Unjustly Destroyed (Incapable Part Two) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty

They always say when things are going well, it’s too good to be true. I should’ve known. I should’ve listened to my gut reaction. I was too happy. I was too fucking happy. I looked over at the water that dripped on the floor, finally able to move. My body was screaming in agony. Where was Abby? Was she hurt? What did they do to her? I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but I didn’t have time for that.

Just a few hours ago, we were out having a good time, and then everything imploded.

“Are you enjoy your girls’ day?”

Abby looked up at me and grinned. “This is the best day ever. I love the sparkly purple nail polish.”

I smiled, admiring her new shiny nails. “Me too. I didn’t take you for purple. Pink maybe, but not purple.”

She frowned. “I hate pink and everything it stands for.” I laughed at the disgusted look she gave me.

“Well, purple definitely looks beautiful on you. What do you say we head home; the boys should be back from their men’s day?” I smiled, thinking how Noah convinced Grayson to don a Thor cape as they went out to “Avenge” stuff. I looked back over my shoulder. All day, I felt like something was off, and I had that feeling again. I felt a yank on my arm.

“Can we?”

“Can we what, sweetie?”

“Can we stop in here and look?”

I looked at the store window. I really just wanted to get home where it was safe. “Maybe we should just head home, Abby.”

“Please, just a few minutes.” I sighed and looked around us.

“Fine, just a few minutes, okay; then we’re going back home.” We stepped in the store that was full of colored costume jewelry, all arranged by color. “Stay close by.” She nodded as she went to the next aisle to browse.

I was looking at a turquoise scarf and the lady in front of me bumped into me. “I’m so sorry,” I said, moving out of her way. She turned around, and I gasped.

“Ashley?”

“Fancy meeting you here, Emmalin.”

I was shocked. I haven’t seen her since the charity gala almost a year ago. Then I remembered how Grayson told me she snuck into his room at Tesh. I looked her up and down; she was dressed in all black. Black top, black pants, and a black hoodie. Very unlike her, from what I remembered. I didn’t even think she owned pants, let alone clothes like these.

“What are you doing here?”

She reached out and grabbed the scarf I was looking at. “Not your color, dear,” she tsked. Before I had time to simply turn around and walk away, I felt a prick in my neck, followed by a brief amount of pressure. It all happened so quickly, I almost didn’t have time to respond. I reached up and grabbed my neck. I saw Ashley smile as a person came from behind me.

Carson.

I stared at him in shock as he stood next to Ashley, smiling. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t move. As in, I physically couldn’t move or talk. Whatever he gave me acted fast. I could feel my pulse racing, and yet I couldn’t move. It was if my body was becoming paralyzed.

“Hey, Emme, did you find anything?” Shit, Abby.

Ashley crouched down in front of her. “I don’t think she feels very well, dear.”

Abby looked from Ashley to me, and I just stood there. “She’s diabetic. My uncle taught me what to do.”

“Did he now? You’re a very smart young lady to know all of that. And you know what? I’m very, very good friends with your uncle too, and I talked to him. He asked if we would take you guys to a safe place until Emmalin felt better.”

Abby reached up and grabbed my hand. I couldn’t even feel her hand. “Are you okay? Don’t be scared.” I stared into her eyes and tried pleading with her to run, to call for help. I just needed her to run. They can take me but not her. God, please not her. Carson walked over and picked me up.

Ashley took Abby’s hand. I wanted to scream out, ‘Don’t fucking touch her!’, but I couldn’t even do that. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure she feels all better.”

I jumped at a noise somewhere. I looked around the room. It was dark, musky, and I was on some old stained thin mattress on the floor. Over in the far corner was my bag. My bag! My gun was still in there. I just had to hope they didn’t find it. I tried moving off the mattress and going to it, now noticing the chains around my wrists, latched to the floor.
Fuck
. I pulled on the chains, then pulled harder. They wouldn’t budge, no matter what I did. I felt tears gather behind my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let them fall. I wasn’t going to give up.

The room started to rumble, and I looked around, then up at the ceiling. We were underground somewhere, beneath a subway. Fuck, we could be anywhere in Chicago. The door made a loud noise and slowly opened, and I backed up and guarded myself against the wall. Carson walked in with a chair, and shut the door behind him.

“Good, you’re up.”

I glared at him. “Where’s Abby?”

He sighed. “No hi, how are you, bro, good to see you?”

“Where the fuck is Abby?”

He rolled his eyes as he sat down in his chair. “She’s fine, being entertained for the moment. Whining about you.”

“If you hurt her, I swear to God...”

“Are you always this dramatic? Fuck, I’m glad I didn’t have to grow up with you.” He rubbed his face. “So, let’s talk. I believe you owe me some money. I know, I know, I was supposed to collect weeks ago. I’ve been busy, but then again so have you, haven’t you?” He gave me wide grin. “I told you not to open your mouth about me, but you didn’t listen, now did you, so I made you pay for it. Bet you didn’t think I would keep my word about killing those close to you, did you?” He let out a loud boisterous laugh. “You can thank Ashley for the murder of Tyler, though, that was her doing. Well, it was mine, but she got the vehicle.”

