Chapter Six: Laina

I sat on a pink bed in a small room, the walls painted a bubblegum pink. My ankle was cold, chained to the foot of the bed so I couldn’t run. I wore pajamas, the same pajamas I’d been taken in. I’d drawn my legs up to my chest, bored out of my wits. I didn’t know how long it’d been, but it felt like years had passed.

Okay, more like a week, tops? Either way, my kidnapper visited me every single day, a few times. He brought me trays of food and took away the empty trays. He never showed his face to me, always wearing black, always wearing that devil mask.

I’d started to refer to him in my head as the Devil. It was easier than calling him my kidnapper each and every time I thought about him—which was a lot, a lot more than I would be willing to admit out loud.

The door to the room unlocked, and it creaked open. My eyes shifted, spotting the Devil standing there, holding onto a dinner tray with what looked like mashed potatoes, beans, and some kind of meat, along with a small can of pop.

He wasn’t starving me, and he wasn’t hurting me. It was… the strangest thing. I’d thought he’d rape me, torture me, do things to me that would make me lose my mind, but he hadn’t laid a single finger on me, so I didn’t know what his game was.

It was the same thing every time. He came close, bent down, put the tray on the ground, and retrieved the one from earlier. When he did that, his eyes weren’t on me. It might be an opening, a tiny one. I had to try. I’d spent the last week accepting the current reality of my situation, but it was time to be proactive.

The Devil walked with a slow, measured pace. Though the mask on his face hid every aspect of it, I knew his eyes were on me as he approached. His hands wore the same black leather they always did, curled around the tray with an iron grip.

If I could get my hands on him, maybe pick up the old tray while he was setting down the new one, whack him upside the head, maybe I could knock him out or daze him long enough to search his pockets for the key to my shackle. An impossible plan that involved a lot of grasping at straws, a plan where every second would count, but I had to try.

I perched myself on the edge of my bed, staring at the mask on his face as he came closer. The old tray was less than a foot away on the floor, the used plate on top, along with an empty bottle of water. He never gave me utensils.

The Devil stopped three feet from my bed, his knees bending as he set the tray down. His head bent as he did so.

“Thank you,” I spoke, mostly to cover up the sound of my shackle moving as I slipped off my bed and landed barefoot on the concrete ground. I moved quickly after that, grabbing the used tray and bringing it toward his head. The plate and plastic bottle slid off the tray as it moved through the air.

But I was too slow, or maybe he’d been expecting it. Either way, his gloved hand curled around my wrist, stopping the tray from hitting him. He stood up, intimidating, so much taller than he’d been moments ago, bent over. His other hand lifted between us, all his fingers but one curling down. He made a tsk-tsk, no-no motion with that finger, cocking his head at me like it was nothing more than an obstinate child.

I dropped the tray, and it was only then that he released me. He pushed me back onto the bed, shaking his head at me. All this time, he refused to say a single word to me. He was silent as ever, and it infuriated me.

“Why am I here?” I shouted the question at him, fed up with this. As much as I hated playing the perfect daughter for my dad, I’d much rather be there than here. I missed daylight. I missed my own bed, my own things, my friends. I missed my life. Hell, I even missed school. I’d give anything to be gossiping about boys right now with Kelly.

He drew a finger along the mouth of his mask, as if zipping it up. He then acted as if he threw the made-up key over his shoulder, his way of saying he’d never tell. The asshole.

“Are you going to keep me here forever?” I didn’t give him the time to answer, instead asking a different, much more important question: “Are you going to kill me?” As brave as I wanted to seem, I couldn’t stop my voice from cracking.

The Devil did something odd then. His head tilted, the movement slow, and behind his mask, he studied me intently. He took a step closer to me, lifted a gloved hand, and before I knew it, he was running that hand down my face, along my cheek. The gesture was almost intimate.

He shook his head at me, wordlessly telling me, no .

