Vigilant (24 page)

“If the doors are locked, how can I get a key?”

“Only Jace and Reggie have a key. You’ll have to take it from them.”

Ari squeezed the knife in her hand. “Alright, I’m going to have to go up. Now, before I chicken out.”

“Go, but don’t forget about me, okay?”

Ari frowned and reached her hand into the slot, touching her fingers to Hope’s. “I’d never do that. I’ll be back.”

Hope let out a sob, something she’d never heard from the hardened kick-ass inner-city girl before. Ari fought back her own tears and took a deep breath of resolve. “I’m coming back, Hope. I promise.”

Ari walked away, clenching the knife in her hand so hard it hurt. In the quiet, dark hallway she heard Hope’s voice. “I believe you.”

* * *

Bright sunlight streamed through the window at the top of the stairs. Ari winced, having not seen the sun in days and the glare hurt her eyes.

The other thing was how quiet the house seemed. Daytime probably wasn’t the busiest time of day for these girls, so maybe they were asleep. Plus, Nick had to work to keep up his appearances.

She entered the living room, running her hand along the leather couch. All the furnishings were high quality and the room was spotless. She tried to figure out her next move. How to get the keys. The odds were not in her favor.

The main level appeared to be empty, so Ari took the chance and tried the doors, frantically pulling and pushing to get them to budge. Both had a bolted lock that could only unlock with a key. A long, glass patio door went out to the backyard. She managed to slide it open, and inhaled a deep gulp of air, but a long row of bars and another lock kept her firmly inside. Each window was the same. Even if Ari could open the door, she was met with locked bars on the other side.

The neighborhood looked plain and suburban. Quiet, identical ranch-style homes lined the streets. She opened her mouth to call for help but paused. What if Jace or Nick found her? They would kill her before anyone got the bars off the doors.

The best thing to do would be to find one of them and steal the key.

She followed the blood until she found a long smear down the back hallway wall. Maybe Desmond got out of the house. Maybe he’s lying in a pool of blood in the back. Ari didn’t care. Determined, she found the stairs to the upper floor. At the top, she gripped her knife and walked toward a series of closed doors. Several had a gold, thick slide lock on the outside.

Ari stopped at the first locked door and took a breath. The house was so quiet, the idea of opening the door terrified her. What if they were all dead? All gone? What if the plan really was to let Ari and Hope rot away in this house?

With her free hand, Ari slid the lock open. Startled, she gripped the knife so she wouldn’t drop it.

“Oh my god,” she said. Three mattresses covered the floor and eight girls lay across them, in various states of sleep. Only one sat with her back against the wall reading a fashion magazine. She had ratty blonde hair, and old, heavy makeup lined her eyes. She looked exhausted. The girl tensed when she saw Ari.

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

“I’m Ari,” she said. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged. “You one of Reggie’s girls, too?”

“No.” Ari said, but wasn’t she?

The girl nodded. Her eyes held that same glazed-over look Hope’s had when she would come to Ari’s room. “Yeah, you’re too old.”

“I’m here to help you get out of here. What’s your name?”

“Sydney,” she replied. “How are you going to get us out of here? There’s no way.” She nudged one of the sleeping girls with her foot. The pale girl lay on her stomach in shorts and a tight T-shirt. Dark red blood stained the mattress under her head, and her hands and feet were bound with duct tape. Painful-looking bruises covered her arms and legs. “That’s the last girl that tried to escape.”

“Oh god, is she dead?” Ari asked, stepping into the room. She pressed her fingers into the girl’s neck. She was warm and had a pulse. Tilting the injured girl’s head to the side she gasped. “Oh, no. No.”

“What?” Sydney asked, for the first time sounding alert.

“I, um. I know her and I need to get her help. And you. And all these girls.” Ari stood up, trying not to step on anyone. “Okay, do you know if Nic—Reggie or Jace is here? I need a key to get us out of here.”

The girl snorted. “Jace keeps that key around his neck, on a chain. You’re only getting it off of him in one of two ways.”

“How?”

“Killing him,” she said, eyeing the knife. She had an amused expression on her face. “Or screwing him.”

