CHAPTER 26
BROOKE

My head was pounding, and my cheek was sore. It felt like my entire body was falling to pieces. I felt Sydney shivering next to me and I wrapped her in my arms, thankful she was still at my side. I pulled her sleeping form into my lap and cradled her next to me, feeling her cheek burrow into my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair, trying to untangle the beautiful tresses that were dirty and matted with sweat.

I had no idea how long I’d been asleep. I didn’t know how long I’d been in this basement. Dungeon more like it. I wasn't sure when Sydney had eaten last, or if the food they would give us was safe to eat. All I knew was that the plan had failed. They had taken the money and found the damn tracking device.

I tried my level best not to panic. I had to believe that Kevin and the police would find us before Gianni could do something awful. I knew Kevin would pay whatever amount Gianni demanded, but that didn’t guarantee our safety. We needed to be found.

Rocking from side to side, I tried to keep Sydney asleep as long as possible. I kissed the top of her head and prayed she would sleep as long as she could. The longer she was asleep, the less of this she would have to experience. There was nothing in the small room we were in. Just four walls, a door on the opposite end of the room, scratchy carpet underneath our legs, and walls that felt as if they would cave at the slightest pressure. Insulation was peeking through the faded pink wooden slats and there were no windows.

Wherever we were, I knew we were underground.

Which meant if I screamed, no one would hear me.

I wondered what Kevin was doing. I wondered if Daniel was all right. I imagined how scared they must be. How much Daniel must want his sister back. I wondered if Kevin missed me. If he was worried about me or somehow happy I was gone. Maybe by taking the person responsible for losing his daughter, some sort of ironic justice had been done.

Shaking the thought from my head, I tried to pull it together as Sydney began to stir. She was groaning, her legs curling further into her body. I kissed the top of her head and began to whisper to her. Soft, soothing words letting her know things were going to be okay. I watched her eyes peek open before dread set in. Her hands wrapped tightly around me and she buried herself even deeper into my body.

Tears crested my eyes when she started to shake.

Sydney was terrified, and I had no idea how to make it any better.

Because I was terrified too.

The door at the opposite end of the room opened and Sydney gasped. I scrambled to get her behind me, tucking her between my back and the dank wall behind us. She curled her legs to her knees and buried her face as I watched Gianni’s associate approach us.

He had two plates of food in his hands and a bucket hanging from his arm. I looked up at him with disgust on my face as he set everything down on the ground. His eyes danced around my body, clad in nothing but my dirty underwear and the tears Sydney had cried to get herself to sleep the night before.

I didn’t like the look in his eyes.

“Eat,” the man said.

“I’ll pass.”

“Do whatever you want, I’m not going to force you. Maybe your boyfriend is smart enough to give us what we want, and he can treat you to a nice steak when this is all over,” he said.

I made no move to touch the plates, and he simply shrugged his shoulders. “The bucket’s for the bathroom.”

“I’m not peeing in a fucking bucket,” I said.

“Suit yourself,” he said.

My nostrils flared in anger as Sydney whimpered behind me. Even though the man looked malicious, he wasn’t making a move towards us. He wasn’t moving to hit me again or to wrench Sydney away from me. He was standing there, waiting for me to take the damn bucket and scramble for the food.

Like a damn animal.

I could hear the gurgling of Sydney’s small stomach before a whimper passed through her lips. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, then slowly moved away from her. The man watched as I grabbed one of the plates and I took a deep sniff of it, trying to see if anything seemed out of place.

“It doesn’t make sense to poison you,” the man said. “You’re worth money. If you’re dead, we get nothing,” the man said.

“So, all you want is the money?”

“Yep. Sure don’t want the headache keeping the two of you holed up is giving me.”

“Then what? You get your money and you abduct the person giving it to you? Request more? When does it stop?” I asked.

The man grinned down at me as he tossed the bucket at my side. Sydney screamed as the metal crashed to the floor and I winced.

“It stops when my boss says it does,” the man said.

“We’re not eating it,” I said.

I shoved the food away and scrambled back to Sydney.

“You’ll eat and you’ll like it,” the man said.

“I’d rather starve to death.”

“Is that the fate you wish for the girl?” the man asked.

I gathered Sydney in my arms as tears poured down her face.

“Eat the damn food.”

“No,” I said.

The man’s eyes flashed with anger and I knew I’d made a mistake.

“Come here, bitch.”

“Miss Brooke!” Sydney shrieked.

“Stay there!” I said as the man grabbed my hair. “Don’t move!”

His hand cracked down onto my other cheek, leaving a matching bruise underneath my eye as I fell to the floor. I heard him laughing at me. Sydney was screaming for me and I saw the man take a step toward her. I grabbed his ankle and tugged at him, causing him to lose his balance.

He fell backward onto me and I shoved him off, then scrambled to get back to Sydney. I pressed her into the wall and planted my hands into it. Exposing my back to this man and shielding the little girl. No matter what he did to me, he sure as hell wasn’t getting his hands on Sydney.

I’d kill him before that happened.

But instead of coming at me like I thought he would, I heard him kick the plate across the room. It shattered against the wall and Sydney screamed before the door slammed shut. I was trembling. Quaking against the little girl and trying to keep my own fears at bay.

