25

 

His knees were still pressed against Maven’s back. “That’s what I said. Everyone. I have a rule that I always follow. If one person causes a problem, everyone pays. So you should remember that if you want to cause me a problem.“ He grabbed one of her hands, twisted it around her back, and then did the same with the second one.

Everyone? What did he mean? Closing her eyes, Maven fought back tears as cold metal surrounded her wrists and the cuffs snapped together. They sounded as loud as prison doors clanging shut. God, I don’t know what’s happening here, but keep me safe. And Moses—Joshua…

He lifted her by the back of her arms. “Good. Now things are back under control. Just the way I like them.” He turned her toward the house.

The Victorian house she and Paul had searched for so long.

Her captor guided her to the front door. “As long as you don’t cause me problems, we’ll get along just fine.” He half-dragged her up the steps to the porch.

All her adrenaline seeped out. Exhausted and defeated, she was taken into the house. She had no more energy to fight.

He’d won—for now. He led her into what looked to be a man cave of some sort. A huge flat screen TV in a huge unit took up the length of the wall. Across from it sat a large, dark brown, leather sofa and a matching recliner. His fingers dug into her arms as he guided her to the wall unit.

She bit her lips and blinked back tears. This man enjoyed inflicting pain on others, and she had no intention of satisfying him.

He turned and smiled at her, and then reached through the wall unit and pressed a button. One section of the wooden unit slid open. He shrugged. “Imagine that.”

She wasn’t going in there. She summoned all her strength and energy as she pulled her arm away from his, but he held on tight. Digging her heels into the floor, she struggled against his pushing.

“You aren’t going to start being a problem again, are you?” His tone sounded reasonable—bizarre considering what was happening. “It’s getting a bit tiresome. I have a few things I need to do since I have a new guest.”

Maven took a few steps backwards, but then he shoved her past the wall unit and into the waiting room. Losing her balance, she stumbled and fell to the floor.

He stepped in and quickly closed the opening.

The room was a perfect replica of a parlor room of the Victorian Age.

Sick to her stomach, she felt a chill travel up her back.

“Now, I hate to be rude, but as I said, there are things I need to get done. So, I’m going to have to lock you up for now, but I’ll be back as soon as I can to give you a proper welcome.” His bizarre, friendly tone had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. He dragged her across the room to another door.

They passed another small room with several computer monitors. A security system. That’s how he’d seen her, Maven assumed. When he opened the door, all she saw was darkness, but the coolness whispered against her skin. A basement. She couldn’t let her put him in there. She struggled, but the handcuffs kept her unbalanced, and she couldn’t really fight him.

A small light came on.

He began pushing her down the steps.

It took all her energy to keep from falling into the black abyss. At the bottom of the steps, another bare light bulb lit up the area, just barely.

Her mind rebelled, refused to believe what she was seeing. This couldn’t be happening. She struggled, but he was stronger.

He pushed her toward the chain link fence that went from the dirt floor almost to the ceiling. Beyond the gate was other chain link fencing forming cages. He unlocked the padlock and pushed her through the smaller gate.

She fell onto the damp dirt floor.

He leaned over her and a moment later, her handcuffs were chained to the gate he’d just pushed her through.

“You told me Joshua was here. Where’s Joshua?”

“All in good time. For now, you can meet your new roommates.”