Page 107 of Fragile

A pair of feet and then the rest of her appeared, wearing the same outfit from earlier. She was angry, her face drawn tightly and her mouth was set in a sneer. It twisted her beauty.

She pocketed her phone and then stomped over. She was younger than me, the make-up she’d worn to the restaurant was now all gone, leaving her natural.

“What? I’m stuck on Candy Crush on level 445, what’s so fucking important? I don’t have time for your shit,” she snarled, stopping several yards away from Kai with the goon Lester beside her.

Her gaze moved to me with a bored expression before she popped her gum. “Oh, hi Leonie,” she said with a finger-tipped wave. Her greeting was totally normal like she saw helpless women tied to chairs in front of her all the time.

Her appearance did give me some relief, not just as it proved the psycho hadn’t bumped her off, but also being in the company of another girl. They surely wouldn’t do anything to me in front of a teenager?

“I just wanted our guest to see you weren’t harmed. She was worried about you,” Kai drawled, soothingly speaking to her. Much nicer than he was in the restaurant.

“I guess she knows fuck all anyway and are the cable ties really necessary? I swear your kinks are fucking sick Kai.” She folded her arms across her chest. “So, what’s she still doing here?”

“We’re waiting for her boyfriend to rescue her,” he drawled, moving over to a table placed next to his chair where there was a vodka bottle and shot glass. He poured himself a drink and then necked it.

“What—what boyfriend,” the girl called Ava stuttered, her features set in a grim line.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I pointed out again moodily, tugging against my restraints.

Kai glanced between us both, back and forth before he shot at me. “Semantics. The fucker cares about you and that’s enough.” Those words should have coated my belly with warmth but I was too terrified about what would happen when Gabriel got there. He too had a temper and a gun.

As I moved my gaze back to Ava, she was watching me with a strange expression, on the edge of panic suddenly. I could see the glaze of perspiration across her forehead. Something had shaken her.

Ava’s eyes drilled into me as she questioned me sharply, “Who’s your boyfriend?”

“I said—”

She stomped a foot in frustration, “I heard you the first time. Who is it that’s coming here?” The girl half shouted.

Kai placed the vodka bottle and glass down and turned to the girl with a curious expression. He answered the question for me

“Garrett’s eldest son. Why?” Kai said, looking dubious.

The blood ran out of the girl's face and she looked like she was going to pass out.

Kai took a step towards her, raising a hand. “Ava?”

Just then the doors burst open and Gabriel appeared, his stance aggressive. He had his gun in one hand and a package in the other. He pointed the gun straight at Kai, his gaze zeroing in on me behind him.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or scared, Gabriel had come for me and it appeared he had the upper hand. However, it didn’t take long for that to be taken away from him and my heart almost stalled.

Chaos drummed a beat within me and I saw both recognition and fear on Ava’s face as her eyes landed on Gabriel.

Did they know each other?

Fifteen

My sense of satisfaction evaporated.

“Drop it,” barked the man called Sean. He had been lurking in a dark corner of the warehouse. I remembered him as the bigger brute from earlier.

Gabriel’s eyes latched helplessly onto mine as a gun was placed against his temple. “Don’t fucking test me, I said, drop it sunshine,” he repeated, those words laced with threat.

Gabriel looked like he was going to refuse, but Kai walked slowly behind me and placed his gun at the back of my head. I could feel it through my hair. Fear clawed at my insides and I released a cry of shock. I had a fucking gun pointed at my head!

“I’m sure her brains are as pretty as she is, but surely we don’t all want to see them just yet?” Kai sniggered.

Defeat etched into his features and Gabriel lowered his gun, a muscle flexing in his jaw. Sean then snatched the weapon and my hope from his hand.

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