Shattered (Koa #5)

22. Asher

Chapter 22

Asher

T he world comes back in pieces, and my panic starts when I begin to come to. The sound of a harsh voice cuts into my ears. It takes ages to find myself, and finally, I find my senses, able to open my eyes, blinking away the piercing halo of light behind Bane’s head.

“Dude, WAKE UP!”

He slaps me across the face, and while my anger flares for a moment, I’m beyond caring.

Lila. Where the fuck is Lila?

I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

“Ash, what the fuck happened?” Bane asks. He knows something’s wrong. He must’ve come home and found me unconscious.

“Where’s Lila?” I groan.

“Not here. Again, what the fuck happened? ”

Dread consumes me. “They took her.”

Bane’s eyes widen as I try to find the strength to sit up. When my phone starts ringing, Bane throws it in my lap, nearly hitting me where it hurts.

“It’s rang three times since I walked in here.”

I can’t answer the phone fast enough, knowing it’s got to be them. I accept the call and put it on speaker, but I can’t find the words to speak.

“Did you have a nice nap?” The voice that comes through the speaker is cold and soulless.

“What time is it?” The question flies out of my mouth before I can register it, and I don’t realize why I even care until it’s out. How long have they had her? What have they done to her?

“Your girlfriend is a feisty one, you know. I had to knock her out, too.”

Bane’s eyes freeze on mine as he takes in the conversation. He knows how bad this is as much as I do, though I’m not sure he’s half as terrified as me.

“Why?”

There’s a snicker on the other line before Rocco speaks. “This seemed only fair, Asher. You fucked my girl.”

“And you smashed my leg!”

“And you stole my clients,” Rocco says.

“Jared called ME!” I roar. That’s when my voice softens to nothing but desperation. “Guys, please… What do you want? I’ll come to you right now; you can put me in an early grave for all I care. Don’t hurt Lila. ”

“An early grave for you is boring. Watching you fall apart for your little lady here? Priceless.”

My insides twist and cave in at the thought. And I find I can’t stop myself from begging, no matter how futile it is.

“Guys, please… She has a fuck ton of friends; they’ll figure out what happened. You won’t get away with this!”

“That’ll be up to you, Ash. I’ll tell you one thing for certain. If you go to the cops, you’ll never see her again.”

No. Fuck, no, this cannot be happening.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, Ash. I’m going to absolutely fuck up your girl. I’ll even be generous enough to send you a livestream link so you can watch.

Panic, as I’ve never felt in my life, fills me until I swear my chest might explode. “DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!”

“That’s up to you, Asher. We’ll give her back after we’ve had our fun; if we decide not to kill her, anyway. Unless you call the cops. If I get a whiff of suspicion, I promise you, you’ll never see her again. Don’t forget to watch.”

Sheer terror rips through me. “Wait WAIT WAIT!”

The room fills with a heavy silence as the call disconnects. I can’t breathe. All I can think about is Lila… What are they doing to her?

My phone vibrates, and I lift it in a panic. I find a text with the link.

“Bane, I can’t!” my voice breaks.

He snatches the phone from me, and I don’t fight him as he tends to it before letting out a deep breath.

“It’s okay, she’s alive. They have Jared, too. ”

He hands the phone back but looks over my shoulder as I take it in. The video is a clear aerial view of a dungeon with two big tables. Lila and Jared are both naked and strapped down to them by collars around their necks. Lila is in a ball on her side, pulling desperately at the collar, but she can’t get it off, and by the hopeless way she tries, I’m guessing she’s tried for a while now. Other than her split lip, swollen cheek, and the huge gash out of her forehead painted in dry blood, she looks unharmed. Jared is not. He’s on another table, out of reach, and his back is butchered. His dragon tattoo is gone, replaced by mountains of damaged, lumpy skin. What would even make a person’s skin do that? It’s the only injury I can see on him, but it’s bad. I can see part of his face, and it’s twisted in agony.

“I think they’re at the brothers’ cabin,” Bane says.

“What fucking cabin!?” It’s where they wanted to take me before, but Raven begged them not to.

“I’ve heard rumors from a couple of their druggies, but I figured it was just bullshit…” Bane aggressively slams his hand down on my table as a thought comes to my head.

“There’s one person who might know where it is… If she’s still alive.”

“Raven?” he asks.

“If they didn’t kill her.”

“You think they would?”

“I don’t know. This could be their average level of crazy, or maybe they’re on some psychotic suicide mission.”

I shake my head angrily. “We’re gonna need more muscle if we want a hope in hell of taking them down.”

“You’re right, and I know just the guy.”

He said it himself. No one fucks with his people.

Thank fuck I know exactly where Turner lives, so we head there first after I trip-run so fast down the stairs that I see my life flash before my eyes. The pain is excruciating, but there’s no time to slow down.

Bane drives since I can’t focus. I direct him to Turner’s house and honk the horn as we pull in. A few cars are out back, but only one person emerges from the door, watching with confusion.

I roll down the window as Bane swings his car around and slams it to a stop halfway up the walkway right in front of Turner.

“We need your help, now !”

He straightens himself up, a furious glare brewing on his face. “What the hell do y-”

“It’s Lila !” I plead, cutting him off.

His jaw drops, his face paling. “What the fuck happened?”

“She’s been taken. We think we know where they took her, but we need help. Man, I know I was a dick before, but I am not fucking around right now; we’ve gotta get her out of there!”

It takes him a moment to grasp the situation, but finally, he nods, stepping into the back of the car and slamming the door. Bane peels out of the driveway.

