Page 13 of Beautiful Revenge

“What are you going to do?” As Finn walks out of the room, I call out to him, “Finn! You can’t just leave me here! Dante will find me! He will kill you!”

The last thing I hear is Finn’s laughter and his words, “I’m counting on it.”

Dante

Elio calls me over in the middle of the night, frantically telling me that Aria isn’t there.

“Where could she have gone?” I ask once I arrive at his house.

“I checked the security footage and saw her take my car and drive off.”

“Ok. Then we just look at the CCTV footage on the streets she could have gone. I have a hacker friend that can help us out with that.”

“But that could take hours,” Elio cries, running his hand down his face. “And I need to know that Aria is safe now.”

“Well, we know which direction she went in. I’ll call my friend to get started and then I’ll go out and start looking for her. She couldn’t have gone far. She knows she’ll need to come back soon.She’s probably out for a joy ride and will be home within the hour.”

But as I speak, I know my words sound hollow. Neither of us believe Aria will be home within the hour. Something in my gut is telling me something has gone wrong.

After calling my hacker friend, I drive in the direction Aria went. It only takes me a few minutes to find Elio’s car. On the side of the road. With a large dent in it. Aria isn’t in the car and there’s no one else around.

My gut was right: something has gone wrong.

Then my phone rings. I don’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

“I see you got my gift.”

“Finn,” I growl, recognizing his voice instantly. It’s always so cocky and smug. He was a good friend to have when he was on my side but as my enemy? He’s just fucking annoying. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Oh.” He pauses. “I kidnapped Aria.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Finn is chaos personified. And he has Aria – the girl I helped raise. The girl I’ve known since she was in pigtails and had missing teeth. Hell, I even snuck money under her pillow at night when Elio wasn’t home because he was off on business.

And now Finn has her.

When I kidnapped Nadia, Finn had wanted to hurt her but I was the only thing stopping Finn from doing too much damage. Nothing is stopping Finn now.

Except me. If I can find him.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“Nothing. I just wanted you to know.” He hangs up before I can say anything more.

Fuck.

Chapter Three

Aria

The moment I feel the urge to pee, I know I’m in for a long night.

I try tugging at the rope around my wrists and ankles but it’s pointless. The tighter I pull, the tighter they become. I’m stuck here.

But I refuse to pee myself like a little girl. I never peed myself when I was twelve and kidnapped. I will not do it now.

The issue is that Finn’s been gone for hours, doing who knows what. The longer he’s gone, the more I start to wonder if I can actually hold it.

My black leggings are the only thing I have on that feel truly comfortable. Normally, I wear skirts and dresses but when Isnuck out earlier in the night, I figured pants would be the safer option. I’m glad for them now.

---