I looked back and saw we were alone in the room. Food was splattered against the wall and the plate was shattered into pieces. I wrapped Sydney in my arms and stroked her hair, trying to shush her and calm her down.

“I’m going to get us out of here,” I said. “I promise. You just have to trust me, okay?”

I felt the little girl nod into my shoulder as I sat back down on the floor. I had to bide my time. I had to wait until that guy came back to check on us. I couldn’t hear any commotion above us or any voices outside the door, and it stayed that way for hours. The room slowly heated up as the sun rose in the sky, and soon Sydney and I were covered in sweat.

If he didn’t come to check on us soon, the two of us would dehydrate.

I grabbed two large pieces of the broken plate and hid them behind me as footsteps sounded outside. I looked down at Sydney. I put my finger to my lips and she nodded at me, her eyes wide with nervousness and horror.

I would do whatever it took to get us out of this situation.

Even if I had to kill to do it.

I saw the doorknob turning and I knew this was my only chance. There was only one pair of footsteps sounding on the floor, and I rose to my feet. I had to catch him by surprise, pounce when he least expected it. And in breaking the plates, he’d left me with the weapons I needed to do some damage. I felt Sydney clinging to my leg and I pulled her off. I held out my hand and told her to stay put as the door slowly opened. I charged the man coming through the door and smashed the plate on top of his head.

He stumbled forward and tried to get the door shut behind him, but I jammed the large piece of glass into his side.

“Sydney! Come on!”

I reached out my hand and she ran to me. I clasped it tightly in my hand before I picked up another broken shard. I ran with Sydney out of the room and headed up the flight of steps I saw in front of me. I burst through the door and could hear Sydney panting, trying to keep up.

I knew she didn’t have the energy to run, so I scooped her up in my arms.

“You bitch!”

The man’s voice boomed up the steps as I scrambled Sydney onto my back.

“Hold on as tightly as you can, okay?” I asked.

“Okay,” she said, with a whimper.

She wrapped her arms and legs around my body, burying her face in the crook of my neck. I ran around the house, taking corridors and hitting dead ends before I found a window. I had no idea where the front door was, and I didn’t care. I could hear the man stumbling up the steps, but it didn’t look like there was anyone else in the house.

I tried to open the window to no avail and realized it was painted shut.

I slammed the glass shard into the window and shattered it. I slipped us gently through the open window before I fell to my feet. I ran across the lawn and felt the pavement of the road underneath my feet. The sun was blinding. The pavement was searing my skin as I continued to run, and soon I felt the smooth warmth of sand underneath my toes.

I squinted, allowing my eyes to adjust as I hiked Sydney up onto my body.

I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I couldn't hear the man behind us, but there was a commotion. I was standing on a beach—that much I knew. But in front of me was endless ocean and to the side of me was thick brush.

The brush.

That was my only shot at hiding us in time.

I made a run for it, my lungs pumping as hard as they could. Sydney was clinging to me, her nails digging into my skin. It took forever for my eyes to adjust to the sun, but as soon as I hit the grove of trees, the darkness allowed me enough reprieve to look around. The ocean was crashing against the shore and there was a beach on the other side of the grove. I made a run for it, not bothering to look back to see where the man was.

My best attempt at helping us was finding any sort of civilization on this damn island.

I ran through the grove, branches slapping across my face. My feet touched down on sand again and I collapsed to my knees. My eyes were burning, and my lungs were heaving. My head was on fire and my legs were aching.

I heard the giggling of children and it caused me to whip my head up. I got to my feet as Sydney’s tears trickled down my skin. I looked around at the families swimming in the ocean and taking pictures of their vacation as they were walking up and down the pier.

The pier.

Holy shit, we were only half a mile from where I had been kidnapped.

I could hear the thundering of footsteps behind me and I took off again. I held tight to Sydney’s legs as we made our way down the beach. People were staring at us like we were insane, but then I heard the trickling of voices that made me smile.

“Is that the girl?”

“The one from the poster?”

“I think that’s her.”

“Help!” I screamed. “Call the police! He’s after us!”

I ran along the beach, blowing by the pier Morgan and I had stayed on. Tears of relief were flooding my cheeks as people began to pick up their phones and dial. Off in the distance, the house rose. The beautiful vacation home that had become a haven for a parent’s worst nightmare.

My worst nightmare.

I ran over the small tract of pavement before I slammed back down into the sand. The house seemed too far away, yet it held so much hope. Throngs of people were emerging from their huts, and the thundering footsteps I’d heard in the grove were no longer present. Blood was pumping through my veins and the sun was beating down on my aching body. I wanted to scream, to cave in on myself, and let the world go black. The adrenaline that had propelled me this far was starting to dissipate, leaving me more exhausted than there were words to describe.

Then, I heard the most beautiful sound I could ever have heard.

“Police! Brooke! Over here!”

I stopped in my tracks and fell to my knees as the crowd behind me had converged on our captor and held him down until the police could arrest him. Sydney slipped from my back as officers came toward us. One of the guys held Sydney tightly and another man picked me up in his arms. Tears were flowing down my face as I watched our kidnapper get hauled away in handcuffs.

It was over.

That was when everything went black.