has already captured her once and we can’t let that happen again.” Tom pauses to listen to what the person on the line in saying. I look around the room. Liam and Colton are both watching me to see how I react. I keep a blank expression and continue listening to Tom’s conversation.
“No. No. We expect about fifty members. Yes. Thank you. Tomorrow.” He ends the call and looks at the table. “The Wilson’s are going to come and help. They are excited to meet you, Ryanne. That makes a little more than thirty people right now.”
I grimace. I’m horrible at meeting new people and I’m really awkward in new situations. Liam and Colton laugh at my expression. Wait? Colton laughed. He isn’t ignoring me anymore? I look over at him and see him looking back at me, smiling. I wonder what changed. I open my mouth to ask him, when Natasha runs into the room. “Mommy and Daddy can’t come, but Conner said he would. Natalie and I have to stay with Madison. Daddy won’t let me fight.” She stands behind Colton’s chair and places an arm on his shoulder. I pull my eyes away from him and bring my attention back to Tom.
“That’s probably for the best Natasha. You have a useful power, but it won’t be useful if you are dead. You haven’t been trained to fight like the others have.” She nods, obviously relieved that she isn’t going to have to fight. I bet she doesn’t want to break one of her perfectly manicured nails.
“When will people start to arrive?” asks Liam.
“Tomorrow morning. We don’t have a ton of extra room here to keep a lot of people. You’re brother is welcome to stay here though.”
I almost choke on the muffin. “Bragden is coming?”
“Yeah, I called him last night. He’s more than willing to fight against Dravin, especially after he saw what happened to you last time you were there.” I’ll finally have a chance to fully thank him for his part in rescuing me.
“What happened to her last time?” Natasha asks, while obnoxiously chomping her gum. Liam glances my way, asking for my permission. I shrug. I don’t care if this girl knows. Maybe she’ll leave me alone.
“Dravin kidnapped her and tortured her for five days straight, refusing to give her any food. He questioned her about our whereabouts and she never told them anything. She was very strong.”
“It doesn’t sound that bad.”
The room silences as everyone turns and glares at Natasha.
This girl is really pushing my buttons. “Not that bad?” I pause to see if she is serious. Sticking her hand on her hip, she nods. “Not that bad?” I repeat. “How would you like to be constantly picked up and dropped flat on a concrete floor? Every time I didn’t listen to their demands, I was punched, kicked, and stepped on. Think of any way to beat someone up and I endured it.
“The only break I got was when I passed out from the pain. Then I would get slapped awake and it would start all over again. Dravin was able to look at me and give me a blinding headache. I felt like my head was going to explode from the pressure. I screamed in agony, but the pain never lessened. Then, he forced me to replay the most painful experience of my life. How would you like to rewatch the day when your mother was killed in a car wreck that was supposed to kill you! I was supposed to be the one that died, not her. In that moment, I wanted them to kill me, so the pain would end. I didn’t think I could take anymore.
“How you like to be given a truth serum that makes it feel like your insides are being slowly ripped out if you don’t speak? Huh? Or how about having a man who had previous assaulted you come in to your cell when you are too weak to move, cut into your skin and tell you all the gory details about how he is going to rape you and enjoy doing it? Then, strangle you to knock you out, so it’s easier for him? If that’s not bad enough, to have a constant reminder in your nightmares.
“You don’t know what it’s like to look in someone’s eyes and see pure evil and hatred for you, knowing that he would enjoy killing you.” I collect my breath and say in a quiet voice. “Don’t you