BRIELLE
I was floating.
Floating over my lifeless, sleeping body.
I tried to reach out for her… but all I grasped was air.
Was this truly how dying felt like?
Because instead of feeling pain— I felt free.
I felt— liberated.
There was no light, no darkness, no heaven, no abyss… there was just;
Me.
If this was death, then why wasn’t it scary?
If this was the end, then why did it feel like this was just the beginning?
It was another space, another dimension… where the main focus was no one but,
Me.
“Fight.”
“You can do it.”
“Just hold on.”
“I’ll find you.”
Voices.
No, a voice—Dylan’s.
It was fading… fading into the darkness.
“Don’t leave me Dylan!”
But it was already too late.
He was gone…
And there was light.
“You were knocked out pretty hard.” A deep voice chuckled drily, slapping my cheeks hardly to quicken my awakening. I groaned softly. My head hurt like hell, and I was so thirsty. “Where am I?”
“Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.” Deep voice rasped.
I tried sitting up, but both my hands and feet were tied up. Sitting would be an almost impossible feat.
A thought lighted up in my head.
Maybe I could scream for help!
I was definitely going to get someone’s attention. “HELLLLPPPPPP! HELPPPPP ME PLEASEEE! SOMEONE! ANYBODY!—”
“Scream all you want princess, no one’s gonna find you now.” He laughed darkly as he came close, and for the first time I saw my captor, or one of them at least. This one was portly, and he had the brownest set of teeth I had ever seen in my life. His hair was long, flowing past his shoulders, and he was rather on the short side. The man knelt down gently, reaching to help me sit up. “Please, please help me get out of here, and you won’t be in trouble with the cops when they do come for me—”
“Don’t you understand,” He seethed. “The only way you’re going to make it out of here is if you’re no longer breathing.”
“Why am I here? What do you want from me?”
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough.” He told me, reaching out to caress my face. I tried to pull away, but I couldn’t and so I settled for cringing with disgust. “While we wait, why don’t we keep ourselves busy?” He leaned even closer, his voice a soft whisper. “I haven’t been with a woman in so long…” I butted him in the head with mine, wincing in pain at the effort as I spat in his face. “Go. To. Hell.”
“You bitch!” He threw a backhander across my cheek, and my head spun from the effect. I wanted to cry, but he sure in hell wasn’t going to see me do it. “You’re feisty. I like it.” He told me, a creepy grin on his face as he wiped away my spit on his face and licked it.
Gross.
“I’m going to have a wonderful time breaking you.”
“I told you not to touch her or talk to her idiot!” A voice called out from faraway. “But, she was begging for it!” He hollered right back, but got up nevertheless. “I’ll be back.” He promised.
I watched him walk away, a deep sigh of relief escaping my chest.
That had been such a close call,
Who knew what was going to happen next?
DYLAN
No.
No, this couldn’t be happening.
No, no, no…
FUCK NO!
“Get right to work, we’re not doing that waiting for 48 hours shit, neither are we going to wait for them to call and make a ransom. Every fucking hour we waste is crucial. Comb the city, the fucking state if need be, and don’t come back until you find her.” I barked out harshly signalling for the men to get out of my sight.
“How are you holding up, Silvie?” I asked in concern, trying to keep my voice soft in order not to alarm her. Brielle’s brother Nick had found her lying at their apartment’s parking lot unconscious, and Brielle—
Brielle had been kidnapped.
I had my suspicions as to who had done this, and if I were to uncover that they weren’t only suspicions, but were true,
There was going to be hell to pay.
“I’m fine, Dylan… but Lucette’s not.” Silvie wailed, Nick trying hard to calm her down. “We need to find her. You have no idea how dangerous those people—”
“We’re handling it.” I assured her, but she was having none of it, a bout of hysteria overtaking her instead. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU— YOU BASTARD!” A nurse approached the hospital room in that moment, injecting what I’m assuming to be a sedative into her veins. She slumped against the pillow in a deep sleep.
“I want to talk to you outside, now.” Nick barked, his expression murderous. I followed him out of the ward. “What did Syl mean by this is your fault?”
There was no lying to this hunk of a man… I needed all the help I could get to find my princess, even if it took a black eye and several broken ribs. Taking a deep breath, I explained everything to him in as little words as possible.