Ari took a step backwards and clenched her jaw. There was no way in hell she was getting into bed with that dirt bag. She’d stabbed Desmond. Maybe even killed him. She could do the same to Jace. She opened her mouth to tell Sydney as much but a rough hand grabbed her by the neck. She squeaked, dropping the knife to the ground in surprise.

Jace’s hard, entitled voice, whispered low in her ear. “I pick choice number two.”

TWENTY FIVE

“How’d you get out of your cage?” Jace asked, pushing her down the hallway and into a bedroom. This one held a bed with tacky red satin sheets and wide mirrors on the wall. He looked at the blood splattered across her shirt and shorts. He frowned. “Is that yours?”

“No. It’s Desmond’s. He may still be alive,” Ari retorted. “If you get him help now.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about Desmond.” Jace took a step forward and grabbed Ari by the chin. “I’ve wanted to get you alone for a long time.”

Ari stomped on his foot, and used her elbow like she’d seen the boys when they had their demonstration at her program, but Jace had a lot of weight and height on her. He smacked her across the mouth, so forcefully, she landed across the bed with a bounce. “Nick will kill you if he finds out,” she said, licking the blood off her lip.

“Once he finds out you tried to escape and killed one of his men? He won’t think twice. He’s gone anyway.” Jace stood over the bed and pulled off his shirt. His chest was covered in scars and just like Sydney said, a shiny silver key hung from a long chain. Ari lunged for it, and he swatted her back, proceeding to unbutton the top button on his jeans. “Don’t worry. I’ll kill you when I’m finished.”

Ari grimaced when he lowered his pants and she saw how aroused he was. The violence turned him on, and that incapacitating feeling of panic washed over her. At what he wanted to do. She thought back to what Davis told her. Always fight.

She waited until his pants were down to his ankles. Using all her weight, she rolled off the bed, crashing into the bedside table, toppling a lamp to the floor. Ari landed hard on her hip.

“You’re always a feisty bitch, I’ll give you that,” Jace yelled from the bed.

She scrambled to her feet and took a swipe at his chest, reaching for the key. Grasping her fingers around it, she yanked until it broke.

Jace reached for her and grabbed the back of her leg. Wriggling free, Ari used every ounce of energy she had left and kicked him between the legs.

“Motherfuc—” he cried, falling to a heap on the floor.

She ran.

* * *

The afternoon sun had faded and the hallway was darker than before. Ari ran as fast as she could down the stairs, stumbling down the final three. She slammed into the wall, but managed to stay on her feet, while holding onto the key with an iron grasp.

Her hands shook, making it almost impossible to get the key in the lock. Looking over her shoulder, she watched for Jace, wasting precious time. She cried out, “Thank you!” when the key finally unlocked the door, just as Jace came roaring down the stairs. Cool winter air slapped her across the face and she fell forward, desperate to get outside.

“Help!” she screamed. Jace had his hands around her ankles, pulling her back inside. “Help me!”

“Shut up,” Jace said, dragging her backwards. Ari fought, clawing her way across the front porch. She wouldn’t go back inside. He’d have to kill her first.

“What the—?” he said, dropping her feet. Something or someone flew over her head. Ari used the break to move as fast as she could, on her hands and knees, across the yard. She didn’t get far, because she was suddenly lifted in the air, carried bridal style.

“Let go!” she cried, kicking her feet. Her hands flew out, scratching and attacking.

“Ari, stop!” The voice triggered something inside her and she halted her attack “It’s me. I’m here.”

“Davis?” she finally looked at the man holding her instead of trying to get away. “Don’t take me back in there…please.” She’d already been betrayed once, by Nick. She couldn’t bear it if this were also a trick.

“You’re safe,” he told her, pressing his forehead to hers. He continued walking, carrying her away from the house.

“We can’t leave! They’re in the house! The girls, Hope! She’s in the basement and Shanna, she’s upstairs hurt. Nick did this. Reggie. He’s the one that did this,” she blubbered, tears falling down her cheeks. “We have to go back in.”

“We’re going, but I need you to go to the hospital, okay?” He handed her off to someone else, Peter, who picked her up like a ragdoll in his giant arms. “Peter’s going to take you. I’m going to deal with this. And Reggie, okay?”

“No! Don’t leave me!” Fear gripped Ari at the thought of being away from him. Away from assured safety.

“I have to. I’ll see you soon.” Davis kissed her gently. “Tell Detective Bryson everything. Only him.”

