Twenty Five
There are once again references to rape in this chapter (but very late in the chapter). You have been warned.
It only took an hour before they finally had a hit on the license plate. The car was in fact registered to Wesley Levine and according to the car's registration, the address was only an hour and a half away from Becca Arnold's house—and an hour away from River Heights. The bastard had practically been under their noses the entire time.
That angered Frank more than anything else. The fact that Nancy was so close to him, but still far enough away where he couldn't find her. He had to give it to Wesley—he was clever and confident.
But confidence had a way of coming back to bite you in the ass if you were too cocky. And Wesley was about to learn that fact the hard away in the form of a very pissed off Frank Hardy beating down his door.
Frank sat on the porch railing as Agents Craig and Whalen conversed quietly with each other. He barely felt the cold as excitement and adrenaline coursed through his body. They were actually coming to the end of this nightmare. In just a few short hours, Nancy would be back where she belonged—in the comfort in his arms. And Frank knew one thing for sure—it was going to be a very long time before he ever let her go again.
If ever.
Yes, he knew that it would probably piss her off, but she would just have to deal with it. It was either stick by her side for the rest of her life or lock her up in the highest tower that he could find. He was pretty sure she would never go for the latter idea though.
Frank glanced up as Craig broke away from Whalen and approached him. His hands were shoved deep into his coat pockets as he huddled against the biting wind. "Whalen is getting in contact with the Dyersville Police Department and letting them know what's going on. Hopefully, by the time we get there, we'll have a pretty decent sized team ready to haul Levine in."
"What about me?" Frank asked, sure that the agent was going to make him sit out on the raid. After all, he wasn't an agent and if anyone had a decent brain, they would refuse to let him anywhere near the raid, considering how personal it was for him. But then again, they did alert him to Becca's disappearance, so maybe all hope wouldn't be completely dashed.
"Though it goes against the rules, it would be stupid of me to ask you to go home and let us handle this," Craig said, flashing him a rueful grin. "And I'm not stupid."
Frank immediately stood up as a relieved smile broke out on his own face.
Craig held up a warning hand. "Just because I'm letting you go along doesn't mean you're going to be part of the raid. I expect you to stay in the car."
"But—"
"There will be no arguments, Mr. Hardy. You either do it my way or I throw your ass in jail for interfering with a police investigation. Understood?"
"Fine," Frank said, not wanting to push his luck.
"Good," Craig said. "And just to make sure that we understand each other, I'll ride along with you."
Frank didn't even bother to try to hide his annoyance as he led the way to his car.
Nancy felt completely numb as Wesley dragged her up the basement stairs and towards his bedroom. Becca's death replayed over and over in her mind like a video playing on a continuous loop. She should have tried harder to save the other woman. She should never have let Wesley get that far with her.
How many more deaths did she have to witness before it became too much? How many more until Wesley finally grew tired of murdering other innocent women before he turned his focus onto her? Why the hell did she deserve to live and the others had to die? How much longer before she finally lost it and turned into the shell of a human that Wesley was determined to make her into?
The last question was easy to answer: not long at all. The edge of insanity was right there, just mere inches from the tips of her toes. One more solid push and that would be all it took for her to throw in the towel and let Wesley win. Nancy just wasn't sure if she could fight anymore; she'd never felt so helpless in her life.
The only thing she knew for sure was that she couldn't watch anyone else die.
Nancy was so wrapped up in her morbid thoughts that she didn't realize Wesley had pushed her onto his bed until he was tying her hands above her head. She instantly snapped to attention as she began thrashing underneath him, trying to pull her hands out of his grip as he wrapped the rope around her wrists several times before tethering them to the bed.
"Oh, good. You're still here," Wesley said with a smile as he made the ropes so tight they were nearly cutting off her circulation. "I was beginning to think that I had lost you."
"What the hell are you doing?" Nancy demanded as she pulled against the rough ropes, only to have them bite cruelly into her tender skin.
Wesley slid off of her as he moved down to her feet. "You didn't really think your behavior downstairs would go unpunished, did you?"
