Page 34 of Coming Home

“There is no way out, Scarlett, we just have to wait.”

I look at Stephen, and he is in bad shape. No doubt the bruises and cuts on his face extend down his body as well and perhaps a few broken ribs also contribute to his pain. I sit silently next to him, not letting go of his hand to try and give him as much comfort as I can, knowing that he must be in a world of both physical and emotional pain that his father has caused.

We quietly wait in the dimly lit room for what feels like hours. My legs are tired and sore from the cement floor, but just as I start to stand, the door swings open and someone grabs me by the arms again and drags me out of the room. I struggle to keep pace with the man dragging me, so his hands pull tighter. I hear Stephen yelling before the door closes, and I am back in the maze of corridors and walkways. The bright light in the hallway blinds me as my eyes try to adjust, and I keep falling as my legs are numb. I can’t keep up to the men who are walking swiftly and pushing me forward.

I am pushed into a large warehouse that is filthy with rubbish, empty crates, and boxes scattered around. I see Ray, standing so proudly in the room, in his expensive suit, with another two men next to him.

“Ahh, darling, had a nice catch up with your cousin, I see. I’m glad you had a chance for a final goodbye, because the end is near, my dear.”

He edges closer to me so that our faces nearly meet. “You know, you look as pretty as your mother. Too bad my brother found her first, I would have done anything to ravish her and fuck her senseless.”

I gasp. The anger I felt before wells up in my body, and I spit in his face. He replies quickly with a punch to my cheek, and I fall backwards, my head hitting the cement floor. Before I have time to register what is happening, I am kicked twice in the ribs, and I not only feel them break but hear them snap. I am pretty sure that my nose may also be broken, and my head is thumping from where it contacted the floor when I fell. Seeing black patches, my vision starts to blur, and I shake my head, trying to regain focus.

“Now, now, my dear, that is no way to treat your favorite Uncle. Time for you to get up, we have a visitor.” He steps back and wipes his face with his white handkerchief before his muscle men pull me up by my hair and push me to Ray's side.

“Now, this is where things will get exciting, so don’t faint on me yet,” he says with an evil grin as he grabs my arm with a force so hard that I whimper in pain and do my best to stand upright and close to him. The roller door opens and two cars drive in.

I am in immense pain and feel nauseous, but I need to keep focused. I feel wetness on my chest and look down to see blood, my blood coming from my nose, running down my chin and onto my clothes. There is a lot of it, and I start to feel queasy at the sight and smell.

My vision continues to fade, but I try not to focus on the pain and concentrate on the scene in front of me. Men get out of the cars, and I try to look at them to see who they are, but my vision keeps fading. I think I can hear voices; there is talking, then that quickly turns to yelling. I can’t see faces, the bodies all blurring together in front of me, and I shake my head again trying to clear my vision. I hear my name, then Ray pulls me in front of him tightly and black dots start appearing. My legs start to give way just as I feel the cold steel barrel of a gun on my temple and hear the click of the safety being released.

41

Shaun

This day has gone from bad to worse. First, we lose our communications with Scarlett and our tracking device, and now we don’t even have a visual on her. All I see is red. Looking at Romeo, I know he understands that he better fucking fix this situation and quickly. I pace around the room, no longer able to focus or remain calm.

“Find her!” I yell to everyone in the room. They seem to switch up a gear and men start running, people are tapping on phones and keyboards, and things start moving more rapidly than they were before.

I refuse to acknowledge the heavy mix of fear and remorse that has joined together and settled in the pit of my stomach. I am slowly realizing that I helped the most beautiful woman who has ever graced my life to be taken, and I hate to think what they are doing to her right this very moment.

“Fuck!” I yell as I take a seat, my head hanging low, and I pull at the ends of my hair like I am trying to pull a bright idea out of my mind to help us get out of this mess, to help get Scarlett back. Marco is near me. I can feel his presence.

“If they lay a hand on her, I will use all my money and power to ensure they never see the light of day again,” I murmur to no one in particular as I clench and unclench my hands, wanting desperately to punch something or someone; my anger is rising by the second. I have a small spark of hope in me that Ray won’t hurt his darling niece, but the fact that he had his own brother killed in cold blood reminds me that he is capable of the ugliest acts.

I stand up again, my body too antsy to sit still for long; I need to be doing something. I continue to pace as the team rushes around me. Minutes turn into hours and still nothing. Where are you, Scarlett? Where have they taken you?

My mind races, trying to think of where they would go. We had the airport covered, so I know they aren’t in the air jetting off to some international country. We have teams scouring the docks–but no boats have been seen coming or going. All his homes, offices and other known locations are all under surveillance, nothing seen there either.

As my mind races, I hear one of the team yell, “Found something!” I race toward them, my heart in my mouth.

“Look at this,” he says as a video comes up on the main screen in the room. All eyes watching.

“You can see on the left there is a car that matches the description, make, and model of the one Scarlett entered into earlier today–approximately two hours ago.”

My mind races, two hours… how has it been two hours already?

“It is entering this warehouse here on the left side of the main dock, and it hasn’t exited as yet.”

The warehouse he points out is an old storage space for imports/exports into the city and is literally less than five minutes from the drop off point. He hasn’t taken her anywhere remote; she was right under everyone’s nose from the start. It is then my mobile phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I look down and see the name on the screen, Ray Sullivan.

“Everybody quiet!” I yell to the room, giving a nod to Romeo so he knows who is on the other end of the phone.

“Ray, where is she?” I ask with pure malice in my voice.

“Shaun, I would like to say that it is nice to talk with you, but it isn’t. Thank you for taking such good care of my niece. Scarlett is such a beautiful young woman; wouldn’t you say so?”

The sound of Ray’s voice is evil, and his suggestive tone makes me want to gag.

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