Broken Promises

Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I didn't know how long I was here. It could have been a week. A month. But in reality, it was probably only a couple of hours. My stomach continued to growl, and my body felt filthy. My clothes clung to my body, and when I reached to touch my hair, it felt like it had a bird's nest. All of this was more likely in the span of hours.

Nobody had come to check on me since I talked to Rodney, and his words kept ringing in my ears. My brother would show up if he loved me. If he actually about me enough to fix his mistakes. My heart hurt when I realized that if he took drastic measures as to escape rehab and lose Rodney's tail on him, then he actually didn't care whether I lived or not. And what hurt the most was that I was the one who was ultimately going to get hurt.

There was a noise outside the door, but nobody came in. After what felt like forever, light finally flooded the room. I had to snap my eyes shut and slowly open them so that my eyes could readjust to the sudden light. Then the door opened and the guy from earlier walked in. He had a tray in his hand, and what looked like a bottle of water and a sandwich. He dropped the tray on the floor and turned on his heel. The guy didn't say a word to me as he exited the room.

Thankfully, the bottle was the only thing that fell off the tray. My stomach rumbled some more and I quickly grabbed the sandwich. I inhaled. It felt so good, but just as I put it to my mouth and almost took a bite, something dawned on me. what if it was poisoned? What if this was how they killed me? They surely wouldn't do it as simple as poisoning me, would they? I felt like they would take their time and make it bloody to show the suffering I was put through. Shaking my head, I sighed. If they wanted to kill me, they would have done it by now. Not by tampering with my food and drink.

At least I hoped.

With that thought in my mind, I couldn't wait any longer. The food was gone within seconds. I swallowed hard the last bite of the sandwich before taking a swig of water to get the rest of it down. It didn't do much to stop my hunger, but it would satisfy it for a least a couple of more hours.

To my surprise, the lights were still on. I used that to my advantage to give myself a once over. Even though I felt gross, looking down at my clothes made me realize that I was in fact, only here for a couple of hours. My clothes weren't that dirty, but there were a few wet spots from the concrete floor, and there was dirt on my arms and hands. From the corner of my eye, I saw where that dreaded dripping noise kept coming from. There was a sink and toilet, and I rolled my eyes.

How thoughtful. They kidnap me but at least give me a toilet and sink to use.

It was then that I noticed I had to use the bathroom, and I rushed over to the toilet and relieved myself. When I was finished, I washed my hands, and then went back to where I was originally sitting. As I pressed my back against the wall, I let out a sob and a few tears escaped my eyes. Somebody had to hurry and realized I was gone. No, better yet, Oliver had to have said something. Or did he not care either?

No, I told myself. Oliver cared. He seemed to care more than anybody else did.

The door chose that moment to open, and I tensed up as the same man from earlier walked in. When he reached me, he crouched down so that he was eye-level with me, and a daunting smirk appeared on his lips. Swallowing hard, I looked away and began fidgeting with my hands. This was making me really uncomfortable. Then again, this entire situation I was put in made me uncomfortable.

"You know," he began, "I really didn't want to do this. But the boss said I had to, so we could get his message across to your idiotic brother that he means business."

He touched my hair, and I flinched. What did he mean by that? My insides turned in my stomach. I really didn't want to know what he meant.

The simple touch quickly turned to him grabbing a fistful of my hair, and he pulled me up to my feet. I cried out in pain, and then my entire world went spinning when he got me with a right hook. Right in my face. My head snapped to the side, and the pain I felt was unlike something I ever witnessed before. Maybe that was because I never been hit like this.