Page 36 of Gorgeous Nightmare

“It's cute that you believe in your dreams, it really is. But your world isn’t a dream, Aisling. It’s a fucking nightmare that you’ll never escape.”

I drag the knife along her cheek, soft enough not to cut, but hard enough to let her know who’s in control right now.

She shudders under the knife’s blade as it inches its way down her body, but her face remains straight, giving no emotions away.

“P-please don’t do this…” She stumbles over her words, trying to come up with reasons.

Cute.

“Shhhh,” I hush her.

“It’ll hurt so much less if you stay fucking quiet,” I say, digging the blade in her sternum, a trail of red beads forming. “Or maybe not, either way, I’m going to fucking enjoy this.”

She whimpers as I go deeper, her body stiffening under the pressure.

Under the pain.

But she still doesn’t scream.

I lean in close, my lips brushing her ear as I whisper, “You’ll scream for me soon enough, hellspawn.”

A silent tear falls down her cheek, and I catch it with my tongue like it's holy water.

“Now, let’s begin.”

CHAPTER 32

Ronan

TWELVE HOURS AND FORTY-THREE MINUTES SINCE THEY TOOK HER.

She never even made it back to her apartment. They scooped her up right before turning on Auburn, minutes from her apartment.

I’ve spent every minute scouring security footage to track the van they took her in. When I lost them because there weren't any more cameras towards the north end of the city, I had to get creative.

THIRTEEN HOURS AND TWENTY-SIX MINUTES SINCE THEY TOOK HER.

I ended up reaching out to Kassius and Cade, whodropped everything to come over and have been sitting here with me, scouring everything to find out about these masked fuckers that took my girl.

EIGHTEEN HOURS AND THIRTY-TWO MINUTES SINCE THEY TOOK HER.

Cade’s brother, Lex, was a vital component to us being able to figure out exactly where she was. He works downtown as a data entry specialist for the registration department with an after-hours hobby of hacking anything and everything on the internet.

He stopped by our makeshift home base, I set up in the living room, screens glowing with satellite images, surveillance feeds, and digital maps.

He logged into a couple of government databases, and after a few hours, we had it all.

TWENTY-TWO HOURS AND SIXTEEN MINUTES SINCE THEY TOOK HER.

He ended up finding all the information needed by using the license plate number. We now have theowner’s name, address, and know that the car was recently re-registered in the state.

“Nathan Cross, a 36-year-old white male from Grand Lakes,” Lex says, as he continues to type away at the keyboard in front of him. “It’s an alias, though. I can’t find any public records with that name.”

“The car was registered somewhere in the outskirts of the town, about an hour away from what I can guess. I can’t find its actual location on any maps, so I think it’s been abandoned for quite some time. This place is meant to stay hidden, Ronan.”

“Pull up surveillance from the area. I want every fucking camera scrubbed.” I slam my hand on my desk, frustration rising.

“On it. We’re gonna find her, bro,” Kassius tries to calm me as he turns back to the screen in front of him.

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