that I have nothing to give him. What does he want me to give up? Tony’s looking for his missing daughter, so what can I do to help him?
“Yes, it’s about the penises.” He rips a page off the wall and holds it in front of himself. “Have you never seen a dick before? Look how big the balls are. If your balls are this big, you need some help.”
“I did see a dick, remember? Last night when you traumatized me.”
“I’m not sleeping with clothes on because of you,” he says as he gets up and tosses the picture on his desk. I’m given no choice but to follow after him as he leads me back into the room that Tony seems to enjoy making his movies for my father in.
“Oh, so wonderful for you to join us,” Tony says, sounding almost giddy as I’m led inside. He hurries over to us and unlocks my handcuff before eyeing the bandage around my wrist in annoyance. He tears it off then gives me a shove toward the middle of the room. “Are you ready?”
“Me?” I ask. “Ready for what? Are you letting me run free?”
He laughs to himself and I start to question if this man is insane. “Yeah, that one. Delta, let’s make this moment magical.”
When Delta steps onto the scene, he’s decked out in all black, ski mask pulled over his face, and I realize that we all seem to have a different definition of magical.
“Please tell me we’re going skiing.”
“Yes, yes, continue being a smart-ass,” Tony says as he steps back and pulls his phone out. I glance over at Shepherd who catches my eyes but doesn’t show an ounce of emotion on his face as I realize that this probably isn’t going to be like last time.
My mind is racing as I try to think about ways to get out of here. Can I reach the door? Can I run? Can I hide?
But the answer to all of those seems to be a big fat no. No, I can’t reach the door, fucking Rod’s in front of it. No, I can’t run. These assholes seem to be quicker than me. No, there’s no sense in even trying to hide.
I have no option but to face whatever is about to happen, but I’m not going to take it lying down.
“And action!” Tony says, sounding giddy as Delta walks toward me. He’s a little guy, but there’s something about that blank stare that bothers me more than the rest. When I rush backward and grab a book off a stand near the wall, he doesn’t seem concerned. When I chuck it at his face, he bats it out of the way like it’s a fly before grabbing me. He draws me in with one hand as he lands a right hook to the side of my face, snapping my head back. Quickly, I try to shove his hand off me, but he twists his hand and draws me back in. He punches me again and again and no matter how hard I fight against him, it’s clear I’m making no ground on this.
When an uppercut sends me to the ground, I just ball up and protect my head until a kick turns my vison black.
And I realize that I really, really don’t want to die.
Age Eighteen
“Hi, I’m Rose. And you are?”
“Killian. Do you need something?”
“Killian? What a strange name.”
I stare at the girl, wondering what right she has to make fun of my name. She’s wearing designer clothes and her hair was clearly just done, making me wonder if money came easy for her. Maybe everything came easy for her, so she thought it was in her right to immediately make fun of someone’s name.
“Yeah, my mom named me after her favorite hobby,” I say sarcastically.
She watches me for a second, clearly confused. “Your mom… liked to kill things?”
“It was a joke,” I say.
She smiles. “Ah, a joke. I didn’t get it because it wasn’t funny.”
Wonderful.
I try to aim my body away from her as a hint that I’m not interested in small talk, but she keeps standing next to the bench I’m seated on.
“Hey,” she says.
“Can I help you?” I ask, not actually planning on helping her.
“I see you sitting out here a lot when I walk this path with my dog.” She lifts up her tiny dog in case I’m not sure what a dog is.