Fifty Seven

Fifty Seven


— CLARISSA DEVOR —

Two men flanked either side of me and marched me upstairs. The place was huge. I had to give it that.

Which made me wonder all the more how they could possibly house me here.

I mean, were they not supposed to hide me in the middle of the woods in some small abandoned cottage? That was how it usually was, right?

All I needed was a compass and my phone. I didn't even know what part of the city we were in.

Was I even still in California? I asked myself as I was forced up the stairs. I could imagine that they avoided the elevator on purpose. They had a twisted sense of humor anyway.

I shook off the thought. While I knew that they were pretty good themselves as actually very skilled, they couldn't actually use a sedative on me and book a flight to some place outside the city.

If they did that, or even attempted to leave the city in general, it would make it even easier for the police to find me.

For one thing, the FBI and agents always kept track of the people that were going in or leaving the state, to make sure that criminals didn't walk freely instead of being thrown behind bars and of course, especially for matters like when bad people decided to kidnap important icons in the society and thought that they could get away with it.

“We're here,” a baritone voice called up beside me, pulling me out of the monologue I was having in my head and to reality.

I looked up to see a man in a throne—it wasn't exactly a throne, but the chair was made to look as if it was one.

"The wannabe," I thought to myself, shaking my head as I recognized the man on the seat. He had his hands on the two armrests, looking down at all of us on the ground. Somehow, I felt a bit pathetic being in my position as I felt the man tug me down.

I fell on the ground, feeling a lot of anger at the men. One of them came over to me and, after giving the man on the throne a glance, he forced me onto my knees.

"Fuck," I thought. What the hell do they think they are doing and who does he think he is?

A certain kind of rage came upon me, making me start moving without thinking. I rushed up, forcing myself out of his grip with all my strength and moving towards the man at the speed of light. He looked perplexed as to what I wanted to do until my fist was right before him.

Just as I was about to connect and a smile was already coming on my face, I felt myself being drawn back.

I struggled and kicked as much as I could, but there was nothing that could be done anymore. The man alone was too strong for me, and it was not just him that was trying to hold me back—the two of them had rushed to the aid of their master, stopping me from hurting him.

He gave me a triumphant look. "What the hell did you just try to do?" he asked. "Do you really think you have any power here?"

"Shut up," I commanded, feeling annoyed.

Unlike the other man who actually did so when I commanded it, he laughed. "I see that you are still the same. It's going to make things more fun for the both of us."

"You have to let me go now," I said. "This is the last chance you are going to get."

"What exactly is going to make it happen that way?" he asked me, giving me a rather confused expression.

"He's coming for you," I said, "and if you're not careful, it's going to actually get you."

"Oh," he said. "Do you really think so? Well, I'll tell you the truth now—I have him under control. Completely under control."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "He was the strongest man that I knew and he had more power than Carl could ever think of. He could only wish that he had that much strength or influence, but he could never get it. Don't bluff yourself," I said to him. "There's no way you can ever control him or get any advantage over him in that."

"Really?" he asked. "Well, there was no way I could hear the way he was particular about the verb he used. It was in the past tense already. I could feel the counter coming into play, but now there is actually a way—that is when you come in."

I froze hearing what he said. It was starting to make sense now, pieces of the puzzle fell into place, and I knew that that was the exact reason why he had brought me here so that they could use me to have some leverage over the man. How underhanded.

"It's not going to work," I blurted.

"Now, it's not going to help if anybody keeps staying in denial," he said, shaking his head and giving me a scolding expression. "But wait a second, how is this actually happening? Get her on her knees this instant."

The force that came over me the moment he gave the command was immense. As much as I tried to resist, there was nothing that I could do but stay in the position that he wanted me in. When I tried to fight again, they pressed me down, hurting me.

"Yes," he said. "You need to know the position you are in now and how much power I have over you. I can literally kill you if I want."

"But you won't," I said, "because you want to use me to control him."

"Exactly," he said, looking pleased. "Now you are beginning to understand my points."

"Forget about it," I said. "I will just kill myself when I have the chance. I'm not going to let you have your way."

"Really?" he asked, looking a bit worried now. Of course, I had no intention of actually killing myself, but I wanted to know how much he wanted me to be alive. As it happened, he probably wanted that a lot.

"Then I'm going to have to make sure that you don't have the chance," he said. A frown came to my face as he pointed to the guards. Without a word, they brought out a pair of handcuffs and put them on me. There was nothing I could do as they clamped around my wrists.

"There," he said. "I think I might have stopped that idea quite nicely now."

"No," I said. "You have to restrain me a lot more if you're going to actually stop me."

"Well, I'll think about that later," he said. "Right now, I want you to listen to everything I have to say."

"How about we do that over a meal?" I asked him, giving him a sweet smile. I was already beginning to get tired of the punishment and the handcuffs. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty foolish for pushing him to do that to me. As he had said, he actually had a lot of power over me. There was a chance that he could actually still use me to control the man even after torturing me, so there was no need to go through all that trouble for nothing.

He stopped, looking at me as if he was frozen in thought. "All right," he said, agreeing to my suggestion.

I blinked. It was not what I expected at all. I stood up, intending to go over to wherever the meal was going to be held. The guards turned to look at him with a questioning look. They probably wanted to know whether they had to force me down again.

He shook his head. "Don't worry. I am going to take care of my guest quite nicely. Take us to the table."

We started off and got there before long. It was quite a spread before me, and considering the fact that I was very hungry, I liked it a lot. Honestly, what kind of satisfaction does he get telling me everything that he's going to do? I thought to myself. It did not make any sense at all, but as long as I could benefit from it, it was fine.

"Now, are you ready?" he asked as he gave me a dominant expression. "Listen closely," he said. "Let this be the seasoning in your food."

"That's a very terrible line," I thought to myself as he continued. "That man has been a thorn in my side for a long time now, and I finally have you to use against him. I have a part for you in this play, and you will cooperate with me if you don't want any more trouble than you have already."

"And what is that part?" I asked him.

"Giving me videos of you being tortured every day," he said. "It doesn't have to be real, but if you are stubborn, then I don't mind."

He gave me a sadistic smile.

"You are sick," I spat out, disgusted.

“Your call, baby,” Karl grinned, spreading his hands with a shrug.