Chapter 19
Harper
My eyes ached as they fluttered open. My neck was sore, and it was hard to swallow. My jaw felt like it was on fire and my legs felt restrained. I tried moving my arms and wiggling my toes, but I was strapped to something. Panic rushed through my veins as I looked around the room.
I was in a small apartment. No bigger than half of the downstairs of my home. I was in a wooden chair, duct-taped in my place and going nowhere. Tears began to form in my eyes as I whimpered. I had to pee. I was thirsty. My child was tumbling around in my stomach, and I couldn’t even guard him from attacks. I tugged at the tape on my wrists and jumped around in the chair, but soon I heard footsteps falling.
I whimpered as a large man in a ski mask appeared.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s up.”
My jaw quivered as I tried to block everything out. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. The guys were watching out for me. Cade was looking out for me. This was just a terrible nightmare, and in a moment I would wake up in my own bed.
But what if it wasn’t a dream?
“Help! Somebody help me! Please! Anybod-!”
The man in the mask cracked his hand against my cheek. The thunderous sound was painfully reminiscent, and tears began to fall upon my cheeks. I had been taken. Holy fuck, the men that were threatening me had captured me. How was that possible? Wasn’t there a guy on the roof? Cade had been downstairs, right?
Or had it been them all along?
“I’m pregnant. Please,” I said, whimpering.
“Then if you want your baby to live, you’ll do what I say.”
“Okay. Okay, I swear. Just… just don’t hurt us. Please.”
My cheek was swelling, closing the bottom portion of my eye. Tears were falling upon my skin like raging waterfalls as something was pressed to my ear. It was a phone, and it was ringing. My eyes darted to the man in front of me as I took in all I could think about him. His tan skin and his light eyes and his lopsided smile with his yellow fucking teeth.
I wanted to rip the tape right off my hands and clock him square in his jaw.
“Hello?”
“Daddy?” I asked.
“Harper? Harper! Is that you!? Where are you? Who has you?”
“That’s not what I told you to say!” the man yelled.
He ripped the phone from my ear as I struggled against the restraints.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just didn’t know who you were calling, I’m sorry.”
I sobbed as I bowed my head. The man was looming over me, showing me that he was in control. That he was the dominant one. Thoughts of Cade swirled around in my head. How I had felt so safe with him. Protected with him. I had been an idiot to think I was truly safe with anyone. With any man who declared some sort of love for me. My father told me he loved me, but he loved me for what I could give him.
And now, I had been taken right from underneath Cade’s nose.
“Let’s try this again, you little slut,” the man said.
“Harper? Harper! I swear to fuck if you harm a hair on my daughter’s little-”
“Hello, Ryan,” I said.
I was reading the prompt cards in front of me as a shiver ran down my spine. They weren’t serious, were they?
“Harper, where do they have you?” my father asked.
“If you ever want to see your daughter and grandchild again, you will do as they say,” I said.
“What did they say, baby? What do they want?”
“Put one hundred thousand dollars in cash in a bag and bring it to Pioneer Women’s Park. Tomorrow morning. Five. I am sick of rich guys running my town, and if this finally makes you realize you should give up the election, then so be it.”
The guy ripped the phone from my ear and began to mutter to my father. My eyes darted around the apartment, looking for any signs or clues as to where I was. It was small and dank, and there weren’t any lights on. The streetlights were buzzing outside, but none of the surrounding buildings had power to them. I couldn’t hear the sounds of cars or other people, so I made a wild guess as to where I was.
“They have me in an abandoned apartment somewhere, Daddy! Abandoned! No lights! No streetcars! Help! Come get me!”
The man in the ski mask whipped around, cracking his hand against my cheek again. I could feel my skin splitting as blood pooled and ran down my skin. I fell back into my hands as my joints ached underneath the fall. I screamed out as urine started pouring from my body, soaking my clothes.
The man hovered over me as he tossed the phone to the floor. He sat me back upright as his eyes scanned my body. My face hurt, and I smelled like urine. My hands were sore, and my little baby boy was wiggling around now more than ever. I sobbed as I bowed my head, waiting for the man to kill me for what I’d done.
But all he did was take a step back.
“Your father agreed to my terms,” he said. “He’s a smart man.”
“You’d be surprised,” I said breathlessly.
“You don’t think your father is smart?”
I chose my next words wisely before I lifted my head.
“I think my father is a manipulator. But I think you are pathetic.”
I watched his eyes rage as his fists clenched at his sides. I knew he was going to kill me. I knew it was only a matter of time. But instead of hitting me or shooting me, he walked around me and grabbed the back of my chair.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
But the man remained silent.
“I said… where the fuck are you taking me!?”
I jumped against my restraints, trying to pull myself free. The legs of the chair were scraping against the floor. He pulled me down the hallway before he opened up a closet door, then pushed me in. I tried to rip at the duct-tape on my legs so I could kick my legs free, but the more I struggled, the more exhausted I became.
Then, the man slammed the door in my face and left me in the dark.