THE KIDNAP

Elle lleva su veneno.
Nunca sabe poner freno.
No le digas que la quieres,
Porque se lo lleva el viento.

***

CHAPTER XIII

*****

DANIEL HAD PRINTED off pictures of Diego and his accomplice so he wouldn't forget their faces. Even though I knew I would never forget.

After switching everything off, locking up and then returning the key back to Anita - as per her ID - we stripped off the ugly hospital attire and left that place the same way we had entered.

Thankfully, leaving didn't require the same standard of security as entering.

Now, we were back in his car, speeding down the slick road as rain continued to beat down on the roof with a vengeance. It did nothing to stop the turmoil in my mind though. My thoughts raced at the idea of what we were going to do. I knew Daniel well and I knew that our endeavour would end up with at least one dead body.

That wasn't what bothered me most. What really had my mind racing was the fact that I didn't care. No, I did care because I wanted it.

I stared down at my hands - the hands that wanted nothing more than to wrap themselves around the neck of the doctor that drugged me as I watched the life fade from his eyes.

The image in my mind was gruesome, making me squeeze my eyes shut but it only seemed to get clearer.

I couldn't help but peek a glance at Daniel. He was just as beautiful as he was the last time I looked at him. His jaw was set and his dark eyes were trained on the road ahead as he stepped down on the gas pedal.

The car travelled faster and faster, making my heart lurch in my chest as the belief that Daniel was going to kill us filled my mind.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

My shriek seemed to have broken him out of whatever trance he was in, and he let out a low curse before slowing the car down until we were at a normal speed.

Or a speed that was normal for him. We were still speeding.

"Can I drive?" I asked, making him glance at me quickly with hard eyes before looking back onto the road. "I know how to drive, so can I?"

"No."

"Why not?" I pouted, leaning in closer to him. "I won't crash you car, I promise. I've only ever crashed two cars in my lifetime."

Daniel looked at me strangely as if wondering if I thought I had done something with what I just said before looking back out the windshield. "You're not in the correct headspace, Araceli."

"And you are?" I scoffed before reaching for the stereo, hating the tense silence in the car. It was hard being in a small space with someone I wasn't entirely comfortable with.

Some pop song that I had never heard of blared lowly out of the speakers, reminding me of all the reasons I hated turning on the radio. The song had a catchy beat, but the lyric game was weak and only made me roll my eyes. I didn't waste time in changing the station until I found the news channel, settling on that instead.

The news anchor filled is in on the weather for the next week while I leaned back in my seat and peered out the window. He had been on the same winding road with no turns or intersections for about ten minutes now. Thick trees lined the gravel road, blocking my view from whatever lay beyond them.

The car inched up what seemed to be the steepest hill I had ever had the displeasure of experiencing, bumping up and down along the rough gravel before coming to a stop at the top of the hill.

Before us was what seemed to be a modest looking house which wasn't too big, but wasn't tiny either. The right size for a family. It looked like a typical subarban house except with a view to die for since it was atop a cliff looking down at the rippling lake beneath us.

That was what was probably behind those trees.

Daniel cut the engine and quickly stepped out of the car, making me do the same. I groaned as the rain wasted no time in pelting my heated skin. My hair was saturated within seconds and stuck to my body like second skin as I walked up to were Daniel was waiting for me just a few feet away from the front door of the house.

We walked up in silence and Daniel pressed the door bell as soon as we reached it. It was late, but not as late as it could've been and a woman with long tumbling blonde hair opened the door about two minutes later with a satin nightgown thrown over her body.

"Yes?" she said, her voice timid as she watched us both get pelted by the rain with suspicion. "Can I help the both of you?"

"This is the home of Doctor Ericsson, yes?" Daniel asked just as the sky lit up with the strike of lightning and the ground rumbled beneath us.

She glanced up at the sky, gulping down harshly before fixing her fierce green eyes on us and holding onto her nightcoat tighter. "Yes," her voice was louder and harder than when she had originally addressed us. She narrowed her green eyes on us. "Why?"

"Call him for us would you?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir," she began, adding an unnecessary amount of sass to her voice. "But it's way too late to be coming to my house and asking for my husband. If you want to see him, come at a decent time."

She attempted to slam the door shut, but Daniel had placed his foot into the threshold before she could.

"The hell do you want?" she almost yelled, her eyes wide with hysteria as she finally realised that this visit wasn't a good one.

"I'm trying to be polite," he said, reaching into the waistband of his jeans and pulling out his gun. Her eyes widened as he pointed it at her, but she remained silent. "So do as I say before I blow your brains out."

