Finally, they stopped drugging me and I started to process the reality of the situation. And it was so terrifying that I wanted the drugs back. I wanted to stay in the fog and not wake up again until I was back home. I cried for hours in the van, quietly so they wouldn’t hear me, but they were choking sobs of fear. The unknown gripping my chest so tightly I hyperventilated.
Once the tears were gone, the anger rose and that was where I was emotionally when the van stopped. I was angry at them. Angry at myself for crying. Angry at opening the door in my loft. Angry at feeling helpless.
I was dragged from the van, and taken inside a massive house. I only had a second to process it, but the place obviously belonged to someone exceptionally wealthy with the elaborate front hall that had beautiful paintings on the peachy-brown stucco walls. I heard voices approaching and they weren’t speaking English. It sounded like Spanish.
The bruising grip on my arm tightened as he yanked me forward and I stumbled. “Move.”
He pulled me down a hall, opened a door, and I was dragged down a flight of stairs. A few more steps and another door, which he opened, then shoved me inside. He stood in the doorway as I did a quick scan of the room with cement walls and no windows. The anger had invaded, but the fear was fighting for the top position because being locked in here… it was my worst nightmare.
I swallowed back the bile as I faced the man. “Whatever you plan… it will be by force because I won’t do it any other way.”
He smiled. It was a cruel, malicious smile that revealed his one crooked, lower front tooth. Despite the sweltering heat, shivers ran through me and I crossed my arms in an attempt to control my shaking.
“We’ll see.” He slammed the door and the lock clicked.
Oh, God.
Even though I knew the door was locked, I still tried it. I even attempted to undo the screws of the doorknob with my fingernails, but I broke all ten of them in the process.
Not that I’d be able to escape once I was out of this cell, but trying was a hell of a lot better than sitting and doing nothing while hoping someone would find me. Anyone.
But after days, my hope shifted from being found to being given water and food for my cramping stomach. My throat was so dry that I could no longer swallow and my lips were cracked and bleeding. But the worst was being trapped, no windows, being below ground and feeling like I never had enough oxygen.
I was sitting on the floor when the lock finally clicked and the door opened. I scrambled to my bare feet, spine against the wall. My plan had been to jump whoever walked in. That plan slowly diminished over the days as I grew weaker. No doubt it was their plan. Make me submit by doing nothing, by just shutting me in a room for days until all I could think about was begging for someone to help. Begging them for help.
But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t do that.
The man in the doorway wasn’t the same as the one who brought me to my cell, but I’d caught glimpses of him in the van through my drugged fog. I never heard him speak, smile, or do anything. His expression had been cold and blank. No smirk. No scowl, just blank and unreadable. The unknown.
He was tall and bulky, a muscled bulky, with dark, almost black hair and naturally sun-tanned skin. It was his beady, brown eyes that were the scariest though because they stared at me like I was nothing more than an inconvenience, a piece of garbage he had to deal with.
“What do you want? Who are you? Why am I here?” In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think of Kai and the scars across his chest. Were these the people responsible for that? Were they the ones he worked for? Had I become insurance anyway? Did they have my father, too? “My father? Where is he?”
“At home, I imagine.” I sighed with relief. Okay, my dad was okay.
The man raised his brows as he examined all the scratch marks on the doorknob, then he looked at me and gestured with his chin to the cot. “Lie down.”
My heart pounded wildly. “No,” I retorted. No way in hell was I lying on the cot. Only one thought came to me why he wanted me to. No. I wouldn’t.
“Are you sure you want to take that approach?” He stepped further into the room and my eyes narrowed as I watched him. He was confident, and he should be. The asshole had all the power against a defenseless woman.