Upon returning back to the hotel, Christian learnt that he had made a mistake. The door to their suite had been sitting slightly ajar when he arrived, indicating something bad, with no noise from within. Furniture was turned over and strewn throughout the rooms, painting a picture in his mind of the struggle that would have had to happen to cause such a mess. Not a single soul was in any of the rooms. No dead bodies - and no alive ones either. No Braxton. No Dana.
Christian's mistake was that he had considered his brother capable of protecting Dana. Now he knew for certain that no-one besides himself could keep her safe.
The phone was to his ear in a heart beat as a calm anger settled over him. "Send me the locations of every building owned - or partly owned - by the Kurai Entertainment Company. Start with a twenty mile radius, then continue from there."
"Slow down, Dream Boat." As always, the female AI voice was in no rush. "That's a lot of ground to cover."
A mark beside the bathroom entryway distracted him from replying. It was a bullet hole, the diameter matching the size of a bullet fired from an 8mm double barrel hand gun. There was another hole in the wall that mirrored it - and another. Christian knew they were aiming at someone just by how aligned the shots were, tracing that persons movements until the bathroom doorway, where they must have tried to hide. He slowly rounded the corner, coming up short when he was confronted with blood, strikingly red against the pristine white tiles. It wasn't a lot, but enough to cause alarm. What if it was Dana's blood?
When he still didn't respond, the AI on the phone continued. "You'll have the addresses within the hour. Don't do anything rash until then."
"No promises," he murmured.
"Heavy sigh." The line went dead.
Only allowed himself enough time to grab the bare essentials, Christian was back on the streets within minutes, a duffle bag filled with weapons slung across his back, the weight nothing as he jogged to the nearest underground train station. He knew of one company within two train stops that was owned by the Kurai family, and it was a good starting point whilst he waited for the list of company addresses.
Dana POV
It was dark. Not pitch black, thanks to the cotton material thrown over her head, but the visibility was too low to make out any one shape. Dana was thrown out of the truck she had been dragged into, hitting the cement shoulder first, invoking the worst pain she had ever felt in her entire life. A small groan pushed from her lungs as someone heaved her body upright, dragging her feet across the ground when she made no attempt to walk on her own. She wasn't going to make this whole kidnapping thing easy for them.
Her hands were tied to the arms of a wooden chair, then her legs before, finally, a thick rope was strained tight across her chest to keep her from being able to move an inch. The rope dug into her breasts. An empty room was revealed when someone snatched the bag off of her head - as well as the person sitting in the chair opposite her.
"Braxton," she breathed, relieved. Her eyes zeroed in on the restraints tying him to the chair, noticing that they used more ropes.
A figure moved out from behind her, placing himself between them, displaying his hands in an open gesture. His suit was perfectly tailored, not a single crinkle on his designer shirt or ironed pants. There was an air of arrogance and wealth surrounding him.
When he moved to bow, Dana flinched, earning a cold smile from the man. "Please, you don't need to be afraid of me." A pause as he gestured to someone else in the room, once again standing behind Dana so she couldn't see. "It's him you should be worried about."
At his words, a hand grasped Dana's hair and pulled her head back. She stared up at the dark eyes of the man who was now exposing her throat, utterly terrified of the enjoyment she saw on his face. Something cold pressed against the skin of her throat, and her breath hitched.
"Leave her alone!" Braxton shouted. Dana could hear him struggling against the bindings holding him in place.
The well dressed man clicked his tongue. "That sort of outburst is only going to make things worse. You see, my friend here is a little jumpy, and with that knife pressed to your friends throat... I'd be quiet if I were you."
"What do you want with us?" Braxton spat.
"Oh, I don't want you two. I don't even know who you are. Wait, that's a lie." He signaled to the man holding Dana's head back to let her go, continuing once he had done so, and she was once more leaning forward. "I know who you are - Dana Cummings. We've been tracking you for weeks, thanks to your friend. But then he whisked you away to some hotel, keeping you under lock and key, like a prisoner. Now that we have you, he will come. Won't he?"
"No." Dana was surprised at how steady her voice was since her entire body was trembling in fear.
The man gave a cocky smile. "Oh? Why is that?"
"Christian's smarter than to be caught by you. Besides, he won't risk his life for me or-." Her words died in her throat. The man had said he didn't know who Braxton was, and if she let that information slip, it might endanger him more than he already was. "You can't get to him."
"I think you underestimate your own importance, child," the man responded.
Dana remembered the conversation she and Christian had all those days ago in the penthouse. He had stated his feelings for her in such a blunt and direct way that she hadn't known how to respond at the time. With everything that had happened, Dana didn't even know how she felt about Christian. There was no room in her mind to handle something like that when her life was on the line. Now Christian's feelings for her had gotten them both in this mess. She was only dragged into this because he admitted to stalking her, unable to leave her alone, basically painting a target on her back for anyone who wants to get revenge on Christian for god-knows what. A small flame of resentment flared inside of Dana at the realization that this was all his fault.
