As I started to come to, I could tell that were still inside the van. The only difference was that this time, the van was actually moving. My head was pounding with easily the worst headache I’d ever experienced. This headache even rivaled some of the worst hangovers I’d ever had.

I started to open my eyes only to find that they didn’t want to work. Maybe that was a good thing. If I opened my eyes, they would know that I had regained consciousness.

Who knew what they would do to me after that. Would they knock me out again? Would they do something even worse? I didn’t know and I wasn’t about to find out.

Instead of opening my eyes, I laid there on the floor of the van pretending to still be out cold. Lying there, I would be able to listen to anything that was said in the van.

Hopefully, I’d be able to gather some information that might be able to help figure out where I was or where these people were taking me. As luck would have it, none of these guys were particularly into conversation. The trip was made in relative silence until Camilla started talking.

I kept waiting for someone to answer her as she went on and on with her rant but the replies never came. It took me a little while to figure out that this nut job was talking to herself. Through her rants, I was able to figure out what her purpose was for taking me.

She thought she’d be able to snatch me and hide me away for as long as necessary. She knew that Liam would try to find me. What kind of man wouldn’t try to find his girlfriend who just turned up missing? When she started saying that Liam would stop looking after a week or two, I knew she was bonkers.

If something ever happened to Liam and he couldn’t be found, there was no way I would just stop looking. You don’t do that if you truly care about someone. In her mind, however, not only would Liam stop looking for me but he would also come crawling back to her because he’d be so lonely and grief stricken.

“This bitch belongs in a padded room,” I said to myself, talking in a hushed tone that only I could hear. I could feel the sting on my lip where the back of her hand had made contact. That was the first time I realized the copper taste in my mouth was actually blood from my busted lip.

I know I’ve made some poor decisions and had my own delusions in my life but she actually thought that things would somehow go back to the way things used to be when it came to her and Liam.

I had no idea how long we'd been driving so if I had the chance to contact someone, I’d have no way to estimate how far away we’d gone. All I knew was that the van made a sharp left turn before coming to a stop. My body started to shake as I imagined all the true crime shows I’ve watched over the years.

Was the van parked in a heavily wooded area? Were we going to be right in the center of a bunch of abandoned lot? Were we somewhere that would allow Liam and my sister t positively identify my body quickly? I was definitely thinking with a worst case scenario mindset.

When the van door slid open with a loud pop, I was relieved to see that we were in a residential area. One of the big guys grabbed me and warned me that if I even thought about screaming or running away, there would be some pretty severe consequences.

I wasn’t going to test my luck because the look in his face told me he meant business. I nodded that I agreed before being pulled out of the can and brought to a house.

Camilla led us inside the house and into her garage, where she had a metal door coming out of the concrete floor. She ordered me inside and I was instantly scared shitless. I’m extremely claustrophobic and thought of having to sit in such a small, confined space made me nauseous. The steps led down to a tiny storm shelter. I was frozen in place, unable to move.

“Do you have a hearing problem?” she yelled. “Get your ass down there.”

I shook my head no, hoping she’d have at least a tiny bit of compassion and wouldn’t force me to go down there. Of course, the kindness never came.

“You either get down there right now or I’ll have my boys put you in there. Believe me when I say you don’t want them to do that.”

Looking over at the big, strong, burly, mean-looking men, I decided it would be best to take her word on that. They’d already busted into Liam’s house and yanked me out of there without the slightest regard for my well-being. They’d done or said nothing that would lead me to believe that they wouldn’t do even more to me if I forced their hand.

I had to keep telling myself that I was going to be okay even though I didn’t believe it in any way. Slowly, I stepped on the top stair leading into the storm shelter. My entire body was shaking so much that I wondered how I was going to make it down there without falling. With each step I took, I could feel my knees wanting to give out from under me.

“Hurry up!” Camilla yelled, not understanding that I was literally going as fast as my body would allow me to go. It turned out that she was not a very patient woman because once I got about halfway down, she pushed me, knocking me off the steps and to the concrete ground below.

In midair, I tried to compensate for losing my balance and ended up falling hard on my side. All the air in my body was knocked out of me and I was having a difficult time trying to get any air at all.

On top of the air, the storm shelter was musty and dirty smelling. It had the distinct scent of moth balls, kind of like an old attic or your grandmother’s closet. It was obvious that the storm shelter was installed and never used again.

Camilla looked down into the shelter from above and could tell I was scared. She taunted me and made fun of me like it was all some kind of brutal game.

Maybe to her, it was but I was in fear for my life and her taunts just furthered my belief that something bad was about to happen to me.

Once she was done badmouthing me and calling me every name in the book, she slammed the door closed and latched it from the outside. I was trapped and had no way to get out.

Once the door had been closed, I was sitting in darkness. Not the kind of darkness that you get in your bedroom at night when, if you concentrate, you can still see your hand when you hold it out in front of your face.

