"You can remove the bag now."
There was no attempt to hide the amusement in Sonny's voice. He very much wanted the young woman to know that all she was to him was a joke. As his assistant Theresa lifted the cloth sack from Ciara's head, he squatted down so that he and his cousin were face-to-face.
"This is why you answer my calls," Sonny told Ciara, reaching out to grab her chin. "I don't know what it was that allowed you to think that you could ignore me, but I hope you know better now."
"What do you want?" Ciara growled, though the anger in her voice wasn't enough to mask the fear in her eyes.
Nonetheless, Sonny released her chin, then smacked her face with the back of his hand.
"For starters, I want you to watch you tone," Sonny warned the girl. "Next time, she'll be taking care of you. And she's not as nice as me."
He nodded to Theresa, who grabbed Ciara's hair and jerked her head back so that she could see just who it was holding her captive.
"Hey, Cuz," Theresa said jovially, offering a small wave with her free hand.
"You're back?" Ciara gasped. After Theresa released her, Ciara stared at Sonny and seemed to pick her words much more carefully. "What is happening here?"
Sonny smiled. "You should know. All of this was your idea."
"I don't recall being snatched off the street by this thug," Ciara used her head to gesture to Theresa, "to be a part of anything we discussed."
"I am not a thug!" Theresa protested before punching Ciara in the back of the head. The chair to which Ciara was tied wobbled but did not fall over.
Ignoring the outburst of violence, Sonny stood and looked down at Ciara. He wondered how he had ever considered this pathetic child to be a threat.
"We had a deal, Ciara. You came to me and I did as you asked. Paul has been arrested and that..." Sonny snarled as he thought of Tripp, "that THING is pressing charges against him. Now, I need for you to do your part. After your stunt the other day, I can't even get Will to answer a phone call. He's too angry with me and you need to fix that."
Ciara looked up and her face was set. Defiance danced behind her eyes and Sonny bristled. "No. What I did to Tripp and Paul was wrong. These are real people, Sonny. We need to stop."
He backhanded her again. This time, there was enough force to knock Ciara onto her side. She didn't scream so he kicked her in the stomach. If the bitch wouldn't feel fear, he could at least make her feel pain.
Theresa clapped.
"There is no stopping." Sonny looked away from his cousin and to the nearest reflective surface. He adjusted his tie. Briefly, he wondered why full length mirrors weren't standard in abandoned warehouses. "I want my husband back, Ciara. You promised him to me, and you will deliver him to me. You have no say in the matter. Honestly, you never really did."
Days
"What are you doing here?" Paul fought the urge to hang up and walk away.
Will looked at him from the other side of the glass. If he hadn't been the only person to visit, Paul would have left. But he needed for someone, anyone, to listen to him.
"I know you didn't do it." Paul saw that Will's hand was shaking as he held the receiver to his mouth. "That isn't who you are, Paul. He's framing you."
"You don't know that," Paul told Will sombrely. "You're right, I didn't rape him, but you can't prove that Tripp framed me. Nobody knows what happened: not even me. I have no recollection of that night whatsoever."
Paul didn't know what else to say, and Will wasn't saying anything, so they sat in silence for a few moments. Then Will spoke.
"You didn't do this and I'm gonna prove it. That lying thug isn't getting away with this, Paul. I'm gonna see to it that you get out of here and everyone will know that you're innocent."
"Just wait. Please," Paul begged, remembering Tripp's face as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. "You weren't there, Will. You didn't see him. I don't know what happened, but he's not okay. That's not something you can fake."
"Are you saying that he's telling the truth?" There was anger in Will's eyes, but there was fear in his voice. Was Will... Had he changed his mind? Was he going to abandon Paul just like the rest of Salem?
"I'm saying that I don't know, Will. I didn't do anything to Tripp. I didn't drug him or touch him, but something did happen."