Just as I had predicted, the punch came flying my way. I did nothing to stop it. Heaven knows I deserved it and even more. “You best pray to God that my sister is found unharmed, or I’ll end you.” He seethed, his nose almost touching mine as he held me by the collar of my shirt. He let go of me, and I walked away from him and out of the hospital.
I needed to find Madeline fucking Decker.
BRIELLE
I woke up with a start. Being alone now, I was able to take in my surroundings better. I was in what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort, and even though a little sunlight was seeping into the building, you could tell that it was almost dusk. An electric lamp sat on a table a few feet away from me, it wasn’t that bright and it only illuminated my immediate surroundings, but from what I could see, the whole room was filled with boxes.
I was cold, but it would have been even worse if I hadn’t been wearing pants, so I guess I should be grateful.
I needed to find a way out.
I began fumbling with my bindings, maybe they’d get loose eventually, and I’d be able to escape before anyone came looking for me.
Gosh, I was thirsty.
And hungry too, but that could wait.
My thoughts drifted to my best friend.
I wondered how she was doing. If nothing at all, she was going to have a nasty bump on her head and a nastier concussion. I really hoped she was alright.
I heard footsteps approach, all my calm flying out of the window at the sound. Creepy Guy was back, and he was holding food and a bottle of water. He knelt down to undo my bindings, and I rubbed my wrists to soothe the irritation they felt.
Oh, finally!
“Can’t you at least tie me up in a chair instead? The floor’s too cold.” I complained.
He grinned, my heart sinking as I noticed for a second time how brown his teeth were. “Deal with it.”
Now normally, one had to be skeptical about eating food given to you by your captors… but I was too far gone in hunger and thirst to care. He tossed the two slices of pizza wrapped in a Ziploc bag and the bottle of water at me. “Here, eat up дерзкий.” I shot him a glare as I finished one slice and gulped down some water. Wiping my mouth, I asked. “What does that mean?”“It means feisty one.” He smirked, the creepy look coming back into his eyes. “I’m really going to enjoy breaking you.” I scooted away from him looking for anything on the ground that I could possibly use against him, but he was fast. The gun was pointed my way so fast that I would have missed it had I blinked. “I’ll blow your fucking head off if you try anything.” He promised.
“You guys are not going to get away with this! There are people out there who will be looking for me. They’re going to find me— and we’ll see who’ll be having the last laugh.” I threw at him.“What did I tell you about talking to her?” That same voice from earlier on boomed, invoking fear in the eyes of Creepy Guy. That was probably the boss.The voice approached. He was a very scary looking guy. Real buff, very tall, tanned, his whole body was covered in ink. In another life, I would have probably acknowledged his attractiveness, but not when he had me all tied up and at his mercy. “Get lost.” He barked at Creepy Guy, the idiot quickly disappearing into the darkness at the command.“What do you want with me?” I rasped shakily. The big guy was really freaking me out with his keen silence. He knelt in front of me and redid my bindings. At least Creepy Guy I could handle, this one was like a slab of granite.Cold and unmoving.“Is it money, or jewelry that you want, tell me what?” His answer was short. “You’ll know soon enough.” I watched him walk off into the darkness. He had danger written all over him, in the way he carried himself, in the way he walked— hell, in the way he even mauled English with his accent.
Wait, his accent!
Why didn’t I realise this sooner?
They were all Russians!
Fuck, it made a whole lotta sense now. I hadn’t made enemies horrible enough to want to kidnap me? Sure, I’d received a couple of threats here and there in my line of work, but nothing had gotten to this extent.They were working for Anya!She was the only one who was this ruthless.“I KNOW WHO YOU’RE WORKING FOR!” I hollered. “YOU’RE WORKING FOR MADELINE DECKER.”
Silence.
“NOW, YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW THIS, BUT SHE’S A CRAZY WOMAN! YOU NEED TO LET ME GO, PLEASE.”
Even more silence.
No wait, what was that?
Clapping.
The sound was approaching. I could hear it now, coupled with the clickety sound of heels. There was a soft chuckle, and a woman made her way over to me, still clapping. “I see you’ve figured it all out. Took you long enough though.”There stood Madeline under the soft yellow light right in front of me, her belly full and round with child, her lips bloody red, a cheerful grin on her pretty face.
