Hey guys! So I'm sorry these few chapters are short, but they hold so much emotional intensity! 

Another awesome cover by Marie_Romance Thank you so much!

I'm sorry for any editing and grammar mistakes!

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Enjoy!

-&-

Chapter 42

       I flinched as Donni tied the rope tighter around my ankles. I was strapped to a thick metal chair that was so cold I could feel it in my bones. The four walls surrounding the tiny room I was stuck in were an ugly green that I hadn't seen before, and the floor was covered in a dirty white tile that made me feel like I was in a mental hospital.

       Donni sent me a wicked smirk as he rose back to his feet. "No comment Rose? You used to have such a snarky mouth." I narrowed my tear stained eyes at him. The jerk had literally duct taped my mouth barley ten seconds before.

       He raised his hands in mock surrender before taking a few steps back to admire his handiwork, that nasty smirk plastered to his face. He was right actually. I did have a snarky mouth when I lived here, with them. It got me into trouble a lot. It only took the first two times in that room to quickly lose it.

       "I would get comfortable, kid. The Mister and Misses aren't back yet and probably won't be for a while."

       My heart clenched when he called me kid. All it did was remind me of Brett, and the life I was just stolen from. I watched teary eyed as he walked over to the thick door with no knob. I gulped as he knocked and it slid open. "Do you remember this room Rosie? You used to have so much fun in here." The door slammed shut on his horrible laughter.

       It was already hard to breath because of the duct tape, but my chest started to constrict even more when I heard a thick lock slide into place. The panic didn't hit me until the lights turned off though. There was absolutely no light. No noise. I could barely get any oxygen into my lungs, and tears had started falling from my eyes all over again.

       Oh God.

       It's the room. The room where it all started. Where the panic attacks began. Where my nightmares came from. Oh God. I was going to throw up. But I couldn't, there was tape over my mouth. Panic settled in when the nausea didn't subside. The silence became deafening, my tears got worse, and I could feel that all-consuming panic rearing up to hit me with one sucker punch of an attack.

       I was here, with them, with my monsters. I wasn't getting saved this time. I couldn't get saved this time, and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to gasp, but my lips were sealed shut, and that only made me cry harder.

       It was becoming so hard to breathe. My nose was stuffed because of the crying and I couldn't get any air through the tape. I was going to die before the Elliots even got to me. Black dots began dancing around my vision. A loud ringing replaced the deadly silence, and much like Halloween all I felt was that eerie blackness trying to take over.

       I couldn't see... I couldn't breathe...

       Can't see.

       Can't breathe.

       It was like a mantra in my head, over and over again. It was all I could think of. Rex wasn't here to calm down me down, he never would be again. They're coming. I tried to scream against the tape, but it was no use, and it only restricted my breathing more.

       Can't breathe.

       Can't see.

       Can't breathe.

       Can't see-

       "I'm going to tell you a story, okay?"

       My heart jumped as Rex's soft voice rang through my head. The soft melody of it was a lullaby from so long ago. One that cured even my darkest nightmare. One I clung to like a life line. I leaned heavily against the ropes binding me to the chair. Okay, Rex.

       "When I was little, and I had a bad dream, my mom would come into my room and read me a chapter from this book."

       My breathing eased as I remembered that night from what seemed like years ago. I remembered the way Rex held me, the way he curled me into him like he could protect me from everything around us.

       "It was the most stupid book ever."

       He had laughed at that and nuzzled his face into my hair. His voice was beautiful, the way it could captivate a whole room with just a few words, the way my body responded to it with just one. He always chased away my nightmares, always brought a smile to my face. And now that was all gone. I would never be able to see him again.

       "You are my everything."

       The panic had gone away, the silence in the room no longer deafening. But I was still crying, though it wasn't because I was stuck in this horrible room. I closed my eyes and tried to smile at the dark chestnut eyes shining down at me in amusement.

       "You, Roza, are absolutely adorable."

       That's how I spent roughly the next four hours. Thinking about all the times Rex and I spent together. All the things he did for me, all the sweet words he spoke. It kept the panic away, and it reminded me, for however short a time that it was, that he had loved me.

       I was actually on the verge of sleep when the light finally flickered on. I squeezed my eyes shut as the intrusive thing burned into me. I no longer thought an angel was coming to save me as the thick door opened, two men in very nice tailored suits stepping in. I was no longer that child that believed in such a thing.

       I tried to hide the obvious cringe that racked my body at the sight of the older couple who walked in behind the suits, their black outfits almost identical. The Elliots. They were always dressed nicely, even when that crazy old bat was tossing me around.

       The witch wore more makeup than Barbie, even though I used to tell her all the time she looked funny. That earned me a solid slap and an hour in this room. And the half-witted, diluted, always wandering in money-space husband of her's looked bored.

       I didn't bother hiding the flinch as the women smiled at me. "Rosalyn. Welcome home."

       I wanted to scream at her, to yell this wasn't my home. To demand they take me back to Rex, but the stupid tape was in the way. I narrowed my eyes at them as they walked further into the room. "You shouldn't look so angry, dear. It causes worry lines. Besides, I did tell you this was coming." She picked at her manicured nails, barely hiding that egotistical smirk on her face. I watched as she flicked her hand towards a smiling Donni who was standing two feet behind them.

