Fears

Chapter 30 |Ruby|

| Chapter 30 |

| Ruby |

I sat with my head down helplessly. We'd all kind of dispersed in the room, keeping to ourselves quietly. Lakota and Darren were talking in hushed voices, and Kathleen laid in a corner, sleeping. Riley also sat back, but I didn't think he could sleep. Levi was still trying to convince me that this wasn't my fault. I didn't move when he tried, so he simply wrapped his arms around my curled up body and rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Stop worrying about it," he whispered in my ear for the millionth time. "We'll find a way out."

Suddenly, Lakota spoke up. "You know, guys, we should really be coming up with our escape plan."

"What does it matter?" Kathleen hissed. "We're never getting out of here." I heard her lay back down as the pebbles on the dirty concrete floor crunched.

"Yes, we will," Lakota assured. "We just need a plan."

"Well, what should we do?" Riley asked.

"There's six of us and who-knows how many of them. It won't be an easy fight," Levi figured.

"Well, there's one thing I know. Their leader? He's definitely not a forgiving man," Darren explained.

"How do you know he's their leader?" I asked and I could practically feel Lakota's face scrunch in thought.

"I don't, exactly, but..." She said. "Still. This man is ruthless. If he or his men were to catch us, I have no doubt he'd shoot us on the spot." I nodded slowly, taking this in.

"Shh!" Levi hissed suddenly as the sound of boots on hard concrete interrupted our talk. The door opened and light flooded in behind us.

"Come on, you three," a gruff voice commanded as two men came in from behind him and dragged Levi, Riley, and I into the hall.

They roughly tugged us into a room and closed the big iron door behind us. A sharply dressed man stood with his back to us. He turned and his grey eyes landed on the three of us. He had an almost unnoticeable scar on his jaw and dark, swept back hair. The man seemed smooth, but I could see a gun poking out of his blazer. I kept my expression stony to hide my racing heart.

"So, you three," the man addressed. "You're the ones that escaped my men." Then, he waved the three guards out and leaned forward, placing both his hands on the table. The man fixed Levi, serious faced and sitting tall in his seat, with a stone cold glare before asking, "How?"

I decided to go with the innocent route. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Your men never came after us."

He turned to me and snickered. "Hah. Of course they didn't, those imbeciles. Nevertheless, they did come after you back in Arizona."

"You mean when you killed Mark Blue," Levi speculated. "Why?"

"Ah, yes, Mark. A worthy business rival. Unfortunately, he had to be... removed from the picture for me to get what I want." My eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" Riley asked.

"Schwartz. That's all you need to know."

Suddenly, the iron door burst open and the three of us whirled around.

Standing in the doorway was Auguste, wide-eyed and breathing heavily.

"Augu--" I started but was cut off by him throwing a steak knife in the direction of Schwartz. It hit him square in the arm.

"Come on!" He yelled, pulling me out of my chair. I frantically looked back, seeing the panicked faces of Levi and Riley jumping out of their chairs and Schwartz ripping the knife out of his upper arm. My stomach heaved at the sight of blood spilling out of the wound.

"Jackson! Brown! Catch them, now!" He shouted behind us. We ran down the hallway and I looked behind us once more, seeing the two men from the other night sprinting after us. We came up on the room that the six of us were imprisoned in, but stopped, seeing another big, burly man gripping Kathleen by the shoulders. He held her off the ground and reached for Darren, who was trying to run out. The men behind us caught up.

We were cornered.

Suddenly, a blonde figure dashed up and jumped the man holding Kathleen, but he easily grabbed her by the waist and kept her in place.

"Lisette!" Riley exclaimed.

Then, Lakota burst out of the room and past the guards. Levi shoved by me and tried to free the two girls, but the man in the room kicked him hard in the ribs. I winced, remembering his injury from the casino.

I yelped in protest as the man continued to beat Levi. Turning around, I saw Lakota sprinting down the hall, away from us.

I knew that, if anything she'd make it out. I turned and crabbed Auguste by the arm.

"Go after her. Keep her safe," I managed to get out before I was thrown in the room, the door closing.

"Make sure no more of them get out!" I could hear Schwartz on the other side, but immediately forgot about him when I heard Levi's sudden cry.

"Levi!" I scrambled over to him and tried my best to check his injuries in the darkness.

"I'm... Okay," he breathed. "Just a little messed up." Then I realized.

He was still afraid of pain.

"Levi, listen to me," I could just barely see him turn to look at me. I thought for a moment and swallowed.

"You need to calm down." I stared into his blue eyes, trying to take the advice I was about to tell him.

"The pain is not what hurts you, Levi," I breathed. "Your fear is."