I stared at him as he rambled on, basically patting himself on the back, like he was genuinely proud of himself. Tears pricked my eyes. He was supposed to be dead. Grayson said he was dead. Why wasn’t he dead?

“Hey! Pay the fuck attention; this is important.” He snapped his fingers in front of me before hitting me hard across the face, and I fell forward. With my hands still chained, I could barely brace myself before the impact. He climbed up behind me, pushing my dress up, and I squeezed my legs shut. “I think maybe I need to get your attention in other ways.” I started screaming as I tried pushing him off of me, but his weight was too heavy. “If you don’t stay the fuck still, I will go upstairs right now and bring her down here and make her watch. Is that what you want?”

Tears were streaming down my face. “Carson, please.” He banged my head on the cement floor, then lifted me up to look at him. “I said, is that what you want?” Blood started to gush into my eye, and I tried to rub it away with my forearm. “I’ll make it easier for you. I can bring her down here, and make her watch us. I can kill her right in front of you, or I can simply fuck you. Which is it?” He pressed his erection into my back, and I felt myself dry heave. His grip on my hair tightened.

I shut my eyes.

“Do whatever you want to me,” I finally choked out. Tears fell down my cheeks as his tongue licked the side of my face.

***

Unjust

Destroyed.

Damaged.

Shattered.

Cracked.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, Who am I to Disagree?

Travel the World and the Seven Seas. Everybody’s looking for something.

That song kept playing on repeat. And not even the original version, the remade Marilyn Manson version. I tried taking a deep breath, but everything hurt. Everything always hurt.

I wanna use you and abuse you, I wanna know what’s inside you. Hold your head up, Movin on, Keep your head up, Movin on

I looked down at my white linen dress Abby picked out this morning. She wanted to match. It wasn’t white anymore. It was covered in blood. I doubled over as another sharp pain came through, and more blood seeped from between my legs onto the dress. Right before Carson left, he delivered a sharp blow from his steel-toed boot to my abdomen. Breathing was starting to become a struggle.
But Abby’s safe
. I stared at my bag still in the corner, untouched. I needed to get to my bag.

The music suddenly stopped. The door creaked open, and I shielded myself. Please don’t let it be Abby. She can’t see me like this. I heard a gasp. I looked up at the door and was glad it wasn’t Abby. Ashley stood there with her mouth covered, and she quickly closed the door.

She shook her head as she looked me over. “He took it too far. He wasn’t supposed to take it this far.” She walked over to me, and I started to cower away.

“Where’s Abby? Is she okay; is she hurt?”

“She’s fine. She thinks you’re sleeping.” She took a hesitant step toward me. “He left. He said he had to get something, but he wasn’t supposed to take it this far, I swear. We were just supposed to get the money and leave. That’s it, I swear.”

I cried out as she tried to help me sit up. “Just money? Did you know he killed my best friend, Ashley? Did you know you helped him do that? All for seven million dollars? How far would that have gotten you?”

She grimaced. “Shit, this is so fucked up.” She stood there, looking conflicted. “I thought we were going after Grayson for money, that’s why I got those pictures. They were to blackmail him for money, but he kept mentioning you, and half the time, I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

I tried focusing on Ashley and her hysterics but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was losing too much blood. I could feel my sugar level was getting low, but I still needed to get Abby safe. “Ashley. Can you get me out of here?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have the key for those.” She pointed to the chains. I leaned up against the wall, tears welling in my eyes.
I can at least save one of us
. I tried taking another deep breath, as a sharp pain sliced through me again.

I turned toward Ashley. “Can you at least get Abby out of here? Can you at least do that? Can you help me save her? Take her back to Grayson. Please? I can’t have him hurting her.” She nodded then  headed for the door.

“Ashley, before you go, hand me that bag.”

Grayson

I checked my watch again. “Did you get enough to eat, bud?” He nodded, drinking his milk. “Eat your green beans too, all of them.”

“I’m saving them for Abby.”

“Nice try, kiddo, Abby will have her own green beans.” I checked my watch again, then picked up my phone and tried Emmalin’s number again. It went straight to voicemail. They should’ve been home hours ago. I pulled up the tracker on her phone. Signal Lost.

I sighed, because now I was starting to become uneasy. I dismissed security, and now I was starting to worry. I called Benny to head over. They weren’t exactly missing, but they should’ve been here by now, that’s for damn sure.

I set up Noah in my room with a movie, and he was content. Ten minutes later, Benny showed up with Hawkins. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, it could be nothing, but Abby and Emmalin had a girls’ day. They should’ve been back already. I can’t reach her on her phone. I can’t track her. I don’t like this feeling. Something’s wrong.”

