“I’m not defiant, asshole. I’m just not one for being held in a hole in the ground, having buckets of water thrown on me, and being talked down to like a fucking dog. Defiance isn’t even the word to describe how you make me feel.” I’m seething.
Shaking his head, he grabs his mask and pulls it off.
“Eli…” I gasp, not sure if I am happy or scared to see him. Did Enzo send him? Or is he working with Mack? He seemed surprised by Mack’s betrayal, and he was shot, but he seems fine now. Was that all an act? Did he betray Enzo as well? Shit, I don’t know what to believe.
I watch as the side of his lips lift into a half-smile.
With a blink of my eye, he is standing again, his voice raised as he laughs at me. Confusion settles into my bones. What the hell is he doing here?
“Your face. It’s hilarious.” I listen to him talk while coming to a stand as slow as possible.
“Do you even know why you’re here?” Eli asks as if that is the most prevalent question right now.
“I think we went over this already, but let me tell you why I think I’m here.” I pause a moment surveying the land. There is a clearing with trees on all sides, and we are deep in the woods. My breaths come in as pants as my eyes catch on an old rotting stump off in the distance.
“You were saying…” He mocks, his eyes glittering with amusement, and though I can see this is all funny to him, there is a darker secret being kept in his eyes.
“You know why I’m here. You know something…” I growl, not caring if my accusation gets me thrown back in the hole. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looks down at me.
“And you know nothing…”
“Tell me.” I refuse to let him taunt me. I need answers. I need to know why I’m here… here in this place I know so well.
“Tell you what? That Enzo is dead, and your father is hiding you in a hole near your own home?” My eyes grow big, and my heart races as I take a step back. Did he say Enzo is dead? No! It can’t be. I heard Mack. Enzo is alive.
“It’s shocking to see someone pulled from your life, isn’t it? Shocking to know your daddy isn’t the person you thought he was?”
No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop a tear from escaping my eye. One single tear. One single fucking tear defines my life.
“Enzo wasn’t pulled from my life, and my dad... he would never.” The words slip from my mouth, but does that make them true? Is my dad the person I think he is?
Eli smirks, his body eating up what little space is separating us.
“Stop. You know nothing!” I yell, reaching out to push him away with my hands.
“I do know something…” he barely whispers as he grabs my wrists, stopping my attack on him. “I know these men were given direct orders to let you rot in this hole. To let you die. And those orders came from your father.”
“Liar,” I say between clenched teeth and with narrowed eyes.
“You know I’m not lying. You know this is your property. You know your father put you here... and now I’m letting you go.”
“Letting me go?” I whisper, taking a couple steps back. He is letting me go? This must be a joke.
“Yes. Letting you go, but first, you have to do something for me.”
“I’m not doing anything for you.” My voice squeaks with anxiety as he reaches for me again.
“Yes, you are…” he yells, his hands biting into my shoulders.
“Get your fucking hands off me.”
“Hit me,” he growls.
“What? No.” Now, I know this is all a game to him. He is not letting me go. He wants me to fight him.
He smirks, and the look alone causes my belly to roll. “I bet I could get you to hit me. All I would have to do is slide my hand between those pretty little…”
“STOP! Leave me alone,” I cry, taking a step away from him. I can’t tell if he is being serious or baiting me.
“Make me…” His voice holds a darkness I want to run from. The green of his eyes grows darker in that one single moment. My eyes slide over his body, landing on his feet as I watch him advance on me. Every step he takes, I match with a step back.
“Just let me go. I’ll run as fast as I can, and you can tell them whatever you want.” Real fear burrows into my mind.
“Your dad is a fucking monster, just like the man you claim to love. Neither one of them wants you anymore. I mean, seriously—if they did, don’t you think they would have come for you already? You are nothing more than a fucking bargaining piece to them. They used you! Used you to bring the other one down... and after I see how sweet that cunt of yours is, you are dead.”
He is lying. I know he is.
“Stop lying to me,” I scream as he reaches for my hair. Grabbing a fistful, he pulls on it roughly, making my head snap to the side.
Fighting myself for the last bit of sanity I have left, I grab his wrist, trying to make him loosen his grip. Before I can convince myself this is a part of his game, I whip my free hand out and slap him across his face. The instant burn soothes the raging storm inside of me as I watch a smirk come across his face.
“That’s it, darling. Get mad, get fucking angry,” he spews at me right before he stretches his arms out as if he is the king of the fucking world.
“Look around, take a good look. It’s not a lie. All the proof you need is in front of you, behind you. It’s surrounding you, for fuck’s sake, if you would only open your eyes,” he whispers, his breath against my cheek.
“Stop. Just stop.” I hold my hands out, stopping any further assault by him. His hard chest brushes against my fingers. The warmth of his skin against mine sparks something in me.
“If I threw you on the ground right now and fucked the daylights out of you, what would you do? Would you scream?” He taunts, a small laugh leaving his lips. “Better yet, I bet you would love it… You would love my cock. I’ve been thinking about your cunt since that night in the basement. I know you wanted it. Fucking maid ruining the moment.”
My already clenched fist reaches out, slamming into the side of his jaw. My skin stung with the connection.
“That’s all you got?” he grits out. Giving him a you’re-fucking-crazy-and-you-know-it look, I pull back and kick him right in the shin. Then I do it again for good measure.
“Fuck!” I hear him mutter under his breath. “Now run…” Run? He wants me to just run away? I’m never going to make it. Why can’t he just take me to Enzo?
“But...”
“No buts, fucking run. Run until you get to your old house.”
“If my father is behind this, why would I go there?” I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but I believe Eli. I believe that my father has something to do with me being here.
“Go there. Enzo will be there. Tell him he owes me one.”
He winks at me as he crawls around on the ground as if I had actually kicked his ass. Inside, I smile, but deep in the bottom of my belly, a snake of anxiety slithers its way through me. What awaits me once I get to the house? Is Enzo really there, and what about my father? I don’t know the answers, but I’m about to find out.
I take off in a dead run toward the house. I will find out what my father’s intentions were all along. The pain in my limbs and the harshness of the ground beneath my bare feet almost makes me stop running, but I don’t—not when my life depends on it.