It was an unknown period of empty blackness before he woke up, cuffed to a pipe in a dark concrete room. He was too tall to hang completely in the air.
His feet touched the ground.
Clayton looked around, noticing a bruised Philip, ice pack on his neck. Those fucking soulless eyes, glazing over.
He rolled his head, the surroundings are a blur of light and faded shadows.
Martha was sitting on a chair, filing her nails.
Was he on heroin? His thoughts were trying to gather more information.
"Maybe I'll have her after I kill Richard then you. What Carlos doesn't know won't hurt him," Philip threatened.
Martha smirked, looking up towards Clayton.
Clayton knew Philip wasn't lying.
"Don't you fucking touch her!" he gritted through his teeth, now fully aware of his surroundings.
The thought of Alice being touched by anyone else made him see red. His fists straining against handcuffs as he struggled to contain the raging tide of jealousy within him.
The room was tense, Clayton did not break eye contact with Philip while he circled the room.
She is his! His thoughts darkening as his eyes narrowed, Clayton's rage was still building.
"Philip! She is mine. Don't fucking touch her! I swear to god!" Clayton threatened for the second time, he wasn't messing around.
His fists white with anger as Philip smirked and glanced at Martha, turning back to Clayton as he continued to taunt him, "Clayton, be nice. I mean she's only had you. She might like my touch."
"Make him suffer, but not too much. This one over here is in a delicate condition" he suddenly said to the armed hires in the room as he reached down to kiss her, passionately with a hint of slop.
Delicate condition? What? his thoughts echoed in confusion.
Clayton tried to ignore the awkwardness as Philip continued, "But I want him alive long enough to tell him details after I've killed that prick and then fucked Allie Bear. I want to see his face. I want him to hear all the details. Don't worry, I won't kill her Clay. I want her to remember my face for years to come."
Clayton screamed. He thrashed, it took three hires closest to him to hold him still, all hitting Clayton hard in the stomach and face.
Martha stood up, trying not to dry retch, as she turned away from the violence.
Clayton, through the gasps of pain, turned towards Martha, whose chest was turning a flush pink against all the black she was wearing.
"Martha, this isn't you. He is manipulating you. We were never a thing. I'm sorry that I used you, but some people aren't just meant to be together. Can't you see that? You truly never wanted me, you liked the idea of us. The idea of taming me. You're not the first one who tried, believe me. Please, Martha, don't hurt Alice. I love her. It was always her."
Martha looked over to Philip
"Shut up" he snapped, overruling her before she could even speak.
Clayton took a deep breath, his body still ached. A shaky, half-choked cough came out from his mouth, given the damage to his ribs.
He realized that he might not be able to get close enough to any one of them to get a deadly hold around their spines or windpipes since he was currently bound and waiting for execution.
"May. Please," Clayton called out again, his voice cracking as he pleaded.
She looked confused, a worried line forming between her brow.
Suddenly the fourth hire pulled a knife. The same one that Clayton had in his back pocket.
He was smiling, taunting Clayton, "Not so tough are you? Come on Clayton, you are meant to have a badass reputation. What gives?"
Clayton knew he could kill him in ten seconds if his hands weren't bound.
He needed to protect his family and these guys around him were true fucking idiots.
"I heard when you were in Lapa with Inez, you ripped a guy's throat clean out with your teeth just for looking at her wrong," another hire spoke up, a little too excited, as Clayton tried hard not to laugh between the gasping.
Where the fuck is Philip getting these dumb fuckers! Clayton subconscious hissed, cracking its neck - limbering up as a rule.
There was a second after Philip left with Martha, Clayton took his chance. Lifting his knees up to his chest, putting pressure on the pipe that could barely hold his weight as it was.
It was straining, groaning against him.
The hires panicked, all four stepping back as confusion filled the room.
Clayton broke free. His hands still in the cuffs, he had to admit that he was actually starting to lose feeling in them.
