LIV

 

“You know, we don’t usually take women with tattoos. Clean skin is the preference, but this time’s different, this time tattoos have been requested—lots of them. How lucky was I to find a blonde and a brunette together,” the man called Derry says. He sits in front of us, his manner comes across as though he believes he’s a king. There’s no remorse in his eyes. None. He’s a robot.

Helena and I both remain silent. I’m not sure how long we were here before being woken when they so graciously threw ice cold water over us. After which, this small, quiet, cold man introduced himself as Derry and informed us why we were here and what we were intended for. He also went on to explain that if we tried to escape, or fight him, we would die. Fun times.

Helena said something about him being a crazy bastard. He backhanded her, then did it a second time. Dried blood now flakes at the corner of her right nostril as well as where he tore her lip. He disappeared for a while after that.

I have no idea where we are. It looks like the room we’re in used to be a bedroom, but it’s completely bare except for the chair which Derry currently sits on. Mouldy white and green wallpaper peels from the walls, and the light filters through closed, dark green curtains, which tells me it’s daytime at least. Both Helena and I have our wrists tied behind our backs. Taking a look at Helena’s bound hands earlier told me it’s been done with tie wraps. One thing’s for sure, they’re cutting into me, so I’ve tried to remain as still as possible.

“Now, don’t think for a second that your precious boy is coming to get you, my dear. He’ll already be dead.”

“Fuck you!” I retort without thinking. The pain comes a mere second later, not having time to breathe before another jolt hits my face as the next fist lands.

“Bloody women!” Derry snaps. It’s the first time I’ve heard him raise his voice. “Now you both listen and listen well. I don’t want to hurt you, at the end of the day I need to sell you. My clients won’t want you if you’re busted up, bruised, and bleeding. What do you think will happen to you then?” He makes a slash motion across his throat. “I’ll kill you. I don’t need you if there’s no sale. Think on that.”

I listen to his words but don’t acknowledge them as I fight to breathe, trying desperately not to cry as pain radiates through my skull.

As he nears the door, he turns back. “One more thing. I don’t swing your way, but my men do. As long as they don’t leave any marks, I can decide, should I so wish, to let them have free rein with you both. Neither of you are virgins.” He shrugs. “It won’t be seen as ruining the merchandise.” His laughter follows him out of the room as I glance over to Helena and watch the tears falling down her face.

“Isaac,” I whisper.

“I don’t want to hear another fucking word about that man,” she snaps

“He’ll come,” I tell her, ignoring the glare she sends me through the tears. “Listen, he will.”

“What makes you think that? Because he said so?” she returns sarcastically.

“Hey, we’re in this together,” I reply. I’m hurt, but I know her too well. When she’s scared, she lashes out. It’s all she knows.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” her words are mumbled as the sobbing starts.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” I soothe. It feels like my face is swelling, and I have no idea if it really will be okay or if Isaac will come. But he told me he would, and I have to believe him. No matter what has happened, I know he loves me. That’s something I’m sure of.

“He’ll come? You’re sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure he’ll come,” I try to convince her, and myself.

I shuffle over next to Helena, and she immediately lays her head on my shoulder. I think back over the years without Isaac and wonder where he’s been. He said he’d tell me everything. I know one thing, when he came into that alleyway, and that guy was holding me, he was different, he wasn’t my Isaac anymore. I watched him morph in front of my eyes, and now I’m starting to piece the puzzle together. If I’m right it means we really do have a chance.

“When I was sixteen, I started dating a boy named Chris,” I tell Helena. She remains still, listening to my tale. “He was two years older than me and went to the local college. He’d gone to our school, so everyone knew him, he was Mr Popular.” I snort out a laugh. “Every week I went to the local youth group. It was mainly guys DJing and girls hanging around trying to get their attention. There were pool tables and a couple of air hockey tables. I’m not sure why my friend Tori and I started going, but after a few weeks, we bumped into Chris. He took an instant liking to me, and although I was flattered, I wasn’t interested. After all, it had always been Isaac for me, and even at sixteen, my feelings were uncontrollable.”

Helena giggles. “You don’t say.”

My chest loosens at her jesting, and I realise I’m taking her mind off everything by telling her my story.

