A groan slipped out of Adrian's throat as he shifted his head. His whole body sore and aching like he was run over by something, he could barely move. His head hurt like a bitch, ears were ringing so hard he could barely keep himself from whimpering in pain. His eyes felt so heavy, trying to open them was a bit of a struggle. He felt the need to just go back to sleep, but he couldn't.
He could hear the distinct murmur of voices, they were loud with fast exchanges like an argument. But he couldn't figure out any of the words, he mind couldn't place them to make any sense. His head blew his ability to focus, like literal Cotten was shoved into his brain. From the sticky, liquidy feeling all over his face and neck and hair, he was definitely bleeding...It could be a concussion. Then he definitely needed to stay awake, he needed to resist the lull of weary tiredness overcoming his body.
Slowly Adrian felt around his surroundings with his limited movements. His hands were bound to the arms of a chair, the rope cutting to his skin stung but not enough to cut off his blood circulation. They didn't tie up his legs, that's fortunate.
Light blared through the slit of his eyelids, another groan came out of him- it's wayyy too bright. He could hear shuffling, clanks of metal banging together lightly, the sound of droplets of water dripping down into puddles... and people's voices each becoming more clear and understandable by the second.
"He's awake." The sharp screech of dragging steel against concrete brought another burst of a headache in Adrian's brain. He could see a blurry silhouette of a man, a metal bat being pulled lazily behind him.
Suddenly his hair was pulled back harshly from behind him, he hissed from the pain but kept his eyes open as a face of a woman entered his field of vision.
His eyes widened, a flash of recognition passed through his eyes. It was her... the woman...
'The woman.... This woman she's... the one who's been helping me on the plan... the one that owed a favour towards my uncle...' his eyes chilled.
"Y-you..." his voice came out raw and croaked as if it hadn't been used for years.
"Fuck! Billy! I told you! I fucking told you not to touch him!" The woman hissed at the man as she dropped away the head she had pulled back.
"Shut up you cunt. You know how close this fucker was to figuring out what happened and yet you still let him be free to do as he pleases? Him being closer to the truth is just going to put the big boss in some serious issues. We're just handling it before this little shit can deal any damage."
"I had it under control! I could have steered him away and dealt with it accordingly! But you just had to come and mess this shit up!"
Something flashed through Adrians thoughts but he couldn't quite catch what it was. He didn't understand what they were talking about. Right now all he knew was that this woman had never been his friend and is now an enemy and that he's in danger. He needs to escape somehow.
Looking around he could see that the area seemed to be some kind of abandoned warehouse... he dropped his head again in exhaustion and huffed out ridiculing disbelief, typical villains... bringing the victims to abandoned areas.
The woman was wearing her signature red tube dress. Adrian glared hard at her figure with his limited strength.
The man on the other hand... Billy, wore the typical office suit. If you ignored the metal bat smeared with blood in his hand he could easily be ignored as any average white collar, he had a forgettable face too making him all the more dangerous... he's easily able to blend in with the crowd. The two were still arguing about what they were supposed to do now... just listening to them throwing curses and threats in raised volumes were sucking out any kind of vitality he had in him, hurting his head all the more.
"Who the fuck are you people? What do you want?"
Hearing his voice made them quite down and put their attention on him.
A sickening smile spread through the woman's face as she crouched towards Adrian, "you still don't get it?" Grabbing his face with a vice grip she pulled it up to her eye level, her long fake nails digging into his skin. She looked at him with insincere pity as if he wasn't worth anything, with a pout she continued, "you always thought that someone else was responsible for killed your precious uncle when the truth was staring you right in the face."
Alarm bells began ringing in his head as he registered her words. There was a onslaught of thoughts running through his head, he couldn't figure out— His face paled from the sudden realization. Feelings of dread, horror, anger all washed over his body, into the pit of his stomach. Adrian's face scrunched up in her hold, he didn't have any strength in him to struggle.
"You see, the big boss doesn't like complications and that uncle of yours was a shit thorn in our side, so we plucked him out and disposed of him accordingly."
His jaw clenched hard, face paling more but rage bubbled inside he felt as if he was burning from the inside out. His blood boiling the more he heard the woman rambling on about how they caused the death of his uncle. How they went with doing it. The woman was talking as if all they had done was take out the trash!
"I was there to make sure your parent were dealt with but we didn't expect for a kid like you to start peeking under the covers for the truth of your uncles death. When I made contact with you it was definitely a surprise to find that you thought it was someone else's fault entirely, making everything just made so much easier. So be thankful I left your useless parents and went after you instead!" She said the last line cheerfully and pacing around Adrian with a spring in her step, mocking him all the more.
Adrenaline coursed through him giving a newfound strength, Adrian abruptly lunged forward and attacked the woman. She yelped and stumbled back from attack. The rope around his wrists cut deep into his skin as he was held back from advancing.
