Much like the first time, I woke up in a dusty room with ropes keeping me in place. I didn't feel the panic like the first time but it still spread worry through me - Evan was knocked out somewhere and I was now on my own. I would have to try to get both of us out of here.
Almost snorting at the thought, I turned my head to the side and noticed a slumped figure in a chair. My mouth opened, ready to call Evan's name but I noticed a figure moving behind him, keeping to the darkness of the room and allowing it to cloak them.
"Glad the second time didn't knock you out permanently," Stephen said, leaning against the wall. I could just make out the shape of his face, his pale skin attracting the light. He had taken off his mask. "I see you made friends with one of my workers," he commented, walking forward and into the light.
My mouth almost fell open at the sight of his face; he was covered in scars and burns. "Stephen..."
His lip curled in distaste. "Not attractive enough for you, like your pretty boy?" he asked, gesturing to Evan. "I wasn't aware you were dating him, if I had known-"
"I'm not dating him," I pointed out, frowning. "I'm not dating anyone."
"You are dating one of my men," he informed me. "If it isn't him, I wonder who it could be," he said, almost talking to himself. "I'm surprised your boyfriend didn't try to save you instead of this guy."
Furrowed eyebrows, I watched as Stephen walked around the table to my other side. What did he mean I was dating one of his men? I didn't have a boyfriend and the only person I was even remotely close to was Henry. He was the one who called the police; it's not as if he could be involved here.
"Are you thinking over your boyfriend?" Stephen asked as he sat on the edge of the table, pushing my legs to the side. "Thinking of all the times he's disappeared without an explanation or didn't show up to a regular meet?" Stephen suggested as he swung his legs.
The talk of my apparent boyfriend's whereabouts had taken my mind away from what I originally wanted to say to Stephen. "What happened?" I asked curiously. I didn't feel disgust or anything like it, I only felt bad that he felt ashamed.
Stephen didn't respond, he continued to stare at me before turning his gaze across the length of my body. "I do hope you didn't get hurt in your struggle," he said, getting to his feet and touching a bruise on my leg. I winced and tried to move away but the rope held me firmly in place. "We took extra precaution and used more rope," he pointed out, poking the ones wrapped around my wrists. "If our only bait got away then it'd be pretty useless having this place all set up."
"You're ignoring my question," I told him, sighing. "There's no reason for you to be embarrassed or ashamed-"
"Who said I was?" he snapped, turning his gaze towards me. His dark eyes were like liquid fire as he glared at me. "I'm not ashamed of how I look. It's people like you who think I need to be!"
Deciding not to comment on that, I asked "then why won't you tell me what happened?"
His mouth opened and closed a few times before he turned away and walked over to the darkness of the room. I watched him carefully, uncertain what he could be hiding in the pitch black. If he was hiding a weapon, I was screwed. It didn't look like Evan was going to wake up anytime soon.
"Stephen... you mentioned your sister," I began, my voice hesitant. "Did the same thing happen to her that happened to you?"
It was a while before he responded, his voice drifting out from the shadows. "Yes, we were both in the fire and I got out with these scars while she got out almost ten times worst. She was promised help-" he stopped short and almost growled. "All you rich girls are the same. Think you can bat your pretty eyelashes and get all the information you want out of a guy."
"I asked a simple question," I uttered, "you're the one who decided to tell me. You didn't have to if you didn't want to, but you did, which means you want to tell someone your story - someone who isn't looking at you through metal bars." I was hinting at the fact he would end up in prison without his story known, and he knew that this is where he would end up but if I knew the story, I could help soften the blow. "Stephen, who caused the fire you and your sister was trapped in?"
Silence threatened the room and I felt dread curse through me. If I had said the wrong thing, he could snap and kill me, I was an easy and open target. I glanced at Evan but his slumped figure gave no clue to when he could be waking up. Squeezing my eyes shut, I thought over my life and my father. If I was gone, would he move on? I couldn't help but doubt it, he had taken a long time to get over my mother and if he lost his daughter as well... there is only so much damage a man could take.
"It was my fault," Stephen answered, surprising me. I looked over at the general area he stood in and waited for him to say more. "She told me I had a bad habit of using matches to light cigarettes. I had a bad night and hearing her go on at me was the final straw. I used a match..."
It was easy to fill in the rest but I didn't want to press him - criminal or not, being responsible for your sister's near-death experience is something that would haunt a person. It was difficult to push away the sympathy I felt for him but kidnapping me made it even more difficult to want to help him. I gave him the chance to go without breathing a word to the police but he refused to take it.
"What do you plan on doing with the money?" I asked curiously. "If it's not for your sister then you must have a plan for every single penny you have in those bags."
"Most of it will go to a proper send off," he said quietly. "She didn't get one she deserved because I had used all my money buying that god forsaken drug that pushed her over the edge!"
Cowering away, I felt like my heart was pounding in my head. He must be bipolar, I thought as I watched him stalk towards me. His mood was changing so drastically that it was impossible to think of any other explanation for how he was acting. My eyes scanned his face, trying to spot any signs of him calming down but it didn't seem like he would be letting go of his anger any time soon.
"What was the drug supposed to do?" I whispered. If I kept him talking then he might not think about harming me. Then again, if his mind was constantly flicking between insane and normal I could say anything and it might set him off.
With clenched fists, he leaned against the table and breathed out slowly. "It was supposed to heal her wounds faster, they said it was a test drug but they didn't tell her the effects it could have on her mental state. Someone who heals that fast... it messed her mind up." He shook his head slowly and visibly calmed down. "Mr. Turner told us that she would be fine, it was just a small set back. His small setback is what killed her. They said if we got her to a hospital, they could have gotten it out of her system but because it was a trial drug, Mr. Turner couldn't expose that sort of thing to the public. It was dangerous substances they were working with."
