“Fuck, are you serious?”
He nodded, a solemn look on his face, “She wrote a letter saying something about not wanting to live without him and she hung herself. Her mother found her.”
My head was shaking side to side. Trying to make sense of everything. Jason wasn’t actually Jason. He was Davin. And Davin was known for kidnapping. And a girl killed herself. And fuck— he kidnapped Alina.
I snapped my head up and looked at Rod, my eyes wide, “He has her. We have to go get him.” I started backing up toward the door.
My hand was on the doorknob when I heard Rod call my name.
“Derrick, wait.”
“No! I’m not waiting,” I shouted, “I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of fucking wasting time. This prick has Alina and who knows what he’s doing to her, what he’s already done to her.” My fists were clenched at my sides as I looked for something to punch. “Ugh! He’s here Rod.
Right under my fucking nose!”
“Exactly Derrick. He’s here. Which means he’s not acting alone.
You have to stop and think. We can’t just go running after him like you
want to. Someone else has her right now and that someone else is taking orders from him.”
I stumbled and fell against the wall, the weight of it all finally crushing me. He had us both right where he wanted us. Suffering under his control. My hands scrubbed at my face. I wanted to make him suffer.
I wanted to tear him limb from limb. He may be here, untouchable….for now.
But eventually he’d have to answer to me.
We needed to find Alina— NOW.
“We’re going to get her,” Rod reminded me, as if he’d heard the thoughts in my head as clearly as if I’d said them out loud, “There’s one more thing.” He clicked a few of the folders on his computer opening them up.
A photo spread across the screen. Alina when she was sixteen or so. Except the girl in the photo had died the tips of her curls blond and her hair was chin length. I knew for a fact, Alina had never experimented with color until she ran away and she wasn’t allowed to wear her hair short courtesy of Vivian Prescott. If I hadn’t studied copious amounts of photos of Alina growing up, I would be certain that the girl in the photo was her.
“Who is that?”
“Faye.”
“But she—“
“She looks damn near identical to Alina.”
My eyes shot to Rod’s and I would bet every dime I made for the next ten years that we were thinking the same thing. Jason had kidnapped Alina because of her striking resemblance to Faye. He thought that by having her, he’d somehow get to have his long lost love back.
“We need to go,” I said, determined to figure out a way to find him.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. My body felt like lead. Rod had just dropped this huge bombshell in my lap and I was still wrapping my head around it. Jason, or Davin, or whoever the fuck he was— had Alina somewhere. There was no way he had killed her yet because of his sick obsession with Faye, who was Alina’s doppelgänger. And he was working with someone else.
His obsession with her would be the only thing keeping her safe, and while that terrified me, it made me feel marginally better. If Jason loved Faye, then he would love Alina. It was a sick fucking thought, but it was probably true.
By the time we made it back to the Library, Jason had disappeared again. Lucky bastard. It wouldn’t have been completely out of my character to rough him up a bit, but I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t say something about Alina or beat him until he told me where she was. No, I was glad he was gone. It gave me a chance to formulate a plan to get the love of my life back and take him out all at once.
We hadn’t stepped two feet into the room before the same kid from before ran over me, excitement all over his boyish features. I stopped, not wanting to deal with anyone, but knowing my fucked up attitude would not help me at all.
“Sir! We got it.”
“Got what?”
He produced a large piece of paper seemingly out of thin air. It was a map. A map of all of New York with three circles drawn on in red.
“The phone beeped sir. It literally beeped a few times before it disappeared, but we have a set of towers that triangulated the signal.
It’s a wide area, but we’re positive it’s the right info.
I think we found her, sir.”
THIRTY THREE| Alina
I was finishing up another late dinner served up by Joe. Jason had made due on his promise to come back later, coming back earlier in the day, and I was having a hard time making eye contact with my former bodyguard. I felt foolish, wanting to believe him when he said he would try to protect me. There wasn’t any way to protect me from Jason and his desires. Not without throwing yourself on the fire first. And he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to risk burning for me.
Joe quietly walked into the room holding up a freshly washed towel and wash cloth, indicating it was time for me to take a bath before bed. Since he’d told me no, it was becoming clear to me that I wasn’t going anywhere. Jason was right. It was clear to everyone now. I belonged to him. Resistance would only result in me getting hurt, so I stopped trying to fight.
I extended my hand, ready to take the towels from him when he grabbed my hand and pulled me close. He smelled clean and masculine from his after-shave. I could feel his heated gaze down on me, but I didn’t raise my eyes to look at him.
“Alright,” he whispered down to me, the warmth of his breath bouncing off the top of my head.
“What?” I mumbled back.
“I’m going to help you.”