Shaking his head, Will sighed into the receiver. "You're much too good a person, Paul. This guy is just a liar. He's nothing but trouble. He's no victim. But don't worry too much. You aren't gonna be in here too much longer."
"Will, what are you doing?" Paul was starting to panic, but he didn't lose it until Will hung up the receiver. That was when Paul slapped the glass and began to shout. "LEAVE HIM ALONE, WILL. PLEASE! STAY AWAY FROM TRIPP!"
The guard began to roughly pull Paul away, so he gave up. All he could do was hope that nobody got hurt.
Days
"So, this is the famous John Black." The tall man ripped ripped the duct tape from John's mouth. It stung, but John wasn't going to let some thug see him wince. "You aren't that impressive. A super spy? Maybe in the 80s, but now you're just a sad old man trying to relive his glory days."
John paid no attention to his captor's words. Instead, he took in his surroundings. It was a warehouse, which was cliche enough, but he hadn't been tied a a chair which was good. The man had chosen to zip-tie his hands behind his back and didn't even bother to secure John's legs. He felt the cuff of his sleeve until he found the safety pin he had secured into it when he got dressed. Whoever snatched him was clearly an amateur.
"We hear you've been asking about things that really aren't your business: about people who don't want to be found. You need to understand that the boss lady can't have that."
Lady? Was he talking about Theresa or...
The locking mechanism of the zip-tie gave under the pressure of the safety pin. John did his best to remove it with his interrogator noticing.
"Gotta say, I'm shocked you'd even be out here, considering what your son just did."
John groaned audibly. "What did Brady do this time?"
"Who?" John's captor bent down and put his face inches from John's. "I mean your other kid. The faggy chink who played baseball. He raped a kid. Must take after his stepsister."
As much as he wanted to know more about what was happening with Paul, John wasn't gonna waste his opportunity to escape. He swung both fists around and boxed the man's ears. Lifting up his unsecured legs, John kicked the man in the chest and knocked him to the floor.
Standing, John grabbed the chair and threw it through the nearest window. The shattering of the glass triggered an alarm and armed men began pouring into the room. Not wanting to be shot, John dived through the broken window.
Whatever was happening with Theresa needed to wait. John was free and, if Paul was in the sort of trouble the stranger had claimed, then that was where John needed to be.
Days
It felt like everyone was staring at him. The papers and the blogs didn't print his name, not yet, but Tripp certain that it was only a matter of time. Besides, Salem wasn't a huge place and people talked.
"There you are!" A woman cried out, following up with Tripp's name. Claire ran over to him and threw her arms around him. The urge to throw her off shot through his body and it took everything Tripp had to tamp it down. Before, whenever she would hug him, Tripp would melt into Claire's embrace. Now thought of anyone touching him, holding him... He wanted to vomit.
"I'm here," he answered, gently grabbing Claire's wrists and pulling her off. He stepped back and away from her as everyone in the town square glued their eyes onto him. Claire was too oblivious to notice the audience.
"They wouldn't let me see you at the hospital. Something about a closed room."
"Nobody was allowed in. Press were... Someone leaked what was done and they used my name, but your grandma Hope managed to keep it out of the papers." Tripp resumed walking, and Claire fell into lockstep with him. "I'm sorry, can we not talk about it?"
Unfortunately, Tripp wouldn't get his wish. The blond twink from the bar, the one he had punched, planted himself directly in front of Tripp. "Stop lying."
"Excuse me?" Claire stepped between Tripp and the man, putting her finger into his chest. "You need to back off, Will."
Tripp didn't know how Claire knew the man named Will, but Will clearly didn't care about Claire because he pushed her out of the way. She had to grab onto Tripp's arm to keep from falling.
"Hey! Watch it," Tripp ordered the man as he made sure Claire was okay.
Will responded by punching Tripp in the face. "I am NOT going to stand by and let you destroy a good man. You deceitful piece of shit. Take it back."
Touching a hand to his mouth, Tripp winced. He was bleeding. He was was also not in the mood for this particular asshole. "Claire, get away from here. Please."
