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She refuses to take it back, smiling and enclosing my hand with her own. “I have more in my savings account, I’ll be fine. And I have to make sure that you guys will be too, okay?”
A couple tears stream down my face, and all I can do is mouth, “Thank you,” scared that if I try to say anything it’ll just come out as a sob.
“Alright, Annalise,” Sienna says, pulling away from me. “It’s time to go. I’ll go and get the girls.”
“Okay,” I reply, my voice barely above a whisper. Taking one last look around the room, I lift my chin and square my shoulders, ready to face whatever comes next.
I push the door open, gasping when I see a tall figure, dressed entirely in black, standing behind it.
We’re too late.
“Sienna, run!” I scream, attempting to close the door in the man’s face. His foot stops it from closing fully. “Take the girls and get out the window!”
“Quiet,” the man hisses, his words like ice on my skin. He moves closer, and I can see the cruel glint in his eyes. Panic rises in my chest, and every instinct urges me to run, but my body is frozen in place, paralyzed by terror.
I can’t run and leave my girls.
The adrenaline starts rushing in me, and my eyes dart quickly before I grab the lamp on the table, beside the door, and go to smash it over his head. He sees it coming and grabs ahold of my wrist, putting just enough pressure that I let out a painful yelp and the vase falls from my hand.
“Wrong move,” he whispers darkly before pulling me tightly against his chest, pulling something from out of his pocket.
Is that a needle?
Before I can react, he plunges the needle into my neck, the sharp pain making me gasp. My vision blurs, and I clutch at my throat, feeling my strength ebbing away as the drug courses through my veins. As my legs give way beneath me, I crumple to the ground, helpless and terrified.
What was in that syringe?
I should have left sooner…I should have…
My last conscious thought is of my children, their sweet faces filling my mind as the encroaching darkness swallows me whole.
My eyes flutter open, the disorientation of waking up in new surroundings washing over me like a tidal wave. The room is bathed in a soft, golden light from the delicate chandelier hanging above the four-poster bed. The silk sheets beneath me feel foreign against my skin, a stark contrast to the modest linens back at our small apartment.
“Where am I?” I murmur, my voice barely audible as I sit up and take in my surroundings. The walls are adorned with intricate tapestries, and the scent of roses lingers heavily in the air. As I glance around, it becomes apparent that this place is not just unfamiliar; it’s luxurious. And entirely unsettling.
Realization hits me as my memories come coursing back, and with them, a sense of urgency and fear.
Just how long have I been knocked out? Too long.
“Girls?” I call out tentatively, my heart pounding in my chest. Panic sets in, my breaths coming in shallow gasps as the weight of my situation presses down on me.
“Girls!” I yell, louder this time, desperation clawing at my throat. My mind races. Were they taken too? Of course they were. That’s who they wanted.
I didn’t actually expect them to answer, but a part of me was hoping that this was all some cruel nightmare and when I woke up, Gina and Franny would be curled up in the bed with me.
Cold sweat beads on my forehead, and my hands tremble as I search the room for an escape. The luxurious drapery and extravagant furnishings are a cruel mockery of my current situation. I can’t help but feel like a prisoner in a gilded cage.
There’s a window to the left of me, and I run over to that first. It doesn’t take me long to realize it’s been bolted shut, not that it mattered. Even if I were able to get out, I wouldn’t leave without my daughters.
There are two doors here.
Yeah, like they’re going to throw me in here where I can easily walk away.
Even so, I have to try.
The first door I try, surprisingly, opens when I turn the knob. Hope surges through my chest as I push the door open. But that hope vanishes once I realize it’s just a bathroom.
A bathroom nicer than any I’ve ever been in before.