       I hated them all.

       "Take the tape off her mouth Donni. I think she's old enough to hold an actual conversation."

       If there was one person in the world I would break my 'no-cursing' rule for, it was her. That no-good, rotten, old crow leeched off her husband's money like the flea she was. She used to flaunt me around when I was really little, like some prize she had one at a carnival. No one knew the crazy bat was using the money she got for me from the government to pay for all those plastic surgeries. And the drugs pile laundering her nightstand draw.

       Dad was so disgusted when he found out about the money, and the punishments, that he changed our last name to Summers, so no one would ever know that we were related to those monsters. I flinched as Donni stepped towards me, a dark glimmer in his eyes as he ripped the tape from my mouth.

       I gasped for air when my mouth was free. I needed the oxygen so bad that I didn't even feel the raw pain on my lips. "You- broke the... restraining- order." I gasped as they all watched me in amusement, their money hungry eyes glued to my pathetic form.

       Lisa Elliot rolled her eyes.

       "Restraining order, shmaming order. It only takes a couple grand to buy out a few cops, and then there's no such thing as a 'restraining order'." She put air quotes around the end, just in case the sarcasm in her voice wasn't enough.

       "What do you want from me?" I demanded when my lungs were once again filled with air. This was no casual abduction, and it definitely wasn't because they missed me and wanted me back in their lives.

       "Straight to the point. I like that."

       I turned my glare on Mr. Elliot. I had always been straight to the point with them, even as a child. And he was just now noticing? "We seemed to have ran into a little money problem. Well, it's more like a financial hiccup, and you're just what we need to fix it." Her tone was lazy, almost casual, as she slowly circled my chair, her fingers barely brushing the arms and back of it.

       "Money? This is all about money again?" I snapped as she finally came to a stop in front of me, her unpleasant eyes looked absolutely horrible in this lighting. Then again, they looked horrible period.

       "It's always about money. This is no different than last time."

       "Except, even if you were somehow able to get custody of me again and they actually believed this whole abduction crap, my birthday is in two months and you won't be able to get squat." I knew I was in trouble when her face slowly pulled into that snarky smirk that made my stomach twist.

       She didn't get angry like I thought she would, like she used to. She looked almost excited about what was fixing to happen. I pushed as far back in my chair as I could as she slowly leaned over me, her hands resting casually against the part of the chair I wasn't tied to. "There are more ways to get money out of a teenage girl than through the government."

       I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, but the look on her face told me I wouldn't like it. Not that I liked any of this. I watched with narrowed eyes as she straightened again and headed back for the door.

       "A friend of ours' runs a few businesses, human trafficking in the States' being a very big one."

       Did she just... Did she just say human trafficking? Honestly it didn't surprise me that they were involved with such a horrible thing. They've been so involved with drug lords and bosses my whole life that it didn't surprise me they were bumping it up a notch.

       All I could think of was Rex, sitting here in my position with that look on his face. The one where he couldn't believe what someone had just said, that they had the "balls" to say it. His chestnut eyes would have turned hard, his giant hands would have curled into fists, and he would open his mouth to say, "What the actual fuck-"

        "And after we told him about our little money hiccup, he offered us quite a bit of cash for anyone we knew he might like."

       Is she talking about what I think she's talking about?

       With the way the corner of her mouth rose into a small smirk, I knew she was. They were going to sell me, like a freaking object. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to cry, to scream, to bring on a panic attack just so I could knock myself out and not have to look at them. I wanted Rex to swoop in out of nowhere, wrap me in his arms and promise he will never let me go. I wanted him to hurt them. For the first time in my life, I desperately wanted Rex to hurt someone for me.

       But none of that happened, and as they turned towards the door I knew none of that would happen. Well, maybe the whole first depressing half, but Rex wasn't here. He will never be here. The only hope I had in this situation was that once I was gone they would leave him alone. They wouldn't have a need to threaten him anymore.

       "Oh, and Donni's told us all about your little boyfriend. Be a good girl for Santiago and he won't get hurt, yes?" Her eyes lit up in an amusement I've never seen before, and as they left, that horrible door shutting once more, every single ounce of hope I had at getting out of here alive vanished.

       Santiago.

       That was not a name I ever wanted to here again, and it was even worse coming out of that crazy hag's mouth. But as the door's lock slid into place and the lights turned off I wasn't afraid. I didn't panic. I didn't scream. I didn't even cry. Even though I had ever right to.

       Rex would never be safe after this. Somehow the Elliots have a relationship with his old boss, they know who he is. Santiago knows who I am. He would just hold me over Rex's head like a piece of meat over a starving wolf. He would use me to get that revenge I know he so desperately craved, and then I had no doubt he would throw me into the trafficking system afterwards.

       Like a switch flipping inside my brain I felt myself change, felt the darkness take over like that night in the warehouse. I could feel myself mentally shut down, could feel the monster I knew I was deep down slowly take over. Rex was my everything, my life, the air I breathed. I would not let them use me to hurt him.

       As that dark feeling consumed my whole body, my whole being, I knew what I needed to do. And even if I didn't survive, at least I knew one thing for sure. Rex would be safe, he would be free, and that's all that mattered.

-&-

I'm sorry its short, but I hope you guys enjoyed!