Page 60 of Redemption

Kelsey

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth as I come to. A throbbing pain radiates from the side of my head and quickly spreads to the rest of my body, but I swallow down the discomfort and ignore the fact that my throat feels like sandpaper. It takes a couple of tries before I’m able to blink the fog from my eyes. When I do, I’m greeted with a water-stained tile ceiling glaring back at me. I shift to sit up taking note of the softness of a mattress dipping underneath my weight and touching my bare feet. When I glance down at my appearance my eyebrows scrunch together. Someone has taken off my boots, but had the decency to leave me fully dressed.

Moonlight shines in from a tiny window above me, illuminating my surroundings. Judging by the height and the block walls, I’m guessing I’m in somebody’s basement.

After a couple of failed attempts, I manage to sit up and a wave of nausea hits me so fast that the entire room spins. All of my blood rushes to my legs leaving black spots clouding my vision. I cup the side of my head to keep from passing out. It helps to ease some of the sharpness that pounds against my temple, but the flesh is so tender I wince. Dried blood coats my hand when I pull away causing an onslaught of images flash before my eyes. A car, Teegan shouting, the sound of twisting metal before everything went black. It’s all coming back to me in a flood. My limbs shake from the memories. I need to get out of here.

It takes a few more seconds for me to fully gain my bearings. I glance around the small space and find nothing but a door and block walls staring back at me. My memory is still a bit fuzzy, but I’m coherent enough to know I need to find a way out of here. I stumble to my bare feet, wincing when the cold cement floor seeps into my bones. On shaky limbs, I attempt to walk toward the nearest wall.

“Ye’re awake.” My body jumps at the sound of that voice. Something about it is vaguely familiar, but in my current state I can’t place it.

I spin around toward the doorway and my heart damn near jumps out of my chest. My eyes make their way up from his penny loafers, stopping dead on that Puka Shell necklace. All the blood drains from my face. “Alan?”

He steps further into the room until he’s right in front of me. The second his brown eyes meet mine I want to scream. “Hello, Lorelei.” He cocks his head to the side and flashes me a blinding smile. “Or should I say Kelsey?”

“What? How?” My eyes narrow as I struggle to make sense of what the hell is happening right now. It knocks my balance out of whack and I have to lean against the block wall before I face plant into the floor. “Where’s Teegan?”

He lifts a finger to brush a stray strand of hair out of my face as he looks down at me. “He’s the least of yer worries right now. Ye should be worried about what I’m going to do to ye.”

“Where. Is. He?” I smack his hand away and slink further against the block wall, hoping it’ll swallow me up whole.

“I’ve been watchin’ ye a long time.” He ignores me and keeps talking. “I had to make sure yer da stayed in line and what better way to do that than to hold over him the one thing he loves most? His daughter.”

“Alan—” I attempt to plead with him, but he cuts me off.

“Murphy.” He strokes the side of my face, taking in my appearance. “Call me by me name.” He leans in so close that I can feel his lips brush against mine. His fingers trail up and down the side of my neck, slipping lower each time. When I don’t respond fast enough he fists a hand in my hair and squeezes until my scalp burns.“Say it!”

Everything inside me shrivels at his cold touch. I struggle to keep my breathing steady. If I’m going to get myself out of here, I need to keep calm. Timing is everything. I’ll play along for now. “Murphy.” His name feels like acid on my tongue the second it tumbles past my lips.

“Good girl.” A hungry glaze burns behind his eyes as he follows the line of his fingers brushing past my shoulder stopping on my breast. He palms it, kneading my soft flesh. The tip of his fingers pinch my nipple so hard I yelp and it only seems to excite him further. “Ye like it rough? Don’t ye?”

I take advantage of his distraction and knee him right in the balls. It’s enough that his hand falls away from my body and I’m able to run for the open door, but I don’t make it even a couple of steps before he grabs me by the hair and slams me back against the wall.

“Ye feckin’ cunt.” The hand gripping my hair clamps down even tighter and I lose it. I claw and kick at him with everything I have, but it’s no use. He’s too strong. “Enough.” The hand fisting my hair slams my head back against the wall so hard I see stars. “Where is it?” Every muscle in his body is rigid as his heavy breathing fills my ears.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me ye stupid cunt.” Without warning, he backhands me with his free hand. Fire erupts along the same side of my face that’s been throbbing since I woke up. The wet warmth of blood drips down my bottom lip as his cold eyes glare down at me. Those two black orbs send a shiver straight through me. They’ll suck out my soul and spit it back out of I let him. “I know ye have the SD card.”

I cup the side of my face and fight the urge to vomit. An explosion of pain is overtaking me. “I don’t know anything about an SD card.”

“Bullshit.” His fingers pull on my hair forcing my head back past the point of comfort. He leans in so close that I gag on the stale stench of his breath. “I know ye have it. Tell me where the feck it is, right now. Or yer in for a rough night.”

“I’m not lying to you, I swear.” My cheek burns from his hit, but I refuse to cower down to him. I straighten my shoulders and get into his face. “I have no clue what you’re talking about and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you jack shit, asshole.”

He lets out a hollow laugh that has the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “Looks like ye might need a little motivation.” His neck cranes in the direction of the open doorway. “Bring him in.”

A huge guy that has burns covering the whole left side of his face comes in, but it’s who he throws onto the floor of the room that takes my breath away.

“Dad?”

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