Page 39 of Unbreakable
Connor's large frame fills the space outside my car door. With his arms crossed he backs up a few feet and waits for me to open the door. Drawing a deep breath my hand finds the handle, and I climb out of my car. The note in my hand I crumble to hide in my palm. Feet crunching the gravel causes my head to turn as I take notice of another man walking on the other side of my car holding a large can of gasoline.
A firm hand grips my left arm, and I turn my head towards Connor. He holds his palm out. "Your phone." He demands. Not wanting to provoke him I comply and hand it over, which he immediately tosses on the hood. The other guy begins to pour the gasoline over and around my car then proceeds to throw a match to the ground. Connor leads me towards the SUV they arrived in as the car starts to catch fire. I drop the crumpled note in my hand to the grassy ground before the back door opens, and I climb in. Part of me was expecting to find Ronan sitting in the back seat, but I find no one. In the end, it's Connor, the other guy and me as they turn the vehicle around and peel off leaving nothing but a fire behind us.
Unfortunately for me the windows are blacked out to where I can't see my surroundings, so I have no idea which way we are going. Turning his head and looking over his shoulder Connor looks me over. Raking his beady eyes over my body. A wicked smirk appears on his face as his eyes land on mine, and I give him the best go to hell look I can provide as I press my back to the seat and cross my arms. No words are exchanged. The partition that separates the front from the back starts to roll up, cutting me off completely, leaving me alone.
I'm not sure how much time has passed when the SUV finally rolls to a stop. At this point, I'm starting to let my nerves get the best of me. All I know is I'm sure by now Jake, and the rest of the club knows I'm gone. I wait for the door to open and when it does a little light shines on my face causing me to blink and raise my hand to block it. I step out. Glancing around, I try to take in where we are. The house in front of me is an older white colonial style, and we are standing in a circular driveway. There doesn’t appear to be anything else around the home, only thick, dense forest as far as I can see through the darkness beyond the well-lit yard. Connor reaches to take hold of my arm, and I take a step to the side preventing his touch, which angers him. His hand shoots out and grabs for my arm again, this time succeeding. Roughly he yanks my small frame into his large one and squeezes my arm to the point of pain.
"That’s enough, Connor. Release my wife." Ronan's voice roars. Not breaking the stare off, I continue to shoot daggers at the man holding me.
"I said enough," Ronan bellows once again.
Finally, releasing his tight hold on my upper arm, Connor steps back. I keep my fists balled at my side as I turn my body to face the man I have been running from for two years. I take a good long look at him. Not much has changed. His hair is a little more gray on the top, and he looks to have taken up going to a gym because he isn't as lean as he once was. He has more muscle definition than before.
"Like what you see? Too bad you're not the woman who's been enjoying this body for the past couple years," He remarks gesturing to his body with his hands. Ronan has always been full of himself. I cross my arm.
"Trust me, I'm not the least bit envious of any woman you’ve ever slept with." My words strike a nerve. I watch his smug face warp to one of anger. I insulted him, and I did it in front of his men, something I would have never in a million years done before, but I'm not the woman I was then, and he is taking notice.
"It's going to be fun breaking you all over again, Anna." Giving me his back, Ronan walks inside. Connor takes a step towards me and this time I choose to follow Ronan's lead and trail him into the older home. I don’t get too far inside the foyer when Ronan spins around. The back of his hand lands a substantial blow to my right cheek causing my head to snap back. The radiating pain is instant. Finding my center, I stay on my feet and bring my hand to my face covering my throbbing cheek. I won't cower. Dropping my hand, I push my shoulders back and level my stare.
"I see you seem to think you've become a different woman. Stronger even. I'm going to show you just how wrong you are my dear."
"I can take whatever you dish out, but first let Lisa go. You've got me. She has nothing more to do with this," I demand, even though it's more of a plea. His eyes grow cold.
Stepping into my space, and getting right in my face he continues, "You reek of him, you know that? But you see, my family isn't complete yet. That biker gang still has my daughter, and I want her back. Oh, don’t get me wrong, wife. I'm going to have my fun with you. I plan on using you up until there is nothing left but your lifeless body. In the end, I'll throw you out like the garbage you are."