I should push him away, should recoil at his touch, but I didn’t. I sat there, gazing into his mask, at the shadows that covered his eyes, unable to do much of anything. Of course, I knew I shouldn’t trust anything he told me—he’d kidnapped me, for fuck’s sake—but I found myself wanting to believe him.

I couldn’t say how long the moment lasted, but eventually he pulled away from me, dropping his hand away from my cheek. He said not a word as he went to pick up the tray I’d tried to hit him with, then the plate and the water bottle. He turned around, walking away from me, leaving me alone yet again.

When he reached the door, I called out, “Wait.”

He stopped, though he didn’t turn around.

“Can I at least get a TV or something in here? It’s so boring. I’m going out of my mind.” A slight exaggeration, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration for long. A person could only spend so much time with nothing but their own thoughts as company before they went mad, and going crazy wasn’t something I wanted to do.

The last thing I saw before he left the room was a single nod of his head. The next time he came to visit me, when he brought me breakfast, he also lugged in an old-fashioned TV on wheels.

I caught myself thinking of my Devil the next day, as I waited for Kelly to come over. My dad was at his office, and Tessa was out somewhere. If it wasn’t for him bringing me that TV, I definitely would’ve gone insane. As it was, when he’d hooked up the TV to an antenna, and I was able to see the local news every night, things had started to change inside me.

I got angry. I got pissed at my dad for using my kidnapping to his advantage in the race. All the press releases, all the shoddy, pathetic attempts at combing through the city to find me… it was all a show. My dad didn’t really care. He got everything he wanted when he won that race, and then a year and a half later, he married Tessa.

What was I to him then, besides a tool he could use? Had he ever loved me like a father should love his daughter? I didn’t know, but I doubted it. How sad was that?

Throughout the day, Kieran kept making comments about Mike. He’d moved in down the hall from my bedroom, to stay close by at all hours of the day. He mostly kept to himself, but he made his presence known, and that irked Kieran to the extreme.

And, in a way, it irked me, as did Kieran’s constant supervision. I was nineteen. I didn’t need a babysitter.Or two.

So, when Kelly arrived, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. When Kieran opened the door to let her in, she pushed past him and practically tackled me in the hall once she saw me. “Oh, my God! I can’t believe you’re here,” she squealed, squeezing me tight. “I really can’t believe it.” She let me go, green eyes widening when she noticed my hair. “Your hair is amazing! I love it.”

Kieran scowled as he closed the front door. Mike was in the kitchen, fixing himself an afternoon snack. He’d been a busy little bee all day, cooking meals left and right, much to Kieran’s annoyance.

What was even more annoying to him, however, was the fact that his meals were good.

Together, we went upstairs, and I let out an audible sigh once my bedroom door was closed and we were inside without Kieran or Mike looming over us.

“Does Kieran live here now?” Kelly asked, plopping herself down on my bed.

“Uh, yeah. It’s a long story.” When Kelly continued to stare at me, waiting for me to tell said story, I went on, “My dad wants him to watch me twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.” Hmm. Guess it wasn’t as long as I thought.

“Oof. That sucks. At least he’s not bad on the eyes,” Kelly spoke, nodding along sagely. If ever there was a boy crazy girl, it’d be her. That much, I saw, hadn’t changed in the last two years. Her light brown hair had gotten longer, but that’s about it.

“He’s not the only one,” I muttered, going to sit next to her. I crawled onto the bed and pulled my feet underneath my ass. “I have another guy in the house who’s supposed to watch me, too.”

“Ooh, is he cute too?”

I let out a chuckle at that. “He’s… not bad, I guess.” If you liked the big, burly, muscly types that could squash you with their pinky, then yeah, Mike wasn’t so bad.

Kelly’s eyes dropped to my left hand, taking in the bandage. “How are you doing? It’s gotta be strange being back. You making it through? I’m sure things are just crazy for you, especially since your kidnapper was never caught.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m doing okay.” A lie. I was one angry ball of flesh and bone, but I was alive, which was more than I could say for a lot of other kidnapped girls in this country.

