More childhood memories attack me from the days my mother was alive and then later when Lucius brought me to live with him. Back then, the pantry was a hiding place and a shelter from the cold mausoleum that had scary echoes whispering from every corner.
Shaking my head, I bring the phone to eye level, scrolling down for the number I need. I’m interrupted by a thud outside the door, as if a sack of bricks just hit the floor.
Cautiously, I open the door a crack to take a peek outside. I have to get down to the ground and look under the hutch to see if anyone is in the kitchen. There’s nothing, no feet, just the empty kitchen. I’m about to close the door when I feel a breeze. Someone has opened a window. I listen closely and can hear the lazy dance of the curtains.
There’s a sinking in my bones and I trust it. I slowly push the hutch away from the door and squeeze out from behind it. I walk through the kitchen and out into the hallway. I immediately spot one of my uncle’s personal security men, already on duty in his dark suit and glasses. Johnny. I’ve spoken with him a couple of times. Lucius trusts Johnny with his life.
Johnny waves me over as soon as he spots me.
“Where is Lucius going so early?” I ask as that would be the only logical explanation for Johnny to be standing by the kitchen at six in the morning.
“Your uncle asked me to take you to him,” Johnny says, extending an arm to show me the way.
This doesn’t feel right. How would Johnny know I was up already or where to find me? And why wouldn’t Lucius just call me or text me?
I decide to play along but keep alert in case there’s something off. “Where is my uncle?” I ask casually.
“Just follow me.”
“Now’s not a good time, Johnny.”
“I was afraid you would say that.”
Almost simultaneously something heavy and pointed strikes my right shoulder blade from behind, causing my eyes to blur. I feel the sharp tip of a needle pricking the muscle on top of my shoulder. I spin around and punch the goon holding the syringe on the jaw as my vision begins to spin.
I stumble on my feet for a moment, reaching for my gun, as a terrible pain races from my spine to the top of my head.
Johnny’s gun is already on me before I can get to mine. “Sorry, Jaxson,” he says, searching my pockets until he finds my gun. “Orders are orders.”
“Whose orders? My uncle’s?”
Johnny motions to the two guards that enter my blurred field of vision to take me away. After only a few steps, I know where they’re taking me. My mouth goes dry and my legs weaken but I retain consciousness.
*
I’m in a basement cell again. Counting time along with the pulsing beat that’s splitting my head in two. It’s a joke how easily I was overpowered. Carter was right, I’ve become a powder face.
The last time Lucius threw me in a cell in the basement was over four years ago when I first stated I wanted out. He left me down here for days with barely any food and only small amounts of water until I recanted.
When I finally managed to leave the organization, this kind of authority over me came to an end, but now I’ve fucking given it back to him when I promised him loyalty once again. How long will he let me rot this time? Hours? Days? Weeks? Did he fucking find out what I was planning to do? But how? I haven’t told a soul yet. He’d have to read my mind to know. Or… I stop that thought, there’s no way I’m letting myself believe he got to Ella somehow.
When Elaine Parker shows up, I begin to understand that something else is going on, something far graver than me being imprisoned for a day or two. Why else would she be here? She’s an administrative employee. She takes care of matters on the outside, not deep in the ugly basement side of things.
Elaine stands outside the cell, saying nothing. Her face is pale, her eyes piercing through me, trying to communicate without words.
“That bad?” I say with a grin.
“Your uncle wants to make an example out of you,” she says. There’s way too much emotion in her voice. I don’t think I can handle an emotional Elaine. I like her better when she’s being a calculated bitch.
I nod, resting my head against the wall. I’m being unfair. Elaine has taken my side more than once against my uncle even if in the end she always ended up giving in to his pressure.
“I tried to talk him out of it, Jax.”
“I know you did,” I say, feeling too tired already. When Lucius gets something in his head, there’s no stopping him.
“There’s maybe one thing you could do.”
“Yeah. I know. They might have mentioned it a few hundred times.”
Elaine sighs. “If only you weren’t so stubborn.”