Page 19 of Protected By the SEAL

The cards fall to the floor as the man pulls a hat down over his face and lurches at me with the knife. He did tell me that he would cut me, but it’s a surprise when it really happens. It fucking hurts to have a blade plunged into my skin, more than anything that has ever happened to me before. It’s only in my thigh, so nothing major is hit, but the blood spurts out regardless. As does the yell of agony that rockets and vibrates in my chest and over my tongue. He might have told me to hold my shit together, but how is that even possible? I can’t do it, this pain isnotsomething that I’m used to.

The man then talks to the camera about what the gang wants and what my father can do about it. I don’t hear it, though. I can’t listen to the words because the pain has me blinded. My ears are buzzing with the agony of it. This is fucking crazy. Now I know how painful it will be to be stabbed to death, which is probably what this man intends to do to me, and I can’t stand it. I seriously hope that’s not what’s happened to Benji. It’s killing me not knowing whether he’s okay or not.

“Come on.” The man kicks me in the leg, in the part where he just stabbed me. “Any last things that you want to say?”

There isn’t a choice here. I have to say something, I can hear it in his tone. “I… I… Dad, I want to get out of here. I’m scared and hurt. I can’t seem to escape this. Please, just pay him. Money isn’t worth my life. Keep me alive, please.”

I know that he will, I don’t have any doubts about it, but I want to drive that point home. I need him to hear it, to feel it. I need him to understand that he shouldn’t mess around and hold back. I don’t want him to try anything crazy here. Just pay them.

“There. Done.” Ted shuts off the camera. “Now that is ready to go to every media outlet right away.”

“Wait, media?” I stare at both the men in turn. “I thought that video was going to my father. I recorded that for him.”

Ted tosses his head back and laughs loudly. “Oh, no. Your father is a man in the public eye. His image is everything to him. The only way to make an asshole like him pay is to make it all public. It will force his hand. Makes sense, don’t you think?”

“Er…” Shit, I suppose from their point of view, it does. My issue is that I don’t want to be in the public eye. I want this whole messto remain a secret. If I ever get back home, I want to just slip back into my old life without anyone knowing me. “But, I…”

“Hey, if you live through this, it might even revive your TV career. That’s got to be fun, right?”

I can’t breathe. This is hell to me. Now, even if I’m allowed out of this, I’ll be trapped back in a cage. I can’t stop thinking about what I said at the end of the video about money being less important than my life. If that was just for my family’s eyes, then it would be one thing, it would speed my dad up, but if the whole world sees it, it might give the wrong impression of William Jones. Right now, he’s seen as a caring family man, and this will shatter everything. It will crack the façade.

“Can we do it again?” I gasp. “I don’t think that I said it all right this time around. Or can you cut the end off? I didn’t mean it as it came across, and I don’t want that information to go out to the media.”

“The recording is done,” Ted insists arrogantly. I hate him, obviously, but that makes me dislike him even more. “It’s time for you to get back to your precious motel room. That’s where you can wait while we sort shit out. Soon enough, your father should cough up and you will get back to your normal life…ifthings go that way. Who the fuck knows? We will find out.”

The other guy grabs me under my armpits and roughly lifts me to my feet. It’s actually kind of hard for me to walk with the stab wound in my leg, which I seriously hope isn’t getting infected, but the idea of seeing Benji once more keeps me going. The man dragging me back inside leaves me little choice as well. Gang members flood the motel. They are covering every hallway, every door. They look like bouncers keeping control of this place. Idon’t think I’ll be able to escape no matter what. I don’t know if there’s any way I can keep myself alive, no matter what I do.

17

BENJI

This is a nightmare. I can’t fucking stand this. Being locked in this room with armed goddamn guards outside, refusing to let me anywhere, is killer. It doesn’t help that I’m still in agony, but I could work through that shit for Cassie. I could do anything for her. She’s been gone for far too long and it’s freaking me out. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what they want with her. Obviously, whatever their initial plan was, I fucked it up by killing Alex and dragging her away, so now… I don’t know.

Even worse, I’m struggling to get through to Max. I’ve sent off some messages so he knows I’m in danger, and he already knows where I am, but I haven’t had anything reciprocated. I don’t understand, this isn’t like him at all. Usually, he’s scarily on top of things, but this time, it’s different and I don’t know why. I hope it doesn’t mean Max has given up on us.

“No,” I hiss to myself as my hands curl around into fists. “No, he wouldn’t give up. Never, and I can’t either.”

I just need to figure out how I’m going to leave this room without being shot. I’m no good to Cassie dead. But I also can’t just sit the fuck around and wait for them to do whatever they want to her. I’m glad she took a moment to get dressed, but it still puts me on edge knowing they have complete control over her. The things that could be happening are horrific.

“Stop it!” I bang the sides of my head, desperately trying to rid my brain of any unwelcome images. “No, stop it.”

But my brain keeps flooding me with the sorts of things that I definitely don’t want to consider when it comes to Cassie. I need her to be okay, to be alive, to be unharmed. It might be insane since we only just met, but my feelings for her are undeniable. It isn’t just a magnetic pull between us. It’s something much deeper than that. Almost destiny. We are meant to be. I need her back in my arms, back in my heart so I can treat her the way she should be for as long as she will allow me to.

Sure, I suppose I know it won’t be forever. She will eventually be ripped from me and taken back to her own life, but at least I know then that the woman I have all these feelings for will be safe and really cared for. She will be okay once more.

I pace the room. My feet can’t remain still as the ice-cold panic zig-zags through me. If there weren’t gang members every fucking where around this place, I could be out by now and with her, saving her. Somehow, I just know that waiting here’s the wrong thing to do, but I honestly don’t know any other way. I can’t see both of us getting out alive. Or either of us…

“Benji, you’re okay.” All of a sudden, the motel door flings open, and almost as if it’s happening in a dream, Cassie comes flyingthrough it. She looks hurt and covered in dirt all over again, but thank God she’s alive. “I thought they hurt you.”

She flies into my arms as the door slams closed once more, locking us back inside but thankfully, together, and I hold her tight. Both of our hearts hammer violently, but mine is pounding because of happiness as well as terror.

“What did they do to you?” she gushes while pulling back to look at my face. “I saw them beating on you…”

“I’ve had worse,” I reply honestly while also trying to play down my pain a bit. She has enough to worry about. “I’m okay. I can get through anything, you know me. But what did they do to you? I hated not being able to get to you. It was horrible.”

“I had to record a kidnapping video,” she tells me morosely. “You know, with a newspaper and everything. For my dad. Only, they aren’t going to send it to my father. It’s going to the media to make a public spectacle out of things. The gang thinks that will make him more willing to pay up because he has some bullshit public image to maintain. They’re doing it now.”

“I’m sorry.” I understand why this is breaking Cassie, why it’s tearing her apart from the inside out. Not only does this destroy the secrecy around the situation that her family wanted to create, which could cause things to become even more strained than they have already become, but it also means that Cassie’s wishes for a private life will be utterly destroyed. “That’s horrible.”

---