AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At the end of the meal, Payton wiped his mouth and said, “You all were going to tell me what’s going on here.”
Before we could speak, my cuff gave a buzz that everyone could hear. It was painless, but my experience the other day with Kaden still made me jump. I looked down and read my message: Show him his room. Tell him what is expected of him.
With an irritated sigh, I said, “I’m supposed to show him around. Me again.”
Elise snorted. “Maybe don’t get this one killed, huh?”
“What?” Payton croaked, staring at Elise.
Elise waved a hand at him. “Go on. Follow the little china doll. Make sure you don’t break her.”
I stood and tossed my napkin down and glared at her. “I didn’t break when I beat the shit out of you the other day.”
Her face went red. The bruises I’d left on her were fading but still there. Without waiting on her to figure out a comeback, I patted Payton on the arm. “Come on.”
He stood and continued to look between me and Elise and then at Drake, as though he wasn’t entirely sure what he should do.
Drake gave him a reassuring nod. “Go with Dahlia. You’ll be fine.”
Leaving the table, he followed me into the hallway. Once we were away from the dining room, I slowed my pace. “Where did you wake up? In a room?”
Kaden had showed up from outside. I wondered if he’d come from somewhere else.
Payton nodded. “Yeah. A room. Upstairs. It wasn’t a bedroom though. It was like a living room or something. Lots of books, and a fireplace.”
I frowned, even more confused. “The library?”
“You could call it that.”
“No, that’s literally what it’s called. The library.”
Payton shook his head. “What is this place? Can you please tell me?”
I decided to be as truthful as I could. If I gave him more information than Sam thought he should have, I was sure to get a shock. But he hadn’t done anything to me, and I didn’t want him to be another victim. Why not let him know what he was in for?
I took a deep breath and met his eyes. He wasn’t much taller than me. His large brown eyes were full of confused terror, but he was doing a good job of masking it. If nothing else, this guy was more even-tempered than Kaden had been.
“We’ve all been kidnapped. A person or persons is holding us here; we aren’t sure how many people are involved.”
He gaped at me. “What? Why? What did we do wrong? Who are they?”
“No clue. The only name we have for the one who talks to us is Sam. And that’s our made up name for him. Again, it could be more than one person, but we don’t know. That’s not the worst of it,” I said, and winced slightly, waiting for the warning buzz, but none came. “You’ll be made to do things. Bad things.’
He swallowed hard, Adam’s apple bobbing, and glanced around again. “Like?”
“Torture people. Kill them,” I said plainly. “So far, they’ve been horrible people but…” I thought about Kaden only wanting to get out and shook my head. “Not always. If you don’t do what the guy wants, you get punished.” I raised my wrist so he could see the device. “Electric shock or he gasses you. Other options for disobedience are your housemates, um, take care of you. Punishments and stuff. Get it?”
He was breathing faster and his pupils had dilated. “Are you being serious right now?”
“I wish I wasn’t. Come on. I’ll show you around a little. That way you know where to go when you get your orders.”
Payton followed, as obedient as a puppy, while I gave him a quick tour of all the different rooms. At the end of the hall, after I showed him the gym and then the bedrooms, he touched my shoulder. When I turned, he looked even more confused.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I don’t see how you all can live like this. Why don’t you fight back or something?”
“I told you, these things on our wrists. He can hurt us badly enough to knock us out from the pain. Trust me, I’ve been there, it’s not fun.”