Such a waste.
Behind all that beauty was a monster, a psychotic woman who was probably going to kill me now.
“You don’t have to do this, Madeline.” I implored softly.
“Oh shut up! I warned you, Brielle… I told you what would happen if you didn’t stay out of my way, but did you listen? No. No one fucking does.” She threw at me.“I know you love Dylan—”
“Oh, I got over that bastard a long time ago, Brie honey… this right here is pure revenge.” She chuckled darkly. “I’m ripping him off everything he has ever loved, starting. With. You.” She began to pace. “You know, I just don’t understand. Why can’t he love me? Why can’t anyone love me? Not my mum; she killed herself when I was ten years old. Not my dad; he wishes I had been born a boy. Not even my stupid ex of a husband who cheated on me constantly and left me for a girl who was barely out of college. I don’t think I’m a lovable woman.” She finished sadly.
“Oh, but you are, Madeline” I whispered softly. “You just haven’t found the person who can absolutely adore you just for who you are yet, but I’m very sure he’s out there—”
“DON’T YOU DARE PATRONISE ME.” She screamed in my face. “You don’t know what it’s like, so don’t come hitting me with your fairy tale notions on love and all of that bullshit. Dylan would be stripped of everyone he has ever loved just like I was.”
“What do you think that will achieve though?” I asked. “Because even if you kill me, you still aren’t going to change the fact that Dylan loves me. He’ll love me even in my death.”
“Oh, I know that. Which is why I have far bigger plans for you, love. You’ll be on your way to the motherland soon enough.” She laughed maniacally. I realised in that moment how truly fucked up the woman before me was. I was grasping for straws here. I didn’t fully know what the psychopath meant by her statement, but I was pretty sure she meant I was being transported to Russia or at least something to that effect.
Rule number 2; never allow yourself to be transported to a second location.
I’d watched enough movies to know this. What I had to do now was stall her long enough and hope to the heavens that someone comes looking for me soon.“B— but what about your child?” I asked, desperately looking for something… anything to get her talking. “If Dylan is shattered with grief by losing everyone he has ever loved, how will he help you take care of the child?”
She stood still, watching me silently, hatred shining ever so bright in her eyes.
Was the hatred towards me or the child?I couldn’t really tell.
“You want to know what I think about the child? Fine, I’ll tell you.” She reached for a chair and collapsed into it, looking down at me from my position on the floor. “I hate it.” She declared, a dreamy look appearing on her face. “It was supposed to be a gift from the fates… a gift that I— that I could use to bind Dylan to me forever—” The dreamy look disappeared, only to be replaced with a malicious one. “—But what do I get? He still wants to be with you even after knowing that I’m carrying his child, meaning I’m going to be left alone with it.” She reached into her handbag determinedly, grabbing what seemed to be a bottle of pills.
“Madeline? What are you doing?” I called out shakily, suddenly fearful for the child in the unstable woman’s belly.
“What am I doing?” She pressed. “Well, I’m getting rid of it. Dylan may not have said so, but his intentions are pretty clear— he does not want the child, well… so do I.”
“Madeline, no!” But it was already too late. She was already swallowing what seemed to be more than half the bottle of pills.“You’re going to watch me bleed this child to death, Brielle. And then you’d be on the next flight to Russia where you’ll spend the rest of your miserable days working for my father.”
More maniacal laughter.
She noticed my look of confusion. “Oh, honey, let me put it in lay man terms for you. I’m handing you over to the Bratva… you know, the Mafia. I’m pretty sure they’ll put you and your incredible assets to good use.” She winked.
Oh, no.
“You don’t want to do that.” I pleaded shakily. “You can’t transport someone out of the country like that. It’s— it’s illegal!”
“It isn’t among the people I roll with, love.” She chuckled darkly. “We traffic women all the time, hell, even children too. You, will fit in just fine— ouch.” She groaned painfully, trying to stand up to her feet. “Fuck, it hurts.”
She looked down at her legs, my gaze following hers to the bloody red trickling down to the ground. “NO!!!” I cried out in horror.