“Uh-huh,” I confirm with a small smile. “Anyway, Tori was beside herself that Chris was into me. She practically pushed me into his arms.”

“Nice friend,” Helena drawls.

“Yeah, well she was only sixteen… although she did bail on me when I went off the rails after Isaac beat Charlie to a pulp.”

“Like I said…” Helena trails off.

“Anyway, I was pushed toward Chris, and one night, after watching a meeting of the mouths with Isaac and his latest conquest, I thought, fuck it, why not?” I bite down on my lip gently, remembering and letting the emotion wash over me like it only happened yesterday.

“We dated for about three months.”

“What happened?”

“He was very controlling. One time he accused me of trying to seduce his friend because unbeknown to me, a button on my top had popped open.” I stare down at her. “I had big boobs for my frame.”

She eyes my chest area then looks back up to me with her eyebrow raised.

“Okay, not much has changed. But still, it wasn’t done on purpose,” I tell her.

She giggles again and a rush of warmth runs through me, knowing I’m still keeping her occupied.

“Anyway, that was just one time. Another time he accused me of sleeping with one of his other friends, because we happened to bump into each other while shopping one day, and decided to go for lunch. I mean, I wasn’t even sleeping with Chris. I was a virgin back then,” I confide. “Then I met a female friend in a shop once when I was with Chris, and because he wasn’t introduced to her immediately, he was angry.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah,” I confirm. “Those are just a few of many examples.” I sigh. “Things came to a head when one day we argued, and he told me we were over. He said he’d been offered sex by another girl at my school, and that he was going to find her.” I bite my lip, but let it go again when it stings. “We argued, and he pinned me up against the wall.” Helena gasps at my admission. “I was scared of him, Hel, he bruised my arms, threatened me, and threw me against a wall so hard that my head bounced off it.”

“Oh my God, what did you do?” she asks.

I twitch my shoulder. “Nothing. I wasn’t as strong then as I’ve become over the years,” I reply.

“Well, of course not, you were sixteen. But you told someone right?” she asks.

“No. I was too scared,” I admit.

“So what happened?”

“Isaac happened.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You know the story of how he ended up in prison?” I feel her nod against my shoulder. “I knew I was alone the moment I woke that morning, and that he’d gone after Charlie. This story is the reason I knew. Because he’d done it before.”

“Oh my God,” she murmurs.

“The day after Chris bounced my head off the wall he suddenly stopped calling me. I never saw him again. I thought I was just lucky, maybe he got bored of me… you know?”

Helena nods in response.

“After Isaac went into the Army, I bumped into a friend of his. We were chatting about Isaac, and he mentioned how protective he always was of me. That’s when I found out someone saw what Chris did to me the day he threw me into the wall. Whoever saw it was a female friend of Isaac’s, and she called him.”

“Oh fuck, what did he do?”

“I’m not sure. Isaac’s friend said that Chris was in the hospital for a while with a broken eye socket. I don’t know if that was from Isaac, but his friend said it was.”

“You’ve never asked Isaac?” she questions.

“No. I don’t know why, I guess I was worried that he might say no, and I wanted it to be him… you know?”

“Yeah. You wanted him to save you, to be your knight,” she relays my thoughts out loud.

“I’m a fool, right?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

We both remain quiet, and after about ten minutes, I think maybe she’s fallen asleep until she breaks the silence.

“I love you, Olivia. I won’t ever bail on you. When we get out of here, we’ll get through it together, okay, babe?”

I rest my head on top of hers. “Okay, I love you, too,” I whisper, holding back on all the emotion that’s eating me from the inside out.

 

 

I must drift off, because the next thing I know, I’m being dragged across the floor by my hair. I scream and get a kick in the ribs for it.

“Liv!” Helena shouts my name, and I hear a thump before she goes quiet. I desperately try to look over my shoulder, to check that she’s okay, but the man-beast holding me thinks I’m struggling to get away, so he shouts and then kicks me in the back.

“Stop fucking kicking me,” I scream, my anger winning out over my fear. He drops me, but I only get a moment of freedom before his fist connects with my already painful ribs. I hiss and then wheeze out a breath, every lungful after that is a battle to pull in and release air.

