Seven

BREA POV

The night was utter chaos. Candice had tried to run, and she'd grabbed Brian's hand at the last minute, but a shot in their direction had rendered them immobile till three of the men holding guns rounded us up. They shoved at us, rough-handling anyone that tried to resist as they pushed us toward their boss.

Ana's pale face told me she was on the verge of fainting but Ryder was still holding her hand, so I guess she had someone to lean on. I was all on my own.

My hackles rose as the guy behind me shoved me harder, his gun digging into my back, the threat that it could go off at any minute making me tremble. I shouldn't be afraid, I told myself as we're all shoved to our knees. The real person to fear was the man we were kneeling in front of. I'd seen the crazed look in his eyes on most of the worst inmates at the asylum... Those that had always tried to hurt me. He was no different, I could tell just from the first glance. He would hurt me if he got the chance, so maybe a bullet to the skull would not be a bad way to go.

He made a tsk sound as he stepped closer to us, his gaze heavy on my skull. His gaze was like a weight pushing my knees deeper into the ground I kneeled on.

"What do we have here?" He grinned. "Trespassers?" He asked, and I managed a glance at him, but Candice beat me to it.

"We're not trespassing... We had an accident, our car broke down and we were just trying to get back to the highway" she yelled and the sudden strike that resounded before she fell forward had all of us flinching.

Brian rose to his feet in a rage while Ana screamed at him to get down.

"Don't you dare touch her, you filthy..." A sharp slap resounded against his face that had him falling to the ground. He groaned, his shoulders quivering as the man behind him yanked him by the hair until his eyes locked with his assailant

The guy standing beside the leader laughed staring at his palm. "That shut you up real fast, you little bitch" he mocked and the other men joined, their eyes still a bit cautious.

"We didn't see anything... We'll leave this place and never return. Please don't hurt us" Ana begged, her whole body trembling hard.

The man who radiated pure evil approached her, and my eyes widened as Ryder stepped in front of her.

"Don't touch her" he snarled and the man scoffed, his fingers tightening around the trigger of the gun he held. I jumped in front of Ryder before I could stop myself and came face-to-face with his gun, but I wasn't afraid... I would rather die than have him kill the only guy I'd come to feel something for right in front of me.

"Don't you dare, you freaking lunatic. You will not touch a hair on his head" I growled, clenching my fist and without being able to stop myself, I punched him across the face. Hard. My knuckles ached, and silence permeated the space between us.

Guns were suddenly pointing at my head from all directions but the man I'd hit had his hand raised, indicating that they do not fire at me.

His finger lingered against his chin where my punch had landed, a grin touching his lips.

"Not bad at all. Not bad for a girl" he said, holding my gaze until my heart ached in my chest. "But I have to tell you that you just signed your death warrant, pretty face".

I laughed despite the situation, but it was a broken bitter laugh. "As if you weren't planning to kill us before. We saw your face... I'm sure you weren't just going to let us go, so don't act like me hitting you made you decide to kill us" I got out in a leveled voice, even though my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest.

He laughed, then looked toward his men who also started laughing as if the situation was the most funniest they'd ever had to witness.

Then he grabbed me by the chin, and it was so sudden and bruising that I didn't even get the chance to yelp as he yanked me forward.

"You are right. I was going to kill you all whether you had hit me or not, but I hate smart mouths, and you've just used Yours to take the fun out of my plan, so guess what, I'll have to improvise". His gaze slipped to that of Ryder's behind me. "You were willing to take a bullet for him, but I don't think he cares what I do with you now, does he," he asked, but the question seemed to be directed at Ryder.

"Ryder's Ana's boyfriend... Why does he have to give a damn about Brea" Candice spoke up, the urge to always have her voice heard winning over the rationale to make herself as invisible as possible.

"You don't know how to shut your trashy mouth do you," the blonde guy said, and flicked out a knife. "I should cut out your tongue and feed it to my cat" he grinned approaching Candice whose eyes looked about to flee from her skull.

Ana whimpered, her face twisting as if she was in physical pain.

"You'll get your chance to play Lucas. Just let me come up with something fun" the man still holding my chin told the blonde guy.

They were definitely going to kill us. They weren't even worried about us knowing their names.

My jaw was numb, and when he finally let go, I fought the urge to rub on it.

"If you tell us how much you want, we're willing to pay. We're rich, if you kill us, our parents will not let you be".

Ryder's speech had them bursting Into a fit of a dark scary kind of laughter.

I was smacked across the face and Ryder was head-butted with a gun. Ana rushed towards him, cradling his bleeding head on her thighs His groan touched the dark space within my chest, my cheek burning from the force of the man's rough palm.

"You all are so fucking disrespectful that I should just put a bullet in your skull, or cut you up in little pieces and have your organs extracted so your deaths won't be a total loss," he said and we could all tell he meant every word he said too. "But no, I won't do that, instead I'm going to give you five a chance to escape".

Our eyes fixed on him before we glanced at each other.

He grinned, and I could literally see the evil images that he was conjuring up in his mind. "I'll be so benevolent that I'll give you all an hour headstart. Run, and try to get as far away as possible, because once the hour is up. We're gonna come after you and if you get caught, then your fate is sealed".

The guy called Lucas slapped his arm, a nasty grin on his face. "That is a perfect plan boss... Damn, I'm already getting hard just thinking about it".

Lucas stared at the other guys. "Hey, the blabbermouth is mine ok, so do not go after her. Got it" he said, his gaze fixed menacingly on Candice. I was sure he was going to kill her and cut her up if he caught up with her. He was just as manic, if not worse than the man he called boss.

"And what if we do not agree" I challenged and the smile drained off his face. He stared at me and I almost stumbled. Was he going to kill me first?

"I do not need you to agree. You are just a mere pawn on the chess board now, pretty face. Your opinion does not exist, talk more of mattering. You are an item that I can either decide to kill or toss away and if I decide to keep you, you'll be treated no different than the pieces of furniture I own, you might even be treated worse" he snarled, his gaze lingering on my cheek, the spot he'd hit me. "You bruise up prettily. I'm curious how dark your blood will look running down my white linens" he whispered darkly and goosebumps trailed up my arms. I yelped as he shoved me hard. My body crashed to the floor, and I drew in on myself as he loomed over me menacingly, his gaze lingering specifically on any part of my body that was exposed.

I knew he wasn't just curious. He planned to cut me up and see for himself.

He took out a cigar, and Lucas hurried to light it.

"Set the timer, Lucas. I want to see just how much you all are desperate to continue breathing" he said and Lucas grinned as he took out his watch.

Candice and Brian stared at the men as if they were in a nightmare.

"The countdown just started my pretty darlings... Tick tock, it's the devil's hour" he grinned.

Ana tugged Ryder to his feet, and at the same time, Brian and Candice got up. Their gaze clashed with mine. I glanced at Ryder whose hand was clenched tightly in those of Ana's. They don't wait for me. They take off running.

I stared at them, my nails digging into the earth I lay on. At least now I knew that I wasn't important to them.

The thought had barely formed when I saw Ryder running back toward me.

My heart clenched to a stop, then started beating rapidly as he reached me, his beautiful eyes fixed on mine as he extended his hand towards me.

I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. Someone cared about me after all.