. I need help and I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t believe me. Or if he does, but there’s just nothing he can do.
I need to get to that party with Liam by my side. I don’t know how, but I’m confident we have a far better shot of getting out alive if we’re together.
Finally breaking the taut silence, Ryder demands, “What happened to Liam?”
Annabelle
I haven’t slept.
Ryder told me to, but I couldn’t.
I’d gotten a few hours before Pietro called, and though they burn, my eyes are just going to have to push through this morning, then whatever comes after it.
The sound of a fist pounding against the door startles the hell out of me. It’s still dark outside and even though I know it must be Ryder, I can’t shake the paranoia that it could be Pietro.
“You awake?”
I’m relieved to hear what must be the voice of the man from the phone.
I open it, a little at first, then enough for him to come inside. The fire died and it’s bitterly cold outside. A gust of wind follows him in and chills spring up all over me. I cross my arms over my chest, rubbing my arms, trying to keep warm.
Ryder is tall. That’s the first thing I make note of. He’s handsome. Smaller than Liam. Tall and lean with brown eyes and a clean-shaven jawline.
He casts a sweeping gaze around the cabin as he comes inside. Don’t know what he expected to find, but then his gaze makes it to me. He makes no attempt to disguise his brief perusal, apparently appraising the woman Liam decided was worth risking his life for.
I can’t tell if he’s impressed or not. These guys don’t give much away when it comes to what they’re thinking.
“Ready to go?” he asks.
I nod, glancing around the room uncertainly. I have Liam’s go-bag and some granola bars I tossed inside, but I don’t know if we’ll ever be back here. I don’t know if there’s anything I should take.
“Were you able to get that guy?”
He said he might be able to call on someone local for help.
Ryder nods. “He’s meeting us with a car.” Then, taking a moment to actually check on me, he asks, “Are you ready to do this?”
“I have no idea,” I tell him, shaking my head.
“You were raised around mobsters, weren’t you?”
“Adjacent to them. I was never involved. I was certainly never raised to participate in shit like this myself.”
He cracks a smile and heads back out the door. “You’ll be okay.”
I don’t know how these magicians navigate the woods here, but I’m more than a little winded trying to keep up.
After I explained the situation to Ryder on the phone, he sort of took over the planning. He said he’d try to contact a guy who might be able to get here fast, and he’d bring a car for me since I obviously couldn’t be dropped off.
So many conflicting emotions war within me as we trek through these woods. It’s early so I’m freezing my ass off while Ryder hikes like a mountain man. I manage not to fall and we make it to the car much more quickly than when Liam brought me out here.
It’s not blustery once I get into the white car I assume is his. The car is quiet as he backs out onto the road and I stare out the window, thinking of what’s ahead of us.
Glancing at him uncertainly, I ask, “So, what’s the plan?”
“Ideally I’m hoping we all make it out alive,” he says, brightly, maybe a little sarcastically.
I’m sure he blames me for Liam’s predicament, so I just watch out the windshield for a few miles.
When he still doesn’t fill me in, I sigh. “Look, whether you like me or not, I need to know what the plan is so I can help.”
“Seems like you’ve helped plenty,” he says with a deceptively light and playful wink.
That kind of pisses me off. “I begged him not to go back there. I’m not to blame here, and I’m going to do whatever has to be done to save him. I didn’t have to call you. If I didn’t care about Liam, I would’ve taken the money he left me and disappeared, wouldn’t I?”
“I doubt you know how to,” he muttered, but without much spunk.
A couple of silent minutes later, Ryder says, “Tell me about this house we’re meeting him at.”
I’m not sure exactly what he wants to know, so I tell him everything I can think of. The layout, how close the neighbors are, the thicket of trees behind it. I tell him how many windows I can recall, which one Liam came in through.
The problem is there are so many things we don’t know, which makes it difficult to form a solid plan. I don’t know how many men Pietro will have when we get there. I don’t know what kind of reception I’ll get once I’m in their grasp. I should’ve probably made him agree to meet me somewhere public, like the deli, instead of at Paul’s house. There’s not much in the way of protection if Pietro decides the missing drugs aren’t worth the risk and he just has me killed right away.
There are so many unknowns.
Will he even have Liam? Once I’m there, there’s nothing I can do if they don’t. As soon as he can see me, he can send men to grab me.
We’re working on the honor system here, and Pietro has no honor.
Ryder’s voice pulls me out of my depressing thoughts.
"We want to grab him today. There's no guarantee your stepfather keeps his word. Liam may not even make it to the party, and he sure as hell isn't going to let you bring him with you. Once you're inside I'm not going to be able to communicate with you, so I won't be able to let you in on whatever plan I manage to come up with. Nothing about this is going to be easy."
