“Please come with us.” Maggie pleaded. Bianca wished with everything inside her that she could.
“You know I can’t do that. I need to stay here to tell Dane a load of bullshit and send him in the wrong direction when he searches for you. You know that. If I’m here at least I can know how he reacts, what he’s planning and try to head him off. This won’t be forever. If I stay here I’ll know when it’s safe for you both again. If I don’t we’ll both be living the rest of our lives in the shadows and looking over our shoulders. Brandon deserves better than that and so do you. Now go.” She walked her sister to the driver’s side door and opened it for her.
Bianca let a few tears slip from her eyes as her sister shuffled into the driver’s seat and closed the door. She tried to keep her face as stoic as possible, knowing that if she looked too upset Maggie would abandon the plan to stay with her.
As the car pulled away she felt part of her heart break off and follow them, leaving her with a hollow feeling in her chest. She was going to miss them both terribly. She stood on the sidewalk until the car was completely out of sight and then quickly made her way to hers that she’d parked just outside of the town centre.
Dane had banned Bianca from their house a few weeks ago and so she didn’t want her car to tip off anyone who may monitoring it or maybe watching the house for him. It wouldn’t be unlike Dane to have put some sort of tracker on her car, he was a complete control freak. She hadn’t let Maggie pack anything she used regularly, including her handbags or shoes for fear that Dane would have them tagged.
God, she really needed this plan to work. She knew she couldn’t live with herself if anything ever happened to her family. She drove the streets for a few hours, killing time, going to places she regularly visited. If Dane was watching, she was just having a normal day.
She was amazed she hadn’t crashed as she was paying very little attention to her surroundings. Her mind was busy going over every minute detail of her plan, trying to convince herself that she had covered all the bases. She was positive she’d missed something or not contemplated all the possibilities of how Dane might react. She didn’t think like Dane. Heavens knew what a paranoid, devious mind would come up with when faced with your wife and son gone. At last she felt like she’d been out and about for long enough and returned home.
As she pulled into the parking space for her condo, Bianca felt a small sense of accomplishment. They’d done it. They’d finally done it. Her sister and nephew were now on their way to being out of reach of that monster. She spent the rest of the day clinging to her cell phone waiting for the inevitable call from Dane, peering through her windows and reciting in her head over and over what she would say when he did call.
When midnight approached she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and guessed that Dane’s business trip must have been unexpectedly extended. That more than worked in their favour. The tension riding every muscle in her body finally dissipated and she let herself relax and fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Bianca had no idea how much time had passed when she was woken by a large, rough hand covering her mouth while another grasped her hair, wrenching her head up from her pillow. Pure panic and fear swamped every part of her body as she tried to scream and struggle against her captor to no avail. She bit into the palm of his hand with all her strength. She felt the skin break and the hand was torn away. She inhaled, then screamed as loudly as she could. Surely, her neighbours would hear and try to help or at least call the cops.
The man holding her laughed, “Scream all you want to girly. Ain’t no one gonna help you when they see that we’re Riot.”
His hand came back over her mouth, this time squeezing and pushing much harder than last time. She heard more people in her apartment but couldn’t see them through the dark. She could only see the huge outline of the man crouched over her. His size dwarfed hers and terror had her fighting even harder. Her hands clawed at the ones holding her, she dug her nails deep into bare skin wanting to cause some more pain. She kicked her legs hard and tried bucking her body hoping to dislodge the man holding her captive. Her effort was in vain as a hard knock to her head ceased her struggles and pulled her into unconsciousness.