Walking out of the bar, the cool breeze hits my face, dulling some of the buzz I had going on. Glancing up at the sky, I see that there’s a bright full moon out tonight.

A shiver travels down my spine and I cross my arms over my chest, resisting the sudden urge to turn around and walk back into the bar… where it’s safer.

Safer? I don’t even know where that thought comes from. It must be because I’ve been holed up for so long, trapped in my father’s house.

“Beth, come on,” Lindsey grunts as she helps Sophia support Amanda’s weight.

With a sigh, I rub my hands over the bumps prickling over my arms and follow after them. For safety reasons, we parked under the only light on the street, so we have to cross the entire dark parking lot to get to the car.

“Ugh, with all those tissues you eat, you’d think you’d be a little lighter…” Lindsey grumbles.

“Fuck you,” Amanda snarls.

“Lindsey,” Sophia drawls out with annoyance. “Can we not do this right now? Let’s just get to the car and go home, okay? I’ve heard enough bitching tonight to last me a year.”

Lindsey mutters something under her breath but nods her head.

Amanda gets one last, “Bitch,” in and then we fall into an uncomfortable silence.

To say tonight hasn’t gone the way we expected it to go is a gross understatement. It’s been more than a year since I’ve hung out with Amanda and Lindsey, and they’ve either grown more stuck up and nasty over the year or I just never noticed it before.

“Do you feel like you need to puke again?” Sophia asks Amanda once we reach the car.

Amanda shakes her head no, so we all pile into the car. Lindsey and Sophia help Amanda into the back, and I climb into the front, taking the passenger seat.

Once Sophia has Amanda secured in her seatbelt, she climbs into the driver’s seat and starts up her silver Lexus. The headlights beam out, lighting up the entrance of The River Waters, and I find myself trying to peer through the window to catch another peek of Johnathan. The place is packed now and the music is booming. I can feel the bass of the jukebox vibrating the car from here.

Sophia pushes the shifter into drive, and just as we start rolling forward, Amanda cries out, “I’m going puke again!”

Sophia hits the brake and we all jump out of the car. There’s a mad, fumbling rush to help Amanda out of her seatbelt, and then she stumbles out of the car.

Bending over, Amanda begins to dry heave and I have to turn away, feeling my own stomach start to weaken.

“Here, don’t get it in your hair,” Sophia says softly, and I glance over to see her pulling Amanda’s long, brown locks back for her.

“Fuck, tonight is never going to end,” Lindsey grumbles and reaches into the car, grabbing her purse off the backseat.

Lindsey begins to dig around in her purse, and I just stand beside the car awkwardly as we wait for Amanda to stop puking. I’d help, but Sophia seems to have a handle on it.

No reason to add my own puke to the mix.

“You know,” Lindsey says, looking up at me as she fishes a pack of cigarettes out of her purse. “You’re a lot quieter than I remember.”

“I am?” I ask as she withdraws a cigarette and pushes it between her lips.

“Yeah.” She bobs her head up and down. “You used to be a lot of fun. Now, you’re turning into a mute or something.”

She lights the tip of the cigarette and then takes a long drag. Tipping her head back, she exhales a cloud of smoke into the dark sky and asks, “Want a hit?”

I shake my head and glance to the side as a pair of headlights light up the dark night to my left.

A white, unmarked van cruises past us and all the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Hey? How’s it going?” I call out to Amanda and Sophia as I watch the van reach the end of the street and come to a stop at a stop sign.

Maybe I’m just overly paranoid, but I don’t like the looks of that van. There’s nothing about it that screams rapists and murderers on the inside, but it’s made me suddenly aware of how vulnerable the four of us are standing out in the dark parking lot like this.

I look around, searching for anyone else around us, but everyone must be in the bar.

“I think she’s almost done,” Sophia calls back as Amanda starts to heave again.

The red brake lights of the van are joined by a sudden flash of white as the van starts to reverse back down the street, heading straight for us.