Facing the four men as they started to circle him. They were young, most likely bought in from Colombia or Venezuela Clayton soon realized.
"Leave quickly," he was turning darker with every second passing.
He wasn't fucking around. His stance solid, chest puffed out, as he braced himself for a fight.
"Are you kidding? It's four against one," another of the four finally spoke up, his accent was thick, his hair thick with grease.
"No. One will try. Two of you will be the backup. The last one will ran away or piss himself. What isn't decided is who will it be?" Clayton said, rubbing his wrists again.
The cocky one with the accent stepped forward. He was wild with rage, lunging towards Clayton, who quickly made a note of the knife. He dodged him the best way he could while in cuffs.
Cocky came back around like a bull being taunted by a red flag. Clayton moved to the side, grabbing his shirt with both hands. The shirt ripped as his opponent fell backwards, Clayton taking the chance, retrieved the knife, plunging it into the hire's heart.
As he suffocated in his own blood, they all stared at Clayton with equal disbelief, nervousness wearing them down one by one.
Clayton, admittedly, would never get use to the horrible, gurgling sound one takes when they are having their final moments.
He ignored it as the remaining three men looked at each other, noticing the height and brute strength of Clayton.
They quickly backed down.
Smart his subconscious thrashed against the iron cage, wanting to be released.
He was begging for it.
Snapping back into reality, they handed him a phone, his keys and the duffel bag.
Loyalty my ass! His thought's teased him.
One of them stood forward, unlocking the cuffs.
Clayton finally could breathe again. His body still throbbing in pain.
All he wanted after this, was go to the beach with Alice, get high and enjoy a rest. He craved it.
He dialed Alice's number. He had been watching Alice for so long that he memorized it to the last digit.
No answer.
Fuck!
He made his way to the car, calmly, tucking himself against the shadows. He wasn't sure how he found it, but he did. Climbing into the drivers seat,
He dialed Daniel's number, hopeful that he'd forgiven him over Ruth.
"Hey man?" Daniel said, unaware, as Clayton stepped on the gas.
The Jeep roaring to life as he made his way onto the highway
"Dan! Where the fuck is she?" Clayton yelled down the phone, waving through the Rio traffic.
"Who? Alice? She's still at the house isn't she? I'm at the hospital. Why?" Daniel's voice was filled with a little worry now as Clayton's heart strings pulled.
FUCK. HE HASN'T BEEN THINKING !
"Get her now! Find her! Take her to the embassy!" Clayton stepped on the gas. The Jeep strained.
"Okay, okay. Give me about ten minutes. I'll get Augustine to check her," he said, worried.
Clayton hung up the phone. Driving as fast as he could towards the house.
He arrived with a screech of rubber. He ran towards the front door.
It was black. Clayton broke the door down as glass shattered around him.
"Alice!" he screamed with all the air in his lungs.
Glass shredded his fingers as he grabbed the frame, pulling him into the living room.
Panic rushed through him as he ran into Sam's bedroom. There he saw an empty bed, sheets completely ripped off the bed.
He noticed a distorted, blooded handprint on the door frame, too big to be Alice's. He turned to look behind the door - nothing. Under the bed, still nothing. He went to the bathroom next, nothing.
Fuck! But he smelt a scent he didn't recognize - a woody scent, tobacco?
He told her to hide! He groaned.
"She's not here Clayton," a female voice called out from behind him.
He turned, getting ready to launch a full assault on the shadow.
"I'm Augustine. The young lady, Alice? She wasn't here when I arrived, so I waited until I saw you."
Fuck! He looked around, a full visual on the interior of the living room.
Then he saw it - Alice's engagement ring on the kitchen counter, dry, crusty blood entwined within the platinum.
He cursed Philip for hurting her, he knew this would damage him. Driving a wedge deeper into his psyche as he quickly walked over, every step feeling heavier and heavier.
Picking up the ring, Clayton stared at it for a second as the delicate heirloom rested in the centre of his palm.