“Why didn’t you double-tap him when you were escaping? Then at least you’d know he was dead and he’d never come after you again.” Sometimes Kelly could be, uh, let’s just call it abrasive. She was never delicate with her choice of words.

I shrugged. “I was a little busy trying to get away.” I picked at my comforter with my bandage-free hand. Only a few more days with the bandage, though I’d still have to be careful of the healing skin. I was kind of nervous for the day when I had to take it off, not going to lie.

Kelly must’ve realized she said the wrong thing there, because she stayed quiet after that.

“How are you? What have you been up to the last two years? Any boyfriends?” Steering Kelly to talk about boys was always a way to get things back on track.

“I’m a sophomore at ACC now,” she said. “No boyfriends, but let me say, college guys are way better than high school guys—and I mean that in every way. Although, seeing Kieran again makes me wonder if older guys are where it’s at—”

Something in me didn’t like hearing that, and I quickly said, “Please don’t. He’s family now. That would be weird.”

Kelly chuckled at that, thankfully not picking up on my teeny, tiny jealousy. “Oh, come on. He’s your… what? Uncle? And only by marriage. It wouldn’t be that weird for me to hook up with him. Stranger things have happened.”

I really, really didn’t want her to hook up with Kieran. “How is ACC?”

“It’s basically like high school, except my parents are paying out of the ass for it right now. And future me. Loans and all that shit. The parties, though, are way better. You should come to one. I could introduce you to my friends.” Still a party girl, AKA the reason my dad never liked her. Good to see that much hadn’t changed.

“I’d love that,” I said.

She hadn’t been expecting that, because her eyebrows lifted, and she asked, “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’d have to bring Kieran and Mike, but—”

“You really can’t slip out without them, just for one night? You’d be with me, so it ain’t like you’d be going anywhere alone.” She rubbed a finger on her chin, thinking and acting quite dramatic about it. “We’ll plan it out. Don’t worry, girl. I got your back.”

I chuckled. “Thanks. Maybe after I get out of this.” I waved my left hand between us, and I could tell by her face that things suddenly got serious.

Kelly’s voice was quiet as she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. My dad has been trying to get me to talk to a therapist, but… I don’t need to.” No, in fact, if I talked to a professional about what I went through, I didn’t doubt they’d be able to pick up on my lies. They’d know I wasn’t telling the whole truth. Perhaps, even, they’d try to say I’d developed some form of attachment to my Devil, label me with Stockholm syndrome or something.

I went on, “I just want to go back to normal, back to the way things used to be.”

“I get that. Are they making you go back to high school to finish senior year?”

“Thank God, no. They gave my dad an honorary diploma for me, and I guess it’s the real deal.”

Kelly’s mood sprang up. “You could apply at ACC and start next semester. I could tell you what professors to avoid, what classes are cake, and what places hold the best parties. God, yes, yes, yes! You have to. It’s settled.” She clapped her hands together, as if making the decision for me.

Honestly, I thought it might be weird to hang out with Kelly after so long, that she’d act differently around me, but so far, she was the same Kelly. It made me feel good, like, at least in certain parts of my life, I could pick up where I left off.

“I was actually hoping you’d be free tonight,” I said. “I wanted to go out and have some fun downtown. Maybe one of those clubs you were always trying to sneak into?” Back when we were high schoolers and she wasn’t legally allowed to enter the clubs; you had to be eighteen to go in, but that never stopped her.

She inhaled, her green eyes widening. “For real? You want to go out tonight? Hell yeah! Let’s go. I can pick you up, if you want.”

If I was going to try to ditch my bodyguards for a college party, I probably shouldn’t try to ditch them right now. One shot was all I’d have, I bet, and then they’d be glued to my side, watching me like hawks.

“How about we meet there?”

“Okay, yeah. Where do you want to go?”