“Do you know any more guys with muscle?” I ask.

He considers it. “They all have families that need them alive.”

“And you don’t?”

“No one who needs me,” he says. “Can the three of us take them? ”

“I think so. But if they have a gun…”

Turner nods, turning his attention to Bane. “Pull over, I’m driving.”

“The fuck you are, we need to get there fast,” I say.

“And we won’t with princess driving. PULL THE FUCK OVER!”

Turner wasn’t wrong. I thought Bane was a fast driver, but Turner’s faster.

The video is still open, but nothing’s happening. Lila and Jared spoke a little at first, but Jared’s in bad shape, and I think he’s in and out of consciousness.

The only sound from the video now is Lila’s crying. It comes and goes, her sobs consuming her and then tapering off to lend her some air. Her fear is palpable. The stream shows how many people are watching, and the number keeps growing, holding now at over two hundred. Two hundred sick fucks are watching Lila cry, terrified, waiting to be tortured or killed.

“Raven, fucking call me, it’s an emergency!” Bane growls from the backseat. He’s been calling and texting Raven, but she won’t answer. She’s usually glued to her phone. “If they killed Raven, we’ll never find this cabin,” Bane growls.

“Thanks, Bane, very fucking helpful!” I snap.

The possibility of Raven being dead was only a fear before; now, it’s starting to feel like a real possibility. If we find her dead…

The sound of the door opening in the video steals my breath, and I watch in horror as the brothers walk in.

“We’re ba-ack! Sorry we were gone so long. We were reading all the comments on our feed,” Rocco says in a sick, cryptic voice as he twirls his ponytail in his fingers.

“Go to hell,” Jared says, his voice weak.

Rocco approaches him like a stalking predator before dragging his nails down Jared’s mangled back, cutting him open and spilling blood. He roars in an all-consuming pain, and Lila screams with him. All I can do is watch, helpless.

“The votes are in, Jared. The people had some great suggestions for how to end you. Do you want to hear them?”

“Go to hell,” he repeats.

“Maybe later, and I’m okay with that. We made bank off you today.”

“What the fuck are they talking about?” I growl. What comments? When I minimize the video to look at the page, Bane reaches over his shoulder to snatch the phone from my hand. “HEY!”

“Ash, do not look at that,” he warns. I try to snatch it back, but he slaps my hand away. “ASHER! Do not read the comments; it’s just gonna freak you out more. People are sick. I looked at it earlier when I first checked the stream. People pay for the guys to do things to their captives. By the look of it, they do this reasonably often.”

The sound of Jared’s scream fills the car and makes Turner veer off, but he corrects it quickly.

“What are they doing to Jared?” I demand.

Bane shakes his head. “Don’t, man.”

“BANE!”

“Someone paid to funnel acid down his throat. That’s how they’re finishing him. Want to watch!?”

I don’t need to watch. The sound of both Jared and Lila’s screams fill the car, as Lila pleads with the brothers not to kill Jared. Her pleas fall on deaf ears.

Eventually, Jared’s screams stop, and a heavy silence fills the car.

“Is Jared dead?” I ask, knowing he is.

After a pause, Bane nods, his face pale, and my heart drops. The sick part of me doesn’t care that Jared’s dead. All I can think is that if he’s dead…

Lila’s next.

“Asher?”

A taunting voice from the video grabs my attention, and Bane passes it over slowly. I hold it to my face, watching Rocco stare into the camera as Rooney approaches Lila. He runs his hands over her naked body, and she squirms, wincing beneath his touch as he fondles her tits.

“Are you watching? If you’re watching, call my phone, or your girl pays the price.”

“BANE!” I cry.

He’s fast, knowing we can’t use my phone and still watch. He dials and holds it up to show me it’s Rocco’s number. But when he holds up his phone on the screen, nothing happens. And I see the very moment the desperate hope on Lila’s face fades.

“Wow, Lila. I was sure he’d follow the rules. He sounded desperate to get you back, but he’s not putting in the effort to make sure that happens.”

Lila sobs, overwhelmed to the point that she can hardly breathe.

“I guess you’re just another disposable whore,” Rooney says.

“Which is good news for us. We don’t like giving back our toys. Never have,” Rocco says.

“ARE YOU FUCKING CALLING HIM!?” Turner roars, making Bane and I both jump.

“He must have us blocked. He’s playing with us,” Bane says.

“What the fuck did you two do?” Turner snaps.

“It doesn’t matter right now, okay? We’ll explain everything later; we need to get her out of there first,” I say as my phone beeps, the battery dying. “Fuck… Do you have a charger?”

“No.”

“Send me the link,” Bane says.

I do as he says, but the link won’t open on his phone, and my battery is at fifteen percent. If it runs out…

“Let’s check the comments and see where we’re at,” Rocco’s voice says, grabbing my attention again. I watch as he reads off his phone, terrified of what he’s about to say. “Hans wants us to start hot. Hans, you’re funny. That was a given. Will wants to see you bleed.”

“How much fucking longer is this drive?” Turner asks. He’s angry, but I can hear the fear making his voice shake. He clearly cares about Lila. I don’t have the heart to tell him that even at the speed he’s going, we’ve got at least another two hours to Kingston, and we still don’t know where she’s actually being held.

When I watch Rooney dig in a cabinet, my chest seizes. When I spot the grisly knife in his left hand, my breath hitches.

When I spot the torch in his right, I stop breathing altogether.