“River?” Emery shouts into the phone. “Are you okay? Where are you?” He’s more of yelling at me, his voice full of worried rather than asking me questions. “I love you so much!”

Vince and Keith both can hear Emery on the other end, so when I don’t reply, I get nudged with the gun again.

“I’m fine, Emery,” I tell him gently, trying to act calm. Vince smacks my cheek with the barrel of the gun. I ignore the sting and open my mouth to tell Emery I’m okay when Vince pulls the phone back. I claw for it with my free hand, trying not to let go. “It’s a trap, Emery!” I shriek, knowing he should be able to make out my desperate words. “Don’t come for me! I’ll be okay!”

Vince slaps me hard, and tears well up in my eyes. He rises to his feet, laughing into the phone.

“You want to save your girlfriend?” He mocks, as my hoarse voice screams over him.

“Don’t listen to him!”

“Well,” Vince laughs darkly. “You better hurry if you want her in one piece.” He gives Emery the address as I continue screaming until Keith walks over.

“Emery! I’m okay! Don’t listen to him!” I struggle to move my face away from Keith as he tries to put the cloth on my mouth again. I scream as loud as I can, hoping that maybe one of the windows will shatter and someone outside will notice what’s going on down here. However instead, Keith successfully silences me.

“If you don’t get here soon,” Vince says, turning to look down at me. His eyes are looking me over and I feel extremely uncomfortable. “She might not have any innocence left.” He flicks the cell phone closed and walks over to me like a tiger stalking its prey. Knowing, Keith heads upstairs without another word. Once the basement door sounds as its shut, I realize how bad of a situation I’m in.

“You better hope Emery hurries.” Vince smiles as he crouches down to my level again. “You’re just so pretty.” He reaches out and tries to push my hair behind my ear. However as soon as he touches me, I jerk my head away.

“Don’t touch me,” I spit, not turning my head back so I don’t have to look at him.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” he murmurs, his fingertips trailing my cheek. I try to move my head away again but there isn’t anywhere to move to get away from him. Clenching my teeth, I reach up and slap him as hard as I can.

“I said don’t touch me.”

“You know,” he laughs, unfazed by the contact of my hand hitting his face. “Resisting me only makes me want you more.”

“You know,” I mock, glaring at him. “When Emery gets here he is going to kick your ass.”

“Whatever you say,” Vince laughs, heading for the stairs. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“Get me some water,” I snap, my throat hoarse from all the crying I’ve been doing. Vince heads up the stairs immediately while I try to figure a way to get out. With my free hand, I try to loosen my other wrist from the rope. In a short amount of time I realize I’m not going to have any luck so I move to my feet. By the time I hear the basement door squeak open, I’m standing up, frozen like a deer in headlights.

“What the hell!” Vince bounds down the steps and soon he’s chasing me as I start to run away, my left arm pinned to my side and a rope flopping behind me. We run in circles for about five minutes when Vince finally catches the rope, pulling me directly to a stop. I try to push myself away as he wraps his arm around my waist and starts pulling me towards where I sat before. On the way he picks up the excess rope, ready to tie me up again. “I’m going to make sure you can’t get away this time,” he mutters, pulling me over to a metal pole that goes from the floor to the ceiling. I hadn’t seen it before because it was on the other side of the stairs.

“Let go of me!” I shout, trying to pull myself out of his grasp. It’s no use as he ties my body to the pole standing up. When he’s done, I can’t move an inch. I’m completely frozen. My arms are tied under the rope so I can’t even scratch an itch. Do they not have humanity?

Suddenly I hear footsteps upstairs, running closer. Vince smirks as Keith throws open the basement door and slams it behind him. He quickly runs down the stairs, gripping a wooden baseball bat.

“Guess who’s here,” he grins, standing in front of Vince and me. All the blood falls from my face and if it wasn’t for the rope, I probably would be collapsed on the floor. My heart pounds under the rope, feeling as if it’s going to burst at any second.

I open my mouth to speak but Vince instantly covers it. Both his and Keith’s head are turned towards the staircase, listening for Emery. It’s about a minute when I hear the door upstairs get kicked open and slow footsteps. He’s looking for me.

“River!” He screams and both of the men turn to me. Vince uncovers my mouth and nods towards me.

“Call back,” he whispers quietly. I press my lips together tightly and he reaches for his pocket. Cool metal is pressed against my head and I know I have to yell back to Emery. If I’m alive, I can potentially do something to help him or at least try.

“Emery!”

“River!” He calls again and his footsteps get closer. Vince nudges me with the gun again as Emery’s footsteps approach the basement door.

“Emery!” I scream as loud as I can. “It’s a trap! Keith and Vince are down here and-“

Before I can say anymore, Vince has his hand clamped over my mouth again. I scream as loud as I can but it’s muffled by his disgusting, sweaty palm.

There’s a loud bang as I watch Emery kick the basement door open. From where I stand he can’t see me yet but I can see his legs. One by one, he slowly takes the steps down knowing what and who are waiting for him at the bottom.

I pray he called the police or has someone with him, however when he reaches the bottom and our eyes lock, I know he’s alone. His eyes are wide in alarm as he watches me with a gun pressed to my head. There’s probably a bruise on my cheek and I must look dirty wearing the same clothes. However Emery looks exactly the same. For someone who came to a fight, he looks absolutely flawless. His black hair falls perfectly around his face, not covering his gorgeous blue eyes. Even though winter is practically over, he’s only wearing a black t-shirt with grey birds flying on it and plain blue jeans.

But what really catches my eye is what is in the palms of his hands. He cradles it but holds it firmly, ready to pull the trigger of the family shotgun at any given time.

“What the fuck did you do to her!” He booms, glaring at the grinning men who stand on each side of me. His words aren’t formed in a question but instead an accusation. He’s beyond furious or outraged. He’s ready to kill whether it means risking his own life or not.

Emery takes a step towards us as Keith shakes his head.

“Don’t even think about it,” he snaps, as he pulls out a gun. He points it at Emery, who’s pointing the shotgun at Vince, who’s pointing his gun at me. It’s almost like a game of Russian roulette however there will be no winner if someone shoots. Emery’s outnumbered by two to one and at this very moment I make a mental note to invest in a gun at some point in the near future. That is, if I even have a future.

“Emery, get out of here!” I yell, breaking the tension. He holds the shotgun up to his face as he looks down the sight, not even letting the gun tremble in his hands.

“Put the gun down, Hastings,” snaps Vince, jabbing his handgun into the side of my head. I do my best not to wince however Emery see’s my pain. “Or I’ll blow her brains out.”

“He’s bluffing! Don’t listen to him!”

Everyone ignores me as Emery laughs darkly. “I’ll put my gun down when you two put down yours. Why don’t we settle this like real men, shall we?”

I can see Vince and Keith both thinking about Emery’s proposal but still no guns end up on the floor.

“What?” Emery shakes his head. “You two can’t play without your toys?”

“Put down the gun,” Vince snaps again, right before he slaps me for effect. He grins, his finger getting dangerously close to the trigger. Keith’s pistol doesn’t waver from Emery and he’s the only one who can actually shoot without getting shot back immediately. The shotgun is still pointed at Vince, as Emery yells, his scream of anger piercing all of our ears. It’s a standoff.

Then a gun goes off, but the question is, who’s?