I nod my understanding. I'm dreading this so much and so nervous about it all that I feel physically ill. If we had time, I'd ask Ryder to stop at a gas station so I could throw up.
We're halfway there when my cell phone rings.
My gaze jerks to Ryder and he nods silently.
Heart in my throat, I answer, "Hello?"
"Change of plans."
It's not Pietro. It's Paul.
Resentment pours out of me
as I snap, "Why?"
"Because I fucking said so, that's why."
"Because Pietro said so, you mean," I correct him.
I hope he feels like the little fucking lapdog he is.
"You really wanna be a bitch to me when I have your hero's life in my hands?"
I want to punch him in the face while hurting the hell out of his ego, but I guess this isn't the time.
"What's the change?" I ask.
"We're meeting in Paterson. Red brick warehouse, has a big, old banner hanging across the front that says ‘now hiring’. You'll pull in the driveway on the left and come through the open door."
"Wait, Paterson?" I question, looking to Ryder. "What warehouse? I don't know how to get there."
Ryder is scowling.
"I'll text you the address, just put it in the GPS on your phone and—"
"I don't have GPS on this phone."
"Jesus Christ, Annabelle. Google it then! It's not that hard."
"I don't like this. Is Liam there?"
"Yes," he snaps. "And if you really want to see him, you'll fucking get here."
"Why can't we just meet at the house like we planned?"
He doesn't answer, and it takes me a minute to pull back the phone and see the call has ended. Bastard hung up on me.
"What's going on?" Ryder asks.
With a sinking stomach, I tell him, "They've changed the location to a warehouse in Jersey. I don't know why."
"To show they're in control, probably." He says it casually, but that makes me uneasy. Pietro isn't an insecure guy and he's obviously in control—why would he feel the need to prove that?
"He said... he said if I try anything stupid, he'll kill Liam," I tell him, knowing that calling him for help is exactly the kind of stupid thing he was referring to.
He’s matter-of-fact. "Of course he will. If we don't get him out of there, they will kill him. They didn't kidnap him so they’d have an extra dinner guest."
It doesn't seem to bother him, but it bothers me. What if they figure out he's there? I didn't know where he was going to hide before, and that was when I knew the layout. I've never been to this warehouse. I have no clue what's around it or how Ryder will be able to keep an eye on anything.
I'm starting to realize this is hopeless.
"What if we can't save him?" I hate to voice it, but we're also running out of time. "What if I'm turning myself over to these monsters for nothing?"
He looks over at me but doesn't respond. His gaze returns to the road, and after a few seconds he says, "I'm going to do my best not to let that happen. Whether Liam makes it or not, I won't abandon you in there. It's not what Liam would've wanted."
The way he says it, like Liam's already gone, sends chills down my spine.
Annabelle
The sky is gray and devoid of light. Dark clouds have gathered. The wind whips violently as I pull into the driveway to the left of the abandoned warehouse in Paterson.
I'm terrified this is the last thing I'll ever see. I grip the steering wheel, looking up at all three levels. I don't see any of Pietro's men yet. There's a red door on each level, and the one on the bottom floor is hanging open.
Placing a hand to my stomach, willing it to calm down, I search for placidity. I've done this before. I've done this so many times. I can find it in me to fake my way through one more bout with these assholes.
My stomach just doesn't agree.
My nerves feel all fluttery but I'm not going to get anywhere sitting in my car. I have to get out eventually. If I don't, they'll just come get me.
I'm here now.
There's no going back from here.
I have to hope something good comes out of this, because whatever waits for me on the other side of that red door, I'm going to have to face it alone.
Pushing the car door open, I climb out on shaky legs. Flashes of my life come back to me, flashes of Paul, of curling up in a dark room under blankets, crying by myself. As much as I want to save Liam, I can't shake the feeling that I'm crazy for being here.
I pad up the stretch of concrete, searching for movement.
Nothing.
I really, really don't want to, but I push the red door the rest of the way open. It creaks and I grimace, my eyes darting around as if the sound may have summoned someone.
The lights aren't on inside and the vast, shadowy space does nothing to ease my jittery nerves.
I don't know where to go. My steps slow and I look around for direction.
There's still no one so I keep walking toward the back, toward more doors.
Nervous butterflies ravage my insides, worse with each step I take. The urge to turn around and run is so strong, I almost do it.
I don't know which door to choose once I reach them. I'm torn between not wanting to announce my presence, and wanting to call out and get it over with.
