Page 47 of Broken Promises
I felt like a silly schoolgirl, but I couldn’t help it. I was happy and wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was in love, but the assholes I worked with would probably complain I made too much noise. Shaking my head, I checked my phone and saw no missed notifications, so I went back to work.
A few times over the next couple hours, I felt like someone was watching me, but when I turned around or used my monitor’s reflection to see if someone was behind me, there would be no one there. All this worry and searching was starting to wear on my nerves, and until Rhys was safely back on the ground here in Atlanta, I didn’t think I would stop fretting.
“Hannah?” I turned around in my chair to see Waylon standing at the edge of our shared wall.
“What’s up?” I asked and saw him cast his eyes down briefly before speaking.
“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a bite with me for lunch. Since Samuel’s out and you’ve been so patient with me, I was hoping to say thank you for all your help,” he said, and I noticed he was picking his cuticle as he spoke.
I didn’t want to immediately say no, and I tried to think of a reason not to, only to come up blank, so I smiled at him and asked, “Where are you thinking of going?”
He lifted his head and smiled, though his eyes were still partially covered by his shaggy hair. “I wanted to try that sandwich shop up the road in the new shopping center, if that’s okay.” Quickly, he added, “Or wherever you want to go is fine.”
“A sandwich sounds good,” I reassured him. “We’ve got about thirty minutes, so let’s race to see who can finish the most before we leave.”
“Okay,” he eagerly replied and turned on his heels to return to his desk.
I could hear him typing and clicking away on his side of the wall, and I grinned, thinking I may have figured out a way to motivate the young man. Granted, I didn’t know if he was younger than me, and I acted older than I was, but I felt like he was either younger or maybe just immature.
The minutes ticked away, and before I finished my last two tasks, I heard the chime for our lunch break. Stretching in my chair, I worked the tension out of my back and cracked my neck before standing. Once on my feet, I bent forward, back, and to both sides to relieve the kinks. The worst part of this job was sitting for so long, and I wouldn’t miss the uncomfortable chairs in the office.
“Are you ready?” Waylon asked, and I glanced over my shoulder as I tucked my phone into my purse.
“I need to use the restroom, then we can go.”
“I’ll wait here for you,” he replied as I walked past him and around the corner.
After using the restroom and washing my hands, I walked back to my desk and saw Waylon scrolling on his phone as he sat in his chair, waiting for me. He lifted his head when Iapproached, and after grabbing my purse from my desk, I met him outside our cubicles.
He walked ahead of me and was kind enough to hold the office door open. “Should I just meet you there?”
Looking over at me, he suggested, “We can take my car if you want. I promise, I’m a good driver and I don’t speed.”
Briefly, I hesitated, but then remembered I had a gun tucked into the bottom zipper of my purse. Plus, scatterbrained Waylon didn’t seem like much of a threat as he hiked up his too big pants before flipping his head to the side to move the hair from his eyes.
“We can take your car,” I agreed and followed him farther down the parking lot.
He unlocked the car and got inside as I opened the passenger door, got in, and turned in my seat to hook my seatbelt. The vehicle was older but clean. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, but my gut screamed at me to run, but it was too late. A painful pinch in the side of my neck shocked me, and I spun in my seat and slapped my hand over the spot. Waylon was sitting in the driver’s seat with a syringe in his hand, and when I tried to push away from him, he lunged for me. My brain was spinning and filling with fog as I tried to open the door, only for him to reach over and pull it closed. He reached along the side of my seat as he pulled the seatbelt across my body and clicked it.
“We can’t have anything happening to you,” he smirked before cranking the car and pulling out of the lot.
There was no one to see what had happened, and while I was still awake and sitting up, I couldn’t control anything. When I tried to speak, the words were slurred and jumbled, and when I attempted to reach out to stop him, my arms didn’t do what I wanted them to do. My eyes fell shut, but I could still hear Waylon making a phone call.
“Yes. It was easy with that fairy out of the way,” he said, and immediately, I worried about Samuel. Waylon kept speaking, and with every word, it seemed like I was being pulled further and further away from myself. The tunnel-like conversation made no sense to my drugged brain as my head lulled to the side. “Yes. I know, and don’t worry. Yes. Of course, I did. I’m not stupid.” He paused, and he sounded annoyed when he spoke again. “I fucking know, so stop reminding me.”
I heard a beep and then Waylon yelled into the car, “Fucking asshole!”
If I was able to move, I would have jumped out of my skin at the volume of his rage. Whoever was on the other end of the phone pissed him off, and I hoped that when I was able to do something, I would remember that. Whoever was on the other end must have been pulling the strings, and just as I started to black out, I had a horrible realization.
Whoever took me had to be connected to the Syndicate, and since Rhys, James, and my brothers weren’t any closer to figuring out who it was, they may never find me.
I felt a tear streak down my cheek as a vision of Rhys flashed in my mind and my nightmare swallowed me whole.
Someone was reaching under my legs and behind my back to lift me from the car, but I still had no control over my body. My eyes were closed as my head rested against someone’s chest, and as I was jostled around, I swore I heard someone softly say, “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t know how long I’d been out, and without being able to see where I was, I had no idea where to go if I did manage to escape. My body rocked to one side slightly, and I was pressed closer to the mystery man’s chest as we climbed what seemed like stairs, but honestly, I had no idea. Everything was disoriented in my mind and the sounds around me were distorted, so nothing made sense.
“There she is,” a man said as whoever was carrying me stopped walking. I felt someone grab my chin and jerk my head away from where it’d been resting, only to shove it back. “How much did you give her?”