"You killed Becca, you son of a bitch!"
"Yes, but that was always the plan. That wasn't because of the way you behaved." He chuckled darkly as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt before tossing it across the room. Nancy didn't miss the way his muscles rippled as he moved or the chiseled cut of his abs. "As much as I may not agree, the world doesn't revolve around you, Nancy. It's a shame, really."
"What is?" Nancy asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. She didn't need an instruction manual to tell her what was about to happen again. She knew exactly how Wesley planned to punish her.
"We could have had so much fun with Becca. I planned to prolong her death for hours."
Nancy's fear quickly turned to anger as Wesley walked down to the foot of the bed. "If you ask me, I would consider her death a blessing."
"I'm sure she would agree with you." Wesley smiled as he opened the chest at the foot of the bed. "It's too bad that we can't ask her opinion on the subject."
"You're a bastard," Nancy muttered, pulling against her restraints.
"Not really, no. I have two very loving parents who think the world revolves around me." Wesley closed the lid and Nancy saw he was holding a small wooden box in his hands.
"Obviously they haven't been watching the news."
"Actually they have. My mother even has a photo book showing all of the newspaper clippings about me."
"That's just sick," Nancy said, fixing him with a glare. "What kind of parents sit by and do nothing as their son murders innocent women? They're just as screwed up as you are."
Nancy knew immediately that was the wrong thing to say as Wesley's face turned a bright shade of crimson. Before she could register his movements, he was beside her, delivering a savage backhand to her face. Nancy cried out as blood instantly filled her mouth. Turning her head, she tried to spit it out, but Wesley grabbed her chin and forced her mouth closed.
"Swallow it."
Shaking her head, Nancy refused to do as he said. Sure, she had inadvertently swallowed her own blood before, but it was the fact that he was forcing her to do it that made her want to refuse. It was barbaric and disgusting and the last thing she wanted was to give him the pleasure.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the choice as he used his other hand to hold her nose, cutting off all of her air supply. Nancy let out a whimper as she tried to twist away from him, holding her breath for as long as she could. Finally, it became impossible for her to hold her breath any longer and she had no choice but to swallow the blood.
Wesley gave her a satisfied smile before releasing her. Nancy's face was throbbing painfully and as she moved her tongue around to feel for any additional damage, she realized that one of her back teeth were loose.
Great, she thought to herself as Wesley stepped away from her. Nancy noticed the wooden box was on the bed beside her, but Wesley made no immediate move to retrieve it. Instead, he picked up a knife from the bedside table and held it up to the light. Nancy saw it was the very same knife she had used to free herself from the basement. She had wondered where she'd left it.
He sat down on the bed beside her and brought the tip of the blade to rest against the hollow of her throat. Nancy swallowed hard as she kept her eyes on his sapphire ones, knowing that he was daring her to attempt to fight back as he slowly and deliberately sliced her shirt open. Nancy shivered as the chill in the air kissed her bare skin.
"You know what's going to happen next, don't you, my love?" Wesley whispered as he moved the tip of the blade faintly against her skin.
"Please, don't do this, Wesley," Nancy begged, her voice barely above a whisper.
"This is something you're going to have to get used to, Nancy. I plan on doing this every single night." He fixed her with an unwavering stare. "If you just stopped fighting it, you would see that I can be a very gentle lover."
Nancy shook her head. "I will never stop fighting you, Wesley."
Wesley let out a deep, humorless chuckle. "Eventually you will. I plan on breaking you to my will, my love. Soon enough, you'll be begging me for it."
"No!" Nancy struggled against her bonds as he stood up and unbuckled her jeans. She kicked out of him, but he barely acknowledged the blows as he yanked her pants off and threw them across the room, leaving her in only her bra and underwear. Nancy continued to scream until her throat hurt from the effort, but Wesley made no move to quiet her.
Instead, he reached for the wooden box and pulled the lid off of it. Nancy's blue eyes widened fearfully as he pulled out a large tarantula and held it in his hands as if it was some revered pet and not a venomous creature. She couldn't help the whimpers that escaped her lips as she recalled her time with his beloved spiders.
