Casing ✔️

Chapter 39

Water had felt like heaven. After Marius left me that morning, he'd been back a little while later with a bottle of water and a straw, letting me drink at my own pace, before he left again to stall his father.

I had no concept of time, no idea how long it'd been since midnight, or even since breakfast. I just existed in a constant state of soreness and aching limbs, so ready to just get free of the damned chair and collapse on the floor.

I'd been sat down for probably over twenty-four hours, yet if I was freed, I probably couldn't put one foot in front of the other. I was exhausted.

So when the door opened and I had to lift my head to look at the man who strode in, it was all I could do not to groan or hop away. I couldn't take a lot more of this stupidity.

"Have you come to your senses, Elina?" Marius' father was alone this time, which made me worry a tiny bit about his son. Had he been caught sneaking me food and water?

I could vaguely remember someone saying they saw I was awake the day before, so they had to have some kind of eyes in there. Unless that had been a way to trick me into revealing I was awake.

My mind was spinning with all the possible theories and scenarios and actions. I tried to see everything from every possible angle, and it made me dizzy. Though shaking my head made the whole room spin even more.

"No?" The man crouched in front of me, his hand resting on my thigh. "Maybe you liked the taser yesterday?"

When he moved closer to my face, I gathered some energy and turned my face away as far as I could muster. His breath made me gag—which in turn made him laugh. I had no idea what sort of atrocious thing he'd eaten, but it had to have been dead and left in the open for weeks, by the smell of it.

"You're a little bitch, aren't you?" His fingers tightened around my thigh, and I closed my eyes in an effort to hide how painful it was. "I'll say it again. If you tell me what you know, I'll get you home to your boyfriend in one piece. Last chance now, sweetie."

His hand was warm, but not in a good way. His touch made me want to run away as he reached up and ripped the tape off, much more violently than Marius had done twice already that day.

"Talk."

The warning lit a fire in me that I wished wasn't there. It made my tongue unable to stop, as I spat, "Or else?"

His face turned sinister. A smile so devious and wrong that I wished he'd already broken my neck, or strangled me, or put a bullet in my head—just so I wouldn't have ever seen it—spread across his face.

"I'm glad you asked," he said, just as the door opened and I saw Marius' dark head of hair come into the room, his arms crossed against his chest as he leaned against the wall. At least he wasn't dead for helping me. "I'll enjoy you a lot, miss George, and then I'll enjoy sending you to Kevin, Hank, Nina and James in pieces they have to set back together for your funeral."

My breath caught in my throat as I deconstructed his words, just to make sure I heard him correctly.

He'd enjoy me.

And then cut me up.

And send my body parts to my loved ones.

I had to take a few more seconds to really process all of that, and as I turned my head to look at Marius, I saw he wasn't looking at any of us. He was staring at the ceiling. Was that a sign that he'd given me false hope, or a tactic to avoid his father as he waited for the building to be raided by my family?

I didn't dare hope for anything at that moment.

"I told you," I started, my voice breaking, "I don't know anything else."