Hawkins took out his phone. “I’ll send some guys out to retrace steps, see if anyone knows anything, or saw anything. Do you know what they were wearing? I’ll send out a call to hospitals just in case.”

“They’re girls, Grayson, probably just lost track of time. I’m sure it’s nothing.” I looked at Benny as he did a horrible job of trying to reassure me.

I went back and checked on Noah, who had fallen asleep. I put on another movie just in case and also for distraction, then closed the door. I went back to my office; Hawkins had just hung up the phone.

“So far, no reports that match either of their description at any hospitals.” Well, thank fuck for that. But that still didn’t answer where they were at. I tried her phone again. Straight to voicemail. The buzzer, indicating someone was here, sounded.

Hawkins looked at me. “I’ll go check.” I nodded as he looked at the feed.

“Um. Mr. Mandrake, I think you need to see this.”

I walked over to the feed, and there stood Abby, but she wasn’t standing next to Emmalin. “Who the hell is that?” I looked at the feed closer and noticed the blood red lips.
Fucking shit
. “Let them in now!”

My blood was literally boiling, but I knew I had to dial it back the moment Abby came in the room. The elevator doors opened, and Abby’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw me. I lifted her up in my arms. “Look at me, are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m hungry.”

I laughed and hugged her tighter. “I missed you so much.” She looked at all the men in the room, who were probably looking too tense for her taste, and her grip around my neck tightened. “What did we tell you about going places with strangers, Abby?”

“She said you were friends, and that Aunt Emme said it was okay for her to bring me home.” My gaze went to Ashley, who stood at the door looking scared as shit, and like she wanted to run. But with Hawkins standing behind her, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I have chicken nuggets and green beans for dinner that I’ll let you eat in my room as long as you don’t wake up your brother. How does that sound?”

She nodded as she laid her head on my chest. “Then can you bring Aunt Emme home? She didn’t feel good.”

I kissed her forehead. “I promise.”

After I made sure Abby was settled, I closed the bedroom door, and had a guard outside the door. I stormed into my office where Ashley was surrounded. I pulled her up from the chair and slammed her against the wall. “Talk. Now!”

Her chin started to quiver. “Don’t start that bullshit, Ashley. I said, fucking talk.”

“Grayson, you’re hurting me.”

“I don’t fucking care. Why were you with Abby, and where the fuck is Emmalin?” My hands went to her throat. Never in my life have I wanted to hit a woman so bad, but right then and there, I wanted to murder Ashley Stewart. I wanted to watch her bleed dry until there was nothing left of her. She clawed at my hands, which only spurred me on to squeeze tighter.

“If you kill her, we get nothing,” Benny spoke in the calmest voice beside me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and I eased up slightly. Enough to let the bitch breathe.

“He has her,” she spat out.

“Who?”

“Carson.”

I jumped back like she was on fire.

“No. No, no, no, no, Carson is dead.” I paced the floor angrily. She shook her head.

“He’s not. He staged it. He knew you were having him followed. He started going to homeless shelters; he found a guy that had the same build and could pass for him, and paid him to trade clothes with him. He told him a few things— that he would eventually be kidnapped, but that it was all a joke— and he would pay him the rest of the money later. He knew what he was doing. He knew they would end up killing him. The people that were following him just saw the same clothes and hair and thought it was him. It wasn’t him, Grayson.”

I faced away from her. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. My mind was going a million miles an hour. He had Emmalin. He was going to kill her.

“There’s more. He’s set to release this video to all major networks.” I glanced back at Ashley as she pulled a USB out of her pocket. Benny grabbed it from her hands and plugged it in. After a few seconds, a video played.

A child in a hospital bed came on screen.

“Can you tell us what happened?” The child sniffed. “Does he visit you a lot?” The child nodded. “And what happens when he visits?” The child looked up at mom. “It’s okay, sweetie.” She kissed her forehead.

“He... Sometimes touches me here and down here.” The child pointed to her chest then beneath the covers.

“And what’s the name of the man that does this to you? Can you tell us his name?”

The girl sniffed, then wiped her eyes. “Grayson Mandrake.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Who the fuck will believe that?”

“It doesn’t matter if they believe it or not, Grayson. Even if it’s not true, which we all know it isn’t, the moment that video reaches major networks, this is going to take you down.”

I ran my hand through my hair. I didn’t care about that shit right now. I walked over to Ashley, grabbing her arm. “Take us to Emmalin.”

“I... I can’t.”

“You can’t or you won’t?

“I don’t know where it is.”

I stopped walking, my grip on her bicep tightening, and she hissed. “You don’t know where she is?”

“I don’t know if I remember.” Her eyes flicked from mine to everyone else in the room. “I’m not sure I remember how to get back there. I’ve only been just the one time, and that was today, and it’s dark now.”

I got in her face. “Well you better fucking remember, starting now; do you understand? Because if he kills her, then I’m killing you.” Not taking my eyes off her, I spoke to Benny. “Call Jack. I think we need the feds involved.”