Chapter 147 AN EVIL TAG TEAM.
SLOANE’S POINT OF VIEW.
A violent cough worked its way out of me as my body jerked upright. My burning eyes were closed tight as my chest heaved with heavy pants. With difficulty, I flashed them open, the stinging feel almost unbearable.
“What the hell?” I gasped, my eyes looking over the weird-looking place I was. I moved to get up, only to be pulled back almost violently by the restraints on my hands. I looked at the heavy chains around my hands and feet, as fear crept up my spine. My mind replayed the events that got me here. Seraphina and I had taken to our feet, and without looking back, we dashed and raced in between the horde of people. But all of a sudden, I’d felt the air knocked out of my lungs from the force of someone slamming into me.
From that moment, everything went black.
“Seraphina,” I whispered, trying to rub the burning sensation from my eyes. I looked around for my sister. She wasn’t here….where the hell is she?
Where did they take her?
I could taste some blood in the back of my throat as different scenarios worked their way through my mind. I swear if they do anything to Sera…..
The sound of the chains rattling filled the damp-looking warehouse as I tried desperately to free myself of them. But there was no use since I didn’t have the key.
“Oh.” I gasped as I remembered my hair clip. Please, knowledge of action movie gods, don’t fail me now….
Sweat dripped onto my eye as I tried to pick the lock, but even after trying for what felt like forever and my fingers aching, it didn’t budge. But before I could release the sound of frustration from the back of my throat, the doors opened with a force that made them shake.
“Dad?” I gasped, my eyes wide as he walked slowly to me.
He tsked at me as though I were a child, moving his index fingers left and right till he stopped in front of me and got on his knees. “No, sweetheart. Uncle.” He whispered, his blue eyes that mirrored mine staring straight into my fucking soul. “Sweet Sloane, so sorry it has to be this way.”
He said, false remorse shining in his eyes, but I wasn’t fooled. I could clearly see the twinge of malice and hatred in those orbs, even as my back stiffened from the way he lifted his hand as if he would hit me.
All of a sudden, he pauses and releases a chuckle. “Come on, Sloane. I won't hit you.” He whispered, stroking my hair as if I were some puppy. “I need you to look….well, presentable when daddy dearest shows up. And we can't have that while you’re sporting a bruise, can we?”
I licked my dry lips, and the sound of my heart pounding filled my ears as the urge to have a drink of water practically consumed me. “Please….there's still a chance to be better. You can make amends; maybe you should call dad and-ahhhh!” I hissed as he grabbed my hair in a tight fist. My scalp itched and burned at the same time with each tug of his hand. My eyes welled with tears I would never let fall as I looked at him through my blurred vision.
“You think I would ever beg Valerian? You stupid bitch….you know.” He chuckled again. “This would never have happened if your whore of a mother had accepted me. But she just had to go with the golden boy. You could have been my real daughter, but she chose Valerian!” He yelled all of a sudden and shoved my head against the pole I was chained to.
“Ahh!” I hissed as my head made a harsh connection with it. “Please.” I whimpered, biting my lip as a stronger wave of fear consumed me. What if I never make it out of here?
What if I died here?
No.
They’ll find me. Lucien, Dad, Amara, Ace….everyone must be searching for me already; they must know Seraphina and I are missing by now….I’m sure of it.
“You know, you remind me so much of her. Choosing Lucien over Matt, like the gold digger you are; she’s really your mother. Like mother, like daughter.
But now, you will bear her sins on your shoulders; but not until I have taken everything from your father; everything that should have been mine!”
Before I could utter a word, I heard another voice speak: “Come on, Valerian….calm the fuck down, and get your shit together.”
Eldric walked in as if he had all the time in the world, his hands behind his back, and a sick smile on his face. His eyes dart to me, and suddenly, they're filled with some sick joy.
“Ah, Sloane….my son’s lifeline.” He gasped and stopped in front of me as well. “Do you know you're the most important person in Lucien’s life?” He asked while rubbing the top of my head the same way Uncle Valour did earlier.
I didn’t bother dignifying them with a response. Instead, I glared at the motherfucker, even as he rubbed my head in the same puppy motion.
“And that feeling will get me exactly what I need from Lucien. Do you want to guess what it is?” He whispered in my ear as if it were some secret. I flinched at the contact of his beard against my cheek.
“No,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Ahh, she does have that stubbornness you told me about.” He referred to my uncle without taking his eyes off me. “I’m talking about every single thing that’s owed to me. The money, the properties, the wealth, the power….every fucking thing Alicia should have given to me. that bitch refused to stay home like the perfect little wife she was supposed to be; so now, I’ll have to kill her son, and her son’s girlfriend after taking everything from that darned family.”
“It’s not yours to take,” I said under my breath, but somehow he caught it because his eyes darkened and narrowed into slits at the same time. And before I knew it, my head jerked to the side from the force of a vicious backhand.
“Ahh!” I hissed in pain as blood trickled from my split lower lip.
“If you dare utter such words to me, I swear you’ll lose a finger.” He hissed, and I swear, it was as if I became possessed, because I started laughing.
“And what's so fucking funny?” He snapped.
“You,” I replied between my laughing fits. “You’re a joke. Lucien's going to be here in no time, and you’ll never get anything from him. I know it.”
“Well, then I might have to start cutting away at you.” The laughter died on my face immediately, as the same sense of fear from earlier gripped me again. “That's what I thought.” He said and backed away. “When Lucien gets here, he'd better do me as fucking command, or else.” He cocked the gun and aimed it at me.
My airways felt constricted as I stared down the barrel of the gun, and terror gripped my heart viciously as the organ pounded violently.
“I guess you get the point now."