RYKER
I need to act now. At the risk of exposing myself, I race down hallways and up stairs until I reach Everly’s room. Cameron is stationed there, leaning against the wall at the side of her door. He blocks my entrance.
“Move,” I order.
“No one’s allowed in. Senior’s orders.”
“She’s my fucking sister,” I hiss through gritted teeth, aware of the seconds ticking by, each of them with Mia at the mercy of a drunk Sebastian. If he’s anything like his father, his cruelty will come to the fore like never before. I’ve seen the way Senior acts around his girls when he’s drunk. I need to get Mia out of here and I need to do it now. But I can’t leave Everly. As soon as they discover that I’ve helped Mia escape, she will be the one to pay the price.
“Take a walk.”
Cameron shakes his head and folds his arms across his chest. “You know how it is, Ryker. I’m just following orders.”
I take a step back, then race at the door banging loudly and calling her name. I don’t care if anyone hears. I can make up excuses. I can claim frustration that Cameron wouldn’t allow me to see her. What I can’t do, is walk away.
“Everly! Everly!”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Cameron hisses, grabbing me from behind and wrapping his arms around me as though he can stop me. I allow him to drag me back because the door handle twists and a bleary-eyed Everly stands in the doorway.
“Ryker?” She rubs her eyes, looking between the two of us. “Cameron? What are you doing here?”
I reach for her hand and tug her towards me. “I need you to come with me.”
“But it’s the middle of the night.” She’s confused as I pull her down the hallway. But she stops, jerked back by Cameron grabbing her other hand.
“I can’t let you take her.” He shakes his head, though the movement is hesitant and unsure. He’s not used to working against me. He’s used to working with me.
“Your orders were that no one was allowed in. You’ve kept that promise.”
“What’s happening?” There’s an uncertainty to Everly’s voice. Fear. “Ryker tell me what’s going on. Where are you taking me?”
“It’s okay,” I quickly assure her, stepping between her and Cameron. “It’s just a misunderstanding. Everything is fine.” I lean close to Cameron, discreetly retrieving my knife and hold the blade just above his hip. “Don’t think I won’t use it,” I say so close to his ear Everly can’t hear.
Cameron nods once in understanding. “I didn’t let anyone in.” He backs away. “I was here all night. I didn’t see a thing.”
I nod and reach back for Everly’s hand. Her skin is hot and clammy. We start to walk down the hallway as I slide my knife back beneath my belt unnoticed.
“Ryker?” Cameron calls out. “Don’t make me be the one to pay for this. Remember all the times I’ve had your back.”
I don’t respond, racing down the hall, dragging Everly behind me. She stumbles as she runs, and I have to pull her to her feet.
“How much did you have to drink?”
“Senior said I could have as much as I wanted, just for tonight.” She pants as she speaks, the combination of being drunk and running, too much for her.
“I’m so confused, Ryker. Where are we going? Why are we running?”
I pull her into the room opposite Junior’s just before the door opens again. Looking at Everly with wide eyes, I bring my finger to my lips, begging her to remain quiet. She looks at me with confused eyes but does what I say as Junior exits with Mia’s friend, laughing as they stumble down the hallway.
He leans in close to whisper in Roxy’s ear. “I’ve got a friend who likes to watch.”
She slaps him playfully and laughs. “You pervert.”
I’ve got no time to wonder what they were doing.
“Wait here,” I warn Everly as soon as they disappear. I dash into the door they just exited, desperately praying that Mia is still inside.
“Mia?” I call out, spinning around, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of her. “Mia?”
A faint sound of banging comes from the closet. I rip the door open, not once stopping to wonder if it’s her or not, and find her bound and gagged, sitting on the bottom of the closet floor, eyes wide and cheeks stained with tears. Pulling her to me, I lift her out of the closet, turning to find Everly behind me. I freeze, and she reaches out to stroke a strand of Mia’s hair back from her face.
“Are you okay?” Her eyes are stuck on Mia. She takes in the material stuffed into her mouth and the binds around her feet and her hands as I lower her to the bed. “What’s happening? What’s going on. I don’t understand.”
I work at the knot holding Mia’s gag in place, cursing at how tight and difficult it is. “I’ll explain everything later, I will, but for right now we need to get her out of here. We all need to get out of here.” I beg with her to understand. But her whole world is being confronted with a dark reality so different from anything she imagined it to be.
“Did—” I hear the gulp of her swallow. “Did Sebastian do this to her?”
