27. Kitty
27
KITTY
“ I don’t know why you’re doing this!”
Using all my strength, I shoved Anton the moment he unbound my hands, but all it earned me was a slap to the face that sent me reeling back into the wall.
“One more word out of you and the next time you beg to go to the bathroom, I’ll ignore you and you can use the trash can in the room.”
The urge to argue back rose like the blood spilling across my tongue from where my teeth caught on my cheek, but I resisted. Partly because I was bursting to relieve myself, and partly because I didn’t doubt Anton in his threat.
“Fine.” I turned and strode into the bathroom, but when I expected Anton to close the door, he didn’t. He stood there, watching me with narrowed eyes, and I paused at the toilet.
“Some privacy, please?”
“Nope.”
“Can you at least turn around, or are you some kind of pervert?”
Anton rolled his eyes, then he slowly turned around. It wasn’t ideal, but my bladder was so full that I didn’t care at this point. I kept my skirt bunched around my waist and huddled over the toilet to pee.
“You could at least tell me why you’re doing this,” I said tightly, trying to distract myself from the noise. “You forced your way in here last night and then just locked us up. Why? What’s your goal here?”
“My goal?”
“Yes. I told you there was nothing you could do about the deal until after Christmas, and this isn’t a protest. This is a crime! And another thing, the people you brought with you? Who even are they?”
“They come from out of town.”
“Out of… why are there people from out of town here? What do they even care?”
“Everyone cares, Kitty,” Anton sighed, exasperated. “People like your father that think they can just carve up the land for their next deal as if this world belongs to them. We might not be from here, but we give Mother Nature a voice. We are her destructive voice, and when the easy tactics don’t work, we take it to the next level.”
I cleaned myself up quickly and washed my hands. “And the next level is hostage taking?”
As I finished, I scooped some of the liquid soap into my hand and turned slowly toward Anton.
“Is it really hostage taking when you’re on our side?” Anton turned around and faced me with a smirk. “Or do your parents still not know about your role in this?”
“I have no role,” I hissed. “This? This is too far. You’ve hurt people, Anton. I saw what your people did to the gate guard. We heard the gunshots. This is insanity . Do you really think kidnapping the mayor does any good for the cause?”
Anton shrugged. “It’s pretty fucking badass, though.”
“Is that all you care about?”
Anton smirked and grabbed my arm. “Tree hugging gets boring. We prefer a more aggressive way to negotiate the downfall of corporate greed.”
As Anton walked forward, pulling me with him, I quickly raised my hand and slapped my soap-filled palm into his eyes. Anton yelled and stumbled backward, releasing my arm. I moved with him, shoving as much of the soap into his eyes as I could, then I turned around and sprinted down the hallway toward the kitchen. The front door was a no-go, but if I could make it out onto the patio, then I stood a chance.
“Get her!” Anton yelled behind me between his screams of pain. “Fucking get her!”
My heart hammered as loudly as the footsteps thundering after me. I was pursued immediately, but that didn’t stop me from throwing my whole body into the sprint.
I had to get out of here.
We’d been prisoners for hours. I missed dinner with Melanie. Did she notice? Would she be worried? Or would she brush it off as an assumption that my parents were still nuclear?
Reaching the kitchen, I used both hands on the door to shove it open and for a second, I glimpsed the glass door leading outside. I would have made it had my foot not caught on something soft as I was running. I stumbled and glanced down.
A sickening wave of nausea pulled sharply through my gut, and my heart punched into my bruised throat, strangling off my next breath. Then, a blood-curdling scream tore from my lungs. A second later, one of the protestors charged into the kitchen and crashed into me, knocking me clean off my feet.
I fell hard onto the tiled floor and landed in the cold, congealed puddle of blood that surrounded Paul’s pale, motionless body.
Was he… dead?
I screamed again as an iron tang in the air filled my lungs, and then suddenly, there was blood all over me. It smeared on my hands, soaked into my clothes, and stained my skin as I scrambled away from the body.
Please don’t be dead!
I had no idea how long he had been lying there. The entire day? Longer?
The man who crashed into me violently grabbed my underarms and hauled me to my feet, but the sudden motion unlocked the nauseating pressure in my gut. I spun around and as I faced him, I spewed a few mouthfuls of bile all over him.
He screeched in disgust and shoved me away, yelling obscenities I could barely hear. I stumbled and hit the counter, then faced the sink in time for my last mouthful to hit the ceramic.
Anton was serious.
We were in real danger here.
And no one knew.
“You fucking bitch!” Anton grabbed my arm just above my elbow as I coughed and sobbed, smearing my blood-stained hands on my clothes. He slapped me hard across the face, twice, then grabbed a fistful of my hair and jerked my head upward.
I could barely breathe. My chest burned, and my stomach cramped so painfully that I wanted to double over. I had no control over my tears, and as I stared up into Anton’s soap-smeared, red-rimmed eyes, I feared for a moment that he was going to kill me.
“Pull a stunt like that again and you’ll end up just like him, understand?” Anton snarled. “Remember, you’re only useful to me until Daddy signs on the dotted line.”
Paul was dead .
And I could be next.
I remained silent all the way back to the study Anton had been keeping me in with my parents. I couldn’t get Paul’s blood off my hands, no matter how hard I rubbed my palms against my skirt. It was like a stain, crimson seeping into every wrinkle and crease along my hands.
We reached the study, and when Anton opened the door, my mom screamed.
“Kitty! Oh, my God, what did he do to you? What did you do, you monster?” Mom ran forward, and I hurried into her arms, trying to calm her through my tears.