“Oh shit,” I cry out, all the little alarm bells going off in my head. “Hey, we need to go!”

“Maybe they just need directions or something,” Lindsey says with a shrug and takes another drag off of her cigarette.

“What’s going on?” Sophia cries out from the other side of the car as the van squeals to a stop. The two back doors fly open.

“Get in the car!” I scream and dive into my side.

“Shit!” I hear Lindsey curse and see her fumbling inside her purse as I slam my door shut.

“Get in! Get in!” I yell, but Lindsey seems to be too focused on getting whatever she wants out of her purse.

“Fuck you!” Lindsey screams as I watch a dark mass appear in front of her.

Fuck, I’m the only one in the car, and I can hear Amanda still heaving as Sophia tries to push her into the backseat.

Lindsey screams again as the black mass moves closer to her, grabbing her. With a surge of adrenaline, I push open my door as hard as I can, clipping the black mass.

There’s a loud, male grunt and then some words are said angrily in a foreign language as the guy stumbles back.

I can’t just sit in the car and watch my friends get grabbed so I jump out, meaning to help Lindsey get inside, when she suddenly produces a little black tube in her hand.

It’s pepper spray, I realize too late as she pushes the trigger.

A thick stream of fluid shoots out, hitting me on the cheek.

I immediately double over, coughing and crying in burning agony.

Two strong arms wrap around my waist and haul me back.

“Let her go, you asshole!” I hear Lindsey screech and then the screech turns into a scream.

I’m dragged across the parking lot, my heels scraping against the pavement.

I’m in too much pain and misery to even fight back.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” I hear Lindsey squeal.

I start to rub at my eyes but it only seems to make the burning worse. My entire head is on fire. My eyes, nose, mouth, and throat burn with every breath I take. The spot on my cheek where I was hit with the pepper spray feels like it’s swelling up like a giant bee sting.

“Help! Help!” I hear Sophia scream. The third help is suddenly cut off with a sickening crack.

The arms tighten around my waist and then I’m lifted into the air.

“Help,” I try to croak out but end up only coughing on the word.

I go flying through the air and crash into something hard and unforgiving. More pain lances through my body. The side I landed on throbs and aches from the impact.

Then another set of hands grabs me, dragging me back by my arm and hair.

I can’t see, I’m completely blind. I didn’t take a direct hit to the eyes, but my eyes are still burning and swelling shut. I reach up, trying to claw at the hands dragging me, but then they suddenly disappear.

“Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here!” I hear a deep voice bark.

There are two more thumps. I’m pinned and squished up against something hard as a warm body is pushed against me. Is it Lindsey, Sophia, or Amanda? I don’t know.

Whoever it is isn’t talking or moving.

“Please,” I hear Amanda whimper at my feet. “I’m going to be sick.”

Okay, so whoever is next to me isn’t Amanda.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” another male voice says, his words thick with a foreign accent. “If you puke I’ll make you eat it.”

There are two loud thumps as if someone is hitting the side of the van, and then a breeze hits my legs as the back doors are slammed shut.

“We got ‘em. Let’s go!”

I try to move, try to escape my pinned position, but then the van starts moving.

The van squeals out of the parking lot and the body next to me rolls into me, further squishing me against the hard thing that must be the side of the van.

It feels like we’re flying down the street.

The tires squeal loudly as we take a sharp turn and then we burst forward.

“Please stop, please,” I hear Amanda whimper again before she starts to heave.

“Fuck!” someone curses in disgust. “Get her the fuck away from me.”

As I listen to Amanda cry, heave, and sniffle, I struggle with the horror of our situation. We didn’t just get grabbed off the street… we didn’t.

This kind of shit only happens in the movies or to other people…

Yet it just fucking happened to us.

Shit.

* * *

The van flies down the street for several minutes before starting to slow. I wiggle and struggle and finally manage to push the body crushing me away. Now that my ribs no longer feel like they’re about to collapse, I gulp in air through my mouth, take stock of myself, and try to figure out the situation.

