Page 94 of Tear Me Down
“I'll move on to other things,” he continues, and my limbs begin to quake under the pressure of her torture. “So, either you can cooperate, or watch as she slowly bleeds out. The longer you wait, the worse her pain will be, andI…” He begins to take his free hand and runs it down her body to in between her legs, sending a bolt of fear through my body. “Can get very creative.” She begins thrashing against his touch, but he raises the knife to her throat, scraping her just enough to draw more blood. “Your choice, Damien.”
I finally snap, clutching the phone so harshly I'm afraid it will break.
“HOW FUCKING FAR OUT ARE WE?!” I scream at Crewe, the man driving.
“Two hours, boss!”
“MAKE IT LESS!”
“D, we need a distraction, so he thinks you’re still in the city. If you do nothing, he’ll be expecting us.” Carter says through the coms.
“It’s not like we can send someone else, Carter! They'll know in an instant it's not Damien,” Alex argues.
“That's not the distraction I mean. I think we should send a team to take out another warehouse,” Carter suggests and my head starts to swim.
“No! What if he hurts her worse?!” Zeke argues.
“FUCK!” I stand up and kick the side of the van, denting the interior wall. Zeke gets up, puts his hands on my shoulders, and holds me back from doing any more damage.
“Save it, D. You need all the strength you have to get to her. There’s no going in quiet here.”
I try to calm my shaky breaths, but to no avail. The desperation is seeping in, and it’s getting hard to breathe again. The only reprieve in this moment is Carter’s voice coming through the static.
“We need to think about what he would expect you to do. Not what he wants you to do,” he says reluctantly, and he’s right. Hugo knows how we operate. How I tend to fly off the handle, especially when it involves Ashia. I try to draw in a deep breath, almost hunching over in pain at the attempt, and I look at my father, begging for guidance for the first time in years, wondering what he would do at this moment if the roles were reversed. I can’t make a mistake here. My entire world is on the line, and I’ll do anything to ensure their safety—even if that means giving everything else up, including my control.
Dad looks back at me like my pain is breaking him apart, and as he takes a deep breath, I know that while what he’s about to say is eating him alive, he’s right.
“She’s strong, and you two will recover from this, but there’ll be nothing to recover from if he kills her before we get there,” he says harshly, but truthfully. I shake Zeke off of me and look back down at the phone, watching as she continues to look to the ceiling in silent prayer, I’m sure calling for me. Hugo continues his brutality, slowly and methodically cutting her in the right places so she feels the pain but doesn’t bleed too much.
“He won’t expect me to cooperate right away… He’ll expect me to look for her first. He’s probably betting on it…”
“Exactly,” Carter says.
I cannot believe I'm about to do this… He could hurt her… We could lose our baby…But the element of surprise is the only thing we have going for us right now. That’s the only way we’re going to get to her…
“Wait as close to the end of the hour we can… Then send Chris to take out a warehouse. Tell him to act like it’s a recon mission,” I choke out, my throat constricting to a painful level as my lip quivers. I’m struggling to hold it together, but I can’t break yet.
“You got it,” Carter confirms, his voice cracking as he cuts the line, but not before I hear Serena’s yell in the background.
“You sure about this, D?” Zeke asks solemnly, and I just shake my head. Deep down I know I know there’s no other option, but I feel like I just signed her death warrant.
“Fuck no…”
Chapter thirty-four
Ashia
‘The End Of The Dream’ - Evanescence
As much as I want to look down and assess the damage being done to me… I won’t. Strength and determination are coursing through me right now, and I’m intent to hold out as long as possible. Damien is coming. He would never just leave me here and expect Hugo to let me go when he’s through.
But how could he possibly know where I am? I don’t even know the answer to that. Dranan has given no inclination of our location, or anything other than degrading insults as he slices into my skin—repeatedly saying that Damien will see me as broken, and he’ll make sure I stay that way this time. That Cooper was nothing compared to what he’s going to do to me if Damien doesn’t comply.
Though, I’ve refused to react. His words are empty, and while I know that, deep down, my self-doubt is starting to creep in. Damien accepted me once, scars and all, but they were covered—healed and replaced with new skin by the time I met him. How will he feel when he runs his hands over my body after this, only to feel the newly deformed tissue from another man’s hands? Filthy hands…
No.
No, don’t think like that. I’m letting him get to me…
