Chapter 119: Trapped

NANCY’S POV

“Apologies, Miss Nancy.”

That was what I heard before I was knocked out.

I was forced into a state of unconsciousness right after I got out of the cafe with the two men Hudson had sent to bring me back to him.

I’d walked out of the cafe with a stone-cold heart, feeling like a vampire whose heart had ceased to beat.

It felt like my body had been stripped of all warmth, too, because I was so cold.

The entire walk to the car with these men, I hadn’t looked back at the cafe once, at Diana.

You know that state, when it feels as though all had been said, even without words, that was the state I was in now.

Diana’s actions had thoroughly spelled out how she felt about me, and I was the one facing the consequences of her decision.

I had gotten into the car numbly, of my own accord and without the men’s meddling, simply because I knew resisting was fruitless. They would chase me down the block if they had to, and even if I managed to outpace them and ultimately throw them off, I knew Hudson would only send more men after me.

He wouldn’t rest until I was found.

It was just my luck that I had caught the eye of an obsessive, possessive man like himself and that my Dad hadn’t hesitated to sell me out to him.

The man’s movement had been so fast that I wasn’t even given a chance to react. It wasn’t like I wanted to anyway.

Darkness took me faster than I could blink.

I think I woke up briefly to some sort of rigorous shaking.

Or it could have been a dream.

My body felt too heavy to move, and I couldn’t gather enough strength to open my eyes, so I really couldn’t say.

“Yeah….Boss…”

“….instructed that...we move her…to the old house.”

The words didn’t register to me as a full sentence. I wasn't even sure I heard it because I slipped back into a state of unconsciousness.

When I came to my senses again, it took more effort, but my eyes finally opened. I snapped them shut almost immediately, unable to instantly adjust them to the light that flooded my vision.

My ears buzzed, and my head was raging like hell.

As if that wasn’t enough to feel at once, my throat felt very parched too, like I had been deprived of water for days.

“Where…”

Where was I?

I tried opening my eyes again, adjusting them to the light slowly until a white wall came into view.

No, it was actually a white ceiling, overhead the bed that I could feel beneath me.

“Where am I?” I managed to nutter fully, glancing around the room slowly.

The room I was in was luxurious and lavishly furnished. The windows were high, and red curtains were draped over them, held back to let in natural light.

There were two doors to my left, while a wardrobe stood next to the space after one of the doors. Close to that was a large, full-length mirror, and directly in front of the bed stood a dresser with a large vanity.

I looked down. My clothes were still intact, and for some reason, that made relief surge through me.

With some difficulty, I sat up, pulling myself to rest against the headboard of the bed, groaning and grunting as I did so.

“What the hell was I injected with?"

I said injected, because right before I lost consciousness, I felt a needle prick into the skin at the back of my neck.

Just as I spoke, my memories came rushing back. My heart pounded once, at the full recollection of all that happened, and then it began to race.

If my guess was right, I was back in New Jersey.

Where I was still remained a mystery, but I was sure now that it had something to do with Mr Hudson.

At the same time, my mind decided to repaint a picture for me, bringing back Diana’s face and the look in her eyes as the men had taken me away.

I tried to remember what I’d seen in them.

Was it regret? Or remorse?

Did she feel apologetic, or did she feel guilty?

It was too much to think about, and my head hurt too much to do so.

What I did remember was how I felt and still feel.

Numb.

For a couple of minutes, I sat in silence, wrapping my hands slowly around my knee, hugging myself as if that could comfort me.

It did nothing to fill the emptiness of my heart.

What else could one feel but emptiness if they lost all the important people in their lives at a go? It didn’t help that all three of them had betrayed me in different ways.

First, it was Mr Landon lying to me. Also, there was the fact that I had feelings for him that he would never reciprocate.

Then, there was Mason, whom I now knew had only gotten close to me just so he could reveal my whereabouts to Mr Hudson. He was the catalyst for him finding out I was in Florida.

The last of them was Diana, who had fueled Mason’s reaction and escalated what he already did, and with all of these events tying into each other, the inevitable had happened.

I’d always known I would one day return to New Jersey; I just didn’t think it would happen like this.

Sitting there, I couldn’t even bring myself to cry. For a long while, I just stared blankly into space, reliving my thoughts and emotions.

Eventually, I dragged myself off the bed and walked towards the door. I tried the handle, only to discover that it was locked.

A wry smile graced my lips as I walked back to the bed.

The deed was done.

I was trapped in the very place I wanted to escape.

It must have taken a total of an hour, that I sat there in the room all by myself, before the door finally opened and someone walked in.

“Welcome home, Nancy.”