My eyes still burn and are swollen nearly shut, but it’s starting to fade a bit. I can’t breathe out of my nose because I have so much snot clogging up my sinuses, and my face is burning like I have the worse sunburn ever, but otherwise I’m okay. I suppose it could be worse. I could have taken a direct hit to the eyes.

We just got grabbed off the street, that much is a given. But why? Perhaps this is merely a ransom situation. Given who we are, there’s no way this is completely random…

“Fuck, looks like we got the trifecta here, boys. Blonde, brunette, and redhead,” one of the men says.

“Yeah, no thanks to you, asshole.”

“Hey, I can’t help it those other girls ran off…”

“We would have had them if you didn’t fucking spook them.”

“Hey,” a new, deeper voice interjects. “It doesn’t fucking matter now. We got some girls, some fucking hot ones. Alexei will be happy.”

Shit, so this isn’t a ransom situation? We’re just some random girls they grabbed because they couldn’t grab some others? They don’t even know who we are?

“Happy?” the guy with the foreign accent snorts. “We’ll see about that.”

“What do you mean?” the first guy that spoke asks a little nervously. “We got some girls, we’re good.”

“Yes,” the one with the foreign accent agrees with disdain, and I finally place it. It’s Russian. “You got some girls, but not the right girls, so we’re not good.”

“Who the fuck cares where they came from?” the first one argues.

“Alexei cares,” the Russian says with some finality and there’s a tense moment of silence.

Who is Alexei? I wonder. I’ve never heard that name before. Is he the guy behind all of this?

Rubbing at my eyes, I try to blink them then hiss as a new wave of stinging pain radiates from them.

Suddenly, I feel eyes upon me and freeze.

“What the fuck is wrong with her? Why does she have all that snot coming out of her nose?” the guy with the deep voice asks.

“Her friend fucking maced her,” the second voice snickers.

“Fuck, she’s ugly,” the deep voice says. “Maybe we should just throw her out…”

“Yeah, toss her out with this puking one.”

“No,” the Russian says firmly. “No throwing out. We’ve already drawn enough attention to ourselves. This was a huge risk. Alexei does not like risks.”

“There’s been nothing on the scanners,” deep voice argues. “We’re free and clear.”

The Russian makes an annoyed sound in his throat and says, “We’ll see.”

“Fuck, man, you’re such a buzzkill,” the first guy whines. “All you Russians are so fucking pessimistic.”

“Yeah,” second guy agrees. “We got some babes. Alexei is going to get top dollar for their asses. Just look at this blonde…”

There’s some shuffling to my left and my ears strain as I try to figure out what the hell is going on.

“Look, the carpet even matches the drapes,” he says and I feel suddenly sick. Are they lifting up Lindsey’s or Sophia’s skirt? Oh god. “Alexei will get at least six figures for her.”

“Get your fucking hands off the merchandise,” the Russian says angrily and I sense someone standing up.

“Okay, okay, man! Fuck.” There’s some more shuffling to my left and then it sounds like whoever is over there is moving away. “I was just making a point.”

“Fuck your point,” the Russian says angrily.

Deep voice mutters something unintelligible and the van falls back into a tense silence.

Blinking my eyes, I will them to open, to work so I can fucking see. I need to figure out a way to get us out of this but I can’t do it blind. Through the slits of my eyelids, all I can make out is darkness. I can’t even make out any shapes.

The van begins to slow and then comes to a stop. Fuck. Is it just a traffic light or are we at the destination?

I nudge the body next to me but get no response. I’m pretty sure it’s Sophia, and she’s so still, so unresponsive, it’s starting to scare me a little. What did they do to her? How did they knock her out? My hand starts to roam over her, searching for a pulse or a heartbeat, when I’m suddenly grabbed.

I let out a startled little scream and my throat throbs and aches. That one little scream was enough to make it feel like I just gurgled with razorblades.

Someone backhands me across the face. “Shut the fuck up, you ugly bitch.”

