Did I forget to plug them back in?
Shit. I could’ve sworn they were plugged in when we got home, but I might’ve been imagining it. Our trip from Brazil has fried my brain and jet lag has thoroughly screwed with our sleep schedule.
I pause mid-step when I hear another sound. This time closer, it sounds a lot like a whine or a whimper. My heart lurches, and I resume my stride, picking up the pace. Something doesn’t feel right. I feel it in the tightness in my gut and the way the hairs at the back of my neck are standing at attention. I slap blindly at the wall for the light switch. A shadow passes somewhere in the room. When I find the switch and the room brightens, I gasp at the sight before me.
My heart drops into my stomach, and bile rises up my throat.
“No, no, no, no,” I whisper, my bottom lip trembling.
Ava stares up at me, tears streaking down her little face, fear written in her eyes. Behind her, with his arm clamped around her neck, keeping her in place is Zach. Dressed head to toe in black, he has a silver section of tape over her mouth to keep her quiet.
The look in his eyes has me gasping for much-needed breath. There’s no remorse. No life, no nothing. There’s just an endless pool of darkness there. A man pushed way past his breaking point. A man with absolutely nothing to lose.
“Z-zach,” I stammer, taking a careful step forward. “What are you doing?”
“Scared, baby?” another voice whispers from behind me. I feel a warm hand glide around my hip, jerking me back into the warm body. A sick, twisted sensation churns in my gut, and tears swim in my eyes. I glance behind me, confirming what I already fear. Trent is plastered to my back, that same numb, cold-like expression on his face as well.
“What are you doing?” I try to keep the fear from my voice, but I fail miserably.
“Oh, I think you know.” Trent grinds his front into my backside, and I let out a small cry of fear. I cut a quick glance at Ava who’s crying again.
I need to stay calm. I can’t let her see how afraid I am.
“God,” Trent groans, his hand trailing down the side of my neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. He buries his face into my neck, poising his lips near my ear. “You look just like her. Without all the shit in your hair, you look so much like her, it’s actually creepy.”
My eyes slam shut. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not with Ava here. Especially not after the best week of our lives. My chest rattles with fear.
I need to protect her at all costs.
“Please, whatever it is you’re thinking about doing, stop this. Please.” I try to take a hurried step forward, but Trent yanks me back into his unrelenting hold.
Zach jerks back, yanking Ava with him, in response to my quick attempt. She sobs beneath the tape, her little face crumpling. My heart shatters, my chest squeezing as if in a vise, as I try to figure out what to do to keep her safe.
“How did you get in here?”
I dart my gaze around quickly, trying to find any signs of a break-in, but there are none. Everything looks as clean as I left it when I unpacked our bags earlier. Where are Dan and the security? If Zach and Trent got in here, what did they do to Dan and the guards?
“Made a key. Baz should really be more careful where he leaves that damn thing lying around, shouldn’t he?” My stomach twists, and my mind is spinning with possible solutions, none of which will work without getting Ava hurt. “Really makes you wonder, doesn’t it? He knows what we’re capable of. Why would he leave that lying around, unless he wanted me to find it? Unless…this was part of our plan the entire time.”
All the blood drains from my face.
NO.
There’s no way.
Baz wouldn’t do that to us.
He wouldn’t do that to Ava. He loves her.
He would never hurt us.
If that was so, why would he be so careless, and why has he been so secretive lately?
I shake my head, already internally denying it. I refuse to let Zach get in my head. That’s exactly what he wants. He wants me to doubt Baz. I’ve been there and done that already, and Baz showed me the truth. I need to trust that.
My throat constricts, and I shake my head. “I-I don’t care about any of that. Please, just…just let her go.”
I catch Ava’s eyes, trying to relay the message, without words, that everything is going to be okay. She’s going to be safe. We’re going to get out of this in one piece. As I relay the message, I try to get myself to believe the words, too.
They both laugh. It’s an eerie sound. “No. No, I don’t think I will.”
“She’s innocent, Zach. Don’t drag her into this.”
“Innocent?” Zach scoffs, tightening his arm around her. Her eyes widen, the color draining from her face, as fear encapsulates her entire little body.
“Please. I-I won’t fight you. I promise. Just…please don’t hurt her. I don’t want her to see this.”
Zach pauses and so does Trent, a silent conversation passing between them. “All right.” Zach chuckles. The sound is evil, and it rains nails down my back. “You said it.”
He reaches for something in his back pocket, and before I can stop him, a syringe is sticking out of Ava’s arm, and I scream.
“No! What did you do?” I run toward Zach, catching Ava, as she drops to the floor. I cradle her, checking her pulse and heartbeat, praying she’s okay.
“You said you didn’t want her to see what would come next. I kept my word.”
“You’re a monster,” I seethe, glaring up at him, tears spilling down my cheeks.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“What are you doing?” The voice is sharp and deep. It’s the voice that hasn’t left my nightmares since the night of the accident. The night he tried to kill me. With a slow ease, that’s so at odds with the murderous gleam in his eyes, Vincent steps into the living room, tainting the very air surrounding us. I look up, shocked to see his face clouded with red-hot anger. Zach shrugs, brushing him off, not looking all that surprised to see him here.
This was all a part of their plan. There’s no other way.
“I came prepared for anything.”
Without another word, Vincent takes Ava from my arms and carries her out of the dining room, leaving me with Zach and Trent. I try to run after him but scream out in pain when a fist curls in my hair, yanking me back. I swing at Zach, fighting him off at every turn. Baring my claws, I scratch at him. I feel his broken skin under my nails, the metallic smell of his blood, and I hear his hiss of pain.
“You fucking bitch!” he grits, reeling his fist back. The blow to my face dazes me. Pain explodes in my nose, stealing my vision, and I fall to the floor. Spots dancing before me, the blackness threatening to suck me under. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Vincent coming back into the room, and I let out a cry, worried he did something to Ava.
Is she hurt? Is she still alive?
I need to get to her.
I need to save her.
My arms make a weak attempt to push myself up off the floor, but I stumble, and Zach laughs at my efforts. “You’re just as weak and worthless as she was.”
“Stop it,” I cry out, as he hauls me up to my feet.
“I’m going to finish what should’ve been done years ago.”