I slammed open the door to his studio where he was busy painting depressing shit.

"What the fuck?" I yelled at him.

He turned and stared at me like I had scared the shit out of him.

"What. The. Fuck. Luketon," I said again.

"What?"

"I've been calling you, asshole. Answer your phone."

He finished painting the dark clouds on the canvas and slammed his paintbrush into a jar of water.

"I've been working. Give me a break."

"I don't give a shit. When I call you, especially with the current circumstances, I need you to at least call me back in a timely manner. I've left you several voicemails. What is going on with you?"

"Leave, Finn. I can't be around you right now. I've got too much going on, and I really need to finish this project."

"No. Make me leave."

Luke looked down at my swollen knuckles and my flexing fist and shook his head. "You need rest. Go home. Shower. Shave. We can have dinner or something. You're acting fucking crazy. Leave." He stood inches from my face.

"You've not seen crazy yet," I said pushing him away from me. He didn't fight back, and I shook my head at him then slammed the studio door behind me. As I made my way down the stairs, he stood at the top and watched me.

"We can have dinner tonight," Luke said.

"I need to find Jennifer, Luke. I don't give a fuck about anything else." I stopped walking. "And she's somewhere in the US, not that you fucking cared to know."

He sucked in a deep breath and walked toward me.

"How do you know that for sure?"

"Because Abbot found the driver. And when I find out who took her, I will fucking kill them," I said as I slammed the door behind me. He didn't respond.

I slowly slipped away into the shadows. I knew once I fully lost myself there it would be hard to come back. But I hadn't completely given up hope yet.

I had a few favors to cash in from a few gangsters, thieves, and criminals that I hadn't talked to in years. Although I didn't particularly want to, it was time to give them a call.

Taxi driver and club guy entered and attached chains with cuffs to the hook in the corner of the room. I rolled over on the mattress and tried to pretend they weren't there, but their annoying fucking laughter became impossible to ignore.

"She has no clue what's in store for her, does she?" taxi driver said.

"No clue. Stupid bitch," the other one replied.

They stood over me, and I pretended they weren't there. I hoped they would walk away and leave me alone and, surprisingly, they did. But I didn't trust them. If Luke hadn't brought me here, they both would have probably had their way with me. After whispering back and forth to one another in the corner of the room, they left me to wallow in my emotionless bliss for hours before I was visited again.

The clearing of a throat woke me from my daze. I didn't roll over or acknowledge Luke, but pretended to be asleep to see how long he would stand there.

"Jennifer."

After a few minutes, I rolled over and looked at him and the tray of food in his hand.

"I've warned you," he said.

I slid off the bed then dropped to my knees and placed my arms behind my back. He left me there until my knees ached. Eventually, I would be numb to not only emotional pain but physical pain too. Once satisfied with me, Luke nodded his head with approval and set the tray of food, real food, on the table.

"Come eat."

Macaroni and chicken filled the plate. The thought of him doing something nice for me, in my current condition, made me sick.

"I know it's your favorite."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Go on. I've seen what you've been eating."

I sat and so did he. Slowly he slid a spoon and fork to me, and I stared at it. I didn't want anything from him, not even food that made my mouth water. Instead, I flipped the tray over. Macaroni slung onto his black shirt, and the chicken landed in his lap.

"Damn it," he yelled and grabbed me by my wrists.

I jerked away from him.

"Why do you insist on being a bitch when I'm trying to help you?"

"Help me? Help me? Are you fucking kidding me? Have you seen where I'm at Luke? The only person I have to blame for this is you. You! The only person who knows where I am."

He grabbed me by my hair and yanked me to the cuffs on chains in the corner. He slammed my wrists above my head and tightly bound me.

"I hate you. I fucking hate you." I didn't raise my voice. No, I didn't need to for my point to get across.

Luke forcefully flipped me around and made me stare at the wall, then he inched his hands under my panties and moved them out of the way.

"Tell me again how much you hate me."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

And that's when his hand slapped my ass, hard.

"Tell me."

Then another slap slammed against my bare skin. Luke wasn't holding back at all, instead he gave me every bit of his strength. I bit my bottom lip and held back whimpers. Then another slap, and another, and another. With every hit, the chains jingled and crashed against the wall. I felt so much pain that I became deadened to it. He kept the hard slaps coming until he wore himself out and panted behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at him, and the tears welled in my eyes. The imprints of his hand on me burned, and the pain radiated up and down my body. My hair fell into my face, and Luke tucked it behind my ear. I flinched.

"I'm sorry. It's for your own good," he whispered.

No words formed. I couldn't reply. I had nothing to say to him.

Luke looked at the marks on my ass and exited. He left me standing with my arms above my head. Today was one of the worst days I had experienced since I'd been taken, and I had a feeling there were many more of these to come.

I closed my eyes, imagined Finnley and my parents, and for the first time since I had left, I wanted to go home. Home as in back to Texas. I leaned my forehead against the wall and wished someone would come in, anyone, to free my arms. Like the devil heard my prayers, the minions entered.

"Looks like you got your ass beat real good," one said. I didn't turn around, but I felt a hand on my other ass cheek, the one that didn't have welts. Forcefully, I pushed my leg out and knocked the skinny one in the balls. Cab driver decided I couldn't do that without consequences and headed toward me to avenge his friend, and he did. With tight hands grasped around my neck, he slammed me against the wall.

"You shouldn't have done that, bitch."

My vision slowly faded to dark. I gasped for air. I needed to live. I wouldn't die by the hands of this bastard. Maybe another one, but not him. My knees went slack, and he released my neck. I gasped for air.

As much as I wished my time in this prison would end, I didn’t want the end to be by death. Club guy stood after he adjusted his balls that I had crushed so easily, and slapped me across the face with the back of his hand.

"I hope Luke fucking kills you, and I hope I get to watch," he said.

Once he physically and verbally abused me, I assumed we were even, because he then released me from the cuffs.

My body slid down the wall and I lay there in a crumpled heap for an unknown amount of time. If I made it out of here alive, I would seek revenge on them all.

Nights drifted into days, and days into night. Time didn't exist. A piece of me wanted to sleep forever but my bastard wouldn't let me. He brought a dress for me to wear along with a towel and new soap. Maybe he understood how horrible the other soap was on my skin, but that would mean he had feelings, and I knew he didn't.