"Don't do this, Tripp," she pleaded. He looked to her and tried to apologize with his eyes.
For his part, Will tackled Tripp to the ground and began screaming at him, each word punctuating with a blow to the face. "You. Are. Just. A. Fucking. Liar. Take. It. Back."
Claire began to pull at Will, giving Tripp just enough space to raise a leg and kick Will away. Adrenaline flooded through his veins, triggering his fight-or-flight sense and he didn't have it in him to fight. It was clear that Will would be just the beginning of the entire town coming for his head. After all, everyone knew that he was the son of a monster so the apple obviously didn't fall far from the tree.
Tripp spat out a mouthful of blood, but he aimed at the ground instead of Will's face. "I'm done with this."
He climbed to his feet and Claire helped him to steady himself. As he limped away from the still-fuming Will, Tripp wondered to himself if seeking justice was worth it.
Days
Ciara had watched it all go down. Tripp had been attacked and humiliated and that bitch Claire had been his praying mantis-built saviour. She had saved Tripp from their retarded cousin Will while Ciara stood in the background unnoticed.
She couldn't have interfered anyway, not after Sonny and his new best friend Theresa kidnapped and beat her. They had scared Ciara. Hurt her, even. Ciara had been humiliated by a crackhead and a Doctor Eggman cosplayer and it pissed her off.
"What was that about?" Ciara tried not to laugh as Will jumped. He turned around and looked into Ciara's eyes. There was something to him that she tried to avoid acknowledging in herself. And rather than dwell on that they might have in common she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Was that Tripp I just saw you fighting with?"
Nodding, Will pulled his eyes away from his cousin and looked instead at the air just over her shoulder. That made things easier for her. "Yeah. Don't believe him. It's Ciara, right?"
She nodded but said nothing.
"You've heard about what he did to Paul. Paul is innocent, Ciara. Tripp is lying and I won't let him get away with it."
As her heart sank into her stomach, Ciara willed ice into her veins. She had started this sequence of events. She had gone to Sonny and she had ruined Tripp and she had set up Paul. Now she was going to ruin yet another man's life. And for what? For revenge on people who had done nothing to her?
And the one who had ruined her life, the one who had driven Ciara to the depths of humanity where she now wallowed, she was the one getting off scot-free. As Ciara went around destroying man after man, Claire was sitting pretty and unbothered.
"You're right." There was no bile in Ciara's voice, no venom in her words. She knew the truth and she used that to her advantage. "Paul didn't rape Tripp. He wouldn't. He's being set up."
Will blinked and looked back down at Ciara, but the ice was now dispersed throughout her body. She was collected as she continued.
"I don't know why it's happening. But it isn't fair and we need to do something about it." Ciara grabbed Will's hand and began pulling him to the stone archway in the town square. He followed her, but said nothing. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned back to him. "Going after Tripp like that won't work. Brute force doesn't stop evil. It never truly goes away, not even if you kill it."
She began climbing the stairs. After a few steps, she turned and offered a hand to her confused and silent cousin. He stared at it for a moment before stepping up to take it.
Ciara led Will up the rest of the way until they were at the top of the stairs. She kept hold of his hand, pressing it to her chest. Pushing the guilt to the side, Ciara kept her eyes locked onto the laces of his shoes.
"Paul doesn't deserve this."
"He doesn't," Will agreed, finally speaking. Ciara looked up in shock and saw that Will was no longer radiating heat and anger. He was just strong. He looked directly into her soul and she shuddered despite her best effort to remain still.
Using one hand to keep Will's hand on her chest, Ciara used the other to gently caress his face. None of them deserved what she had done, but she was too far in to stop. Sonny had made that abundantly clear.
Then, she screamed. "NO! WILL! STOP!"
Throwing herself backwards, Ciara watched Will's face and the disbelief that crossed it. She saw the fear creep into his eyes. Then she saw nothing.