Page 111 of Beautiful Revenge

“Aria,” Elena gasps, running towards me, then stopping when Sal sets her eyes onto her.

“Who are you?” he asks.

“Leave her alone,” I groan out.

He tilts his head to the side, eyeing her over. “A bun in the oven, I see. I like a plaything with a baby on the way. It’s fun to cut the baby out and toss it in the trash. I think I’ll do that to you too.”

Elena turns white. “Leave her alone.” Despite her obvious fear, she’s still being brave.

“I came here for Aria, but you can be my plaything too.” He rushes at her and slams his gun against her head, knocking her unconscious. He lets her fall right to the ground.

“Elena,” I say, pushing myself to my feet. The pain in my stomach is not going away.

“You can’t save your friend, plaything. Not when you both belong to me.” Sal brings his gun to my head and the last thing I feel before I pass out is a pain so intense, I’ll remember it even in darkness.

I wake up in a cold room. A basement by the looks of it. Made of concrete and practically nothing else. This isn’t a comfy basement to watch TV in. This is a basement where bad things happen, judging by the red stains on the floor.

I sit up with a gasp. My body isn’t tied up so at least there’s that. When I look to my right, I see Elena on the ground next to me.

“Elena.” I pat at her cheek. “Elena.”

Slowly, she opens her eyes. “Aria?” She tries to sit up but gets dizzy. “Woah.”

“It’s ok. You’re ok.” I can hear the false promise in my own ears.

“What happened? Where are we?”

“That insane hitman, Sal, kidnapped us. At least he didn’t tie us up. Not like last time.”

“Like last time? What happened, Aria?”

“He went after Finn but found me instead. He tortured me for hours until Finn could find me. This is the man who Finn saved me from. But he’s back now. He wanted me so he took me and unfortunately, he took you too.”

She runs her hands over her belly. “My baby.”

“Is it ok?”

“I have no idea. I feel fine but… My head hurts a little.”

“Probably from when he pistol whipped you, fucking asshole.”

“We need to get out of here. He didn’t tie us up so that has to be a good thing.”

I grab her face. “We can try. I will not let him hurt you and your baby. If given the chance, you make a run for it and leave me behind.”

“But -,”

“No buts. The only way we get out of this is if our husbands know where we are. If you can escape, take it. Leave me behind.”

“But he’ll kill you.”

“He didn’t kill me before. Hopefully he won’t get the chance before Finn and Aiden find us.”

Elena gasps. “You’re so sure they’ll find us but our husbands are mad at each other. They won’t work together to find us. I know Aiden. He’ll think he can do this on his own.”

“And I know Finn. He’ll think the same thing. Let’s just hope one of them finds us before…” I shake my head. Now was not the time to get all doom and gloom. “Sal didn’t tie us up. Let’s look around and see if we can get out of here.”

There’s a door at a the top of a set of stairs. We tiptoe our way up but of course the door is locked.

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