Page 150 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson
I had never given much thought to how I would die in the past. But if I had, I couldn’t imagine I would have believed that my game over would be in the back of a dodgy nightclub surrounded by criminals. All the shitty crime dramas I’d binged on Netflix suddenly felt more believable. Crazy stuff like thatdidhappen in real life, at least it did in America. I knew it was ridiculously naïve to think that it didn’t happen anywhere else. The world was a cruel place, I had been taught that when my mother was taken from me.
I wondered what she would think about my current situation.
Suddenly, Xander’s voice broke into my thoughts. I felt sorry for him. I knew he was just his father’s puppet. “I’m so sorry, Molly.”
His father, who had introduced himself as Anton, snarled. “Stop whining like a bitch. It’s your screw up that led us here, boy.”
We both ignored him as I asked. “Is he going to kill us?”
Xander’s bruised face screwed up. “He just needs the drugs back.”
“Stop fucking whispering and get over here,” his father boomed.
“If he gets the drugs back, it should be OK.”
“It should?” I said with a weak smile.
“Xander!”
Pushing away, Xander moved to stand by the awful man who had sired him. “Yes, father.”
I had been shoved into the chair I was now sitting in. There was a tall man behind me and another who stood behind Hudson’s friend, Thomas, or Tommo, as they had called him. He was black and blue, and his mouth and nose were covered with congealed blood. One of his eyes was swollen shut. I was thankful that I hadn’t witnessed him being beaten, or I probably would have thrown the contents of my stomach up.
The guy behind me had his long hair tied up in a bun. He was olive-skinned with black hair, a mean-looking face, and a hooked nose. The man with Tommo was called Sultan, and again, he had tanned skin and dark features.
Xander’s father was tall and thin with pale skin and black hair. He wore a suit and looked like a businessman, but filled it out like a regular scumbag.
The room we were in was large, the floor was wooden, and the walls were black. It looked like it used to be a nightclub due to the spotlights in the roof, half of which weren’t working. There was a stage in the corner and what would have been a DJ’s booth. It now looked like an old room used to store things. There were tables and chairs stacked around the sides. I could see chewing gum stuck to the bottom of those that were upended.
There were no windows, just a fire escape in the corner, and there was very little air. I felt hot all over.
Tommo was on a chair with his hands zip-tied behind his back.
I fleetingly wondered if Storm would have gone to my father when I failed to turn up at practice. Or hopefully, the counsellor had raised the alarm when I failed to turn up for my appointment.
When I had gone to meet Xander, his car had been there, but Sulton had been in the driving seat. Both he and man-bun had left the car and then bundled me into the back. The windows were blacked out, so my yelling and banging on the window hadn’t helped during the journey. Plus, man-bun had been sitting next to me. I remember the acrid smell of his aftershave.
I had stopped crying. Telling myself that help was on the way and hoping that Hudson would bring the police with him.
I knew he wouldn’t. Hudson hated the cops.
So far, I hadn’t seen any weapons, well, apart from Anton’s Creed’s henchmen’s big fists. I’d heard that everyone in America had a gun, but they hadn’t flashed any weapons at me, yet. I suppose they wouldn’t need to. I was one little girl against four bad guys.
My eyes narrowed as Xander spoke with his father. Their whispers became heated, and then Anton backhanded his son across the face. The sound echoed around the space, but neither of his men flinched. They must have been used to seeing that all the time. Xander’s cheeks and jaw were still bruised from when he’d come to warn us at the beach.
And then I heard voices which drew my focus to the black door they had brought me in through. I pushed to my feet, recognising Hudson’s tone, but was shoved back down with a hand on my shoulder.
“Sit still, princess,” man-bun said, his garlic breath wafting though my hair.
I shrugged him off, my eyes scanning the door.
And then it opened, and Hudson came in.Alone.
My spirits dipped. His eyes met mine, relief pooling into their depths.
“Are you OK? Are you hurt?” he shouted over.
I shook my head so he would know I wasn’t harmed.