My face lit up with surprise and I snapped my head back to look at him. I heard what he said, but I didn’t believe it. He was so adamantly against it the night before.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he nodded, “and help myself. It’s only a matter of time before he feels I’m disposable and well…” he trailed off. A look of understanding passed between us. It saddened me. This man had been so devoted to my family, then Jason fired him after I disappeared, only to rehire him to take part in this sick kidnapping. I knew from years of watching that when you signed on to work as a security guard for the Prescott family, you gave up any and everything. The many years I spent with Joe had revealed that he had no one, but his job. And I could only imagine how devastated he felt when he lost that. The guilt of my decisions costing him his livelihood would forever weigh on me. This new change in him must mean he was ready to get his life back. At least we had that in common.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” he continued, “He left again, but didn’t tell me when he’d be back. Ever since I lost the phone, he’s not telling me anything anymore.”
“Oh,” I swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous. “What now?”
He set the towels on the bed, “I have the truck ready. All we have to do is leave. How much time do you need?”
My palms were sweating and I started absentmindedly rubbing them on my shirt while I looked around, “Um, just a few minutes. I need to put on clothes.”
“Okay, hurry. Who knows how much time we have before he comes back.”
“Okay,” I turned to start rummaging through the few belongings I had, but he grabbed my wrist, turning me back around.
“Alina, I’m sorry. Last night, I was overwhelmed and I shouldn’t have deserted you. But the things he made you do, it was too much. I tried to stop him.”
He had been my miracle. He was trying to protect me.
“I’m sorry—“ he continued, but I cut him off.
“Stop.” Throwing my arms around as much of his large frame as I could, I squeezed him tightly, “Thank you.” I said, finally pulling back and meeting his eyes.
A small smile pulled on the corner of his mouth and he turned and darted out of the room. I stood there for a moment, frozen by this new realization. I was leaving. Joe was helping me escape. This was happening.
I didn’t
know what would happen when we left or how it would be going home, but I was so ready to find out. I pulled off the pajama pants I was wearing and slipped into a pair of black leggings and a thin long sleeve sweat shirt with my tennis shoes. I kept scanning the room, but not coming up with anything that I wanted to bring with me.
This entire cabin held nothing but horrible memories. Even with some of my actual belongings being here, it never changed the fact that I was a prisoner. After getting dressed, I lifted the mattress to grab my phone and my eyes landed on a broken wooden slat. It was barely hanging onto the bed frame and had a jagged edge to it.
Intuition stirred in my belly as I looked down at the broken piece of wood. Something told me to grab it. Closing my fingers around it, I yanked the remaining piece off and held the thick and heavy wood in my hands. I grabbed the phone and not wanting Joe to know I had
taken the it, I stuffed it down the front of my pants. I didn’t want to risk him changing his mind at the last second.
When I emerged from the bedroom, I found Joe standing calmly in the living room. I shuddered when I remembered waking up completely bound to the chair in that room and Joe being the one who saved me then too. Maybe he hadn’t always been on my side, but he was at least trying to protect me now.
“Ready?”
I gave him a tight smile, more scared than excited, and followed him through the house. Rooms I hadn’t seen yet whirled by me as we moved toward the exit. We walked through the kitchen and he opened a side door, flooding the space with the bright light of sunset. The space behind my eyes pounded as we stepped out into it, the cool air of the evening whipping around us.
I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the fresh air. It’d only been two weeks of captivity, but it felt like a lifetime since I’d stepped foot on the earth. I squinted up, looking into the sky and seeing the brilliant colors that melted like cotton candy as the sun set in the distance. A quick glance around and I noticed we were in a densely wooded area. All around me were trees. Thick, tall trees that seemed to stretch on forever.
There was no way I would've been able to escape without Joe.
Simply maneuvering through the house was mind-boggling, but once we stepped outside it was an entirely different game. I needed his expertise more than ever now.
He pointed to the black SUV waiting in the driveway, “Come on, we’re taking this.”
I nodded, poised to run beside him to the car. He took two steps and faltered, stopping in his tracks.
“What’s going on?”
I looked up at him, following the direction his eyes were staring, wide-eyed and afraid.
“Did you actually believe I was going to let you help her escape and get away with it?”
My legs threatened to give out on me right then and there as Jason stepped out from behind the vehicle. His expression murderous as he stalked toward us. Involuntarily, I retreated a few steps.
“N-no boss, that—”
“DON’T FUCKING LIE TO ME!” he roared, his voice echoing slightly in the small clearing.
I cowered at the explosion and Joe’s hands went up in surrender, “I’m not, sir.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed and he jutted his chin out angrily, “I knew you couldn’t be trusted. Ever since I had to be away from here to handle business, shit started going missing and I had a sneaking suspicion you were going to fuck this up for me.”
His eyes flitted over to me angrily, “I’ll bet she fucked you too.
