MasukTabitha:Everything hurt. My bones felt like they were filled with bags of cement. I tried to sit up, but a hard throbbing in my head forced me back down to the ground. I whimpered in pain. I wasn’t sure how long I slept. I wasn’t even sure if it was day yet. No one had come to wake me. Collin did say that he needed me up early.I pulled myself up, and a loud sneeze shook my body. “Shit, I caught a cold,” I muttered, sniffling, feeling the mucus running down inside my nose. It was expected. This place was damp and cold. The door clicked, but I couldn’t scramble to my feet fast enough. “Rise and shine, sweetie.”Collin walked in, spinning the key around his finger. He was in a deep crimson suit with a matching tie. He looked down at me, and his smile faded into something else. “What are you doing on the floor?” he asked, slowly lowering himself to my level. My heart raced in my chest, and I backed away instinctively as his hand reached out to touch my face. “I fell asleep on the f
Enzo:Everyone was in the study, shirts over their noses, backed away from the wall. I did the same and entered the room slowly. My jaw dropped at the hole in the wall. It had been smashed through, and behind it were stacks of a pale blue power, tightly packed, looking like bricks. “Is that…”“PH-C4,” I added, cutting Riley off and taking a step forward. There had to be about a hundred or so bricks stuffed in there. Were there more stashes around the house? How long had it been here?“Let’s take it in as evidence. We all heard when the Mafia guy called. This must be what he wanted us to find.”Chase stepped forward, but I stopped him and pulled him back. “We are not going to turn this in. They have Tabitha, and if this is what they want to get her back, then so be it.”“You are aiding and abetting a crime," Chase argued, snatching his hand back. “I am trying to save the one person that I care about,” I retorted. “Besides, what good will it do for the police? I hear that you guys al
Tabitha:“You will be sleeping here tonight.”Collin opened a door for me and led me into a room. It was beautiful, with a high ceiling and beautiful bedding on a queen-sized bed. “I hope this is to your taste,” he said, sitting on a sofa in the corner, his eyes not leaving me. “Might be smaller than you are used to, but you are still a captive after all.”My feet shook, unable to take a step forward. Everything felt… wrong. Being alone with him in this room felt uncomfortable.“Why are you doing all this?” I asked, turning around to look at him. “I’m a prisoner; why are you treating me like I’m some kind of guest?”A smile crept on his lips, and he slowly undid his tie, biting his lower lip gently as he took me in. “So you want to be treated like a prisoner?”“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying…”He stood up and walked over to me, still smiling, removing his cufflinks and unbuttoning his shirt. I backed away, my eyes wide, alarms going off in my head. “The room is fine… thank you.
Enzo:“No!” My phone went flying across the room. “No, no, no, no, no!”The room began to spin, and my knees gave out from under me. They took her. They actually took her, and I was the cause. I was a fool. Something was off. I knew that something was off, but I didn't do anything. “I was such a fool!”My fists came down hard on the wooden floor, and pain shot through my arm. I didn’t care. They took her. Nothing made sense anymore. The one thing that Vincent asked me to do for him before he died, and I had failed him. “What do we do now?”There was a murmur all around me, whispering voices weaving into my thoughts along with Collin’s twisted voice. If he did anything to her, if he even thought of hurting one frail hair on her head, I was going to make sure I tracked him down and ended him. “Mr. Ross?...”A hand touched my shoulder, but I shrugged it away. The person didn’t leave and was still crouching next to me, watching me. “...What do we do now? Are the Mafia coming here? Wha
Tabitha:The fountain pen shook in my hands; tears streamed down my face. I glanced at Collin, who was looking down at me with a sinister smile. “I’m sorry… Enzo… I should have listened.” My voice cracked, and more tears streamed down. “I should have…”“Stop talking.” His voice was shaking, too. “Did they hurt you? Did he hurt you?”“N-No. But he has a gun, and it’s…”“I think that’s enough,” Collin chuckled, pulling the phone away, smiling at me. He put the phone on speaker and plopped down in the empty seat next to me, the gun still pointed at the side of my head. “My requests are simple, Enzo, if you want to see your darling again.”“You animal!” he roared. “Leave her out of this! This is supposed to be between me, you and Vincent!”“Vincent is dead, so I am making his daughter stand in as his proxy,” he replied, looking down at the paper I had been transcribing, and smiled. “She has been very helpful so far. I’m just finding out that she and Vince have a secret language. If all o
Enzo:The door was old, with splitters all over it. A few of them scratched my hand as I turned the key in the old lock. I had paid someone to take care of this place. Why did it look so shabby?I flipped the switch, and the lights flickered on. “I guess my money didn’t go to waste after all,” I muttered. The outside was a mess, but the inside was immaculate. Hints of lavender and sandalwood clung to the air. It was probably just cleaned a few days ago. It was just how I remembered it, grand and beautiful with this rustic look that Vincent had become obsessed with over one summer. Gosh, it brought back so many memories.“This is a big house,” Riley said, looking around. “Where are we even going to start?”“The study,” I said, already leading the way up the stairs. It was probably a mess anyway. It was the only part of the house I had instructed cleaners not to clean. I could only imagine what it looked like now. Probably crawling with roaches and rats, and some books might have been
Enzo:Tabitha came back in the afternoon. She barely looked at me when I said ‘Good afternoon’ and asked how Nora was doing. She simply strode past me and went upstairs.Sunday had never been so quiet and tense. I called Grayson Hospital and asked them to return Dr. Gregory’s license to him, and th
Enzo:“I just let her walk out the door. Why the hell did I just let her walk out the door?”My heart was racing in my chest. Three missed calls and still nothing from her. “Fuck!”The chair creaked loudly as I sat down on it, head in my hands. I wanted to scream. What the hell was wrong with me?
Tabitha:We ate in silence. We sat on chairs facing each other, but the entire time, my head was lowered to my food. Even though we had opened all the windows in the house, there was still the faint smell of burnt broth that would hit my nose from time to time. I couldn’t help but wonder what he w
Enzo:I couldn’t help myself. I had been talking with Mr. Bolden. We were finishing the discussion about the prototype, and that was when I saw it: Andrew leading Tabitha around the house. My gaze had followed them until I could no longer see either of them as they disappeared behind the house. My