I slipped off my bed, getting to my feet. “Why don’t you pick and text me the name?” I walked over to the corner of my room, stopping before my walk-in closet. “I do need help picking out an outfit, though.”

Kelly was on her feet after that, rushing toward me with a smile on her face. She couldn’t hide her excitement now, and she pushed past me, walking into the closet and flipping on the light inside.

She started going through my dresses. “Girl, you need to go shopping, ASAP. Some of these are so out of style now, and half of them will totally clash with your hair—” She paused, glancing at me. “—which I love, by the way. I really do. You look like a Barbie doll.”

Being up to date with the latest fashion trends wasn’t something I was interested in. I doubted I’d be able to pull off much of anything with my bandage, anyway—and after the bandage was off and my left hand could breathe once again, well, I’d be rocking nubs where my last two fingers used to be.

No, I’d never kill it, fashion-wise. I’d leave that to Kelly.

“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Kelly mused as she went through my clothes. “You used to be all worried about how you could hurt your dad’s image. I guess now that he’s mayor, you don’t have to worry so much about it.”

Sure, that was one reason. A small reason.

“Honestly, when you got kidnapped, he went ballistic. He did everything he could to find you. The whole city did. I helped. We went door to door, handed out flyers, stapled them everywhere we could, held vigils for you…” She grew quiet, but only for a moment. “Support for him skyrocketed after that. Everything he did to get you back was more press for his campaign. It’s like you got kidnapped at the perfect time.”

Funny she mentioned that. It’s something I’d come to the conclusion of, too, hence why I wasn’t so concerned with my dad’s public image… and also why I wanted to act out and make a fool out of him.

Kelly sucked in a breath. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay,” I told her, meaning it. “I’m sure winning the race helped keep my dad sane while I was gone.”

“Totally.” Kelly pulled out a black dress. “How about this one?” She offered it to me.

It was a short black number I’d originally gotten for some school dance, back when all I had to worry about was blending in and being a good daughter, not showing too much skin and not letting any boy take advantage of me and catching me in a compromising position. It ended just above the knee, strapless, simple in its design but pretty in the way it hugged your body once it was on.

“This could work,” I said, nodding along. I hung the dress on the door behind me as Kelly started to dig through my shoes, finding a pair of heels to go with it. She found a pair of pink pumps and handed them to me. The hue of the heels was a shade darker than the pink in my hair, but in a dark club, they’d look the same.

Kelly and I walked out of my closet. I set the heels on the floor while she was busy saying, “This is so exciting. The last thing I thought we’d be doing is going out tonight, but I’m so here for it. Live your best life, you know?”

I nodded. “Yeah, my best life.”

Kelly stayed for another hour. We sat on my bed and caught up with life. She obviously did most of the talking, while I sat there and listened, every once in a while asked a question or two. Kelly could talk for hours about herself; it was one of her semi-endearing qualities, why I’d stuck to her in school and dubbed her my best friend. In the past, I’d lived vicariously through her, but now…

Now it was my turn to live, my turn to do what I wanted, my turn to act up and be bad, maybe even a little naughty.

When it was time for her to go, I walked her out. She gave me another hug before going, and I waved at her as she backed up her car and left. She told me she’d message me the name of the club once she got home and picked it out. Frankly, I couldn’t wait to go out and have some fun.

Fortunately, there were no reporters hanging around, trying to get a scoop today. I bet we’d seen the last of them. Maybe my dad had some choice words for them and scared them into leaving us alone.

Heading back inside the house, I found Kieran standing in the hall, leaning against the wall, a suspicious look on his face. “I’m pretty sure I heard you two talking about going out tonight,” he said. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Eavesdropping on us, Kieran? That’s not a good look.” I started to walk past him, my intent to head upstairs, but right then I happened to smell something faint wafting from the kitchen, so I decided to follow my nose instead. What was Mike making now?

“Please, where Kelly is concerned, I think eavesdropping should be the least of your worries.” Kieran trailed after me. “She’s not… I don’t think she’s changed much, Laina. In fact, I’m reasonably certain she’s gotten worse.”