My heart pounded as his hands shook, his fingers brushing against my leg. If he snapped, I was the only thing in front of him that he could take his anger out on. I really didn't want to be here when that happened. Think, Aspen, I scolded myself, what can you say to calm him down? Or at least get him away from you.
"What does robbing the rich have to do with your revenge on Mr. Turner?" I asked quietly. I was ready for the impact of his fists, I was mentally preparing myself for the pain of him hitting me but it never came. Instead, he just looked at me and it was as if he was finally realising that I was here, and I was listening. "You said all those people have done wrong. Did you mean to you or to all those men out there?"
Stephen's body sagged down, his anger taking away his energy. "I gathered those men based on the rich that had wronged them. Some had their belongings taken away because of the bankers, some had their money taken with the promise of a better life, and there's a few like me that either suffered by losing someone or suffered at the hands of Mr. Turner's drug."
The words stuck to my tongue as I tried to think of something to say. It was horrible what had happened to these people, all because of people my father knew, but there was nothing I could do to reverse time and save all those that had been lost, or help those who were in struggle – even with a decent amount of money, there was no way I could repair the relationships that had been broken. It didn't seem like Stephen wanted help from the little rich girl.
"Try to keep still," he said finally. "Wouldn't want you to fall off the table and break something."
With pinched eyebrows, I watched him leave the room before letting my body slouch down against the table. There was no chance of me getting out of here now if Evan didn't wake up soon. I wasn't even sure if he was okay, there was no way to check his pulse or the knock on the back of his head.
Oh god, I thought miserably, what happens if they've seriously injured him? I can't just let him die!
My internal panic made my chest begin to rise with an alarming rate, and this time I didn't have Evan to help me calm down. I shouldn't rely on others to help with panic attacks but it was nice to have someone bringing me down slowly. I watched Evan's slowly rising and falling chest and found myself trying to match him.
"Evan?" I whispered softly, keeping my eyes trained on him in case there was a flutter of movement. "Evan, you need to wake up now."
A small groan escaped from his lips as his head rolled from one side to the other. I instantly tried to sit up but the ropes held me down, leaving my back awkwardly arched as I reached towards him.
"Aspen?" he murmured, his eyes fluttering open. "What-" he stopped and coughed, his head bending towards his chest to shield his coughing. "Where are we?"
"Tied up in another room," I said, sighing. "You were knocked out by Stephen and he tied us up in here. I think one of the men heard us and alerted him."
The room settled back into silence and the dust that hung thick in the air slowly gravitated towards the floor, covering my skin and making me feel like we had been here for months. For a used warehouse, you would think they would keep it a little cleaner than this. Someone could die from a coughing fit in here.
"I should have been paying more attention," he said, sighing. "I took my mind off the task and ended up getting us both tied up in a room I don't recognise. If we were to get out, I would need to wing it."
The sound of footsteps made Evan stare at me before slouching back down in the chair. I looked around in a daze and noticed Carl entering the room slowly, his limp looking worse. He didn't spare me a look as he set a bottle of water down on the table and undone the cap.
"Carl," I whispered, wishing I could touch his arm to get his attention. "I hope you don't hold me responsible for being knocked out."
It took him a moment to respond, or even to look at me. "I don't hold you responsible," he finally muttered. "I hold him responsible instead." He flicked his hand over his shoulder at Evan and shrugged. "I know you were just trying to get away."
The whole time he spoke, he didn't meet my gaze for more than a second and then I realised that Stephen was stood in the doorway, too far away to notice Carl was whispering to me. I offered him a soft smile and lifted my head for him to pour water into my mouth.
"Thank you." I laid my head back down and kept my eyes on Carl's face as he nodded towards Stephen then looked at me. "Is he gone?" I mouthed, to which he nodded. "I really am sorry about you being knocked out. I know you aren't that bad."
There was a moment of hesitation before Carl lifted his mask and smiled - a small one, but he still smiled. I bit my lip to stop my grin, he trusted me!
"You aren't that bad either," he admitted, shrugging. "Look, Aspen-" he stopped and quickly looked up at the sound of footsteps. "I need you to understand, I want to let you go but I'm worried about Stephen will do to me or my family," he rushed out before pulling his mask back down and scuttling out the room.
"Don't trust him," Evan said, making me jump. He waited until I was looking at him to continue speaking. "You need to guard yourself, he could be saying that to get you to trust him then he'll easily stab you in the back at the first chance he gets. None of these men want to be caught and if you begin to show them that you're okay, they will use that to their advantage."
Evan's words settled in my mind and I let them, only for a moment, before I scowled at him and shook my head. "I trust Carl. He was close to letting me go."
"Yeah, close. He didn't actually do it. Was he in a rush to? I doubt it."
He was right. Carl didn't exactly rush to help me but with Stephen's mental state, I doubted I would be in a rush to help someone when the threat of death was there. I found myself scowling more, why was I agreeing with Evan. He didn't even like me, look how he acted towards me on the roof.
"Why don't you go back to playing dead?" I snapped then instantly filled with regret when he blinked at me in surprise.
His eyes narrowed as he leaned back. "Fine."
It was such a dreadful thing to say, I knew that, but the anger kept surging through me. Why did I have to be kidnapped? Why did I have to have mix feelings on whom to trust? Moreover, why, for heaven’s sake, did that boy make my heart skip a beat?