I pick a door at random—the third—and push it open. It opens into another dark, narrower space. It's chilly inside, obviously no heat, and I want to leave. So badly.
I follow the hall around a corner and it's narrower again, this time with doors all down the corridor on the left and right.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I whisper to myself.
I decide to turn back.
Before I make it back around the corner, however, I hear a door open and close behind me.
Spinning around, I move my back closer to the wall.
It's Paul.
Fucking Paul.
He smiles when he sees me, and proceeds to meander after me like he doesn't have a problem in the world. I guess, with me gone, maybe he doesn't.
"There's my stunning wife," he mocks.
I remember Pietro promising I won't have to go back with Paul. His word may be flimsy at best, but it's all I've got.
"Where is he?" I call to him, uncomfortable that he's coming closer.
"Pietro?"
"Liam."
Some of the smugness on his face falls, bitter resentment slipping into its place. "Thor's been grounded."
I resist the urge to taunt him. "I want to see him. That was the deal."
"Oh, you'll see him," he assures me, giving me the creeps.
He's right in front of me now, and even though I refuse to be afraid of him, my stomach somersaults.
I don't want his hands on me, but he reaches out to grab me by the arm. I resist, out of habit, gritting my teeth and glaring at him.
Paul smiles.
Not releasing my arm, he tugs me along. I follow because I want to see Liam, but I jerk my arm free as soon as his grip eases up.
Warily eyeing the door, I make note of all the locks. Most of the doors I've seen before this one don't have locks at all, or if they do, just a simple twist lock on the knob. This one has 4 additional locks installed. Not for keeping someone out, I suspect, but for keeping someone in.
My heart kicks up several speeds as he shoves the door open.
It's a dark, rectangular room with cinderblock walls. There's a generic exposed light bulb just inside the room, and in the small space to the left I see Greg, Pietro, and Antonio.
I look to the right and see my Liam, bruised, dirty, with cuts on his face and a swollen lip, but all in one piece. He looks terrible and wonderful and he's tied to a chair.
I don't think, I just run to him, kneeling on the cold cement floor before him as tears spring to my eyes.
He's hurt, but he's alive.
He looks both furious and happy to see me.
"Liam," I whisper, my hands thoughtlessly kneading his thighs. He flinches just slightly and I frown, confused.
Then I remember about the pipe. The beating. I don't know where, I couldn't see.
My hands lighten on the tops of his thighs. I was so afraid for him, I can’t stand not touching him, but I'm almost afraid to. I don't want to hurt him, but I also want to throw myself into his arms and feel safe.
But I won't be.
Liam can't keep me safe right now. It's all on me.
"I wish you wouldn't have come," he says, miserably.
"I had to," I tell him. "I wasn't going to leave you."
"Touching," Paul says from behind me.
He's close, so I tense.
When he fists a hand in my hair and practically rips it out of my scalp, I'm not even surprised.
Thankfully, finally, I feel the reluctant gate in my mind slide back into place, making me a fortress again, out of Paul’s reach.
When I rise up off the floor and he jerks me around to meet his gaze, I'm smiling.
He fists his hand tighter so it hurts more and my smile widens. "You must've missed me, huh? Is Marlene boring? She always struck me as boring. I bet she never gives you an excuse to manhandle her, huh?"
The familiar fury dances in the depths of his muddy brown eyes, but here, now, he isn't impotent with it anymore.
He slams me against the brick wall, hurting my left shoulder with the impact, but I don't lose my smile.
But then he smiles. Glances back at Liam, his features and muscles tense with anger.
Then Paul swoops in. I rear back but my back connects with cold, hard wall and there’s nowhere to go. His face moves closer and I'm horrified, my gaze jerking to Liam. I don't know why I did that. Realizing Liam is watching makes it so much worse as Paul grabs me and smashes his mouth against mine.
As he rips open Liam's old jacket, tears the neck of my sweater, and puts his hands on my breasts.
I try to bring my knee up to smash him between the legs, but I've done that before so he anticipates it and blocks me.
I hear Liam's chair rattling behind Paul. My heart pounds and I turn my face left and right, trying to get his disgusting, wormy little lips off me.
Paul's laughing as he pulls back, and I'm so fucking angry, I shove him hard in the shoulder. I can't look at Liam. I want to. I want to rip off his restraints and watch him tear Paul apart.
"All right," Pietro calls, finally stepping forward and moving closer to us. He acts calm, but I watch him quickly double check Liam's restraints.
From a distance, of course.
Liam seethes wordlessly in his chair. I wonder why he isn't threatening them.
Then again, Liam doesn't make threats. He delivers on them.