18
Mackenzie
Iscreamedinto the gag in my mouth, kicking out and trying to break free, even if I knew it was hopeless. I was tied to an old wooden chair, with an old t-shirt or something stuffed into my mouth. The rope dug into my skin, burning and cutting me, but I kept struggling anyway.
Nowaywas I going to just sit there and let them try to do this.
I could hear my dad on the phone with what had to be Wilder and Lincoln, and slowly, I could feel my heart sinking. It wasn’t like I had any love left for my father — not after the life I’d had and all the ways he’d abandoned me and neglected me. But the fact that my own flesh and blood wouldkidnapme and try and barter me for ransom still hurt.
I glanced at Wilder’s sister, watching her pace the floor and chain-smoke cigarettes. She’d been talking on the phone first, but when she’d stuttered to a stop and turned white, my dad had yanked it out of her hands.
“One million, you pricks!” he yelled into the phone. “We’ll call you back in one hour to tell you where to—”
I blinked, his face turning red as he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. “Fucking assholes hung up on me!”
He whirled, snarling as he glared at me.
“Looks like your little boy-toy sugar-daddies gave up on you, huh? I mention money, and they hang up?” He shook his head, glaring at me. “Looks like I raised you to find some real prizes, huh.”
I glared at him, muttering through the gag before he marched over and took it out.
“What?”
“I saidyoudidn’t raise me at all,” I hissed. “Idid.”
He rolled his eyes as he looked way. “Well, either way, they ain’t fuckin’ coming, so we need a new plan.”
He and Stephanie stormed away, lighting cigarettes and pacing around muttering and trying to come up with a plan. But I wasn’t worried. IknewWilder and Lincoln would come for me.
…Iknew it, in my heart. The man holding me hostage like this — tied to a chair in this old mill building — wasnotmy family.
They were.
Lincoln and Wilder had become the family I’d looked for my entire life. And I don’t just mean they were my “daddies,” as hot as that dynamic was. But they protected me, and took care of me, andlistenedto me. And loved me. With them, I became a part of something bigger than just me, and that’s what a family was supposed to be, right?
“Well call them back!” my dad shouted at Stephanie, shoving the phone back into her hands.
“You fucking call them! You’re the one who just blew the deal, asshole!” She screeched back. “Dammit, weneedthat money! Rico said he’d have a whole package for us in a few days. Weneedthat money to get it! C’mon, think about it! We could do as much of it as we wanted and sell the rest and beset!”
For one second, my dad glanced at me, and there in his eyes, I could see the hesitation.
“C’mon,” Stephanie whined. “I wanna gethigh!”
And just like that, his attention snapped away from me, and he grinned as he grabbed the phone. Just like that, my own father chose drugs over me.
Again.
And just like that, I knew there wasn’t any single doubt about who my real family was now.
…I just need them to hurry up and save me.
My dad snatched the phone up, punching the buttons and bringing it to his ear before he swore.
“Fuckin pricks just picked up and then hung up on me!”
He muttered under his breath, dialing again and listening before he swore even louder.
“They just did it again!”