Adrian took the chance while they were still in the moment of shock to swing around and hit the shocked woman with the chair tied to his back as hard as he could manage. He only had time to just look at the first sign of an exit before a hard hit to his leg left him on the ground. He couldn't get his bearings for a moment there, his head still spun from the loss of blood and distortion kept coming back. A desperate sound escaped him when he finally realized that he was unable to get up again from the sharp stabbing pain in his leg and the chair still tied to his arms holding him back.
Billy coldly glanced at his red dressed companion looking miserable and inelegant as she was sprawled on the ground from shock. When she snapped out of it, she scrabbled to get up and realized the sudden pain from her face and her sides.
Horror filled her expression as she slowly brought a hand to her bloodied face, not daring to touch it....
"...my- my nose... My nose- Oh gawd— you broke MY NOSE!" She shrieked out with blood sputtering out from her each words. Her hands hovered over her face, "MY FACE! ITS RUINED! YOU LITTLE FUCK!"
She didn't hesitate to kick the man down but stopped away immediately when she felt her pain soaring higher from the abrupt movements. Her breath came out heavy and in harsh pants as she looked at Adrian on the ground with absolute hate.
Her former beautiful and entrancing appearance was no where to be seen as a vicious witch covered in blood dripping down her nose and neck with disheveled hair, broken nails and a wrinkled dress took over.
Billy dropped the metal bat and crouched down to Adrian on the ground. "Don't think about doing that again, alright? Next time it won't just be a hit to the leg. I'll break your bones until you can't even think about anything but dying." He spoke as if only talking about the weather, as if it was a common thing that happened everyday. Adrian gritted his teeth and glared at the cruel man.
The man just watched him with his blank face and just calmly got up.
Adrian didn't know what happened but the next second he fell into darkness.
- — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
"I see." Grayson sighed in frustration. He brushed a hand through his hair and looked up at the butler sitting across from him.
"Now then, young man. Who are you to our master?" The butler looked at the man who had easily broken into their abode warily.
"Roommate and best friend. I guess you could also say he's my caretaker considering my p—... relatives went as far as to pay him to keep an eye on me." Grayson sighed, he really needed to make his parents stop that. Now that it's being said out loud there definitely isn't anything good about your parents paying your friend because of them. It's making him sound like a spoiled brat who can buy friends with money.
The butlers eyes widened at the realization. A deep frown marred his face as he gazed closely at Grayson.
"I was told that my young master's roommate was visually impaired."
Grayson grimaced... this was definitely not putting him in any favourable sights.
"I'll just tell you the truth," Grayson kept his eye contact with the butler whose face kept it's stern and coldly wary cast. "I was never blind."
Grayson could see how much of his already low image from the old man's perspective was becoming lower and lower. He sighed again but told the butler the entire story of his character joining the extreme improv organization and all that. But he still hadn't given out his surname as 'Hale' instead of 'Monroe'. These past few weeks he really came to be aware of how much hatred Adrian actually carried for the Hales and that was the same for the people who raised him. Right now he needed their cooperation and their willingness to let him help find Adrian. Their hatred wouldn't make anything better and he doesn't want to deal with it... at least not right now.
"You said that Adrian hadn't come back home for a little more than a week? No contact? No
note?"
The butler shook his head and suddenly looked a decade older. Grayson's expression hardened, he was wrecking his mind over what to do next.
"Have you tried the police?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Monroe but as I had told you before you very rudely committed the crime of breaking and entering and then threatening the current staff members present in the mansion to bring yourself to me, this matter doesn't concern you whatsoever. In fact, I should be the one calling the police on 'you' for not just these crimes but also for disability fraud. I should be issuing a restraining order against my young master and yourself."
Grayson opened his mouth but no words came out, he only closed it in the end and looked conflicted.
'Shit. What is this god awful situation I put myself into... someone help me!'
"Okay, that's fair and I should definitely be punished for all my wrongdoings as well as being thrown into prison for the next several decades that will do nothing for all the pain and deceit I have caused for Adrian in the past year but right now we don't have time for leisure conversations about all my faults and crimes. I'm here to help, I can be of use to you with finding Adrian. I have my ways of getting information and figuring things out. But I can't do it alone. Plus, right now you guys clearly need the help as your resources aren't the best at this moment with Adrian's parent across the world and not informed. You help me, I help you all for the same reason."
"How did you—"
"Like I said, I have my own ways to get information. The kind of information that I can get will be very useful for you and the person standing behind the door." Grayson gestures towards closed door to the far right. The old man's eyes widened just slightly but Grayson caught it and smirked.
"That doesn't mean anything. In what ways could you actually help with the investigation. You talk big but do you have anything real to back it up?" A new voice came from right behind him but Grayson still stayed relaxed against his seat and didn't turn around.
When he first walked into this room he was long aware of the three hidden presences. Their heartbeats loud and clear making each of their positions in the room also known. One behind the door, two currently creeping up behind him.
Grayson kept his eyes at the old man and spoke his next words slowly.
"ARK, right?"