Chapter 12

He pressed the muzzle of the gun on my forehead and corked it, slightly pushing my head back. I screamed, jumping off the bed and crawling towards the door. He was on top of me in haste, ordering me to be quiet by shoving the pistol on my neck. I shut my eyes tight, letting my tears flow freely and calling on to my maker. He was the only one who could save me.

He opened his mouth to speak but a loud bang halted his words and he froze. “Open up, it’s the police!” I sighed in relief and afforded a huge smile. Finally, my invocations were answered.

Without uttering a word, they swung into action. Alan quickly duct-taped my mouth while Blake worked on binding my hands behind me. It was obvious they’d done this before. Matthew hefted the bed to its side, earning a wary look from me. He pressed a red button behind the bedside drawer and the floor rearranged to a flight of stairs. I was stupified. Just who are these people?

Amidst protests, they skillfully hoisted me up and got into the hideout. Matthew shut the opening, covering us in darkness when he sprawled the carpet on the floor and set the bed in its place. All I could do was hope the officers would be smart enough to note the carpeted floor was a guise.

A few seconds passed before footsteps and voices echoed to us. “Are you sure there’s no one here?”

At that, I tried to scream but it came out muffled and did little or nothing to help my dilemma. A knife pressed through my trousers, almost slicing into my thigh, shutting me up immediately. Alan stepped back, brought a finger to his lips, and directed his eyes to where he held the pen knife so close to my skin; leaving me no choice but to remain still.

“I’m all alone, officers.”

“What happened to your doors? Looks like someone kicked them open.”

“I was in the middle of fixing the locks, I lost my keys,” he replied.

“Sir, there’s no one here. I checked everywhere,” a foreign voice announced.

“Next time, call a locksmith. We’ll be on our way now, but if I so much as hear another complaint from your neighbors . . .” the first officer warned, letting his threat hang.

“You won’t, my neighbors were mistaken. It was just a movie.”

“Don’t put the volume so high again. Otherwise, I will be compelled to apprehend you for noise pollution.” His voice was becoming distant, they were leaving. Leaving me to die. I don’t know how long we stood there but when Matthew came for me, I knew I was done for.

Minutes passed in uneasy silence, the only sound being of my endless sobs. His friends left the house, leaving us in the bedroom with me seated on the cold tiled floor and him perched on a seat before me, eyeing me with no hint of remorse.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush,” he stopped to rotate the gun he was toying with to face me. “You talk, you die. Anyone that hears a word of this, dies. I won’t spare anyone, even your family. I will be sure to give them a grueling ending. Now that you’ve joined the gang, there’s no other way out of this except death. Do you understand?”

I nodded, but I had other plans for him. He was going to pay, I couldn’t take his threats lying down. I was going to orchestrate his downfall and I was certain he wouldn’t see it coming. Condoning any form of harm to my loved ones was out of the question.

Placing the gun on his chin, his eyes roamed around the room, a devious smile crossing his face. “I have a plan to ascertain that you will keep this quiet because I know you all too well to take the risk.”

“What are you talking about?” I queried, wiping my tears and putting on my game face.

“I will be listening to your every move so you don’t get deceived into outsmarting me.” At that, he unlocked the safe box and took out the said microchip.

My heart dropped, it was going to get harder to execute my agenda of taking him down. But I was confident he would get tired of listening in on me at some point and I would get back on track.

“That’s not necessary, I won’t say a word to anyone,” I said, going to stand beside him and wrapping my arms around him. “I love you.” The words left a bitter taste in my mouth, I loathed him. It was appalling that the thin line between love and hate could flip in just a snap of the finger. The quote now made sense to me.

“I know, but I still don’t trust you.” He shook the microchip from side to side. “You will have to take this whether you like it or not.”

Letting go of him, I sunk into the bed. His mind was made and my smoothers could do nothing to alter it. “Where do you intend on keeping it?”

He pointed at my watch and I drew my hand back in defense. It held a sentimental value and I couldn’t permit him to tamper with it. My grandmother gave it to me days prior to her death. It was her favorite jewelry because my grandfather gifted it to her at their engagement party.

“Okay, the only option left is swallowing it,” he said blatantly.

“Are you crazy? That thing could harm me.”

“It won’t do anything to you.” He disappeared to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water before handing it to me.

Directing the gun at me, he said, “Drink it.”

I knew there was no way I could ditch the microchip if it was in my body so I begged him to put it in my watch but he wasn’t having it. I put the chip at the back of my tongue and pretended to swallow it but he quickly caught on to what I was doing and shoved it down my throat himself. One thing was for sure, I was a walking disaster.