Page 60 of Caged

“Surely, Mr. Sheppard,” he annunciated my name, “you can see why I’ll take great pleasure exacting my revenge against one of the sons of Sheppard & Sons.”

“You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not one of them.” I was a son, but not one of the sons from the business title. “Much like your nephew, I’m the family fuck up.”

I shouldn’t have glanced over to see Maxwell’s reaction. Seeing her eyes widen and then fill with sympathy wasn’t helpful.

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll still be sad when I start sending you back in pieces.”

The goon, Franks, snickered.

Roman looked at Maxwell and added, “Don’t worry, Maxwell, I won’t leave you out of the fun.”

She paled as he laughed.

I’d lost track of time, but figured we’d been driving at least a half an hour when the limo came to a stop and the driver cut the engine. Not that it mattered. We could have been driving in circles for all I could see.

Roman typed out a message on his phone while waiting for someone to open his door. Before he got out of the car he ordered, “Blindfold them.”

“Yes, sir,” another goon said before getting in the car and carrying out the order.

With no way to see where we were, I counted fourteen steps before we were led through a door. The lack of hallow echo told me the rooms we walked through were furnished. I listened for voices or movement but didn’t hear any.

Is he hiding the number of goons on site?Or was he confident he didn’t need more.

A door creaked open before someone said, “Watch your step.” Holding my arm, he led me down rickety stairs, the wood bowing under our weight. Judging from the footsteps behind me, Maxwell was also being led down.

A basement.The door clicked shut behind us.

The first thing I noticed was the cold.

The second was the light. Even with a blindfold, I could tell it blinking fast.A strobe?

Fuck. They wouldn’t just beat us, they’d deploy psychological torture.

I brushed against a cold bar as I was pushed forward. A few seconds later, Maxwell bumped into me.

Metal scraped against concrete. Steel crashed into steel. A lock clicked into place. A death knell if I’d ever heard one.

“Stand still,” someone said after they forced me to turn around. I could only assume Maxwell was getting the same treatment.

When I felt a hand on the back of my head, I shut my eyes. I didn’t want to shock them with the bright blinking light.

God,I fucking hate strobe lights.

“Close your eyes.” I took a chance and warned Maxwell, earning a punch in the kidney.

When I grunted, someone said, “Shut up.”

I’d said all I needed to say.

When I turned my head, it was forcibly turned back so I faced forward.

“We have four guys with rifles aimed at your heads. If you turn around before we give you permission…” He laughed. “It’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

Copy that.

Someone removed my blindfold and handcuffs before removing Maxwell’s.

As I stood still, facing a wall, waiting, I rubbed my wrists to get the blood flowing again. Fuckers put the cuffs on too tight.

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