Chapter 50 Paimon's Secret
Celene's POV
I locked the door behind me like Cole told me to do and my hands were still trembling from the encounter. My heart hadn't stopped racing since I left him standing in the dark street and seeing blood dripping from his hand.
I walked to my bedroom, trying to calm myseld down. He'll be fine, I told myself. Cole Ryder can handle himself.
I changed into my nightdress, the peach one that somehow appeared in my closet months ago and I tried to settle into bed but sleep felt impossible. Every sound made me jump and every shadow seemed to move.
I was reaching for my phone to text Maria when I heard a soft click at my front door.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. I clearly remembered locking it, like I was very very sure I locked it.
"Cole?" I called out tentatively, hoping it was him coming to check on me.
Nobody answered and then I started hearing multiple footsteps coming and my blood turned to ice immediately.
I scrambled out of bed, my mind racing. I looked at my window and thought to myself that I could climb out the window. But before I could take two steps, my bedroom door burst open.
Three men in black masks rushed in. I opened my mouth to scream, but a rough hand clamped over it and a bag was yanked over my head, plunging me into darkness.
"No! No, please!" I tried to scream but my voice was muffled by the fabric. I thrashed, kicked and fought with everything I had, but there were too many of them. Strong hands grabbed my arms, squeezing them behind my back and I felt rope bite into my wrists.
"Stop struggling," a gruff voice commanded.
I didn't stop because I just couldn't. Panic surged through every nerve in my body.
They lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing and they carried me out of my apartment. I heard my front door slam shut behind us.
"Help! Somebody help me!" I screamed, but the bag muffled my voice. My neighbors had to hear something, like, someone had to hear me. Mrs. Martins next door was always awake late watching her Korean dramas but I don't know why this night was different because not she or anyone came out. Even if they did, what could they possibly do against this fucked up set of people kidnapping me.
A hand struck the side of my head through the bag and stars exploded behind my eyes.
"Shut up," the same gruff voice said.
Tears streamed down my face as they carried me down what I assumed were the stairs. The night air hit me, it was so cold against my exposed arms and legs. I heard a car door open, and they threw me inside. My shoulder hit something hard, and I cried out in pain.
The car started moving.
I was shaking so violently I could barely think. This can't be happening. This can't be real.
Time became meaningless. Whether it was minutes? Or hours? I couldn't tell. The car stopped eventually, and they dragged me out as I heard new sounds that were mechanical sounds, like an engine, but different and louder.
Then the unmistakable whir of helicopter blades.
No. No, no, no.
"Get her in," someone ordered.
They hauled me up steps, metal steps that clanged under their boots, and threw me onto a hard floor. The helicopter lifted off moments later, and my stomach dropped as we rose into the air.
I sobbed openly now, my body curled into a ball on the cold metal floor. Where were they taking me? What did they want?
That was when I begin to think of Cole against my will. I started asking myself whether he knew what was happening to me and what he would have done if he knew I was been kidnapped right now and taken to an unknown place.
I screamed his name in my head like he could hear me wherever he was but I knew he couldn't. It's never possible.
"Please," I whimpered. "Please, I don't have any money. I'm nobody so I can't give you anything."
"Shut her up," a voice said.
Someone kicked me in the ribs. I gasped as the air knocked from my lungs.
The flight felt endless. Every turn made me more nauseous as I couldn't see. I couldn't move my hands and I couldn't do anything but cry and pray. Wishing Someone would come save me from this shit I found myself in.
Finally, the helicopter began to descend. When it landed, they grabbed me again, dragging me out and across what felt like gravel then concrete, then carpet.
They dropped me into a chair and tied me to it. Only then did someone rip the bag off my head.
I blinked against the sudden light, my eyes adjusting slowly. I was in some kind of warehouse not a house. The place looks kind of abandoned and very old with cracked walls and a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.
A man stood in front of me looking old, maybe in his forties, with graying hair and cold, dark eyes. He was smiling.
"Well, well, well," he said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "Little Miss Celene Luther. The infamous kitten."
I stared at him, my chest heaving. "I don't know you. I don't know who you are or what you want, but you have the wrong person."
He laughed and the sound of the laughter was harsh and bitter
"Oh, I have exactly the right person." He circled me slowly, like a predator. "Do you know why you're here, sweetheart?"
"No," I whispered.
"Because of him," he spat. "Because Cole Ryder thought he could have something precious. Something soft and breakable and now I finally have a way to hurt him."
My heart stuttered. "Cole? What does Cole have to do with any of this?"
"Everything!" the man roared, his face twisting with rage. He leaned down, getting in my face. "He took everything from me and now I'm going to take something from him."
I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks. "You're wrong, I'm nobody to him. I'm just a girl he knows. Nothing more."
"Just what? A girl he stalks? A girl he watches? A girl he nearly died protecting?" He laughed again. "You don't even know who he is, do you?"
I didn't answer.
"You poor, stupid little thing. He's a killer, sweetheart," the man said, his voice almost gleeful. "A torturer and monster. He's got more blood on his hands than you could ever imagine. And you, sweet, innocent little Celene, fell right into his trap."
My blood ran cold.
"No," I whispered. "That's not true. You're lying."
"Am I?" He pulled out his phone and showed me a photo. Cole, standing over a bloodied man, a gun in his hand and another photo of Cole in a dark room, surrounded by weapons. He showed me another and another.
I felt sick.
"He didn't tell you, did he?" the man mocked. "Didn't think you needed to know what kind of man you were letting into your life? What kind of monster was watching you sleep?"
I couldn't breathe.
The man crouched in front of me, his smile widening. "But don't worry, sweetheart. You're going to be very useful to me and when Cole comes for you, and he will come, I'll be ready."