A tear rolls down my cheek before I can stop it. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. The sinking feeling of his words cement the finality of my life, but I'll give my last breath knowing he won't ever get his hands on my daughter. Feeling bold I spit in his face. "Go fuck yourself. You will never get your filthy hands onmydaughter." Instead of reacting like I thought he would, which was striking me, Ronan grips the back of my head, grabs a fistful of hair and forces his mouth over mine. Swiftly, my body gets slammed against the wall, and the struggle to push him off causes him to press his body further into me. Pinning his leg between mine, he makes it a point to press his erection against me.. Bringing my hands up I pull his hair in an attempt to make him stop. Just as quickly he punches me in the stomach knocking the breath out of me, and I fall to my knees.
"Take her upstairs." He tells Connor as he looks down on me as I try and catch my breath.
Snatching me from the floor, Connor leads me up the stairs. Stopping in front of the door at the end of the hall, he inserts a key and unlocks the door. Swinging it open he shoves me inside hard enough I lose my footing and stumble to my knees. The sound of the door slamming shut and locking follows.
"Jesus, Grace," Lisa's voice rings out, and then a pair of arms wrap around my waist as she helps me off the floor, and she settles me on the edge of a bed.
"Lisa, are you okay? Did they hurt you," Pulling back I start trying to access her.
"Sweetie, I'm fine. A little banged up from the accident but other than that they haven't touched me. My question is what the hell are you doing here? Where're the men? Oh my God, Grace, please tell me my husband is okay?"
"Bennett is alive. Not in the best of shape, but alive." I lay my hand on her lap and reassure her. "I took off in the middle of the night. I gave myself over to Ronan. To save my daughter and to save you, Lisa." I confess.
The look Lisa gives me is the look I would have gotten from my mother if she were alive. "I can understand doing it for your daughter, but not for me. You should have let Jake and the men handle this mess, Grace. Now look, we are both in the same boat," Lisa informs me of a fact I'm already aware of, but I have a plan.
"Listen, I'm going to need you to follow my lead. I don’t know where we are, but we need to try and get out of here." I'm telling her this, and yet I have no intentions of running. Getting her out of here is my only concern. "There wasn’t much I could see from the outside but trees all around us, but we have to try," I tell her. I walk over to one of the windows in the room and peer out. Lisa joins me.
"What do you suggest we do?" she asks.
Continuing to stare out the window I state, "We fight."
For what feels like a couple of hours, no one comes into the room, and we both begin to lose a little of the fight we had earlier due to the fact we are both tired. Both our stomachs growl as we continue to walk around the room to stay awake. The sound of the key being inserted into the lock on the other side of the door halts our movements. Grabbing the only thing of use in the room, Lisa stands to where she stays hidden behind the door. I back away a few steps to give myself room to defend myself.
The door opens and the man that was with Connor earlier appears holding a plate containing two sandwiches. I wait for him to step further into the room before making a move. Lisa pushes the door closed. Raising the lamp above her, she brings it down as hard as she can across the back of his head. Dropping the plate, he stumbles slightly and doubles over grabbing at the back of his injured head. Taking the opportunity just as I see his hand reach inside his jacket, I brace my hands on his shoulders and bring my knee up. The crunching noise I hear lets me know I made solid contact with his nose which brings him down to one knee. Rearing back, Lisa kicks the side of the knee not on the floor causing it to buckle.
Scrambling, I lock the door as Lisa snatches a drawer from the nightstand. Swinging, the wood cracks across the guy's jaw knocking him out.
"Holy shit, Lisa," I say in awe.
"Honey, remember who our family is. I picked up some skills of my own along the way," she drops the remaining piece of the drawer to the floor.
"We don’t have much time. Does he have keys on him anywhere.?" We begin to search his pockets. Reaching into his suit jacket my hand grasps his gun. I give it a once over making sure it's loaded.
