Page 81 of Trail to Trouble
Bianca. All this time, her old friend knew her number and never reached out. It still stung that she deserted her immediately after Alyssa was murdered. More importantly, how did Bianca know Sebastián was pissed. Had they stayed in contact with each other?
Should she respond to the text? Ask questions?
ChapterTwenty-One
“You fucking bitch,”Sebastián yelled.
Spittle flew out of his mouth when he spoke, hitting Bianca in the face. Her gag reflex kicked into overdrive and her bound hands behind her back prevented her from being able to wipe her face. She tilted her head forward and to the side, hoping to use her shoulder to wipe the disgusting man’s saliva off her cheek.
“Look at me!”
She ignored him and kept trying to wipe the spit off her face. If she didn’t, she’d surely gag until she puked.
“I said, look at me!”
Bianca straightened in her hard metal chair and focused on the monster in front of her.
The blow to her cheek came fast and hard. Pain shot through her jaw. The second blow knocked her off the chair. Her head smacked against the cold, unforgiving concrete.
“Get up!”
She couldn’t. Her hands were bound, her temples throbbed, and her ribs still ached from when he’d thrown her to the ground and kicked her.
Using a fistful of her hair, Sebastián yanked her to her feet and slammed her back down onto the hard chair.
During the time Sebastián spent in prison, his physique changed. He was far more muscular than when they were in college, and his facial features had hardened. The tattoos on his neck, hands, and arms made him look as scary as he behaved. A few gray strands peppered throughout his slicked-back, jet-black hair. Weathered creases in his skin outlined his devil-dark eyes.
She’d once thought this man was magazine cover handsome, but the hard prison years had changed that. Now, he looked like the thug he was. At one time, she’d even thought him nice enough to date. Her head fell forward. That was her first mistake. Allowing her to be wooed by him, even after what he’d done to Hannah.
Sebastián sucked her in, just as he’d done with her. Only for her, it was worse. He used her to get even with Hannah. It was all so clear now, but back then, it wasn’t.
He promised her he’d leave Hannah for her, but he didn’t. Though she shared Sebastián’s bed, it was Hannah he paraded around in public on his arm. Why? She was far prettier than Hannah. Unfortunately, she was the easy one, and Hannah was the conquest. The one he could never win over. Maybe that’s why he became so obsessed with her...because he couldn’t have her. She wouldn’t allow it. So, he tried and tried and tried to win her over, but to no avail. Even with his obscene amount of money, he was unable to secure Hannah. Hannah was too wholesome for a man like Sebastián. He knew it and didn’t like it.
When Hannah dumped him, he went off the deep end, hence his decade in prison.
The first thing Sebastián did when he got released was knock on Bianca’s door. She was unprepared because she didn’t know he’d received an early out. Early release or not, it probably didn’t matter. She knew this day would come. He’d get out and even the score with everyone. Even her, the person who helped him most, or at least tried to help, anyhow. Well, it wasn’t like she’d had a say in the matter. Once she’d realized his true colors, she knew what he was capable of. If she hadn’t done as he demanded, she’d be the one who was dead, not Alyssa.
Hot tears streamed down her aching cheeks. This was all on her. She allowed this to happen. Alyssa was dead. Hannah’s parents were dead. Soon, Hannah would be dead, and if she didn’t play her cards right, she’d be dead, too.
Bianca regretted every horrible decision she’d made when it came to Sebastián. The decision she didn’t regret, though, was texting Hannah to tell her to run. Between the text and the flowers she sent to her, hoping she’d think they were from Sebastián, she hoped Hannah would get the severity of the situation and run.
Sebastián snapped his fingers in front of her face, drawing her attention.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Still, she tried to convince him she did not know of Hannah’s whereabouts. If it hadn’t been a chance sighting a few years ago, she wouldn’t, but she did. She happened to be in Door County for a women’s weekend when she spotted a familiar face on the Peninsula State Park beach. It was Hannah. No doubt. She followed her into the small store, ducking behind a rack to not be seen. When Hannah spoke to the woman working the cash register, Bianca knew for sure it was her, even though she was older now. The voice matched, her looks matched, her mannerisms matched. A sense of relief had washed through her, knowing she was still alive and well. When she had disappeared, Bianca was concerned that Sebastián’s hired hand had done what he was supposed to in the first place. But that wasn’t the case. Her old friend stood not ten feet away from her in the flesh. Now she could only conclude that Hannah assumed a new identity and went into hiding. That’s why she’d lost track of her. Bianca fought the urge to speak to her. It was safest for everyone this way. She noted Hannah’s license plate number when she pulled out of the parking lot, and when she returned home from her vacation, she sweet-talked a friend of hers into running the plate and learned her friend now went by the name of Katrina Holmes and lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
This choice of location didn’t surprise Bianca. Close to where she was from, but far enough away to stay hidden. A city not too big or too small, and an area that provided quick access to the Northwoods that Hannah loved so much. Yes, this location made absolute sense to her.
“I know you know, and you have three seconds to tell me or else.”
He didn’t have to clarify what the ‘or else’ meant. She knew. He’d already tortured and killed the assistant district attorney. The proof was the woman lying on the cold cement floor not twenty feet from him. She supposed he’d left the body there to send her a message. He was serious about finding Hannah. Bianca squeezed her eyes shut to block out the unbearable reality surrounding her.
“Three...”
Bianaca’s heart raced. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Would dying this way, not giving up her friend, erase all the bad things she’d done in her lifetime, especially when it came to Sebastián?