“And how would you know?” I tossed him a glare.

“I don’t know for sure, but I can guess. I just… I don’t want you to bite off more than you can chew. I know you’re eager to live a little after your ordeal, but this city isn’t exactly the best place for someone like you to go out and party—”

The smell grew stronger the closer I got to the kitchen, and when I stepped into the wide-open space, I saw Mike pulling something out of the oven. The mixer was pulled out, along with a mess of ingredients on the counter. On the other side of the stove top sat cooling trays full of cookies.

“Someone like me?” I repeated, avoiding frustration solely due to the fact that there were warm cookies waiting for me. “What’s that supposed to mean?

I mean, they weren’t for me specifically, but I was going to have some, anyway. And if I wasn’t allowed… well, let’s just say I wasn’t afraid to fight the mountain man for them. I bounced over to the cooling tray and snatched one up, bringing the cookie to my mouth and biting off a huge chunk. The rest of the cookie hadn’t quite cooled fully, so it crumbled apart in my hands, and I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling to myself as I tried to catch the crumbling cookie pieces in my hand.

Mike’s hazel eyes were on me, and I swore I heard him mutter something about “That’s why you let them cool first,” but Kieran had followed me into the kitchen and was trying to defend what he’d said before, so I couldn’t really hear him.

“You’re the mayor’s daughter. His only daughter. His only child. You just escaped from a two-year kidnapping—which most people would call a miracle,” Kieran rattled off, leaning on the island countertop as he watched me struggle to eat the crumbling cookie. “All I’m saying is, you should try to get back into the swing of things before you go out and party with Kelly. I don’t think your father would appreciate you going out with her, anyway.”

I finished up the cookie, sending Kieran a glare. “I’m not a kid. I’m nineteen now, so if I want to go out and party, that’s what I’m going to do. He can’t control me any more… and neither can you.”

At that, Mike tossed a glance Kieran’s way, his brown eyebrows lifting somewhat.

Prickling at the look from Mike, he said, “I never tried to control you. He told me to go get you, so I went and got you, dragged you back home. Why are you still so salty about that?”

“I’m done having this conversation, Kieran.” I gave him my back and plucked another cookie off the cooling tray. Warm, gooey goodness filled my mouth again soon enough, and my ears heard Kieran huff and puff and storm out of the kitchen.

Wanting to change the subject and talk about something else, I said, “These are good. Did you make them from scratch?” I turned my head to look at Mike, and it occurred to me then just how huge he was. Up until now, I didn’t think I’d actually stood beside him before. Now that I was, I could comprehend just how massive the guy was.

Actually, I think the word massive was an understatement when it came to him. What was bigger than massive? Ginormous? Whatever. He was huge. Like four of me could melt down and make him. Well over six feet, he was at least a foot and a half taller than me. And the muscles on him were just… impressive.

All Mike did was nod. He was in the process of rolling new balls of dough onto the cooking sheet.

“I wouldn’t peg someone like you as a chef,” I noted, eyes dipping low to the imprint of the gun on his side, beneath his shirt.

He said nothing, which seemed to be his thing.

“You keep making all this stuff, you’re gonna get me fat,” I spoke, going for a third cookie. It was eaten, practically devoured whole, within a minute, and as I swallowed the last bite of the cookie, I saw his eyes had flicked to me.

“You need to gain some weight,” he finally broke his silence.

I bent my head down, looking at myself, then back up to him. “What? No, stop it. I’m fine.” I didn’t think I was too skinny. It wasn’t like I was skin and bones… but it was also true there was no muscle on me, nothing to give my frame a bit of heft. I was pretty much the same size I’d been years ago.

Wanting to change the subject again, I pursed my lips as I watched him take the fully-prepped tray containing a new round of cookies and put it in the oven. His phone sat on the counter near the bowl of remnant dough, and he set a timer on it.