The man behind Dana spoke up, his voice deep. "Want me to torture one of them, boss?"
Braxton met Dana's wide eyes with a soft smile, no doubt an attempt to ease her fear, though his eyes showed how afraid he truly was.
"No. We want to be able to transport them in a moments notice. Having them bleeding out before we use them for their intended purpose won't serve any good." The cell phone in his pocket buzzed once, and he cursed at what was displayed on the screen once he opened it. Turning to the man behind Dana, he said, "Stand guard outside their door. I'll call you when it's time to move them."
Once the door was clicked shut, the sound of a bolt lock sliding into place on the other side, Dana finally loosened a terrified breath she didn't know she had been holding. The room suddenly felt smaller now that it was so quiet. There were no windows, no furniture other than the chairs they were tied too, which were uncomfortable. Dana's attention moved to her shoulder, the pain seeping through the fear after a few quiet minutes.
Braxton settled his gaze on her after checking out the interior of their small prison cell. "Are you alright?"
"I think my left shoulder is dislocated," she grumbled as the pain swept through her.
"Can you move your fingers?"
"Yes."
"Good. And you didn't scream in agony whilst doing it, so we can safely say it isn't dislocated."
She groaned. "Still hurts like hell."
"It'll hurt a lot more in a second," he announced, right before he knocked his chair to the side, toppling over.
Dana's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"
"Shh. Dana, I need you to do the same thing I just did." Braxton looked up at her from the floor, his body in an uncomfortable position with his hands still tied to the arms of the chair. "But shift a little closer to me, turn around until your back is to me, and then fall onto your left side."
"But my should-."
"I know. I know," he said, a hint of frustration entering his voice. "Look, Dana, it'll hurt like hell, but you need to be quiet. We need to get out of here before that man comes back."
Grunting softly with the effort, she managed to turn her hair around and line it up with where he was on the floor, so when she did tip over, it would be in the correct position. Dana had zero idea what his plan was, but she also knew, much like Christian, his brother was a professional. They were assassins, special forces, private investigators - whatever. So whilst remembering that there must be reasoning behind Braxton's plan, she kicked off from the floor, sending her body sideways until it connected with the solid floor. Dana bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood as pain roared across her shoulder and down her back. Tears sprang in her eyes, and she knew that if her shoulder wasn't dislocated before, then it certainly was now.
"Are you okay?"
"Just... hurry up with... whatever... you're doing," she managed to say around the soft sobs rocking her body as the worst pain she had ever felt in her life burned across her body. Dana knew she needed to be quiet, so she ducked her chin to her chest in an attempt to suppress any painful screams threatening to break free.
There was a shifting sound as Braxton inched closer to the back of Dana. She didn't understand what was happening until his foot connected with the wooden part of her chair that was connected to the arm. It was the thinnest part of the chair, with only a nail or two holding the arm in place. It forced her body forward, but the pain of her left shoulder was too great to notice if anything else was hurting. When she made no sound, Braxton kicked it again, this time splintering the wood. On the third kick, it disconnected completely, allowing Dana to move her arm up and down, the wooden arm of the chair still tied to her forearm.
After swallowing another sob, she asked, "What now?"
"Now that your hand is free, untie your other arm. Then untie me," he said rather sarcastically.
"Oh. Right."
Within minutes they were both untied and standing upright. Well, Braxton was standing while Dana sat against one of the walls, holding her left arm against her stomach.
"What now?" asked Dana.
"There." Braxton pointed to the roof, at an air vent Dana hadn't taken notice of during her survey of the room. "That's how we escape."
"Perfect," she muttered.
Picking his chair up off of the floor and positioning it under the vent, Braxton easily reached the grate and pushed it aside, revealing a roomy looking crawl space. He heaved himself up, managing to get inside before swinging the top half of his body back out, waving a hand at Dana. She stumbled to her feet and stepped up onto the chair, gripping the back of it with her right hand while looking up at him.
"My arm..."
Braxton shook his head. "Just give me your right hand, Dana, so I can pull you up."
Their hands barely touched before the door swung open, revealing the sinister looking man who had held a knife to Dana's throat. He froze as he assessed the situation, quickly jumping into action once his mind caught up with his eyes. Braxton shouted something, but Dana couldn't hear him as the man barreled into the side of her, wrapping his arms around her waist and throwing her body back onto the floor. This time she did scream as she landed stomach first, using her good arm to shield her head from the impact. There was more shouting above her, something that sounded like metal scraping on metal, then silence.
Not a single sound for a few short breathes.
The man kicked her ribs, forcing Dana to roll onto her back, coughing as the air left her lungs. Her eyes darted to the air vent in search of Braxton, only he wasn't there. The grate had been pushed back into place. That would explain the scraping metal sound she had heard. He had left her behind.
Sorry for the delayed update, everyone. Guess who got promoted? Is the extra stress worth the extra pay? Who knows, anymore. But in this economy I wasn't about to decline the offer lol. I hope everyone is enjoying this so far. xoxo