Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!
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It took Ary a while to return to the land of the conscious. She kept fading in and out of the darkness. The few seconds that she managed to stay awake it was like she was looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. Everything was spinning and there were spots of colors on the fringe of her vision. She imagined this was what happened to people who were on LSD.
She blinked a few times, trying to focus long enough to take in her surroundings. She was inside somewhere. The room was dimly lit; the only source of light was coming from a small lamp set on a tiny little desk in the corner of the room. Other than that, and a small twin sized bed set up against the wall beside her, there wasn't much of anything in the room.
She had to think for a moment about how she got to this room. As she tried to recall everything that led up to her being here, a headache began to form behind her eyes. The pounding in her head became more insistent as her mind became clearer. She went to press her hand to her forehead, but her hand wouldn't move.
"What the-" Ary looked down. Her hands and legs were tied to a chair with some rope. This surely had something to do with Christian. Was he still calling the shots, even from behind bars? It was a scary thought.
"I see you're finally awake," someone said from behind her. She didn't recognize the voice.
"Who are you?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes at the shadowy figure to her left. She wasn't sure if it were the terrible lighting or the concussion, but she couldn't see him clearly.
"I'm just a concerned friend," the man stated simply.
"Oh, so now friends tie each other up?" she snorted, rolling her eyes. "Is this really necessary?" She asked, pulling on her restraints. There wasn't much leeway; they were pretty tight.
"After seeing Kane's face, I'm going to have to say yes," the man said, coming around to stand in front of her.
He was a different man from the three that had taken her. He was older, early to mid-forties. He was tall and a bit on the lanky side, but he had some muscle definition from what she could tell. He wore black cargo pants with army boots and a simple dark green t-shirt. His hair was a dark brown mixed with silver and he held a steely look in his brown eyes. This man exuded authority and if Ary didn't know any better she'd think he was a military man.
"Yeah, sorry, I tend to overreact when someone hauls me out of a trunk after kidnapping me," she said, sarcasm dripping from her words.
"I'm sorry about that. They weren't supposed to hurt you," he apologized and for a moment Ary almost believed that he truly was sorry, but just for a moment. She couldn't actually believe a word he said. He did kidnap her and tie her to a chair after all.
"Well gee, that makes me feel so much better," she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
The truth was that she did actually feel better. She didn't feel as threatened as she did before, although being tied to a chair was keeping her from feeling completely safe. Still, it was pretty obvious that these guys weren't involved with the Bloodbaths. That raised even more questions for her though. Who outside of the Bloodbaths would want to abduct her?
"Maybe if we get to know each other better things would be less hostile." The guy grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and set it directly in front of her. He then took a seat in it. "Hi, I'm Garrett Maddox."
Ary studied the man before her. He didn't look dangerous, but then looks could be deceiving. Most people thought she was harmless. This guy could just be putting on an act to try and gain her trust. Wouldn't he be in for a rude awakening when he discovered that she wasn't one to trust so easily.
"Sorry, Garrett, still feeling hostile," she apologized, giving him an overly sweet smile.
The older man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose you won't start talking to me until I can prove to you who I am," he said, more to himself than to her.
"I don't really care who you are. You attacked my friend, you attacked me, and now you're holding me captive. That's really all I needed to know to form an opinion about you," she shrugged. She shifted in the chair, trying to get comfortable.
"Okay, you won't believe me, but maybe you'll believe your mother," Garrett sighed, rising to his feet and promptly leaving the room.
What? Ary's heart started to beat faster in her chest. Did these guys have her mother too? Had they taken Juliana as some sort of insurance policy to ensure that Ary would do what they wanted? Oh great, now how was she supposed to explain this to her mother? Juliana would think that this was some drug deal gone south!
Garrett returned a few minutes later and he was alone. Ary felt relief wash over her. Okay, her mother was safe. For now. There had been countless times over the years when Ary had wished for something awful to happen to her mother. Now she felt bad about it. She didn't want her mother to get hurt because of something she did. She only wanted Juliana to suffer if it had nothing to do with her.
"Here," Garrett returned to his seat in front of her and held out a picture in front of her.
