I clicked the message icon so fast and had to bite my tongue not to scream at what I saw. It wasn’t a message, it was a video.
Addison was tied up in a chair in a dark space. Her luxurious brown and gold locks where stringy and wet. There was a dirty bandana-type thing tied around her mouth. Her teeth were stark white biting around it. Her face was speckled with dirt and grime and sweat. Her arms were tied to the wooden rails of the chair she was in, forearms facing up. Both her hands were held in tight fists, the knuckles bright white at how tight she was clenching them.
I squinted to see better, and noticed up and down her inner forearms were bloody and blackened circular-shaped pock marks or wounds. Then out of nowhere, a gloved hand entered the video holding a lit cigarette. Addy started to wiggle around desperately trying to move her body back and away from the glowing red-tipped ember.
As I watched in horror, the hand turned the cigarette around and pressed the hot tip into Addison’s arm. The sound on my phone wasn’t on but I swear I could hear her screaming in my soul. It reverberated within my chest until I was practically hyperventilating. Still, my eyes were glued to the image before me. Addison looked right into the camera and her normally stunning green eyes were hollow, the light that always shined completely blacked out, devoid of anything but extreme pain.
Tears streaked down my face as the cigarette that had been snuffed out in my sister’s flesh was dropped to the ground outside of the camera’s view. Then a white piece of paper was held aloft.
The note said three words.
You For Her
The video ended and my phone buzzed with a text.
Go to your apartment.
Alone.
Now.
That was all it said. My entire body shook so hard I fell to the tile floor. He wanted me in exchange for her.
“Simone!” Jonah cried, falling to his knees, one hand cupping my cheek, the other my shoulder. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
I opened and closed my mouth as my vision waved in and out. Eventually, it all just went black.
When I woke, I was lying on the couch, a cool cloth to my forehead, Sonia petting my hair with tears in her pretty blue eyes. Jonah paced behind the couch. My sisters and my mother were all huddled around me with various expressions of worry plastered across their pretty faces.
Then it dawned on me. I had to get to my old apartment. Now.
“I’ve gotta go!” I called out and attempted to sit up.
My body still shook, and my teeth chattered.
“You need to lay your ass down, boo.” Blessing demanded on a growl pacing the other side of the couch, rubbing her hands up and down the sides of her hips.
I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“There is no way in hell you are trading yourself for Addison. Not now. Not ever. Get that out of your head right fucking now, Simone.” Jonah’s words brooked absolutely no argument.
Tears filled my eyes. “He’s going to kill her. But he wants me. I’ll let him have me for her. I don’t care.”
Sonia let out a sob and Mama Kerri pulled her into her arms and petted her hair, her sad eyes on me when she spoke. “Simone, we’d never let that happen. Addy wouldn’t want that, and you know it. There has to be another way, baby girl. There just has to be.” A tear fell down her cheek, but she swiped it away quickly.
Jonah approached and Charlie and Lilian made room for him. “I’ve seen the video. It’s already being reviewed by the FBI. We’ve got our best hacks working the GPS to see if we can get a read on his location. We have a team in place at your apartment. If he shows, we’ll get him. If he texts or sends another video, we’ll have a lock. And we’ll get him. You have to have faith, sweetheart.” He took my hand, brought my fingers up to his lips, and kissed each one.
I closed my eyes and let the tears take me.
Jonah pulled me up and into his arms where I sobbed into his chest. I let all my fear and grief go against him and he took it all without complaint. Then he held me tighter. Closer. Whispered softly into my ear. Promises I wasn’t sure he could keep but I prayed