“See, I didn’t kick you that time. Your wish was granted,” he tells me laughing.

I want to shout ‘fuck you’ to him, but I can’t speak. I can barely breathe. He doesn’t care though, and once again grabbing my hair, he continues to drag me into another room. The minute we’re in there, I realise exactly what he’s about to do, as he pulls off his belt and starts unbuttoning his jeans.

 

 

ISAAC

 

I didn’t want her to see me like this—at my darkest. I know once she understands what I’m capable of, she’ll feel differently about me. But her life is my life, I’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe, even if that means giving her up.

As I pull up a little over two hundred feet from the derelict retirement home, I yank off my helmet and sit astride my bike for a moment. This is it. This is where I’ll save her and lose her all at the same time.

Pulling myself from the bike, I stretch every muscle, preparing for what’s to come. I check the few weapons I have and put in my earpiece. “Is everyone here?” A chorus of affirmative answers ring in my ear. “Five minutes until we go in. Darwin, have you placed everyone?” I question.

“Yes. King and Arlo are going in through the back. Clint and Brand are going underground through the basement entrance. Victor and Shelly are covering fire from the outside. Shelly at the back and Victor at the front. You and me, we’re going in the front.”

“Good. Shelly, Victor. Feel it out, but don’t rush in. If we need backup, we’ll call. Otherwise stay outside, we’ll send the girls out if we can.”

“Understood,” Victor chimes back.

“Shelly?” I push.

“Yeah. I heard you,” she murmurs.

“Get to your places. Darwin, I’m coming now. Three minutes twenty until we go in. Radio silence.” I give my orders to my team and stealthily make my way to the front of the run-down building. Seeing Darwin, we both gesture with our hands. He’ll go in first, and I’ll cover him. I pull out my knife—which is my weapon of choice since it’s silent—and get ready.

“Go,” I whisper and start moving.

Darwin and I come across two sleeping men. We dispatch them quickly and silently by cutting their throats, then make our way upstairs. I can hear a commotion has started so I know our cover has been blown, we need to be quicker. Reaching the first floor, Darwin signals right so I turn left. I clock five rooms. Two on each side and one set back at the end of the hallway, about ten feet further than the others. Moving into the first room, I find a man alone, but he’s ready, and when I step through the door, a knife slices through the air beside my head. I move forward and land a punch to his throat. He grasps his windpipe as he struggles to breathe. I step forward and break his neck. Turning, I prowl to the next room. It’s empty.

Room three has me smiling. When I move into the small space, I find the man who took Via, the one who clocked her with a gun. He rushes at me. I turn cocking my elbow and ram it into his nose, pushing it up into his brain. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t have more time to deal with him, to extend his pain. But I have more important things to do. I want Via.

As I’m about to go into the fourth room, a crash pierces the air. My whole body stands to attention, every hair arrow straight on my body, my teeth grinding against each other. My muscles uncoil, and I run, flat out toward the room. What I see as I smash through the door is something I never want to see again. Via is practically naked on the floor, her hands tied behind her back. She’s struggling to breathe, her eyes streaming with tears as a man kneels before her, his jeans pushed down from his waist as he cradles his dick in his hand.

A feral roar thunders from my mouth emerging from somewhere in my darkest depths. I spot a fire axe on the floor. Picking it up, I whirl it around and hack at his neck, pulling the axe back out as blood spurts everywhere, I hack him again. I’m jumped on from behind, but whoever attacks me is torn away as I swing for a third time. I can’t stop as the darkness takes over, and I can’t control it. All I can see is Via being violated. My arm moves of its own accord and doesn’t stop until his head falls to the floor with a thud, followed immediately by his body.

“We’ve got the brunette, we’re clear.” I hear King in my ear.

I grab a blanket laying it over Via, while Darwin cuts through her restraints.

I kneel down, ready to pick her up, but her eyes are fearful as she tries to move away from me.

“I’ve got her,” Darwin murmurs gathering her up gently in his arms. I want to tear him away, rip him from her. He’s taking my place, she should be in my arms, but I can see the truth in her eyes—I’ve already lost her.