“How tall are you, exactly?” When Mike didn’t answer me, I asked, “How much do you weigh?”

That got him to shoot me a weird look. I had the feeling it was tough getting him to speak.

“You don’t like to talk, huh? Why not? Come on, I don’t bite.” I gave him my best innocent look, batting my eyelashes up at him in an overly dramatic way. I wouldn’t say I was trying to flirt, but, I supposed, if a third party happened to hear my tone, they might think I was. “Talk to me, Mike. If we’re going to spend a lot of time with each other, we should get to know each other, don’t you think?”

I thought it was a perfectly reasonable request, but Mike was unimpressed, and he said not a word. He did turn toward the sink and rinse off his hands, though, and I watched him do it. He was so tall, so wide, that every move he made was intimidating. Like, you had to watch him, otherwise he could snap and turn on you and kill you within seconds.

“How many people have you killed?” The question was spoken quietly, and I knew it was something I shouldn’t wonder about, but after these past two years… I did.

“I don’t know” was his reply.

“Do you think I could kill someone?” As I asked it, I didn’t have anyone in particular in mind, but I did think about how angry I’d been in that room, watching my dad win the race and become mayor, knowing he’d used my kidnapping to do it. It made me so unbelievably furious, even now, I liked to think I was capable of a lot of unspeakable things.

Mike let out a long sigh as he studied me. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

I smiled, although it was mostly a bitter smile. “One day, you and I will have an actual conversation. Today might not be that day, but it looks like you’ll be here for a while, so you better mentally prepare yourself to be chatty with me.”

My feet drew me away from him, away from his cookies. I’d come down and grab a few more later. When I emerged into the hall adjacent to the kitchen, I saw Kieran standing there, his arms folded, and I rolled my eyes at him as I walked by him.

“Do we need to have another conversation about eavesdropping?” I hissed, heading to the grand staircase.

He followed me up. “I don’t trust him with you, so I think I’ll eavesdrop on every conversation you and that guy have.” The tone he took… he almost sounded jealous—but that was silly. There might be some weird tension between us, but that didn’t mean he got jealous over other guys speaking to me.

“He seems like an all right guy.” I shrugged. “I trust him.” Once I reached the second floor, I started for my room. I slowed to a halt in the hall, about ten feet away from my bedroom door. The hall was a little dark, the light off overhead, the only thing illuminating the space was the sunlight streaming in through the two-story window that faced the grand staircase.

Kieran whispered, his voice low, “I think you trust too easily.”

Measured in turning to face him, I found he stood less than two feet away from me, a serious expression on his face. It struck me then; he really was a good-looking guy. Why didn’t he have a girlfriend? Was it because my dad kept him too busy all these years, or because of something else?

I didn’t know what got into me, what made me do it, but I found myself stepping closer to him, my voice dropping an octave as I murmured, “I trust you. Are you saying I shouldn’t?”

He let out an uneven breath, and since his head was angled down to mine, I felt the warmth of that breath blossom on my face. “I would never hurt you, Laina,” he spoke, lifting a hand to my arm, running his fingers up along that arm until they reached my shoulder, where they stopped. “I would rather burn this city to the ground than hurt you.”

Out of all the things he could’ve told me, he said that? Way to go to the extreme, dude. Still, it was kind of sweet in a weird, violent way. Maybe after being kept in a tiny room these last two years, my idea of romance had shifted a little bit. The way to my heart wasn’t roses and chocolate; it was promises of violence.

Because I couldn’t take the serious look he was giving me, I took a page out of his book and gave him a flippant response: “I’ll let you know if I ever need something burned to the ground, then.” And then I turned and finished walking to my bedroom, shutting the door to stop him from following me.

My heart beat hard in my chest after that, emotions threatening to rise to the surface inside. Crushing on Kieran was a bad, bad idea. I wanted to use him if I could, to get back at my dad, but developing real, genuine feelings for the guy… now that was going too far.