Little Minx, where are you baby? I’m coming for you, just hold on.
“Calm down, Mr. Fitz,” Cole says trying to put humor and charm in his words and failing miserably. “We’re fine.”
“Why isn’t Julian answering my calls? And why is he blocking me from locating him?”
“It must be just a network connection data issue. You know how lousy his service provider is. AT&T is a joke.”
“Now is not the time, Cole. I’m going to ask you one more time before I involve your father, where are you?”
Cole stares at the side of my head. I can practically hear the gears shifting in his head and then, “We’re looking for Mia.”
“Didn’t I tell you boys not to… where exactly are you?”
“At those fucking bastards house, Mr. Fitz,” Cole seethes. “They threw a fucking party knowing we’d be reigning down on them like a fiery hell storm.”
“They’re having a party? To attract attention?” Dad says, his voice sounding faraway as he contemplates. I’m pretty sure he’s going to figure out what I already know so I feature for Cole to wrap it up.
“It’s about to go down, Mr. Fitz, I have to go.”
“No wait, don’t you boys do anything stupid!”
“The music is… you’re cutting up… I… can’t hear you…”
“Cole!”
He hangs up. “I hate lying to your dad. He sees right through the lies.”
“Yeah well, after this, tell him to fucking protect Liam with everything and to tell him the whole truth,” I say, keeping my voice low and level and as I kill the engine of the car right behind the furthest building, close to the abandoned road.
“Why are you talking like that?” Cole demands.
“Remember what I fucking told you. Grab Mia and get the hell out of here.”
“J—”
“The keys are in the ignition. Get her to a hospital as quickly as possible and make sure you fucking stay with her, no matter what.”
“Julian, bro—” he starts again, shaking his head. I grab his collar and bring his fucking face that I might never see again closer.
“No matter what happens tonight, she’s the fucking priority! She’s mine!” I seethe. “You keep her safe! You do what I can’t! My job is to make sure nothing and no one ever hurts her again, do you fucking understand me!”
We stare at each other, the moment of truth so brazen and too intense to ignore. Cole doesn’t blink though. He doesn’t make a face, I can read him as clearly as the all the days we’ve caused trouble and mayhem all because I was an angry, miserable fuck who couldn’t handle how Aiden was suffering and Liam punishing himself every fucking day because he hated himself and the way he looked.
Angry at my parents. Angry at feeling alone and angry at Mia.
Mia…
“Fine,” he says unhappily.
“Fine.”
Without wasting another moment for useless sentiments and regrets, I get out the SUV and quickly round to the back, but before I can open the door and grab a weapon or something, a blood curdling, ear-splitting scream stops me dead in my tracks.
Cole looks at me, wide-eyed and frozen in place. A shudder rolls violently through me. My fucking heart drops to the muddy ground and without a conscious thought, I’m sprinting, pushing my body forward harder than I’ve done before.
I can feel the blood in my veins pumping. I have no sense of any other thought, I don’t even notice where I am or what’s around me, I’m just running, directed by the sound of my undoing, a continuous scream of torture.
I just fucking hope I’m not too late.
Chapter Fourteen
Mia
“Kristine!” I call out, my voice hoarse. I have no idea how many times I was drugged but I feel sick, disoriented and in so much pain. “Kristine, are you okay? Talk to me.”
She cries out in response, groaning and writhing in pain on the floor, but these two assholes don’t even blink an eye or give her a second glance, like what just happened isn’t new to either of them.
I’ve just been beaten and threw up twice and Sean just viciously raped Kristine, but they don’t care. In fact, it seems like they’re enjoying this. It’s pretty clear they’re used to abusing girls, including their own sister who then committed suicide in front of Julian and Cole by stabbing herself with two knives into her own neck, right into the jugular, killing herself within minutes.
“You look disgusting,” Shane mocks me, an ugly smirk on his face. “How does that feel, Ice Queen?”
I ignore the taunt and try my best to look at Kristine, but I can’t really see her from here.
“She needs to get to a hospital,” I cry, looking at her, ignoring the lewd looks Shane is giving me as he looks at my naked body. “Now!”
“Nah, she’s not going anywhere, and neither are you,” Sean says nonchalantly as if he didn’t just rape Kristine so merciless. “We have a little movie to shoot, and that little pool of vomit would be great for the visuals.”
“I’m not doing anything with you!” I spit. “And as far as I’m concerned, you can drown in this vomit, you ugly piece of shit!”
“Do you think I’m beneath you?” he snaps, his anger cutting through Kristine’s cries and my pounding heart. “You think just because you’ve been strutting your stuff like the cold bitch you are around my fucking school, that you’re at the top and no one is good for you?” he shouts. “You think you’re so untouchable, and above me, don’t you?”
A phone pings. Shane gives me one last look and then he leaves.
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact,” I say, taunting him even further. “You are beneath me with your pencil sized dick and your fucking elephant sized ego that honestly doesn’t go well with your ugly face. If you’re going to have pride, at least have something to show for it.”
Shut up, Mia. Shut up and stop antagonizing them. He just beat you up with some pipe and raped Kristine, shut up!
Almost immediately, Shane rushes back in the warehouse, breathless.
“What?” Sean snaps.
“All hell is breaking lose at the house.”
“Well fuck,” Sean says. “We don’t have much time. Set it up.”
Shane drops the black bag from before right beside the bed. I hear it jingle and my heartbeat skyrockets. This can’t be good.
I watch with dread pooling in the pit of my stomach like acid as he slowly unzips it, heightening the already dramatic suspense, then he pulls out some sort of chains and then a bag of knives that he dangles for me to see.
It takes me an embarrassingly long time to figure what the stand is for and by the time I do, I’m already shaking my head as Shane takes out the camera.
“What-ttt… what is that for?” I stumble through my words, only now grasping the violence in the air.
“Oh, this little thing?” Shane says. “We’re so going to carve you up,” he mocks. “Sorry we don’t have time to really enjoy it but well, I’ll make sure to post really nice bits of you to your mother and Fitz.”