This was total darkness. Pitch black. I’m not scared of the dark but with it being combined with being in such a small, enclosed area, I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

I stood up and felt all around the walls hoping to find something that could help me escape. While there were no tools or anything, I did manage to find a light switch, which was nearly as good at that particular time. With the light on, I realized what a tight space I was in.

The shelter was not meant to be in for a long period of time. Four or five people could fit in there standing up and wouldn’t be very comfortable for much longer than it would take a tornado to pass by.

I didn’t know what else I could do so I pressed my back against the wall and allowed myself to slide down to the floor. The only thing left to do was wait and see what they were going to do to me.

* * *

I guess I must have fallen asleep at some point. I have no clue how I was able to do so but I was startled by a crashing sound. I didn’t know what in the hell was going on but I was praying it was the cops. Maybe they had somehow got a tip that I had been kidnapped and knew right where to look.

Maybe I was about to be saved. Thinking it was the cops, of course, was only wishful thinking but I was clinging to anything that might have given me hope.

As much as I wanted to scream out, alerting whoever was there to my presence, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I had no clue what was going on and thought it might be better if whoever it was didn’t know I was there.

At one time, I heard the guys who had kidnapped me yelling at someone and then sounds of a scuffle. Within a couple minutes, the scuffle stopped. The next voice I heard was Camilla.

“What the fuck is going on out here,” she said, presumably busting through the door that connects the house to the garage. The tone of her voice changed dramatically when she realized where the noise had come from. “Liam, glad you could make it. I wondered how long it would take you to arrive.

“Let’s cut the shit, Camilla,” Liam said. “What in the hell did you do with Lexi.”

“Oh, Lexi? Wasn’t she that girl from the club? I didn’t realize you were still messing with her. She seemed like such a sweet girl too.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I know it was your boys here that broke into my house and kidnapped her. Where is she?”

“Broke into your house? Kidnapped her? I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re referring to.”

“No? Well, Lexi managed to hit a button on my answering machine as she was being snatched. I heard Matteo’s name as clear as day. And look who I found here!”

“Liam, you’re so paranoid. Is she really the reason yo came here tonight? Are you sure that maybe you didn’t want to see me?”

“Well, maybe a little,” he replied. Was he fucking serious? I felt like I was going to throw up.

“That’s what I thought. Why are you messing with a little girl like that? There’s no way she can make you feel as good as I can. There’s no way she can step into our world and be able to keep up. Our minds are too dark. Our world would eat her alive.”

“It's hard to argue with that. Our world is pretty intense. Of course, you never had any trouble handling it.”

I was getting more pissed off than I’d ever been. I was trapped down in a fucking storm shelter and he wanted to be up there reminiscing about the good old days with his ex-girlfriend? I wanted to scream that he was a fucking asshole but something told me I needed to keep my mouth shut.

Instead, I sat there biting my lip as I listened to them go on and on. Eventually, I heard him tell her that he was sorry for not opening his eyes sooner and realizing that the two of them were meant to be together. I thought my head was going to explode when he told her to come and give him a kiss.

Everything was silent after that and I could picture them in a tight embrace, their tongues dancing around in each other’s mouth. I decided that if I ever got out of that whole, I was going to kill both of them.

From out of nowhere, more sounds of struggle erupted and I could hear Camilla screaming something unintelligible. The next sounds were those of the police, telling those above me to freeze.

Knowing that there was a police presence, I started screaming for someone to let me out. Within a few seconds, one of the officers opened the door and I ran up the stairs as quickly as possible.

Liam ran over to me and took me into his arms. I embraced him, happy to be out of the hole until I snapped out of it and needed answers.

“I heard every bit of that. I heard what you said to Camilla. What the fuck, Liam?”

“Are you talking about us being meant to be together and how much I missed her?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was talking about. You didn’t know I was down there so you could say whatever you wanted thinking I’d never do. Well, I do know Liam and that’s fucked up!”

“Baby, I had to say those things to her. I had no choice.”

“You had no choice? What was she doing? Holding a gun to your head?”

“Yes Lexi, that’s exactly what she was doing. She was pointing a gun right at my head. I had to tell her whatever she wanted to hear because if I didn’t, I was afraid she was going to shoot me. I told her to come kiss me so she would lower her weapon.

As soon as she was within reach, I took her down the floor and grabbed the gun out of her hand. That’s what all the commotion was about before the cops got there. I promise you that I’d never do anything to hurt you.

Feeling stupid that he would do that to me, I leaned in to hug him and didn’t let go as we watched Camilla being led away by the police officers. Now with both Kade and Camilla out of the picture, I feel like we can get on with our lives. Safely.

“How did you manage to get past her bodyguards?” I asked

“Christian is waiting for us in the car. He makes for pretty good backup.”