Page 51 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

* * *

I’ve hitchhiked before because I’m not the type of girl that listened to her mother when she said that strangers were dangerous. I leaned into them all too often, catching rides from one place to the next. I often found safety in strangers because they were unfamiliar, and unfamiliarity meant they didn’t know me. Each and every stranger I met was a new opportunity to be somebody else, anybody other than who I was. I wasn’t a murderer or a liar to strange faces. I was whoever they pretended I was. There’s freedom in that that’s hard to describe, but as someone that’s always been defined by my past, it always felt like a fresh start. Unfortunately, it would almost always go straight to hell and I’d be back on the road, finding a new stranger to turn me into someone new once more.

So, when the middle-aged man in an old pick-up truck stopped to offer me a ride, I didn’t even hesitate to climb on in. While I’ve never been particularly gifted with common sense, I’ve learned over the years to defend myself. Besides, it’s imperative that I get back to the Hamptons as soon as possible to rescue Emily from Nick’s disastrous plan. This old man–he goes by the name Frank–seems nice enough, but more importantly, he was the only person that even considered stopping in the hour I walked down the side of the road with my thumb held out to the side.

He doesn’t say much on the drive, and more importantly, doesn’t ask too many questions. He’s content enough to be a good Samaritan. If things go south and I end up missing a kidney in a bathtub, then I hope Nick understands that it was all his fault and that I’ll haunt him until the end of his days.

It takes about three hours of peaceful silence to arrive at my destination. Frank pulls the truck up to the curb of mine and Nick’s shared apartment. I thank him for the ride before climbing out onto the city sidewalk and watching as he drives away into the night. I wonder if he will ever think back to the woman that hitchhiked to a fancy apartment building in the city. How often will I cross his mind?

There’s no time for such contemplations, so I turn on my feet and hurry inside. I wave at the attendant at the front desk as I make my way into the elevator.

* * *

I walk down the hall and before the elevator I stepped out of closes, another one opens to the side. I don’t stop to look behind me, instead opting to make a mad dash to the apartment door. I grab the key from my pocket and turn it in the lock, push open the door and jut inside. Before I can slam the door closed, the blunt force of a body is thrown against the other side. This is exactly what I was afraid of when I heard the second elevator door sling open.

It isn’t paranoia if I’m always right, and it’s not wrong to be paranoid when people have been following me so much lately.

I push back against the weight of the intruder, but I’m easily overpowered. The man gives another hard shove against the door, throwing me into the wall behind it. I see his boots first and then his slacks, and then his suit, and then finally, I see his face. I didn’t think he had it in him. Always thought he was the kind of guy that hired others to do his dirty work.

Nick’s father retrieves a gun from the back of his waistband and aims it squarely at my head. “We’re going to have a long talk, Addison.”

“Eat me,” I scoff.

“I just might.” He grins wickedly before spinning the gun in his hand and bashing me in the skull with the butt.

The world goes black.

* * *

The world is blurry when my eyes flash open. At first, it’s only for a millisecond at a time, but as I come to, I’m able to keep them open long enough that everything comes into focus. I’m in a familiar place. The pool house in the back of Callaway Manor. I look around the room as I realize my hands are bound behind my back with rope, the same rope that’s wrapped around my legs. A strip of tight duct tape covers my mouth.

I manage to cock my head just a little to the right and that’s when I realize that I’m in a far worse predicament than I would have guessed. Nick’s mother stands beside her husband but as I awaken, she leaves through the front door of the pool house without saying a word.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

I squint my eyes, searching for daylight but to my eyes, it’s still dark outside.

“That was a figure of speech,” he says. “You’ve only been out for about an hour. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to wake up for at least a few more, but that just means we can get to the meat and bones of why you’ve found yourself a prisoner in my house.”

“Let me go!”I try to scream but my words are muffled by the duct tape.

“I have to say that I much prefer hearing your voice like this. It’s less like nails on a chalkboard and more like music to my ears.” He circles until he’s standing in front of me, towering over me. “My daughter has been kidnapped, Addison. You can understand how that would bring me a great amount of stress, I assume. I even got a ransom video. Emily chained to a chair in a dark room, begging me to save her. And what do these mysterious criminals want? They want a very specific set of disks they claim I have.” He bends over, grinning from ear to ear. “Now, I have an important question for you, and I don’t want any tall tales.” He rips the tape from my mouth. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We both know that you stole those disks from me. I don’t know what you think you saw on them, but I do know that some random John Doe from the streets wouldn’t know shit about them. Pardon me if I’m mistaken then, but I’m positive that means you had something to do with the kidnapping of my daughter.”

I always knew Nick was reckless. I suppose I simply underestimated the depths of his stupidity. He has directly implicated me in his plan by mentioning the disks. As I said before, if this ends with my death, I will haunt him until his end of days.

ChapterTwenty-Four

NICK

Addison was right, but then again, she almost always is. It was stupid and reckless for me to concoct this plan. Even if I believe Emily isn’t in any real danger, she doesn’t know that. The stress alone could send her over the edge. It could cause her to relapse back into drugs or worse. Sometimes, I lose any common sense to the winds of rage and revenge. My father has built his empire on a throne of lies and I lost sight of what’s important in trying to expose him.

It took me about thirty minutes after Addison left to come to this realization and by that time, she already had too far of a head start on me. I don’t know where she is or what she’s doing, but I can’t worry about her right now.

I have to worry about Emily first.

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