Page 24 of Saved By the Rogue

I hesitated. She deserved to know the truth of what I had been through, of course, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to put it into words. I had spent so long trying to conceal that part of myself, doing everything I could to contain it and push it down, that coming out and telling her what had happened to me seemed impossible. How did I know she wouldn’t freak out?

I stared down at her, trying to still my overthinking mind. No. She had accepted so much about me already, there was no way she was going to lose it on me now. I took a deep breath.

"I was...on some shit before I met Chuck," I explained. "I was-"

Suddenly, a noise came from behind us – in the alleyway that led off the street, a sound caught my attention. My head snapped around, but, before I could react to it, I felt something crash into the side of my temple, sending stars spinning through my vision.

"Jaxon!” she exclaimed, but I could hardly see her – my adrenaline had kicked in, and I tried to lunge towards whoever had made this move against us. They had to have some serious nerve, making an attack like this in broad daylight where anyone could have seen it.

I stumbled, catching myself before I hit the ground. I could hear her behind me, calling my name, but the ringing in my ears was too loud to make anything else out. I lifted my head, dazed, looking around and trying to figure out who was coming for me like this, but before I could call out and tell her to run, I felt another crack at the back of my skull. Pain spun through my system, but still, all I could think about was her – I didn’t know who was coming after us, but I couldn’t let them take her, I couldn’t let them steal her away from me, I couldn’t.

I managed to spin around long enough to lock eyes with her – and, in that instant, I saw someone behind her, a dark figure approaching behind her. I parted my lips to call out and warn her, but it was too late. By the time that any sound escaped my mouth, they had grabbed her around the waist, clamping a hand across her mouth and cutting off her cries for help.

Someone pressed a rag to my mouth, and a foul-smelling substance filled my senses. Unconsciousness began to rise up before I could fight it, and all I could do was stare helplessly at Star before me – and pray that wherever she was being taken, I would be taken to, as well.

Because I couldn’t let her face whatever this was alone.

Chapter Fifteen – Star

"Jaxon," I whispered. "Jaxon, please, wake up!”

I didn’t know how long we had been down here, but I knew I needed him awake and responsive. It was all I could focus on right now, the sight of him slumped over his chair in front of me, hands bound behind his back just like mine were. The smell of the damp room filled my nostrils, and I knew nobody would hear me if I screamed out down here.

Because I knew this place all too well. I knew this place because it had once been my home.

Even if it felt like a prison right now.

Jaxon and I had been attacked in the street, and bundled into the back of a van, driven through Atwood and dragged into the basement of my family’s mansion, where we’d been tied up and left to rot in the near-darkness. The only light came from a grimy window opposite me, a shaft of brightness landing on the side of Jaxon’s face.

They had taken him out with some kind of chloroform or something – I had been unable to do anything other than watch as he passed out in the grip of the black-masked goons my father had sent after us. I couldn’t believe he would make an attack on us in the middle of the day like this, it just felt...it felt crazy to me, as though there was no way he would have risked something like that. How could he be so reckless?

I knew the answer. He could be as reckless as he wanted because he knew there was no way anyone was going to stop him. He could act however he wanted, this city was in the palm of his hand, and we were helpless to resist it. I had felt like we would be safe, on a busy street, out there in public, but he had swooped in and gone for us anyway. I knew, all too clearly, that there was nothing we could do to put him off, nothing we could do to keep him away from us.

And now, Jaxon and I were tied up in the basement, and I had no idea what he planned to do to us. But I got the feeling it wasn’t going to be good.

He had brought Jaxon with me, and I was wracking my brains to try and figure out why. I was glad to have him here with me, of course I was, but there was also a part of me that was scared shitless as to why my father must have brought him along. He must have been aware that I cared about him, must have known that I would have done anything to keep him safe, and here he was, right in front of me.

He was going to use him against me. It was the only thing that made any sense. And the thought of something happening to him because of me, God, it made my chest ache.

Finally, as I hissed his name across the darkness, he blearily lifted his head and locked eyes with me.

"Star?" he murmured, his voice still slightly slurred from whatever poison they’d put in his body to get him to do what they wanted. "Is that you?"

"It’s me," I replied, my voice catching in the back of my throat with sheer relief. "It’s me, Jaxon, I’m here."

"Where are we?" he asked, as he tried to move his hands – I had fought against being tied up like this, but my father’s goons had been rough as they snapped the plastic cuffs on to me, letting them dig painfully into my skin.

"We’re in the basement of my family’s mansion," I admitted to him. "I don’t know why, but I’m going to find out, I promise..."

But before I could say another word, a sound came from the top of the stairs that led into the main house – the door opened, and I saw a familiar silhouette in the shadows.

My heart dropped. My father. I couldn’t believe it. It had been so long since I had seen him, it almost felt surreal to be laying eyes on him again. Surreal, knowing the kind of person he was, knowing how dark his legacy had become – knowing what he was capable of and what he had done, and fearing how much further he would take it to get exactly what he wanted from me.

He made his way slowly down the stairs, taking his time, and pulled the cord to flick on the light – burning brightness seared through my eyes, and I squinted against it, staring up at him with trepidation in my eyes.

"You’re both awake," he remarked, glancing over at Jaxon. His voice was utterly cold, utterly devoid of even the pretense of care that he had once put up for me – he had tried to convince me, for a while, that he gave a shit about me, but these days, I knew it was nothing more than a sick, twisted joke he’d spun to try and convince me of a lie.

"Let us go, Dad, please," I begged him. He let out a short, mirthless laugh.

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