Damn whore.” My eyes widened as his bore into mine. I was rooted to the spot, visibly shaking, and completely lost on what to do. Then he turned his attention back to Joe, a chuckle bubbling up his throat, “and neither of you deny it. I knew it.”
“Boss, let me explain,” Joe stammered, “When you told me that they’d located the cabin and were coming to search for her, I knew we had to leave. I was just getting her out to the car so we could go to the next location. Believe me, sir. I wouldn’t let her escape. She belongs to you.”
A shiver ran over my body. Joe was about to hand me back over to Jason to save himself. He’d never had my back in the first place. My heart felt like it was shattering in a million pieces from the betrayal.
Jason eyed him up and down, disgust plastered on his face before he raised his hand, pointing a gun right at the bodyguard’s chest.
Not even a beat later, a loud pop crackled through the air as he wordlessly pulled the trigger and I screamed. My hand covered my mouth as Joe’s large frame crumbled to the ground.
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head, seeing Joe on the ground. Blood oozed from his chest and the side of his mouth. His eyes, wide and scared, blinked rapidly. His mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. I leaned down to him quickly, covering his chest with my hands.
“I’m s-s-sorry Alina. I t-tried to p-protect you,” he struggled to whisper.
“Joe,” I cried, my tears falling in fat droplets on him, “I’m sorry.
I’m so so sorry. Please hold on.”
“Shh. You n-need to run.”
I nodded, my eyes squeezing shut tightly. His body started was convulsing more as he struggled to breath. “Please, Joe.”
“Get up!” Jason’s voice rang out.
I bit my quivering lip, looking back at Joe who nodded at me to follow his instructions. I rose to my feet, my eyes never leaving Joe’s blinking ones.
“Do. Not. Move,” Jason commanded darkly.
My lip quivered as I turned my attention on him, noting that he was still holding the gun in my direction. Tears stained my cheeks. He had finally snapped. He was going to kill me. I’d pushed the limit too far.
“Please don’t…” I whimpered.
The anger in his eyes remained, but the rest of his face smoothed. He brought his hand behind his back and stowed the gun in his waistband.
“I’m not going to kill you,” he said matter-of-factly. Walking toward me, his snake-like eyes twinkled, “but you’re certainly going to pay for trying to escape.”
My hand flexed on the wooden slat I had been unintentionally holding behind my back and a plan flashed before my eyes. It would have to be perfectly executed, considering he was armed, but it was my one shot to get away. He stalked forward. His pace seeming achingly slow. I was more aware of my heartbeat than ever before.
He took one final step and stood in front of me. A terrifying look reflecting down at me. I shivered slightly, gripping the wooden piece one last time for a dose of bravery. I waited one heartbeat of a second for him to close his hand around my neck before I raised my left arm and plunged the jagged piece into his shoulder.
An angry, wounded cry erupted from his mouth and his grip loosened from my neck as he fell to his knees. Freed from his hold, I turned to run toward the tree line. If I could just disappear in to the woods…
Just as I took my first step to run, his hands closed around my ankle and I went tumbling down. I slammed into the ground, my head bouncing off the hardened soil. Stars danced behind my eyes and I groaned, searing pain throbbing in my head. I heard a rustle behind me as Jason stood up, then what felt like knives diving into my head as he yanking my hair back, pulling my face back to look up at him.
“You bitch!” he hollered right before slapping me across the face.
The slap intensified the pain in my skull. I was starting to feel dizzy and nauseated from it. Holding his fist tightly in my hair, he walked around to face me, then clutched my throat with the other hand. The air I’d been breathing a second ago was cut off as he squeezed off my oxygen supply.
“You’re going to regret everything when I’m done with you.”
I struggled against his fist to no avail. He lifted me, seemingly effortlessly, until I was standing before him. I clawed at the hand around my throat, feeling his skin peel back and curl underneath my nails.
Blood seeped through his white t-shirt, where I’d stabbed him with the wooden slat. It still protruded from his shoulder, angry and bloodied. I reached for i
t, a feeble attempt to pull it out, hoping he would bleed out before he could strangle me to death, but his fist balled up and he hit me.
The taste of my own blood filled my mouth as I bit my tongue.
When I started choking on it, that evil gleam in his eyes flashed again.
This wasn’t the first time he enjoyed watching me choke. Somehow, even though it felt impossible, his fingers tightened around my throat. I was certain my trachea was about to explode. The crushing pain making my throat burn.
He finally released me, and I stumbled to the ground on all fours, coughing up blood. Without warning, his foot swung forward and he kicked me hard in the stomach.
“Ungrateful,” he shouted, his foot connecting with my abdomen,
“Fucking ungrateful. You always fuck it up.” With each annunciated word, he swung back and kicked me.
Losing Her (Lost and Found Book 1) Page 32