Kidnapped

Chapter 17

I locked the front door and leaned against it, trying to steady my breathing. My chest rose and fell too fast, like I had just run a mile though I had not moved more than a few steps. The silence inside the mansion pressed down on me, heavy and unnatural, like the walls themselves were waiting for me to break.

My phone sat cold in my hand. I stared at the last message again, my thumb hovering above the screen like I might somehow squeeze a different answer out of it. That single word glared back at me, sharp and cruel. Wait.

Wait for what? For him? For danger? For answers I could not face? For something worse than all of it combined?

I dropped my bag on the couch with a dull thud. My shoes scraped against the marble as I kicked them off, and I stumbled straight to the kitchen. My legs were shaking like I had no control over them. My hands trembled as I grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and gulped it down so fast the rim clicked against my teeth. Cold liquid slid down my throat, but it did nothing to cool the heat in my body. The trembling did not stop. It only grew worse, buzzing like electricity under my skin.

I pressed both hands against the counter. The marble felt hard and unyielding, but I needed something solid, anything to ground me.

Back in the living room, the test box lay on the couch beside me. My eyes locked on that word like it was carved into my skin. Positive.

It looped over and over in my head until I thought I would go insane. Positive. Positive. Positive.

I pressed both hands to my stomach, whispering into the emptiness, “Damien… please, come back.”

The words felt weak, but they were all I had. The mansion stretched wide and hollow around me, swallowing my voice like it had no intention of giving it back. Every tick of the clock was a hammer in my skull. I tried to keep my eyes open, afraid I would miss it if headlights appeared in the drive, if the front door opened, if his voice cut through this silence.

But exhaustion clawed at me from all sides. My head fell sideways on the couch. My phone slid from my hand. Darkness pulled me under before I could fight it off.

A sound snapped me awake.

A sharp creak above me. My eyes flew open, my heart lurching into my throat. I froze, listening, every muscle taut. Another sound followed. Slow. Measured. A footstep.

“Damien?” My voice cracked, but I forced it out.

No answer.

The hairs on my arms stood on end. The silence afterward was worse than the noise itself. It wrapped around me, pressing into me, making it hard to breathe.

I pushed myself off the couch, legs unsteady. My feet dragged against the floor, every step heavier than the last. I forced myself toward the staircase even though my body screamed at me to stay put.

“Hello?” I called out, but my voice did not sound like mine. It was small. Weak. Afraid.

Still nothing.

The quiet felt wrong, unnatural, like the house was holding its breath. I gripped the banister, climbed halfway up the stairs, and stopped. My chest ached. The air was heavier here, pressing on me, making each breath feel like it might be my last.

Then I saw it. A shadow gliding across the top landing.

“Damien?” I whispered again, this time more desperate than before.

The shadow did not respond.

I spun, ready to run, but I was too late.

An arm slammed around me from behind. A cloth crushed over my mouth and nose. The smell hit me instantly, sharp and chemical, burning down my throat and into my lungs. My scream died inside it.

I thrashed. My nails tore across skin. I heard a grunt of pain, but the grip around me only tightened. I kicked wildly, my chest heaving, my eyes blurring. The world spun violently. My body betrayed me, growing weaker by the second. Darkness pulled me under fast and merciless.

When I woke, the air was colder. My body felt heavy. My arms screamed with pain. My wrists were bound above me, leather straps biting deep into my skin. My ankles were tied to bedposts, spread tight. The mattress beneath me was wrong, too rough, too foreign.

I jerked against the straps until the skin on my wrists burned, but nothing gave way. Panic rose fast.

The room was bare. Windows boarded tight with wood. A single bulb flickered overhead, casting sickly shadows against the walls. The air reeked of damp dust, stale and suffocating.

“Let me out!” My voice cracked, already hoarse. “Who are you? Why am I here?”

Nothing.

Then the door opened.

A woman stepped inside. Tall. Black hair sleek as ink, gleaming faintly in the light. Her smile was deliberate, cruel, too practiced to be anything but a weapon. She looked at me like she had already won.

I forced my voice steady. “Who are you?”

She tilted her head, studying me like a puzzle she already knew how to solve. “My name is Eve.”

The name hit me hard, slicing straight into my chest. I whispered it under my breath, though I did not want to give her the satisfaction. “Eve…”

She stepped closer, her eyes boring into mine. “You look surprised. Damien never mentioned me, did he?”

My stomach twisted into knots. “What do you want from me?”

Her fingers brushed a strand of hair from my face. I flinched away, but the straps dragged me back into place.

“I want you to understand,” she whispered. Her voice was steady, soaked with venom. “Because you don’t belong here. You never did.”

Her words cut deep, though I refused to let her see it. My chest squeezed tight, but I forced my voice out. “Where is Damien?”

Her smile shifted, darkened, twisted into something that made my skin crawl. “Gone. And maybe gone for good… if I have anything to do with it.”

“No.” My pulse pounded so loud it drowned out the lightbulb’s buzz. “You’re lying.”

She leaned down, her lips almost brushing my ear. “Am I?”

My whole body shook. I screamed until my throat burned raw. “Damien! Damien!”

Eve straightened slowly, her laugh soft, almost amused. “He can’t hear you. No one can. And you, little girl, are mine now.”

Her words sliced into me like a blade. Fear clawed at me, but anger fought back, hot and raw. I spat the words back at her, my voice trembling but fierce. “If you touch me, Damien will come for you.”

Her eyes lit with something wicked. “That’s exactly what I’m counting on.”

She turned toward the door, her steps unhurried. The bulb flickered violently, shadows crawling across the walls as she reached for the handle.

The door slammed shut behind her, echoing through the boarded room.

Silence again, heavier, thicker, harder to breathe in.

I yanked at the straps until pain shot down my arms. My wrists ached raw. My chest heaved with every ragged breath. Panic pressed in hard, but underneath it something else stirred. Something sharper. She thought I would break. She thought I was weak. She had no idea.

Damien would come. He had to.

I closed my eyes tight, whispering his name, clinging to it like it was the only thing tethering me to reality.

Then I heard it.

A faint scrape. From the other side of the wall. A shift in the silence.

My eyes snapped open.

I wasn’t alone.

Something or someone was waiting.

And I realized the real nightmare hadn’t even started yet.