Page 44 of Peripheral Vision

The door handle rattles.

I freeze, every muscle in my body tensing. For a moment nothing happens. Then, with a softclick,the door begins to open. A sliver of light floods into the room with it, telling me that the window above me does lead outside and it must be night. My breath hitches as a shadowy figure steps inside, their features obscured by the harsh contrast of light and dark. I scramble backward instinctively, themetal cuffs cutting into my wrists again as I tug against them. My heart races, pounding so loudly I’m sure they can hear it.

“Dylan.”

The voice is low and calm, but it sends a shiver through me. I don’t recognize it, not immediately. It isn’t until he steps closer that my eyes widen, my stomach dropping. Because it isn’t Fletcher, that much was obvious right away. But I would give anything for this person to at least be Callum. Because the tall, wiry man who is standing in front of me can’t be who I think it is. I have to be hallucinating. This has to be an after effect of whatever they drugged me with. His sharp angular face points down at me, his piercing eyes, so much like my father’s, cut through me. He’s dressed in dark clothes, his movements deliberate as he kneels down in front of me. I try to speak, but words come out quiet, unconfident. “Uncle Connor?”

He doesn’t answer, not immediately. His gaze flicks over me, taking in my disheveled state. The bruising that’s blossoming on my arms and on my temple from where it’s been resting against the hard wall, the slight cut against my throat. His lips press into a thin line, and for a moment, I think I see something like regret flash across his face. That is, until his mouth twists into a cruel smirk. He leans back on his heels and pulls out a flashlight, because apparently there isn’t an overhead light in this room, before shining it abruptly back on my face. The blinding light catches me off guard, burning my vision until it can adjust. “What the hell are you doing here? Did Callum—did he—” My words fumble as Connor stands up straighter.

“Oh, Dylan,” he says, his voice dripping with mock sympathy. “Callum did exactly as he was told. Well, almost, anyway. It’s a shame we had to teach him the little lesson we did. It’ll keep him out of commission for a while, but hopefully it’ll teach him not to make another mistake. It is so difficult to find reliable employees these days.”

I stare at him, my chest tightening, becausewhat the fuck?He chuckles at the puzzled look on my face.

“You’ve always been so curious, haven’t you? Just like your father. But curiosity can be a dangerous thing, Dylan. And it can get you killed. If only Fletcher had heeded my warnings, maybe he wouldn’t be getting a lesson on that very thing,” he says, his tone almost conversational.

“Fletcher? What does he have to do with any of this?” I ask, uncertainty settling into my gut.

He starts pacing back and forth in front of me, the light of the flashlight bouncing with each step he takes. “That little obsession of his with you—it’s been… inconvenient for me. He’s been poking around, asking the wrong questions, getting close to things he shouldn’t. I couldn’t let that continue. Unfortunately for him, and for you, his meddling put a target on your back. He thought he was protecting you, but all he did was bring you into the crossfire. So now here you are, right where I need you.”

My voice trembles as I ask, “Getting close to what?” Is that what he wanted to talk to me about? Am I about to find out?

Connor’s smile widens when he suddenly lets out a booming laugh. “He didn’t tell you why you almost got kidnapped? He hasn’t even told you what he does for a living, has he? Oh, this is too good.”

“Spit it out,” I snap.

“A part of me doesn’t want to spoil the surprise yet, seeing as you’ll have a front row seat soon enough… but since you’re family, I suppose I can let you in a little bit. Fletcher has been trying to take me down. Well, my network down, which inadvertently harms me, and that would be very bad for business because people pay a lot of money for otherpeople.And now you’re the perfect leverage. Except, he doesn’t know that he won’t ever be getting you back. You can’t leave here now that you’ve seen my face.” He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. The weight of his implication hangs heavy in the air between us. Everything that my assailant told me when he tried to rape me comes rushing back.

“You’re…” The words die on my tongue, bile rising in my throat as I fight to swallow it.

He crouches in front of me again to meet my eye level. “You’re smart, Dylan. Tell me. I’m what?”

“You won’t get away with this,” I manage, my voice low but fierce. “Fletcher won’t stop. Someone will find out what you’ve done, to me and to so many others.”

He smirks, standing and turning toward the door. “Let them try,” he says over his shoulder as he leaves the room, the door slamming shut behind him, plunging me back into darkness. His words echo in the silence he leaves behind, reverberating in my mind like the toll of a bell. Human trafficking. Fletcher getting too close. I didn’t know—I didn’t have a clue. My uncle, the man I thought was one of the few decent members of our fractured family… I can’t believe I’ve ever defended him to anyone. Even after Dad died, I told myself there had to be a reason he didn’t show up. But now I know. He wasn’t grieving, he wasn’t in mourning, he was protecting himself and hisbusiness.The word is acrid in my mind.

A bitter laugh bubbles up in my throat, but it catches halfway, turning into a choked sob because I know what he plans on doing with me. All of it makes sense now—the absence, the secrecy, the vague excuses that never quite added up. I trusted him. And now I’m here, chained to this freezing floor because of him. Because he saw me as nothing more than a pawn in whatever sick game he’s been playing as another dollar bill in his pocket. I swallow hard, trying to force down the rising tide of emotions. I can’t fall apart. Fletcher might be out there, and if what Connor said is true, he’s still trying to help me. My throat aches with the weight of unspoken words, with the desperate plea I'd give anything to scream into the void.Fletcher, if you can hear me…please, don’t give up on me.