My head whips back and my lip throbs painfully. My already abused face flares with heat and the pain is so strong I’m momentarily stunned by it.

“No damaging the merchandise,” the Russian hisses.

“This one was already hit with the ugly stick. What’s one more hit?” deep voice says as he begins to drag me back. “Open the fucking doors.”

The doors swing open and the cool air that hits my face is a welcome relief. Someone passes by my right and there’s a thud as they jump down. I’m swung out and then a new set of hands grabs me, pulling me down.

“No, please, no,” I hear Amanda whimper, and there’s a bunch of movement. “Please let us go.”

“Fuck, these two are more trouble than they’re worth,” deep voice says from above me. “Move it or I’ll give you something to fucking cry about.”

I start to fight against the hands gripping my upper arms, wiggling and twisting as I struggle to get free of them. Even blind, I need to figure out a way to get away. To get to help. If I could just scream, if I could just fucking see, I know I could get us out of this.

The hands around my arms tighten, the fingers biting down through my flesh until they reach bone.

“Stop fucking fighting or I’ll knock your ass out,” the man holding me says menacingly. The grip of his fingers is so hard, so harsh, I feel myself start to weaken.

I slide down as my knees start to give out.

There’s a thump to my right and then the grip around my arms loosens as I’m yanked back up. “Can you walk or do I need to carry you?”

I lick my lip, tasting blood. “Walk,” I rasp, the word feeling like a hot knife slicing up my throat.

There’s a grunt and then I’m dragged forward. My feet trip up under me as I struggle to both walk and try to open my eyes.

Little by little, I stumble and peel them open. The fresh air feels almost as good as a splash of cold water hitting my face.

“No, no, I’m going to be sick,” I hear Amanda sniffle behind me.

“Don’t you fucking da—” deep voice starts to threaten and then there’s the loud, stomach-twisting sound of Amanda coughing and something wet splashing. “Fuck! You got it on my fucking shoes!”

The man dragging me starts to chuckle as we stop and he pulls a door open. I try to look back, to get a glimpse of Amanda, but then I’m shoved through the door.

“Keep moving,” my escort commands.

The door slams behind us as he grabs me again and drags me forward.

The light is dimmer here inside and my eyes struggle to adjust to it. What I’m walking on feels softer, it must be some kind of carpet.

It’s also quiet. Almost too quiet.

He drags me down a long hallway, takes a left, and then stops at a door. Opening the door, he gives me a hard shove, forcing me through it, and then the door slams behind me.

I stumble forward, almost taking a knee, before I find my balance and spin around.

The light in here is brighter and harsher on my eyes. Tears blur my vision, and I have to look down at the floor to keep the pain at bay.

I don’t know how long I just stand here, trying to get my shit under control, before the door opens again. Amanda is shoved roughly into the room and then the door slams behind her.

“Elizabeth!” she cries out and rushes up to me, throwing herself at me.

Sobbing, she wraps her arms around me, and shudders against me. It’s everything I can do not to push her off. Not only because she’s almost toppling me over, but also because she reeks like something sour.

“What are we going to do? What do you think they want with—” she chokes out, and then the door bursts open.

Amanda sucks in a breath, freezing against me.

I can tell it’s two men walking in by the big, black combat boots they wear. I follow the boots as they stomp into the room and drop two bodies to the floor.

One of the bodies starts to moan as the men stomp right back out the way they came. Once more the door slams and then I hear the click of a lock turning.

“What the fuck is going on?” Sophia asks, her voice sounding strained.

“We were grabbed!” Amanda wails and starts sobbing again.

“What do you mean we were grabbed?” Sophia asks.

I’m miserable myself, but the way Amanda is clinging to me and crying, I feel the need to try to comfort her. Tentatively, I start to pat her on the back, but I have no soothing words to offer. For one, my throat still burns like hell, and for two, I don’t want to give her false hope.

As far as I can see, there’s no silver lining to this situation. We’re completely fucked. All we can do is try to stay alive and avoid being raped or killed, and I’m not sure we can prevent either from happening.