“Why him?”

“He knows enough to give me time. Remember, don’t talk to anyone else, okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded and watched as he ran off to the house, leaving her with Peter.

“Those girls…”

“He’ll get them, but you’re banged-up pretty bad, let’s go before the cops show up. The neighbors will call at any moment.”

“But…”

“You can call your friend on the way.”

“Oliver? Oh my god, Oliver.” Ari had almost forgotten him in all the insanity.

“He’s been looking for you.”

Peter carried Ari to the car. Through the window, she looked back at the house. Several other boys from the GYC followed Davis in. Boyd had Jace held to the ground. Tying his hands behind him. “Why didn’t Davis call Detective Bryson himself?”

But Ari knew before he answered that this was a matter beyond the police, a personal vendetta between Davis and his brother. Davis would want to take him down on his own terms without legal interference. There would be no third chances.

* * *

Ari kept it together until Oliver showed up at the hospital. Before that, she had to play the part that she and Peter orchestrated on the way to there. He dropped her off in the ER then turned around and Ari ran to the nearest cop, requesting that he call Detective Bryson immediately. The officer recognized her from the missing persons reports and tried to get her statement but she held firm, refusing to speak to anyone but Bryson.

While she waited, emergency workers rushed her to an examination room. A short, older Asian nurse declared her dehydrated and hooked her to an IV. Other nurses came in and took her bloody clothes and clipped her nails, sealing them in plastic, tagged bags. Everything about her was now evidence in a crime. Including her body.

“Ari,” the doctor said, after completing most of this exam. He introduced himself as Dr. Marlow. He was young, probably doing his residency. Ari bet he had no idea about the magnitude of her being his patient. That this would be all over the news in a matter of hours. He stood next to her bed, going over her history. “Were you assaulted? Sexually? If so, you should be examined.”

Ari shook her head, fighting tears. “No. He tried to but, no.”

Thankfully, a commotion in the hallway stopped that line of talk. She hadn’t been abused, but the other girls couldn’t say the same. She’d been lucky.

“Is she in there?” she heard. Oliver. He shouted loudly, “I need to see her!”

“Please,” she begged the doctor. “Let him in. He’s my only family.”

“I’ve completed your exam so if you’d like him to come in, that’s fine. Overall, Ms. Grant you’re healthy. Apart from the dehydraton and exhaustion, your injuries are superficial, I’m confident you’ll make a swift recovery. At least physically. The police will be here soon. Let the nurses know if you need anything.” Dr. Marlow opened the door, allowing an eager Oliver to enter the room.

“Oh God, Ari,” he said, pushing the doctor aside. He looked like a mess, his hair more unruly than normal. Tired purple rings surrounded his eyes. He scooped her up in a hug. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Stop,” she cried, sobbing uncontrollably. “You know if you cry, I’m going to cry and then it will just be horrible, ridiculous crying.”

Oliver took her hand and tried his best to climb in the bed. “You were just gone Ari. One minute I knew you were in your bed and the next—gone. You didn’t show for work and neither Davis nor Nick knew where you were. I almost lost my mind.”

A knock interrupted their reunion and Oliver sat up. Detective Bryson stood at the door, a look of relief on his face.

“We’ve been looking for you,” he said.

“I’m supposed to tell you what happened,” she said. “Only you.”

“Okay, the doctor said you were ready to talk.”

“I am,” she looked at Oliver. “I want you to stay also.”

“Sure,” he said, holding her hand.

Ari took a deep breath and told both of them everything that had happened since she left her bedroom window.

TWENTY SIX

She couldn’t go home.

Not after being trapped in a look-a-like cell for almost two weeks. That’s how long it had been, she’d discovered. Twelve days. Nick had kept her hidden away, locked in that basement for twelve days. Oliver confessed he thought she was dead, hovering over her obsessively at the hospital, like she might disappear if he left her alone for a second. Davis, on the other hand, gritted his teeth and fisted his hands, barely able to look her in the eye.

He felt responsible.

She couldn’t go home.

Despite his guilt, Davis took her back to his apartment, safely tucked above the gym and a dozen gifted boys, who swore to protect her to their death. She thought it was a little dramatic, but Curtis confirmed the oath after giving her a hug. A rarity between caseworker and client.