“Drink.”
Noah shoves the bottle into my face and glares at me. I’d resist if I weren’t so damn thirsty. Reluctantly, I part my lips but as I tip my head up to accept the water flow, he tilts the bottle too far. It spills out too fast and washes over my face, flooding my mouth to the point that I have to gulp desperately to get any of it before it all pours away. The bottle empties in a handful of seconds and then he tosses it aside. The plastic bounces on the metal floor and the sound echoes around me. Then he walks away, but not far.
I’m not sure where I am, but since we arrived here he’s kept me bound to a rusty metal chair at the bottom of some kind of tank. In my hours alone here, I tried to work out what this was due to the pipes running along the walls and the holes above me that look rusted beyond belief. Maybe water was held in here, or some chemical, judging by how the air carries no scent but stings each time I breathe in.
“Asshole,” I croak as he strides away.
Noah stops in his tracks and turns back to me. He reaches me in a few steps then strikes me across the face. “You’re lucky I give you anything at all!”
“Lucky?” I gather saliva and fresh blood with a swipe of my tongue and then spit it toward him as my tired heart hammers beneath my aching ribs. “How is it lucky that you’ve locked me up here and finally remembered to give me water more than once?”
“You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet,” Noah growls. He carries a handgun in one hand and his knuckles flex slightly when he tightens his grip. That gun stopped scaring me a while ago, although without a clock and sunlight, I can’t really tell how long it’s been.
“Why haven’t you killed me yet, huh?” I press. “Are you keeping me here for entertainment?”
“Entertainment?” He scoffs, looking me over. “Nah. Nah. I just need time. Time to think. And you give me time. So. Yeah. Time.” He stumbles away from me again. “Just time to make a plan, that’s all.”
“A plan? For what, me?”
He ignores me, keeping his back turned.
“Or a plan for you?”
“I don’t need a plan,” Noah mutters. “I know what I’m doing. It’s been good so far. Really good.”
“Has it, though?” It’s not the brightest idea to question the man with the gun, but he’d left me alone for hours, denying me the chance to get any answers. If I’m going to die here, I want to know why.
“It has.” He glances back at me. “I just need some more time and then everything… everything will be fine.”
“Are you too scared?” I taunt. “Can’t bring yourself to kill me, is that it? Because if you’re planning on just letting me starve here, the water was a stupid move.”
Noah is suddenly back next to me with his hand around my throat, glaring down into my eyes. “Shut the fuck up! You’re all the same, fucking sluts getting in the way of everything. It would have been so easy, so fucking easy if she’d just—” He cuts himself off and glares in silence.
I can’t breathe. My lungs try to inflate, forcing a painful pull from my bruised ribs, but there’s no air to be had. Clenching my hands into fists, I pull tight against the cold, wet rope keeping me bound, but my skin is so raw from previous struggles that I don’t have the strength to struggle again. Just as dark spots dance in front of my eyes, Noah releases me and I sag forward. Harsh, raspy coughs erupt from my chest and each desperate breath tastes like iron.
“Oh, yeah,” I croak when I lift my head. “Blame your actions on a woman. Pretty sure the only one responsible for killing anyone here is you. Or did Brenden just fall onto that knife?”
“Brenden?” Noah slaps me hard across the face, snapping my head to the side so forcefully that a stabbing pain lances through my neck. “The fuck do you know about Brenden? That fucking prick.”
“I know you killed him,” I gasp, straightening myself. My lower lip swells with heat. “And I know he took your girlfriend.”
Noah freezes, and a strange, cold look enters his eyes. “Fucking Holly. Fucking bitch. I loved her, y’know? I knew she was a fucking slut but she was mine, and I was gonna give her such a good life. Then she decided I wasn’t good enough. Imagine! A whore saying I’m not good enough. If I’d paid her enough, she’d have begged for me.”
He rambles and starts to pace back and forth. Clearly, I’ve touched on a sore spot, but if it gets more information out of him, then I’m relieved.
“And then!” He spins to face me, brandishing the gun, and I shrink back, fearing the explosive pain of a bullet. Thankfully, he doesn’t pull the trigger. “Imagine my fucking surprise when she decides that oh, I’m not good enough for her but fucking Brenden Gifford is!”
“That must have hurt,” I say cautiously.
“It did! Thank you!” He speaks loudly. “That fucking cunt. As if he didn’t already do enough to destroy my family.”
“He harmed your family and took your girl?”