It was a baby picture of her from when she was about nine months old. She was wearing a pink frilly outfit, her tuft of golden brown hair was sticking straight up, and she had a scowl set to her chubby little face. The same picture was hanging on the wall beside the staircase at her parents' house. It used to be a daily reminder of how Juliana used to have total control over her life.
"I'm going to ignore the creepy fact that you have my baby picture and instead point out the fact that you could have pulled that picture up from anywhere. I'm pretty sure my mom uploaded my entire baby album to Facebook," Ary told the man.
"Your mom sent it to me twenty years ago when she first told me about you," Garrett said.
Ary would be lying if she said his words didn't stir something inside her. She had always imagined that she were part of a different family. It wasn't possible that she was adopted though. She did look like her mother and she always managed to find similarities between herself and her father, but as she stared over at Garrett she could also see some similarities with him. The most notable were the eyes. His eyes were the same butterscotch color as hers. Exactly the same. No one else in her entire family shared the same eye color as her.
"Okay, I'll play along. What exactly do you want from me, Dad?" she practically spat out the words.
"I don't want anything from you, other than to help protect you," Garrett stated.
"Protect me? From what?" she asked.
She found his words very hard to believe. If he had come to her four months ago when Michael had still been alive she might have been inclined to believe him, but now? Unless there was some evil criminal mastermind that was secretly plotting her demise there wasn't a lot she needed protecting from.
"Your mom called me a couple of months ago; she said that you had gotten involved with a bad crowd and that not only were you getting hurt, your family was too," Garrett said.
Ary just stared at Garrett. She was pretty sure that her mouth was hanging open. That's how shocked she was.
"First of all, even if you are my biological father, and that's a big if, you didn't exist the first twenty-one years of my life so you have no right to any part of my life," she stated and she wished her hands were free so that she could point an angry finger at him. "And secondly, have you actually met my mother? The woman is certifiably insane. She'd pretty much tell anyone anything just so she could get their sympathies!" she exclaimed.
"My men found you at a club that is frequented by gang members," Garrett pointed out.
"And stupid college kids and women on the brink of middle age trying to hold on to their youth. Your point?" Ary shot back at him.
"Your cousin almost died a few months ago," Garrett said, ignoring her previous statement.
Ary could feel the anger starting to build. It took a lot for her to truly get angry. It rarely ever happened, but when it did she was like a feral beast. She did almost beat her soon- to-be former brother-in-law to death. Garrett was just lucky he had tied her down before starting to piss her off.
"Yes, I recall something like that occurring a while back," Ary said through gritted teeth.
Garrett frowned at her. He tilted his head to the side like he was trying to study her. What did he want her to say? That the whole experience was way too traumatizing for her and that she couldn't even stand to be reminded about Luke getting shot? It was a bit traumatizing for her, but she wasn't going to dwell on the past. She killed the man who had shot both her and her cousin. That part was over. Done. Finished. People just needed to get over it.
"You don't care that your cousin almost died because of your involvement with a gang?" Garrett asked.
"You need to check your facts there, Dad," she said, stressing the word 'dad'. "My dear cousin was already involved with the gang months before I even moved back to Illinois."
"Your mother-" he began to object.
"My mother is insane!" Ary shouted. She tightened her hands into fists, the ropes cutting into her wrists, but she was too angry to feel any pain.
"Arabella-"
"No! I'm tired of listening to this crap. Let me go right now!" She jerked against the ropes. It was useless. The ropes were tied too tightly. Still, the struggling helped to alleviate some of her anger.
Why couldn't it have been some angry gang banger out looking for revenge? Why did it have to be some stupid man that was in love with her mother? Why did everyone have to believe Juliana over her? If this whole secret dad business turned out to be true, Ary doubted that anyone in her family would believe her over her mother. Juliana really should have been an actress. She was an impeccable liar.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" Ary growled after she had stopped fighting. Her breath was coming out in short gasps and she was pretty sure she had scrapped off a few layers of skin from her wrists because of her pulling against the restraints. She didn't like not having control.
"Are you finished?" Garrett asked. He sounded annoyed.
Sometime during her futile escape attempt, Garrett had moved and was now leaning back against the desk in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest. He was looking at her like she were some two-year-old throwing a tantrum. Okay, maybe she was acting a bit childish, but come on! She was tied to a chair! How was she supposed to act?