"Oh, good…you remember my little friends." Wesley turned to Nancy with a smile. She also didn't miss the almost gleeful glint to his eyes. He put the box down before lowering the spider to her bare stomach.
Nancy almost didn't bite back the scream forming in her throat before it turned into a pitiful moan. She didn't move an inch as the spider stared back at her, remaining still.
"Now, tarantulas will bite if they are provoked. As long as you remain still, he won't bite. It's very important for you not to react as he moves along your body. Though his bites aren't fatal, they can be very painful." Wesley moved down to her feet as he pulled out a couple of lengths of rope from his pocket. "And you remember how painful spider bites can be, don't you, my love?"
She didn't say anything as she kept her eyes on the huge spider. She was even afraid to take a breath. Yes, she remembered how painful the bites could be. She had the scars on her stomach to prove it. If she concentrated hard enough, she could even recall the spider biting her repeatedly as if it had happened yesterday.
Wesley hummed to himself as he wrapped the ropes around each of her ankles and spread them to either side of the bed before tying them off. All the while, Nancy refused to move. She didn't even think she could move if she had the choice—it was as if she was petrified wood.
As soon as he was finished with her feet, Wesley stripped off his own jeans and tossed them across the room where they landed beside hers. He then grabbed a roll of blue vet wrap and walked to the head of the bed. Nancy refused to take her eyes off the spider, even as Wesley lifted her head and began wrapping the blue sticky fabric around her mouth several times before tearing it off and throwing it on top of the bedside table.
"You're doing very well, Nancy. I have to admit, I am very impressed with how still you are being." Wesley smiled as he climbed on top of her, straddling her. "It's amazing what a little incentive can do to make you behave yourself."
There were so many things Nancy wished she could say to him. There were so many things she wished she could do to him as he slowly cut away at her panties. She envisioned so many ways to kill him in that very moment that could have instantly earned her the death penalty without her enacting on a single one.
But as soon as the spider began crawling along her stomach, every thought escaped her as panic began to seep in. She barely felt the tears as they streaked down her cheeks, but she refused to sob so as not to provoke the hairy spider further.
And then, when Wesley entered her, reason also decided to vacate the premises.
All there was no was a burning rage. And Nancy allowed her rage to consume her and numb her as he ravaged her body for his own pleasure.
There would be no third time after this.
So, I originally wasn't going to have Wesley rape Nancy again, but when I thought about it and spoke to Lady Emily about it, we both agreed that it wouldn't be just a onetime deal on Wesley's part. It would be something that he would derive pleasure from over and over again. Once again, I didn't make it graphic because I know your imagination could make it much worse than anything I could write.
Now, on to the good news…the rescue mission happens in the next chapter!
I would like to thank everyone who has added me to their favorites/alert lists and especially everyone who has taken the time to review: Alicia Hardy (It really is a love/hate relationship with Wesley, isn't it?), Caranath (Sorry about the whole stupid government shutdown crap…and Joe will be coming back for the end!), Michelle Gallichio (We shall see what happens to Wesley…), Jabba1 (The conclusion is very near. As for what will happen, you shall find out in the next chapter!), catlover1033 (I keep going back and forth on what will happen to Wesley myself…I still don't actually know…), max2013 (Thank you!), SC15 (You would be correct on Nancy's torture-filled night. And Becca wasn't exactly paranoid. Just nervous about living all alone…), MinecraftDanny (You are not an idiot…I think you're pretty amazing!), AngelvieS (I hope he can, too!), Cupcake (And now I have made you fear The Princess Bride…oh, dear), FreshKicks (I hate that I can't give anything away…), j (You are so very welcome! Glad you are enjoying it!), and misslady92 (Lots and lots of therapy…you have no idea…)
Sorry that it took a little longer to get this chapter out…lots of overtime at work since the owners went on vacation and then I had to worry about the little tropical storm that ended up turning into nothing!
I apologize for any mistakes and let me know what you think!
