29. Raven

Chapter twenty-nine

Raven

I let my head hang low as I feel beads of sweat trickle down my temples. It’s the tenth day I’m held captive in a small, dark room with just a bed, a sink, a toilet in the corner, and a tiny window high up against the wall for ventilation.

If not for the water from the sink and the small, barely-there hand wash I’ve managed to clean myself with, stickiness would be part of the long list of things I feel right now.

I sigh and feel loneliness creep its way into my system, just like it did all those years ago.

Memories drag me back, their weight cold and insistent. I still recall how empty I felt when I realized he wasn’t coming back that day. It was Mother’s death anniversary and he’d just…disappeared—the police reports only sealed the image further.

“Runaway,” they said. A man who hired a car and vanished somewhere on a California highway. It’s a story too simple to make sense, one that stings even now, leaving questions with no hope of answers. I wonder for the millionth time, why? Only he had the answer to that question, and I wish I could ask him.

I wish I could see him again. Sadness dominates me as the thoughts about my father nag my mind.

A sigh escapes me, and in its place, another thought creeps in—one that’s harder to swallow. Maybe, just maybe, Ezra feels this same emptiness, wondering where I am.

I bring myself to a sitting position on the bed, knees tucked to my chest and arms around my knees as the same thing replays in my mind over and over again…like it’d been for the past ten days. I shouldn’t have left.

God. I’m so stupid…

The tears flow uncontrollably down my face and I don’t have the strength to wipe my own tears. I don’t want to. I’m paying the price for my stupidity. Maybe I deserve it. This is what I get for attempting to leave Ezra all alone. In that condition . God knows how he is.

Suddenly, the wooden door yanks open, and I snap my head toward the entrance when the stranger appears— the man I’ve now come to know as Matteo. My stomach coils with disdain as he takes slow steps inside.

Then he tosses a small bowl of porridge on the ground before me. “Eat. So you don’t starve,” he spits.

Now, he looks different from the man I met at the pharmacy, towering above me with an ominous demeanor. I wonder how I missed it. There’s an unmistakable look of detestation in his eyes.

I glance at him and the food, releasing a shaky breath. This has been the usual since he kidnapped me. Most times, he’d yap about how close he and Ezra were years ago and his ultimate, cynical revenge plan, then throw a plate of whatever before me. But today is different, he hasn’t said a word to me.

He turns to slam the door when I stop him.

“He’ll find you.” My voice echoes lowly in the room.

“You fucking bitch. If you don’t shut your mo–”

“Ezra will find you.” The tears continue to pour as I raise my voice. Anger, resentment, regret..everything washes through me when I see the snarl on his face. “And when he does, he’ll ki–”

The words don’t leave my mouth when a resounding slap echoes through the room. Pain shoots through my left cheek, and I taste crimson liquid as my head is forcefully smacked to the side.

The pain doesn’t subside when his hand shoots out, and my hair is yanked backwards with too much force. I let out a scream, groaning as he drags me down from the bed and lowers his face to mine.

“Not if I kill him first,” he grits, and forcefully pushes me to the floor, a small smirk spreading across his face as he rises.

“You know, your fucking boyfriend decided his own fate when he chose to turn his back on me fifteen years ago,” he chuckles, darkly, as I struggle to lift myself to my sitting position. “I spent years crafting the perfect revenge plan…” he trails, eyeing me with a murderous glint.

“I know he’ll come for you, and I’ll make sure he watches you die before I put a bullet in his head,” he snarls.

The room is dead silent as I wipe the blood from the corner of my lips. I hold his gaze for the longest time, then I whisper again, “Fuck you.”

Anger blazes in his orbs, and the back of his palm connects to my face again. “Don’t fucking test me!”

Before I know it, he lunges his leg to kick my belly. I gasp, fear gripping me as I fling both of my hands instinctively against my tummy for protection.

Instantly, his leg halts midway. My hands are shaky when I raise my eyes to meet his, and I see a knowing glint cross his face.

His eyes move from my belly to my eyes, which are still wide in fear, and a slow smirk spreads across his lips. “This is even better. I will ruin every single thing he loves. Starting with you and that little bastard in your tummy.”

I bite my lip to hold back the tears threatening to spill over. Just then, a shadow creeps into the room. I glance at the doorway and freeze.

“You…” I trail off as I lock eyes with the guard who I’ve seen multiple times in Ezra’s mansion. “How are you… why are you here?” I stutter and look at the ground as my brain struggles to make sense of it. Then it clicks.

He was there the day I escaped. He was one of the men who drove me to town when Matteo approached me. “You…” Anger boils in my gut as my eyes meet him again. “You betrayed him?”

He scoffs slightly and shifts his gaze towards Matteo, ignoring me. “Ezra has woken up from his coma.”

Ezra's awake. The words register, and hope begins to blossom in my heart. I instinctively cradle my stomach, thinking about how soon he’ll send someone to find me.

“Good,” Matteo’s voice pierces through my thoughts. “I thought for a second he might actually die from that rookie’s mistake.”

I look up to see him smirking down at me while taking out his phone from his pocket.

“Let’s give him a surprising wake up call, shall we?” he says, with a wicked smile, and lifts the phone to his ear.

Oh, no.