Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Go ahead,” I snap.
“My men have been searching your premises since we nabbed you. We’ve found a trapdoor that leads to another door of reinforced steel. Real fancy work.”
I open and close my hand, thinking of Lena.
“It would take some time to knock it down, but it could be done. I’m assuming the girl’s in there? And the mutt?”
I swallow. He doesn’t need me to answer.
“Ah,” Jack says. “Hardly worth the extra effort, honestly, but I don’t do anything for free. So, here is my deal. Convince Simone here to beat you viciously. I’m talking a real whooping. I’m talking, hell, you might not wake up until we’re back in the city. You do that, and I’ll leave the door alone. I swear.”
“Even Jack wouldn’t do this,” I growl. “This is sick.”
“I knew Jack,” Jack goes on, dropping the pretense. His voice becomes higher in pitch, younger, cocky. “He was just one of many people who helped me throughout the years. He talked about you. He was proud of what he did with you. He said it was the only good thing he ever did in his life.”
I turn to Simone. “This is beyond us, Simone. These people are fucked. You have to do it. For Lena.”
“Ah, yes!” His youthful voice gets excited. “Do it, Simone! He’s a bad, bad man, as Jack used to say. Beat him bloody.”
“You have no choice,” I tell her.
She narrows her eyes at me in the harsh light. She looks devastated. “What if they’re lying?”
“I don’t want to waste the time or resources on her,” the man yells over the phone. “But like I said, I don’t do anything for free.”
“I’ve met sadists before, kid,” I say, sounding just like Jack used to with me. “You’re nothing special.”
“Oh, if only you knew. I’m extremely unique, but no, you’re trying to bait me.”
“A tech billionaire,” I say bluntly. “The voice tech. The fact you probably found me through The Answer.”
The man snaps, “She has ten seconds to hit you, or I give the order. We’ll get through that door. Don’t worry. The longer it takes, the angrier my men will be. With her. With your mutt. Is that what you want?”
“Simone,” I say urgently.
“I can’t.”
“You have to. Now.”
She lets out a cry. “Please, I can’t! I’ve never hit anybody before! Make him hit me!”
“I slept with Lena,” I yell as the seconds tick down in my mind.
“Wh-what?”
“I slept with your daughter.”
She launches herself at me. Her fist catches me in the chin. One of the masked men must be recording. The man on the phone laughs hysterically.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE NEXT DAY
Lena
Demon whines, sitting at the metal door of the small stone-built room. This is the antechamber to the main part of the bunker, not much bigger, with some canned food, a toilet, and a sealed scentless bin for waste.
My instincts scream at me to find my man. No, find Mom. However, I can’t stop thinking about Jamie running into the forest, a bullet catching him. What happened to him?
The doors start to buzz and hum, sliding aside. I’m covered in sweat. I feel stale and gross, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing does. I have to go upstairs. Get the phone. Whatever happened, Jamie needs backup. Please let him be okay. And Mom. Jesus Christ. Just open already!
As the metal panels slide aside, I run for the stairs. It’s dark. I almost slip. Slowing myself down, I force my breath to do the same. Jamie said he wanted a future together. I said it back. We meant it. I know I did. I know he did, but maybe neither Mom nor Jamie has a future now or a present—just nothing.
The trapdoor sticks momentarily, making me think I will be trapped here, but then it gives. I gasp in the fresh air. I’ve been going nuts down there, alone, holding tightly onto Demon. At least he chose one specific post to pee on. Demon pushes up behind me, running into the growing darkness.
“Demon!” I snap. He turns and pads over to me, whining. I can hear the pain in the whine. He wants his daddy badly. I know the feeling. “Come, boy. Come on.”
I lead him toward the house, moving quickly, turning on the lights, and entering the main bedroom. The jewelry box is in the top drawer. I take out the phone and turn it on while biting my lip and drumming my foot. My thoughts are a slideshow of all the vicious things happening to Mom and Jamie. I can’t take it.
There’s one number on the phone. I call it. Nothing. A dead line. The call won’t go through, but there’s a full signal, even all the way out here. I dial a random number with my old area code. The phone starts to ring. Dammit. I try the contact again. There’s nothing. This was my only lifeline, my entire plan, as I sat in the bunker, getting more scared, more paranoid.