“Oh my god, Beth. What the hell happened to you?!” Sophia gasps.

Amanda stops crying long enough to peer up at me. She blinks her green eyes slowly, as if she is seeing me for the first time, and then says, “Yeah, you look like shit.”

I feel hysterical laughter starting to bubble up in my throat and have to swallow it back down, because frankly, I know laughing is going to hurt like a bitch.

“Lindsey pepper sprayed me,” I croak out and instantly regret saying that much.

“Oh fuck,” Sophia says with some surprise and then shakes her head. “Of course she did.”

“Why did she pepper spray you?” Amanda asks, a wrinkle of confusion appearing between her brows.

Slowly, but surely, my vision is returning to me, and it’s becoming easier and easier to breathe.

I just look at her. I could tell her it was an accident, that Lindsey didn’t intentionally hit me with the spray, but the question just isn’t worth the pain it would cost to answer it.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” Sophia says after a moment, answering for me. “Damn, she’s still asleep. Lindsey. Hey Lindsey, wake up.”

Lindsey starts to groan as if she’s in pain.

“Come on,” Sophia says impatiently. “Wake the fuck up. We’re in deep shit here…”

“What…” Lindsey moans groggily.

Loud, stomping footsteps sound outside the door and then the lock clicks open. Amanda jumps back, startled, and begins to shake beside me.

I tip my head up, focusing on the door as it swings in. Three men dressed all in black march inside and then I feel Sophia beside me.

“No,” Amanda immediately starts to sob.

“Shush,” I hear Sophia whisper. “Stay calm.”

The three of us squeeze together as if we could somehow protect each other. There is strength in numbers. Maybe we’ll make it out of this if we stick together.

I slide my gaze across the three men’s faces, taking in their bad haircuts and smirking lips.

“What the fuck is going on? Who are you?” Lindsey demands with righteous indignation.

“Shush,” Sophia whispers harsher.

Lindsey shoots her a look full of loathing and shakily gets to her feet. As she tugs her skirt down, I notice one of the men begin to chuckle. I wonder if he was the one who lifted her skirt up in the first place.

“So, let’s see what you’ve brought me, Sasha,” a smooth, husky, Russian voice says in the hallway. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about that voice that sends a shiver down my spine.

A fourth man steps into the room, but unlike the other three, he’s dressed in an expensive designer suit and not black combat fatigues. Immediately, I recognize him as the man who holds all the power here. I’ve grown up around these kind of men, I’ve been surrounded by them all my life. It’s not only in the way he’s dressed, his charcoal grey suit is impeccable, it’s also in the way he stands and exudes dominance.

The other three men in the room are bulkier and obviously stronger, but the way they watch this man, you’d think he was an all-powerful giant.

“I can take no credit for these girls,” the Russian voice from earlier says and the man himself appears in the doorway.

“Oh?” Mr. Smooth asks with interest as he lifts a dark brow. He looks at us, his dark eyes slowly perusing over Amanda, Sophia, then me.

When he gets to me, he looks a little taken aback.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lindsey fairly seethes as she stalks forward, drawing his attention.

Mr. Smooth’s head turns towards her.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lindsey repeats when he doesn’t answer.

His dark eyes light up with amusement and he grins a feral grin at her. “I’m your new master.”

“Master?” Lindsey sputters and stops besides Sophia. “Master?” she repeats, and gives us a look like ‘can you believe this guy?’

The amusement vanishes from Mr. Smooth’s face.

Lindsey shakes her head and our new ‘master’ seems to hone in on her. She has his undivided attention now.

The way he’s watching her reminds me of a predator watching its prey before it strikes, and Lindsey has no fucking clue it’s happening. She’s so worked up, so insulted and full of indignation, she can’t see the warnings he’s giving off.

“Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?” she asks, her voice growing higher and shriller by the second.

“Shut up, Lindsey,” I hear Sophia whisper-hiss in warning. She must be seeing what I’m seeing.

