My phone buzzed almost as soon as I put it down. The hope in my eyes glimmered for a moment before dying as soon as I caught the caller ID.
Craig Reed.
She stared angrily at the phone, wanting to put her hand through it and strangle him on the spot.
However, she quietly placed it down the dashboard while switching to airplane mode.
Motherfucker.
Shayna tried to calm her crazy, palpitating heart which felt like it would come out of her ribs. Every reasonable part of her was demanding her to stop the car right there, take a flight to Mexico and never look back again.
Not even when they pimp you out as drug mules ?
The Mexican and the South American mafioso were widely famous of using their own people, sometimes their wives and daughters for drugs extortion.
Munay had told her all about it, not that many years ago. It was kind of like their sleepover, pillow talk. People, mostly drug mules or sex slaves herded like animals in packed ships and extorted.
"I'd much rather be tortured ", Shayna thought, exasperated.
Her car pulled up in a safe distance from the place. If she was gonna be dead, she was going to leave as many cues as she can, for Rebel and Lucas.
A dark suited man was awaiting her at the entry. He quietly put his hand out and Shayna gave her phone away.
The man, however, did not faze. His outstretched hand remained frozen in the sit in front of her, his eyes on her pants.
Shit, he had seen it.
Shayna, very unwillingly, took out her gun from the thigh strap before handing it over to the man. It felt as if the last price of hope inside her had been blown out.
Inside, the place smelled as bad as the underworld she remembered. Rotten smell of flesh, blood and semen hogged the air, making it almost impossible to breath. Near the entrance, she saw black tin boxes which she knew contained various shipments of torture items.
The blindfold on her eyes made her thoughts go suddenly quiet. Her mind relaxed into a weird, numb compliance as if it had given up.
A blood curdling scream sounded somewhere from the side.
Almost too familiar.
She started walking, her palm feeling the other man's palm right on hers. It was cold and greasy, but felt strangely comfortable. She squeezed it, despite herself.
She could feel the hand tense but the grip remained as strong as ever.
She knew it in her heart. He was not going to help her. And by the time, Lucas or Rebel made it, it was already going to be too late.
Don't think that way, Shayna.
She could feel herself getting strapped to a hard, wooden chair and the reassuring hand disappearing into nothingness.
The blindfold lifted and Shayna's eyes widened.
The room was somewhat large as compared to the torture rooms Shayna had witnessed. Her wrists were bound with metal shackles which connected them to the floor, preventing any chance of her escaping.
Tables surrounded her with tools of all kinds. From scalpels to salt and pepper, every inch of it was covered completely.
Tools which I had used not so long ago.
Aman approached from the shadows, and she already knew who it was before he could step in.
Damian Fraser.
Shayna's lips curled.
The last time she had seen him, he was in a dress suit attending his daughter's engagement.
His eyes bored into her, as he walked to her chair, his hands adjusting his cufflinks.
"Tut tut ", he smiled that toothy, horrible grin ," Someone forgot to greet their leader . That's not very respectful, is it ?"
He pressed a button somewhere and a sharp bout of electricity gouged into the chair, sending a wave of pain searing through her.
This chair was fucking electrocuted ?!
Suddenly, the idea of going into hiding did not seem that bad anymore.
"Let me make this clear, bitch ", Damian took a seat right in front of her, lighting his cigarette, " I've not called you here to question you. "
He kicked her right in the stomach as Shayna's chair toppled over, her head striking the floor as blood gushed out of her mouth.
"You're here because I know you had something to do with the fire incident ", he said, getting up to straighten the chair.
My blood ran cold, and I felt as if a thousand needles had suddenly pricked every inch of my skin.
"What are you talking about ?", she whispered, completely forgetting the plan.
A sharp slap descended right onto her cheek, as she spit out more blood.
"Don't you dare speak to me in that tone, you whore ", he snarled ," I know what you did. You hired that bitch to attack my daughter and when it did not work out, she set fire to her own room ".
His hands grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her forwards.
"And then you sent her outside the country to save her from my wrath ", he said, his eyes scanning her face.
Shayna remained silent, though her eyes stared right back at him.
"You whored your way into my nephew's lap to get yourself power ", he spat, zapping her again ," And when you realised that Dmitri was way more powerful, you tried to kill my daughter to get him too. "
What ?!
"But I'm not going to let that happen ", his expressions carved into something ugly .His hand landed on the scalpel on the other table as he examined it carefully.
"You're very proud of those beautiful eyes of yours, aren't you ? Brown, just like my brother had before he died ", his hands remained busy ," Shame that I would have to gouge them out with this beautiful thing here ".
"No", Shayna yelled, giving up. She struggled against her chair, but it was too tight around her arms.
"I love when my victims think they can get out of this ", his back, relaxed. He took a huge puff from his cigarette and released the smoke directly onto Shayna's face as she coughed involuntarily.
"Lucas is not going to forgive you for this ", Shayna yelled angrily, her head jerking behind.
"Huh ?", he smirked, taking out his phone from his pocket, " You really have a lot of trust in him, don't you ?"
His hands dialed Lucas's number as she watched, confused.
What was this man trying to do ?
Lucas picked up on the third ring. She could hear a lot of heavy bar metal music on his side of the phone.
It was 9: 15 am in Scotland which meant it would be around 1 am in San Francisco.
"Uncle, did something come up ?", he asked, his tone almost respectful.
Shayna let out a loud, high-pitched scream hoping that Lucas would recognise her.
"Who's that ?", Lucas asked, sounding almost amused.
"Just one of them scums", Damian laughed, " I was just calling to check on you. What are you doing right now ?"
A heavy high pitched moan came from his side of the phone.
He was with a girl !
Shayna's mouth twitched horribly. Throughout the years, Lucas had always acted obsessively possessive of her, not even allowing her to save other men's numbers on her phone.
And he was fucking another woman in a bar while she sat here dying?
"You seem busy ", Damian chuckled, " I'll call you later. "
"Alright ", Lucas replied, before hanging up.
Shayna's face twisted into pure hatred, as her eyes twitched in anger.
"He's busy", Damian chuckled, though his eyes noted the change of expressions on Shayna's face.
"I can pick every part of you right here with a pair of heated tongs ", he mumbled, loud enough for Shayna to hear, " Or I could leave you here for a month to starve to death. Nobody will ever find your body."
His hands had picked up the scalpel again.
"But where's the fun in that?", his fingers reached onto Shayna's pale skin, making small circles with the fingernails, " It would only be fair you to let you go down just like you came up. "
"Getting raped to death while pleasuring a bunch of our poor, sex deprived people ?", he mumbled loudly.
Shayna finally snapped out of her stupor, her eyes landing on a strange and rather familiar shadow behind him.