"Are you going to untie me?" she asked. She had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from yelling again. She was going to at least attempt to remain calm.
"No, not until I talk to your mother," Garrett said, shaking his head.
"Talk to my mother about what?" she asked, slowly.
Garrett looked reluctant to answer. Ary knew it was bad. Of course it was bad. Juliana's name was rarely attached to anything good.
"Tell me. Please," she begged and she was ashamed to admit that she sounded afraid.
"Your mom wants to admit you into a rehab facility," he admitted, not looking her in the eye.
"What?" Ary laughed, refusing to believe it. That was just crazy. Rehab? For what? Her major drinking problem of having maybe one alcoholic beverage a month? Or maybe it was her drug problem, because Tylenol is such a hardcore drug! Not even the kids snorting bath salts would touch that shit. Oh wait, no, this was because of her sex addiction. Damn her for not going farther than second base until she was twenty-one and double damn her for just having one sexual partner. Oohh, she was so out of control!
"It's not as bad as it sounds," he assured her.
"You're just going to take her word for it? Are you even sure I'm your kid?" she demanded.
"I'm sure," he said and he did seem sure. He didn't seem to have any doubts at all.
"Why? Because Juliana told you it was true? You knew her for, what? A week, over twenty years ago? I've had to live with that woman for eighteen years! You have no idea what she's really like! You have no idea what I'm like! You don't know anything!" Ary was screaming at the top of her lungs by now. It was the only thing she could do.
"Uh hey, Garrett, we need to get ready," Kane came into the room, interrupting the shouting match. He glared over at Ary.
"How's the face feeling, old chap?" Ary inquired, smirking at him. If she couldn't hurt her mother, the least she could do was insult this bastard.
The whole right side of his face was swollen and had started to turn a sickly shade of purple. She wouldn't be surprised if she had shattered some bones in his face. She hoped she had broken something. That'd make this whole experience worth it.
"Why don't you come over here and say that to me face to face?" Kane said, antagonizing her right back.
"I would, but I'm not sure I could find your ugly mug under all that bruising," she shot right back.
If Kane wanted to see who the bigger smart ass was then she'd gladly fight him. Not only was she just naturally talented when it came to quick and witty remarks, she had also spent most of her high school life hanging out with her Uncle Jack, and he was truly the King of Smartasses. She could go back and forth with Kane all day if she had to. It's not like she could do anything else while tied to a chair.
"Okay, that's enough!" Garrett stopped Kane before he could speak again. Ary gave him a triumphant smirk. "Both of you." He looked directly at Ary when he spoke.
"Just wait until later," Ary snarled at Kane.
"And what? Your boyfriend and his gang will beat the shit outta me?" Kane laughed at the thought.
"If only you could be so lucky. My boyfriend is a box full of kittens compared to me. You think your face hurts now? Just wait until I get free, and trust me, I will get free," she told him, her voice low and threatening.
"You think you're tough shit just because you're shagging up with a street thug?" Kane said, angrily.
"Kane, leave, before I make you leave," Garrett said.
Kane wanted to argue, that was obvious, but he kept his mouth shut and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Ary couldn't help but to chuckle a bit.
"Arabella, this isn't something to joke about. This is serious," Garrett lectured her, after Kane's footsteps had faded away.
"I think you're the one who isn't taking this seriously. You're severely underestimating me here, buddy. Not only am I going to make it my mission to destroy yours, English Princess's and the other two kidnappers' lives, with this information regarding you and my mother, I can also destroy her life as well," Ary stated, and she felt no guilt about everything she had planned.
Ary was tired of just turning the other cheek when it came to her mother's abuse. If everyone wanted to assume the worst of her, then she'd just have to prove them right. If they wanted her to be out of control, then damn it she'd be out of control. Too bad for them that her out of control had nothing to do with self-mutilation or self-hatred. Nope. No drugs, booze, or razor blades for her. That'd just distract her from plotting the cruelest and most deliciously horrifying way to destroy each and every one of her family member's lives. Starting with mommy.
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Well folks, there you have it. Ary has finally snapped.
Don't got much to say. Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think. Blah. Blah. Blah. World peace. Blah. Blah. Blah. Something witty.