I awakea little while later to a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on me. The impact of it is jarring and I flinch back, hitting my head against the wall, causing stars to burst in my vision. Before I have a chance to regain my bearings, with my head pounding, my arms slump to the ground on either side of me and someone—no, two someone’s lift me underneath my arms and start dragging me from the room. I must not have been doing a very good job at walking on my own because eventually, I’m lifted over the shoulder of whoever is carrying me before being placed back on my feet in what looks like a shower room now that my eyes are adjusted enough.

“Strip.” I turn my head to see my uncle waltz into the room from a side door. The two men who just carried me in must be his enforcers and they’re leering at me like I’m their next meal. I tremble under their scrutiny, shaking my head ‘no’ before I can think about the consequences. My uncle approaches me, a smile on his face. If I didn’t know the kind of person he was now, if he was the person I thought he was, I would consider it a kind one. But it’s not. “I’m sorry? I didn’t quite catch that. It almost looked like you shook your head no.” He grips my chin in a forceful grip, making me look at him. “Would you like to try that again?”

I spit in his face, immediately regretting my decision when he wipes his face before backhanding me. The force of his hit is so strong it knocks me back into the wall. He approaches me again, grabbing the collar of my shirt with both hands before tearing it down the center. I yelp, trying to hold it together, not wanting to be exposed in front of these men, in front of him. Whatever he sees he doesn’t like though, as he nods at the two men to come over. “Help me remove the rest of her clothes, please.” I try backing away before darting off to the side but I’m not fast enough. One of the men grabs me from around my waist and hauls me backward until I’m standing on the ground again, yet another gun in my back, my arms wrenched behind me, while the other is standing in front of me, cracking his knuckles. “It really would be within your best interest to cooperate,Dylan.” My uncle's voice slithers over me like oil, leaving me feeling tainted.

The man in front of me finishes tearing at my shirt until it falls open completely, leaving me on display in my bra. He then moves onto my pants, unbuttoning them before attempting to tug them down my legs, but I fight, clenching them together. “Please, don’t do this.” But my pleas are ignored, and the man continues and wins his effort to remove my clothes until I’m standing in nothing but my underwear, and I have a feeling I won’t even get to keep that on. My uncle runs his tongue over his teeth while running his eyes up and down my body before giving one final nod to the man in front of me. Bile rises in my stomach as he faces me again, boxing me between himself and the man behind me, while he unfastens my bra. The gun moves from my back to my head as my hands are released to encourage me to let the rest of my top fall to the ground.

An icy breeze settles over my skin as I’m placed on display before these three men, trying to cover my modesty with my hands. “Please remove your underwear, Dylan.” I want to vomit. I want to die. I choke on a sob, my breath catching in my throat as the world starts to tilt around me. Their eyes rake over me and I can feel their judgement, their power. My knees threaten to buckle but I force myself to stay upright. Showing weakness will only make this worse. “Do it,” the man with the gun growls, pressing the barrel harder against my skull. The cold metal bites into my skin, a cruel reminder that they hold my life in their hands. I still make no effort to move.

Connor takes another step forward. “This isn’t a negotiation, Dylan. Obey or the consequences will be far worse.” I will myself to disappear as I close my eyes, to be anywhere but here. My hands move on their own, betraying me as I obey their command. Each second feels like an eternity as the last shred of my dignity slips away. When it’s done, I stand frozen, trembling in my humiliation. A sob threatens to escape my lips, but I bite it back, keeping my eyes downcast and refusing to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break further. I wonder if the consequence for not listening could bedeath. It has to be better than anything else they have to offer me, for anything that’s to come.

The silence is torturous as I feel their eyes leering at me, as I listen to the adjustment of their feet, as the man behind meadjustshimself. But the worst of all is the way my uncle is looking at me, not in the way family should look at each other. He must notice my discomfort because his smile widens, a twisted, knowing grin. My skin prickles, and I shift on my feet, but it feels like his eyes are pinning me in place, dissecting me with every flicker of amusement that dances across his face. “Make sure she gets washed up properly. When she’s dressed, come grab me. I think we could benefit from someone-on-onetime. But don’t touch her, I have something special planned for her.”

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

DYLAN

They stayed the entire time, watching me. They barked at me any time I didn’t do something that was up to their standards, or my uncle's standards as they liked to remind me. They made me bend this way or that as I scrubbed, in completely unnecessary poses in the shower and entirely to their benefit and had me groom myself in the way Connor likes. Whatever he had planned for me… made me want to crawl out of my skin. Especially when I saw what they wanted me to wear. After I was done showering, they led me to a small room that was minimally furnished with a twin sized bed, a nightstand, and a small dresser. They were all bolted to their respective surfaces, with nothing sharp to be able to be used as a weapon. I also noticed a camera in one of the upper corners in the room. On the bed had been a dress that had looked two sizes too small—it was silky and short, falling just below my ass. The front dipped low enough that an accidental twist or turn would expose my nipples. The underwear they provided was more like a scrap of fabric that made me question why they even provided it in the first place.

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