“See? He was a fucking snake. You have no idea, no fucking idea how hard I worked. I scraped and I scraped and I scraped together a deal with the Cartel. You got any idea what they ask for when it comes to their deals? Fucking flesh, man. My sister…” He trails off. “But it was worth it because I had the sweetest fucking deal to take to my boss. And the day before, the day before!” Noah kicks hard at the ground. “Fucking Brenden Gifford and the Irish sign a fucking weapons treaty with the Don and my deal is dead in the water. Suddenly, Cartel weapons mean nothing because the Irish think they’re fucking superior.”
His pacing grows more furious and he lifts the gun to his own temple, tapping slightly. My heart starts to race and an unexpected cold panic sets in.
Why am I scared he will die?
If he shoots himself, I really will starve to death here.
“Is that why you killed him?” I ask. “He ruined your deal?”
“Nah.” Noah snorts. “I was gonna, but then the Don was making things good for me, y’know? Even tried to get my sister back from the Cartel, but they killed her, the stupid bitch. Whatever. I moved on. But then I saw him with Holly and I realized this fucker was coming for me again. It was all personal. I didn’t see it before. Do you see?” He advances on me with that strange look back in his eyes. “He was after me from the beginning!”
I don’t see. Whatever connection he’s made in his mind is lost on me. “I see it,” I lie. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you! That fucker. Maybe he was jealous of me, I don’t fucking know. Used his fancy status to ruin my business deal so when I saw him with my girl too, I told him I knew his game. I understood now, y’know? He wanted my life, but I wasn’t gonna let him take it. He called me crazy, said I was insane, but I could see what he was doing. He couldn’t just take Holly from me. She’s mine, y’see? All mine. Stupid slut doesn’t even know it.”
I shake my head slightly, trying to chase away a wave of dizziness that swept over me. Did he really think Brenden was trying to take over his life? I can’t imagine he had any idea about the secret Cartel deal and it was terrible timing, but in Noah’s eyes, it’s all connected.
“You… Do you still want to be with Holly? After everything?”
“She’s mine. Are you fucking deaf?” Noah sucks on his teeth and points his gun at me again. “She’s always with me, she just doesn’t understand yet. But I’ll show her. I’ll show her she’s mine. I just need to explain. Explain to my boss that I was just protecting my life, y’know?”
He was jealous. And crazy.
All this time, Cormac had been searching for the reason Brenden died. He’d accused the Russians and then the Italians, preparing for a war ignited by Brenden’s murder, and this entire time, it was Noah. And he did it because he was jealous. Somehow, that’s so much worse.
“I understand,” I say, wetting my lips. “You have to take care of what’s yours.”
“Exactly,” he mutters. “Exactly.”
A terrible idea comes to me painfully quickly. If Noah is this unstable about Holly, maybe I can send him out to find Cormac. Tapping into that jealousy is my only chance because I need Noah to face Cormac. Cormac would win. I know this for a fact. And then he’d learn where I am.
It’s the only chance I have.
“Weird, though, because now Cormac is with Holly,” I say cautiously. “I guess she still hasn’t learned.”
“The fuck you say?” Noah is back in my space and my pulse races fast like a bunny against a drum. “The fuck did you stay?”
“Holly,” I gasp. “She’s with… she’s with Cormac. Why do you think he hasn’t come for me? He’s busy elsewhere. And Holly, I spoke to her. She’s just confused. Maybe he’s taking advantage of that.”
“Holly…” His face softens slightly. “She’s so… fuck. Cormac.” And just like that, the cold anger is back. “I thought you were Cormac’s bitch so I thought if I take you, then he’ll leave me alone. I can use you to make sure he doesn’t tell my boss any shit.”
“Sure,” I reply, and my voice trembles. “But that doesn’t get you Holly, does it? You need Cormac off the board for that. Fully.”
Noah nods, his eyes darting rapidly back and forth. “That fucker.”
“Although it’s been a while, who’s to say he’s not already with her…”
Noah suddenly turns and hurries toward the heavy metal door that stands between me and freedom. “I’ll kill him this time,” he mutters to himself. “I’ll fucking kill both of them, dumb fucking bitch. I’ll kill him.”
He repeats it like a chant as he hauls the door open with a chilling screech of metal, and my heart finally begins to calm. I have to pray he finds Cormac soon and that somehow, Cormac doesn’t kill him.
“Though…” Noah hesitates at the door, then he glances back at me. “You’d better hope I win, or you’ll die in here.”
A pulse of confusion spreads through my chest. The door slams shut with a final bang that echoes around me, and I breathe as calmly as possible. What relief solitude brings is immediately erased by the sudden chilling clunk of old pipes groaning and creaking.
“Oh, no.” The holes above me that I’d been distantly curious about suddenly show their purpose as a gush of cold water sprays out of them and rains down on me like shards of ice.
“Shit!”
