Chapter 6
The afternoon before her flight out of the country, Ronald sent a private car to collect both daughters from the hospital. Kimberly stared out the window as Agatha texted beside her, the silence between them like a third passenger. The painkillers had worn off hours ago, leaving her burns throbbing beneath bandages.
Halfway through the drive, Kimberly noticed the scenery changing. Instead of the manicured suburbs heading toward their father’s estate, they were turning onto a desolate industrial access road. A cold knot formed in her stomach. “We’re going the wrong way.”
The driver’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, emotionless. “No, we’re not.”
By the time full-blown panic set in, the car was already pulling up to a rust-eaten warehouse, its broken windows like empty eye sockets in a skull. Two men in dark clothes yanked open the doors, dragging them out by their hair.
Agatha instantly dissolved into hysterics. “Oh my God! Help! Someone help us! Get your fucking hands off me!”
Kimberly’s mind raced beneath a wave of terror. Her father had personally arranged this driver. How much money had changed hands to betray two daughters of one of Boston’s wealthiest families?
The men shoved them into what must have once been an office. The floor was littered with needles and broken glass; walls covered in obscene graffiti. The taller kidnapper removed his ski mask, revealing a face marked with prison tattoos. “One’s Charlemet’s fiancée, the other’s his soon-to-be sister-in-law.” His voice had the flatness of someone discussing the weather. “A hundred million seems fair, don’t it?”
Before either could respond, he was already dialing Jayden, speakerphone activated. “What?” Jayden answered, irritation clear in his voice.
The kidnapper nodded at Agatha, who immediately launched into a performance worthy of a lifetime achievement award. “Jay!” she sobbed, voice quavering. “They’ve taken us—me and Kim! They want a hundred million dollars…”
The transformation in Jayden’s voice was instant—from annoyed to deadly. “If you touch a hair on her head, I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth. Send the account details. You’ll have your money in five minutes.”
The kidnapper thrust the phone toward Kimberly. “Your turn, princess. Tell him another five million gets you out alive too.”
Kimberly stared at the phone, hollowness spreading through her chest. The man who’d orchestrated her public humiliation and physical torture was her last hope for survival. The irony was almost beautiful in its cruelty.
As she struggled to form words, the second kidnapper approached his partner, whispering much too loudly: “Wait, I thought Kimberly arranged for a hundred mil, not—”
The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Through the phone, they heard something shatter as Jayden processed what he’d just heard. “That bitch,” he snarled, voice dropping to a register that made even the hardened criminals shift uncomfortably. “So this whole thing is her setup.”
Kimberly’s blood turned to ice. “No, I didn’t—”
“Let me be perfectly clear,” Jayden cut her off. “Kimberly could be raped, tortured, and dumped in the fucking harbor for all I care. She means nothing to me.” His voice was so detached he might have been discussing a bug he’d stepped on. “I’ll pay for Agatha. The other one? Do whatever the fuck you want with her.”
The call disconnected.
Kimberly sagged against the filthy wall, a strange calm settling over her. Of course. This was always how it would end.
Less than half an hour later, tires screeched outside. Jayden burst through the door like an avenging angel, gun drawn. The moment he saw Agatha, he lowered the weapon, pulling her protectively against his chest. Only then did his eyes slide to Kimberly, huddled in the corner. His gaze passed over her as if she were a piece of furniture—something not worth acknowledging.
“The money’s been transferred,” he told the kidnappers, voice clinical. “As for that one—” he jerked his chin toward Kimberly, “—sell her to some backwater trafficking ring or put a bullet in her head. Makes no difference to me.”
Kimberly watched, a strange numbness spreading through her body, as Jayden carried Agatha out without a single backward glance. The moment they were gone, the kidnappers’ faces transformed from menacing to openly mocking.
“Fuck me, that was cold,” the taller one laughed. “Heard you were Charlemet’s side piece. Thought he might give half a shit about you.” He squatted to her eye level. “Guess you’re such a worthless lay he wouldn’t even drop five mil to keep you breathing.”
Kimberly looked at him with dead eyes. “You got your money. Let me go.”
“Let you go?” His partner guffawed, slapping his knee like she’d told the world’s funniest joke. “We got paid, sweetheart. But we got paid extra to make sure you never forget today.”
They advanced on her, predatory grins spreading across their faces. “Been a while since I had a rich bitch,” the shorter one said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. “Bet you think your pussy’s made of gold, don’t you?”
The next moment, a lit cigarette pressed into the skin above her collarbone. The scream that tore from Kimberly’s throat didn’t even sound human. Cold sweat and tears streamed down her face as the smell of her own burning flesh filled her nostrils.
Her pain seemed to flip some switch in them, unleashing something feral. “Heard you’re the school punching bag,” one taunted, taking another long drag. “Let’s see if the rumors are true.”
“Yo, let’s brand her,” his partner suggested, eyes gleaming with sick excitement. “Mark that ass so everyone knows what she is.”
“What should we write?”
“How ‘bout ‘CUMDUMPSTER’? Fits her perfectly,” he snickered, high-fiving his partner.
The cigarette moved with methodical precision—decorating her thighs, her stomach, her back with dozens of circular burns. Kimberly’s consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind, her body convulsing with each new searing pain.
“Fuck, she’s hot when she cries,” one muttered, unzipping his pants. “Hold her down.”
The nightmare continued for hours. By the time they finally left, laughing and congratulating each other, the warehouse had grown dark. Kimberly lay motionless on the concrete, her body spasming involuntarily every few seconds, her mind retreating to some distant, unreachable place.
As night fell completely, the searing agony dulled to a throbbing that encompassed her entire being. With mechanical detachment, she gathered the remaining scraps of her clothing, wrapping them around herself like bandages. Using the wall for support, she took her first shaky step toward the exit, toward the uncertain darkness beyond.