Chapter 87 Untitled Chapter

Chapter 87 Untitled Chapter
GIANNA

It was raining. That was the thought that first came into my mind. Icy droplets pelted me making me shiver. My hair was wet, and some parts clung to my neck and face. My head felt heavier and ached so much.

The loud sounds of male laughter and background music didn't help my case. Heavy eyelids fluttered, trying to open; when it finally did open, all I could see were blurry objects moving for at least a couple of seconds before everything came into focus.

That's when I realized the blurry objects were a couple dancing, a curvy short woman with long black hair, and a tall man with a balding head whose face I couldn't see, I could only see his broad back.

The laughter came from three other men sitting around a table, playing cards, drinking, and smoking.

The smoke was so thick I could barely make out their features. To their left is a burn barrel, the flames bright, sparking and spitting.

I narrow my eyes as I stare harder, though I was able to make out their features, I didn't recognize any of them. I don't know these people or what they want.

Or why they had to kidnap me to this godforsaken place to get what they want. What I do know is I am bound in a chair, with my hands behind my back tied with thick ropes.

The room we were all in if we could even call it that, was a big open space, probably an abandoned building or a warehouse, because in the far distance, there are what seems like old worn-out pieces of furniture and stuff piles almost to the ceilings, I could be wrong of course I'm still woozy.

Despite the size of the space, it stank of piss, smoke, stale food, and beer, so much beer there were more than a hundred empty bottles excluding the packs that were yet to be drunk.

The smell was nauseating, to say the least. It was torture for me to just sit there and inhale this into my lungs, and I've only been here for like what? I glance around for an indication of how long I have been here.

There was no sign, but I know it couldn't have been that long; it was still night, I see that. The flickering lights above weren't enough to light up the whole place.

I mentally checked myself, trying to keep an inventory of my body. Except for the splitting headache and the nausea I am currently fighting, I'm okay.

That's if you take away the acrid fear of waking up in an unfamiliar place all tied up and being ignored by the people who have kidnapped me.

Where the hell am I? I remember leaving the police station and having a fight with Aunt Layla on the ride back to the hotel; I remembered the car swerving as Frank cursed loudly.

I remember the car crashing into something. There had been blood I remembered that much. I also remembered I couldn't hear a thing, I'd thought I had gone deaf.

Fortunately, it wasn't permanent. I glanced across to my left and found what I was looking for though I wish they weren't here. I wish they were safe and not in this hell… wherever it is.

It was Tessa and Aunt Layla.

I should have seen them across from me, but because they were to the side I hadn't immediately noticed them. I quickly glanced to my right, and my eyes fell on the other two, Bridget and Chloe.

They were also tied and bound to their respective chairs; like me, they were half-soaked in what I realized was snow, not rain.

We were right under the part of the building where the ceiling/roofing had caved in. Our kidnappers were in a dry space, kept warm by the burning barrel beside them, which means this was deliberate; they wanted us cold, wet, and shivering.

Aunt Layla and Tessa were just starting to come around. I glanced around and when I realized nobody was watching, I swallowed.

“Auntie, Tessa wake up,” I whisper yelled. Not wanting our captors to hear me.

“Gia…” Tessa began groggily but paused. “Where in God's ever-loving-earth am I?!” Tessa yelled, voice now full of shock. I shrugged.

“I don't know,” I replied, “Are you guys okay?”

“I'm okay.”

“I am okay, I just have a splitting headache,” Aunt Layla replied with a groan.

“Just what the hell happened?” aunt asked.

“I..I don't know but I believe we were in an accident,” I replied.

“More like we were hit by another vehicle obviously by the people who brought us here. Poor Frank,” Tessa explained to Aunt.

“What happened Frank?” Aunt Layla asked, confused.

“He's dead. They shot him,” I said, blinking back tears.

“No,” she whispered in shock. Her sadness reflects what we were all feeling inside.

Frank had been a constant in our lives, always there by Bridget's side. She's going to be devastated when she knows.

He was more like a family member than just a trusted employee to us all. The grief and sadness of his sudden death hit hard. But this is not the place to mourn his loss.

The death of Frank has shown us our kidnappers are cold-blooded murderers who had no qualms about killing an innocent man who had done nothing to deserve it.

“Gianna, are Mom and Chloe okay? Can you try and wake them?” she asked, glancing at where the men were still playing their cards. She'd probably come to the same conclusions as I.

“I don't know, let me check.”

“Grams, Chloe, Bridget wake up,” I called out a little louder.

“Mom, mom! Wake up, Chloe?” Aunt Layla yelled. I could see the fear in her eyes as she started calling out their names but they wouldn't answer.

I understand what she was feeling because I was feeling the same thing. Fear and panic. Fear that they are also dead like Frank.

“Grams, Chloe, wake the fuck up,” I yelled, in a trembling voice, partly because I was cold, but mostly because every second they were not awake meant there was a chance they could be dead.

“Great, you all finally awake,” one of the men playing cards says, getting up from his chair, tucked in his pants was a gun which he pulled out as he walked closer.

“Not all you dumbass! You best hope nothing happens to them else I will personally make you pay dearly,” I said hoarsely. The man laughed.

“Don't fret, darling; they're alive, for now.” the man said with a British accent.

“Wh… Who the hell are you? What do you want?” Tessa asked, shivering. Now that she's not asleep, she could feel the cold.

Of all of us, her clothes are the ones which aren't very thick and she's wearing shorts though her feet are covered. She's wearing knee-length leather boots.

“Don't concern yourself with who he is. He's not the man you should be worried about, I am. I'm the man holding your lives, so shut up, do not talk or ask stupid questions unless you're spoken to,” a different voice answered.

His footsteps were loud as he came closer and closer still. I glance at Aunt Layla, who opens her mouth.

“Col…” she started but was cut short.

“If I hear another word from those two shoot the bitches, Jimmy,” that familiar voice ordered. From behind me. Cole? I muttered silently. Who is Cole?

I couldn't turn my head to see him for fear of what I would see, but I felt him the instant he stopped right behind me.

Tessa’s eyes widened with horror as she stared at the man, her reactions magnified my trepidations, despite the biting cold, I felt sweat sliding down my spine.

And for some reason, the man's voice sounded so familiar, but there's no way….there's no way that it's…

“Hello, Gigi.”

The man's voice and his words instantly stopped my heart and froze the blood in my veins. Fear more acrid than I had felt before, made me tremble.

There's only one man in this entire world who insisted on calling me that. Though I'd never really liked the pet name, I had gotten used to it nonetheless, at least I had back when we were together.

“Colton?” I asked, looking for confirmation that it was him.

“Hmm,” he answered, hands stroking at my wet hair in a strangely familiar way, and I knew it was him.

A feeling of foreboding crept over me making me shiver. For what felt like forever, I just sat there, feeling his hand and fingers stroking my hair.

Then as though I finally snapped out of a trance, I tried to move, only to realize that I was still bound to the chair.

“Oh my God! You're behind this?” I gasped. “Why did you have us kidnapped? What do you want? Money?” I rambled the questions, and when he didn't answer, my unease mounted when it occurred to me what this meant.