I stop toying with Mia’s binds and turn to her, gripping her hands in mine and hoping the importance of our situation leeches through the connection. “I promise I will tell you everything later, but we need to leave. Now. Do you understand?”
She nods. Her chin wobbles and her eyes glaze over with tears, but she nods.
I turn back and continue working on Mia’s binds. “Are you okay?” I whisper. “Are you hurt? Everly, undo the knots around her hands, would you?”
Mia shakes her head as I finally work the knot free. She coughs and splutters as she draws in fresh air, but when she looks up at me, her eyes focus on something behind me and they enlarge with fear.
“Sebastian.”
I stay kneeling before her, my mind whirling. Reaching down I grip the handle of my knife.
“It’s Maestro to you, is it not?” He stalks closer to Mia. “I had a suspicion that you would be up to something. Your friend is fine, by the way. I made up some excuse in order to get her to leave so I could come back to you so quickly as I could. I didn’t want to leave you alone for long.” His gaze moves to me, rage dancing in the blue. “A wise decision, I see.”
Everly is unafraid of him, unaware of the monster that lives inside him. “What’s going on, Sebastian,” she demands. “Why was this girl locked in your closet?”
I get to my feet slowly and turn to face Sebastian, the handle of my knife firm and comforting within my grasp. “Junior.”
Sebastian glares back at me, his expression one of demented rage. “Move out of the way.”
I lift my chin, adrenaline pumping through my veins and shake my head. “Make me.”
My plan was to escape without incident, without anyone realizing until the next day. My plan wasn’t to enrage Senior any further than necessary. And it certainly wasn’t to hurt his son and ensure that he would chase us forever. My fingers tighten and loosen on the knife. All I would need to do is plunge it into his side, just like I did with Marcel. One sharp swift movement and he would crumple over, leaning onto me as he drew in his last breaths.
“Ryker?” Everly’s voice breaks through my reverie. “Ryker, he has a gun.”
The coward smiles. “The girl is right. I do.”
I hold myself back aware that any move on my part might put the girls at risk. “Everly, leave.”
Sebastian looks me straight in the eye as his hand shoots out and shoves Everly, causing her to fall to the floor. “Stay right where you are, Everly. Unless, of course, you’d like me to shoot your brother, right here, right now?”
Cold metal presses to my temple.
“I—I—I don’t understand.” Everly’s words are hiccupped through tears. “Sebastian, please—”
“Silence!”
I press against the coldness, daring him to pull the trigger. “We’re leaving.” I keep my voice cool and calm, in stark contrast to his. “I’m taking Everly and Mia with me and we’re never coming back.”
“My father won’t allow it.” Sebastian’s eye twitches with barely concealed rage. “I won’t allow it,” he corrects. “You forget that I’m the one who has a gun to your head.”
I instruct Everly and Mia to leave, pleading with them to leave me alone with the monster, but Everly shakes her head.
“No. I won’t leave you. Sebastian, you’re scaring me. Put down the gun. We’ll go to Senior and talk this through.”
She still doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know how deep the lies go. She doesn’t know how well they have deceived her.
“Your brother is trying to take what’s mine. I won’t allow it.”
“Pull the trigger then!” I bellow, startling him and forcing him backward. “Do it!” I taunt. “Pull the trigger!”
“Don’t think I won’t!” Sebastian yells back, but his fingers tremble, showing his fear.
He’s never done it before. He’s never pulled a trigger, used a knife or wrapped his fingers around someone’s throat until they ceased to exist.
And he can’t do it now.
I keep taunting him, insulting him, calling his bluff and provoking him until he is backed against the wall. But instead of cowering into a mess like I expect him to, he lowers the gun, pointing it lower on my body.
“Oh, I don’t plan on killing you, not yet. And for all your attempts at bravery, Ryker, you are forgetting one thing. Even with you gone, they will still be here.”
His words hit me harder than any bullet. My rage had clouded my mind, forgetting the truth of the fact that he has the upper hand. And he knows it. He sees it in my eyes as he pulls out his phone and instructs Cameron to come and guard the girls. If I resist, they will be the ones to pay.
Mia tries to intervene. She begs and pleads, promising to be his forever. I can’t look her in the eyes, knowing I have failed her once again as Sebastian leads me out the door.
He takes me to one of the unused stables at the back of the property, far away from the mansion and ties my wrists with rope that cuts into my flesh viciously. He leans down low and hisses in my ear.
“I’ll save you for later. Right now, it’s time for Mia to face her punishment.”