“I’m okay,” I gasped. “Really, I am. It’s not my blood.”
“Not your blood?” Dad demanded. “What the hell do you mean?”
“Paul,” I sobbed. “I think he’s…” I couldn’t say the word. It would make it too real.
“We won’t hurt Kitty,” Anton said. “Why would we hurt one of our own?” With a cold smirk, he left the room and the lock clicked sharply back into place.
“One of his own?” Dad approached with a deep frown on his face. “What does he mean?”
“Do you really think that matters right now?” Mom snapped, taking my forearm and guiding me toward the couch. “Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”
“A slap or two, but it’s fine,” I murmured, still haunted by the image of Paul’s pale face.
“But what did he mean?” Dad pressed. “Honey, it could be important. Are you working for him or something?”
Slowly, I lifted my gaze. “Sort of.”
Mom paused her attempted cleaning of my hands with her pocket handkerchief. “What?”
“The people he’s with… I mean, it was never supposed to go this far. I was just helping them to try and get you to listen, Dad. I wanted to save the town, and they were doing things that actually had an impact, so I wanted to help because I thought it would change your mind.”
“You complete idiot!” Dad yelled. “You’re working with those people?”
“I was!” I yelled back. “Sure, I told them things. I wanted them to stop you because you weren’t listening to anyone. But I… I stopped. A few weeks ago was my last contact.”
“And those death threats, fake to persuade me, I suppose?” Dad growled.
“No. No, those were real. I was only in contact with a few, and it was a secret, so I… yeah, those were real.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” Mom said hurriedly. “Not right now.”
“What else is there to worry about?” Dad snapped. “We’re locked in here, prisoners in our own home. Our security team failed because these monsters were let in by our own daughter who now sits there and tries to justify it?”
“Samuel!” Mom raised her voice so sharply that I flinched. “Now is not the time, do you hear me? So our daughter acted out. I can’t say I blame her. For months now, you have been so far from the man I married that I’m sure you no longer feel like a father to her! No wonder she ran into the arms of that man.”
Mom’s hands trembled around mine as she shook her head.
“Now, if he had been here? I’m sure this never would have happened, but you— we —both overreacted because we don’t want to look at the truth.”
Dad began pacing back and forth. “You’re talking nonsense.”
“Am I?” Mom stood abruptly. “Take a look around. There are no shareholders here. No leeches. It’s just us and some dangerous men who will do something terrible if you don’t do what you want them to! So tell me, why? What reason do we have to keep up with this charade?”
“Honey—”
“No!” Mom continued on. “Look at your daughter, Samuel. The lengths she has gone to in order to make you listen, and yes, while I don’t agree with all of Kitty’s choices, this one I can see as a huge cry for help! No deal is worth this, do you hear me?”
I was surprised Mom was even on my side after how she reacted to catching Rook and me, but maybe this had put things in perspective for her. I couldn’t be sure, but it was nice to hear her support me.
“She’s right, Dad,” I said quietly. “Look around. We love you, but right now, we don’t even like you. No one does. Not in town. Not here. What they did to Paul—” My throat closed and I winced. “They will do that to us, and for what? Is this stupid deal really worth all of this?”
“You don’t understand.” Dad turned away from us and stalked toward his desk. “I won’t be bullied into submission.”
“Bullied?” Mom shook her head and sank further down next to me with a deep sigh. “Honey. I love you, but you… you are so stupid sometimes. Stupid and–and blind. If you aren’t going to give them what they want, then what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Dad said. “I’m working on it.”
Mom ground her teeth so hard that my spine recoiled at the sound. He really wasn’t budging. Was this it, the end for me and my family?
I clutched at my mom’s hands, suddenly feeling very small.
“Mom?”
“Yes, dear?” She looked at me with such warmth and fear that my heart broke.
“I’m pregnant,” I said softly. “And I want to be with Rook. I want to spend my life with him. If I get out of this alive, that’s what I’m going to do. Do you understand?”
Mom’s eyes flooded with tears, and even Dad’s steps faltered, but he didn’t turn around.
“You’re pregnant?” she gasped in a hushed voice as if it were a secret we had to keep.
I nodded.
“And you’re happy about it?”
“Very. We both are.”
“Samuel.” Mom stood as straight as a rod. “You stop this. You stop this right now, you hear me? I don’t give a shit about the money or the lawsuits or the shareholders. You stop this i mmediately . Give them what they want. Give them the whole estate, for all I care. You stop this now. Do you understand?”
Dad didn’t turn around.
“Are you listening to me? Samuel! Our baby is having her own baby, our grandchild! Nothing else matters now. You hear me? Nothing!”
The door suddenly burst open and Anton strode in, flanked by a couple of men. Mom clutched at my hands and moved to step in front of me as my dad cowered at his desk.
“Mr. Mayor.” Anton bowed low. “You ready to sign those papers yet? One little signature and we all go home happy, don’t you think?”
“I won’t,” Dad said stubbornly. “You can’t intimidate me. I am the mayor!”
“Ooh,” Anton mocked while his friends laughed. “Really? You won’t do a solid for good old Mother Nature?”
“No.”
My mother whimpered and then all hell broke loose. The three men with Anton surged forward and grabbed me, hauling me up from the couch. I fought to keep ahold of my mom’s hand as she yelled for me, but they roughly dragged us apart. Arms gripped my shoulders and my waist, hauling me backward as my mom cried.
“Where the hell are you going with my daughter?” Dad roared.
“Shoulda signed the papers, man,” Anton snorted before kicking the door shut.