Chapter Fifteen
Layla
I woke up to a bright light. Bright enough to be fucking heaven. But it couldn’t be. Devin didn’t murder in the house. It was the one rule he gave himself, and one of many he gave to his cronies. Never blood in the house. It was like he needed a safe place, one untouched by his dark deeds. It was as if he thought that if he didn’t kill in the house, it was like he was absolved of all of his sins. That wouldn’t matter. Apologizing to God Himself wouldn’t wash the blood from Devin McDermott’s hands. He may as well be the devil’s son. He was evil through and through.
Blinking, I realized the bright light was the light in the room swaying back and forth. Ha, knew it wasn’t heaven. It reminded me of the lights used in interrogation scenes in movies. Looking around, I saw I was in a cellar-like room with bare stone walls. There was literally nothing in the room. Stone walls and a dirt floor. Dammit. At least Devin was courteous enough to install a light.
My middle finger was hanging limply but at least it didn’t hurt. I was probably still in shock. At least I had enough medical knowledge to know I need to make a splint. There wasn’t anything in the room I could use. Against my better judgment, I tried the doorknob. Obviously locked.
“Oh, sorry, sweetheart, we can’t let you out. You’ll just run away again. You haven’t paid up. And you stole a lot, sweet cheeks. You’ll be lucky to be paid up in ten, fifteen years.” Devin laughed. His friends laughed with him.
I growled. “It’s not like you wouldn’t know standard hooker rate!” I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. If I made him angry things would only get worse, but, dammit, my mouth had a mind of its own when I was pissed off.
“Mike, quit it. She isn’t worth it, man.” I heard Devin whisper.
I rolled my eyes. That’s what everyone said. Well, they could stop. I already knew I wasn’t worth it. Only Ryder thought I was. He was wrong. He was a dumb boy. He was supposed to be smart.
But then again, I never picked smart boys. History showed I was bad at picking relationships. Even the ones I didn’t pick, AKA my mom, didn’t work out. My dad had been the one saving grace in my life, and he’d died way too soon. Now, here I was, trapped in a room with a broken finger and no way to contact the one person who might have helped me.
My heart was thumping in my chest. I was a little worried about what the doctor had said about my heart in that moment. He had explained to me that, thanks to all the drugs, my heart had grown considerably weaker. Most of the time it would beat too slow but occasionally it would beat too fast in times of stress. Well, right now would qualify as a stressed-out moment.
I had no idea how I’d get out of here. I was trapped until Devin decided to let me out. He knew he had me under his control. He liked being in control. Unfortunately for me, I was an easy target. My need to survive made me easy to control. As much as I would like to think I was in control, I wasn’t. I was a speeding car, begging someone else to take the wheel. I needed someone to take care of me while I proceeded to fuck up my life.
Ryder was the first guy to ever tell me no. He was the first who had a problem with my drug use. The others used drugs themselves so they didn’t care. Ryder had a life and a goal. I had nothing. He was better off without me. I was glad I’d thought to leave Lilly with him. At least he’d set her on a shelf or something. These bastards would probably throw her away, or worse, tore her apart and threw her in here for me to see.
Out. Out. I needed out. Now. I wasn’t good with small spaces. Small spaces made me feel like the walls were closing in on me. Something inside me snapped. Before I knew it, I was pounding on the door with my fists and screaming. I wasn’t cursing Devin to the darkest depths of Hell or wishing everyone he worked with a slow and painful death. The scream was pure primal rage. The rational part of my brain had been reduced to a screaming five-year-old. A screaming five-year-old who wanted out of her room.
“Are you done yet, Lay-lay? I much prefer making you scream in different ways, not this tantrum bullshit. Knock it off,” Devin warned after several minutes. I resisted the urge to tell him off again but did as I was told. Whatever had come over me seemed to have passed anyway, leaving me breathless and drained.
I heard my phone ding. It wasn’t in my pocket. I was an idiot to think they wouldn’t take my phone. I was glad I didn’t have Ryder’s full name in my contact list. It wasn’t like they could do much with his full name, could they? Knowing Devin, I wasn’t sure I’d like the answer. After all, he’d been able to figure out my real name after only two days of me being gone.
“Don’t worry, I’ll answer it. Hmm…Ryder? Is that your new boy toy, Lay-lay?” Devin laughed. “Poor bastard. Probably doesn’t understand what a damaged soul you are.”
My tongue bled from biting it so hard. I wasn’t going to respond. I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk making Devin angry. I couldn’t let him know I cared about Ryder. If he knew Ryder was important to me, he’d do something to him to make me regret running. My phone dinged. And dinged. And dinged.
“Oooh, tough guy. He really seems to care about you! What lies did you tell him to accomplish that?” He laughed. My hands curled into fists. I’d never wanted to punch someone so badly in my life. Why couldn’t he just rape me and get it over with? Why did he have to torture me like this? Dangling Ryder in front of me like a carrot in front of a starving, injured rabbit.
“Nothing. He means nothing. He was just an idiot I scammed for a warm bed, that’s all,” I said, no emotion in my voice.
“For three weeks?”
“I liked his place. He gave me my own room. The bed was really comfy. My only regret is I didn’t steal one of the pillows before I left.” I smirked. Now that I thought of it, I really should have stolen a pillow. They were soft and they smelled like him.
Devin laughed. “Now he’s really insistent. He wants to know where you are. What a damn fool. Should I tell him? We could have some fun, torture you in front of him. Or I could have you torture him, Lay-lay! Wouldn’t that be fun? He’d get to see the real you. The cold, manipulative woman that only cares for herself!”
I was glad he couldn’t see me because I jumped up. I fought to keep my voice steady. “No. He isn’t worth my time. I-I don’t ever want to see him again. If I did, I’d just slap him repeatedly. It wouldn’t be very fun to watch.”
“Oh, little Layla, that’s right. You’ve never killed anyone, have you? That’s one line I just can’t get you to cross. You’ll lie, cheat, and steal for me, but killing is out of the question. Are you afraid you’ll love it? After all, it should be no problem for someone who doesn’t care about others.”
“I said no, Devin. I don’t kill. You’ll sooner beat me to death before I do that.” I hoped he couldn’t hear the shaking in my voice. Watching Devin kill someone was scary enough, but actually doing it made me weak in the knees. I’d seen him make a girl kill before. The change in the split second before she was adamantly saying she wouldn’t and the moment she plunged a knife into her victim’s chest was almost tangible.
Devin had threatened to kill her family. Including her two-month-old little brother. That was why she did it.
Now she killed for him on a regular basis.
That couldn’t be me. I’d lost everything else. I wasn’t willing to lose my humanity.