Clayton felt like he failed.
He was losing the battle. No leads, Richard was a ghost. He can't lose Alice too!
"Richard is just hiding. Fredrick has told me he knows where he is," Augustine piped up, as if she knew what he was thinking, dreading in the depth of his mind.
That comment got Clayton's attention as he turned to face her. He quickly placed the engagement ring in his wallet for safe keeping.
"'Where?" he said, moving closer.
She stood back a little, avoiding his stare and large shadow. Clayton didn't care he was coming across as intimating right now.
She grabbed her phone from her back pocket.
She enlarged the map, her finger tracing the lines. She pointed to city, not far from here as he looked closer.
"Curitiba?" Clayton said, surprised, grabbing the phone, looking at the picture closer.
"See. Not far. That's where they are going. Maybe a few hours flight. We could leave right now. The plane is on standby. You can thank Claudia for that."
Clayton's phone pinged.
His heart stank. It was a FaceTime call with Alice. Blooded, tied and in a limousine, sitting between Vanessa and Martha. Her mouth was ducked taped over as the girls taunted her, touching her half-naked body as Alice flinched.
Fuck!
Her noticeable green eyes were bloodshot and bruised, tears falling down her face as Philip's hand stroked her cheek, her eyes squeezing shut in absolute fear.
Clayton noticed he was now missing half his left ear. It looked half bitten off and very sore, as he continued to study the deep crawl-mark scratches on his face and down his neck.
Good girl Alice, Clayton's thoughts admitted.
"You're scared of water aren't you babe?" his sickly British voice came through.
She sobbed a muffled cry as Martha laughed, slapping her clean across the face. Clayton stared, helplessly, as he saw Alice cowing.
Be brave babe, I'm coming, his thoughts promised over and over again.
"Mélusine? La reine de l'eau," Philip announced as Vanessa smirked.
Helena suddenly reached over to Alice, cutting her deeply across cheek, giggling, as Alice screamed, distortedly, the duct tape muffling her cries.
"No!" Clayton yelled, gritting his teeth.
Augustine gasped, pulling her hands to her mouth.
"Now. Clayton. You better come get her before I fuck her and feed her to my bitches. How fast can you get to Curitiba? Remember, Helena's knife is special and Alice shouldn't really be swimming after being cut by it."
"I am going to fucking kill you!" Clayton yelled, crushing his phone with his bare hands. The shards of metal falling to the ground.
"What's the plan?" Augustine said, putting her phone into her back pocket as Clayton paced.
"We are going to Curitiba. Gather every weapon we can find. Any guns for hire. Find them. Anyone who wants a fight. Get them. No one is to touch Philip. He is mine," Clayton said, getting angrier and angrier with every word.
"Ok. I'm on it," Augustine said, starting to make calls.
Suddenly the heard another set of footsteps, Clayton pulled his gun from his back pocket, pushing Augustine behind him.
"What about us sir? Orders? How do we get our ToyBox back?" Sam's voice called out to him.
Walking into the house with a limp, Ruth and Daniel standing behind her.
Clayton glanced up and down towards Sam and Ruth, they were bandaged up and wearing medical hospital bracelets. Clayton knew they both most likely left against doctors advise to be with him.
He relaxed a little, trying not to laugh and cry all together, but still was grateful to be seeing his friends, standing in the doorway. They were here for him.
"Thank you. Right, we are heading to Curitiba as soon as we can. We kill Philip, then find Richard. Alice is number one priority. Search and rescue."
Clayton continued, feeling a little embarrassed, "I need to make another call. Carlos might need to be informed that Philip is breaking his promise. Could even get Don Luis involved. I'd wonder what he'd think when he is told Alice, 'the charming, pequena Alice', is getting hurt because of some prick taking advantage of Carlos's hospitality and word,"
All of them in silence and eyes not swaying from Clayton, agreed in their own way as Augustine passed over her phone with a smile, ignoring the pieces of phone at his feet.