These men, I have a feeling they don’t give a fuck who we are. If they did, they wouldn’t have just snatched us out of a parking lot.

“No, I do not know who you are,” Mr. Smooth says, taking another step into the room.

He inclines his head to the side and there’s an open, interested look on his face, but in his eyes I can see something cold stirring. “Why don’t you tell me?”

No, I mentally urge Lindsey. Don’t tell him, please. I don’t know why the fuck we’re here, or what these guys want with us, but I’ve got the most awful feeling that they’re not going to like finding out we come from powerful families. We’re probably better off just going along with this while we wait for someone to rescue us.

And someone will rescue us, I know it. Someone had to have seen what happened… they had to. And when our families get wind of this, they’ll find us. They’ll spare no expense to get us back.

It’s better that these guys don’t know who they’re fucking with.

Lindsey narrows her eyes, and she must not see the warning in his eyes, because her lips twist with a mixture of pleasure and disdain. “I’m Lindsey Hawthorne, and my father is Michael Hawthorn, as in Hawthorne Real Estate. Ring a bell?”

Mr. Smooth slowly nods his head and he frowns as if he’s not happy to learn this new information. “Yes, I’ve heard of him.”

Lindsey’s eyes light up and she looks almost excited as she says, “Then you know you’re in deep shit for kidnapping me. You’ll be lucky if my father does—“

A loud bang rings out, assaulting my ears, and Lindsey just drops.

She doesn’t try to stop her fall.

Her arms don’t come out.

She just drops to the floor with a thump.

I didn’t even see the gun appear. Everything just happened so quickly, and I was too busy mentally pleading with Lindsey, to pay attention to the other men.

Beside me, Amanda screams.

Sophia gapes.

I look to Mr. Smooth, then to the man beside him with the gun in his hand. The man with the Russian accent.

I look down at Lindsey.

Did that just happen? I wonder as a cold wave of shock washes over me.

Lindsey’s blue eyes stare lifelessly up at the ceiling, but I just keep staring at her, expecting and urging her to blink.

Get up, Lindsey, get up.

But she doesn’t move.

She doesn’t twitch or blink.

She just keeps staring.

The light that was in her eyes just a moment ago has flickered out.

Somehow her eyes have dimmed and emptied.

A dark pool of blood begins to spread around her, staining her white blonde hair.

Then I see it, the gun shot. The hole in her forehead. And it registers. What just happened finally sinks in.

I can’t stop myself, I scream.

“Lindsey’s dead, oh my god,” Sophia mumbles beside me. “He killed her, he fucking killed her!”

Mr. Smooth turns back to us, his grin spreading. “Would you three like to tell me about your famous fathers too?”

Amanda shakes her head, sobbing and sputtering out, “No, no.”

A spike of fear slams through me as I meet his eyes. Oh my god, if he finds out who my father is I’m going to die.

Just like Lindsey…

Mr. Smooth stares at us long and hard, and I feel fucking petrified. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I can’t speak. “You are no one now, yes? You are my pets.”

Amanda nods her head up and down, and Sophia whimpers. Fuck, her father is the Chief of Police. She’s screwed even more than I am.

“Who’s responsible for this?” Mr. Smooth asks, turning to face the three men in black fatigues.

“Ronny,” the Russian answers. “It was his idea to grab the girls from the parking lot after botching the first grab.”

“No, boss, I—”

Again the gun goes off and the guy in the middle drops to the floor.

The other two jump away, startled.

Oh fuck, oh fuck. I seem to be incapable of thinking anything but oh, fuck.

Amanda’s little sobs start to turn into loud, blaring wails.

Mr. Smooth turns back to us and orders. “Take the girls to the holding room.”

The two men in black fatigues hesitate for a moment and then jump forward to do his bidding. They have to step around their fallen comrade and Lindsey to reach us.

“What about the bodies?” the Russian with the gun asks as the two guys start to shove us forward. “How would you like me to dispose of them?

Mr. Smooth glances down at the bodies and turns away. “Feed them to the pigs.”