Page 95 of The Innovator

CHAPTERFORTY-NINE

NATALIE

I woke in a cold, dark room. Fear twisted my stomach as I remembered what had happened. A glow allowed me to see I was lying on a bed against the wall. No windows were in sight.

My body ached. I shifted and something poked my shoulders. The springs had punctured through the mattress, stabbing me. I pushedmyself up. That was when I noticed where the light came from. I clasped my fingers over my red diamond pendant. Light illuminated from the gold setting around the diamond like a nightlight.

Tears flooded my eyes, knowing Grayson had created this light for me. I hadn’t even noticed it until now. He probably didn’t know I’d developed a friendly relationship with the darkness. Before he gave me the novel necklace, I’d sit inside a closet by myself, trying to mimic the childhood trauma. No panic emerged. Instead, what came was my remembrance of his presence and all the conversations we’d shared. He’d been right: the dark wasn’t the core of my issue.

It was the combination of being mistreated, the threat from my aunt, and being locked up that contributed to the phobia my mind had created on its own. The dark just became something tangible for me to blame.

I clasped my hand over the glowing pendant. Did Grayson know I was missing? Was he looking for me?

I scanned the room, and there wasn’t much in it except a side table, a chair, and a bunch of cardboard boxes in the corner. So many questions pounded my head.

Who were these people? What did they want from me? How long had Paul been working with these awful people? He’d always appeared creepy, but I never imagined he would kidnap me.

Voices echoed outside. With caution, I approached the door, pressed my ear to it, and listened to a conversation.

“What are we going to do with her?” a man asked.

I pressed my ear closer. Was that Neil Allen, the mail guy from the DPW? What the hell was going on? Was anyone else from the city trying to hurt me?

“Ship her to Italy,” Paul said.

“Why?”

“Stop asking questions. Just do the job, and you’ll get paid.”

“What about the women in the other rooms?” Neil sounded genuinely concerned. Or maybe it was my frightened mind playing tricks on me, hoping he was the nice guy I’d always considered him to be.

“What did I tell you? Stop asking questions.”

“Well, I need to know so I can avoid mistakes.”

Paul grunted. “Everyone is going to Italy. They sell for a lot of money.”

“Being sold or already sold?” Neil inquired.

“Fucking Christ! You don’t need to know these details. The less you know, the longer you’ll live. Got that?”

“Okay. I was just curious how much a human goes for.”

“Why did they fucking hire you?” Paul cursed. “These women are already sold. We’re just delivering expensive products. That bitch Natalie is worth millions.”

What? They sold me?

By whom?

To whom?

The fear in me twisted so hard that pain shot from my stomach down to my legs. I had to bite my bottom lip to stop myself from screaming.

“Oh. Wow.”

“Give her something to eat, so she doesn’t look malnourished.”

Footsteps approached, so I limped back to the bed, removed my necklace and shoved it into the front pocket of my jeans. I lay back down, pretending to sleep, and prayed the cramp in my leg would subside.

---