"J-Jacob!" she yelled, making my ears ring as I winced back. Something that sounded like a hum of acknowledgement travelled down from the stairs for us to hear. "Jacob, some people are here to see you!"

"I'll be down in a minute," he yelled at her, leaving us to stare awkwardly at each other. Against the silence, I cleared my throat and spoke up.

"Do you... do you mind?" Her green eyes sparkled with confusion as she tilted her head to the side and waited for me to explain. I gestured towards the house and then gestured to the rain pouring down on the both of us. "We're kind of soaked right now."

"You want me to let you into my house?" she asked, looking shocked that I even had the audacity to ask that.

"Would you prefer we go into your shed?" Daniel asked sarcastically, barging past her into the house anyway.

She let out a shriek, but said nothing else as I walked in after him. With shaky hands, she closed the door but didn't lock it. I guess wanting to always have the security of having a place to run to if something went south.

Unfortunately, Daniel didn't give her that chance. He ran a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to remove the loose, curly strands that fell in his face before turning to me, catching me staring at him.

I raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned mischievously before turning to the woman who remained frozen at the doorknob. Wordlessly, he used his gun to beckon for her to come closer to him.

Her eyes darted up towards the stairs, as if waiting for her limp-noodle husband to come save her before gulping harshly and shuffling across the floor.

I watched her move before getting bored and turning away. I roamed around the dark hallway, raising my hand to my hair and rolling it into a bun. Without caring about the oak wood floors, I wrung it as delicately as I could and let the water drop from my wet strands.

A small whimper came from behind me and I turned around to see what Daniel was doing to Blondie. I was taken aback once I had turned around, only to see her staring at me with wide, pain-filled eyes even though he didn't seem to be hurting her.

My eyebrows met in confusion before I finally realised what I was doing wrong. With a small smirk, I brought my hand to my hair again and squeezed. The water dripped into a large puddle by my feet and she stared at it with her mouth hanging open.

I let out a small chuckle before turning away from her and inspecting my surroundings again. My eyes were drawn to a picture frame sitting on the side table.

Carefully, I picked up the glass frame and inspected the photo. In the picture was the same woman Daniel had kneeling at his feet. She was wearing a long, white wedding dress, a large smile on her lips as her hair was pinned up to perfection. In her hands was a bouquet of blue and white flowers, but what really caught my attention was her swollen stomach.

Beside her was the man I could only assume was Jacob. The man that had a hand in selling me. He was adorned in a white suit, his blonde hair gelled back and his blue eyes sparkling with happiness. Clearly, the image was dated since the Jacob I remembered had completely grey hair. On the bottom of the glass frame had the words 'Jacob & Sadie' written onto it in an elegant looking font.

I assumed the blonde was Sadie.

Obviously, they were getting married. That much was clear. But what really got me feeling a certain kind of way was the fact that that was exactly what was supposed to happen with Daniel and I. If he hadn't done what he had done, we would've gotten married while I was pregnant.

"Who are you?"

My head snapped around at the unfamiliar voice and in my moment of fear, the picture frame had slipped from my hand and shattered into small pieces on the floor. I glanced down at it with indifference before looking back up at the man that was staring at me from the top of the staircase.

Jacob.

"I'm offended," I pouted at him as he slowly began descending the stairs. "You really don't remember my face?"

"Am I supposed to?" he asked, letting his eyes run all over my face as he tried to remember me.

"Well... Yeah," I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, I remember you."

Jacob snorted and rolled his eyes. "I tend to leave that impression on people," he said cockily, making my lips drop into a slight scowl. "Who are you?"

"I'm Araceli Cruz," I said with a hard voice, turning around to inspect another picture of them - this one being more recent.

In it was him, his wife and another younger girl with blonde hair and green eyes. It was obvious that she was their daughter. She looked to be around the age of eighteen in the photo.

"Should I care?" he asked, making me tear my gaze away from the frame.

He stopped halfway down the stairs, probably not trusting me enough come all the way down. I couldn't see his face but his voice was unmistakable.

With another pout, I spoke. "The name doesn't ring a bell?" he shook his head and my pout fell into a devious smirk. "You know, some times some people know me as something else. One Venom."

The air in the room changed and as if finally sensing that he wasn't alone, he looked to the side. Daniel looked back at him, his hand raised in a friendly wave we all knew wasn't friendly.

Jacob suddenly bolted, running up the the stairs as I stared after him. I didn't make any effort to stop him because, quite frankly, there was nowhere else to run but Daniel lifted his gun and pointed at him and before I could blink, began firing up the stairs, following Jacob's trail.

The old man let out a pained groan after Daniel had pointed his gun back to Sadie's head. She let out a terrified screech as her husband came tumbling down the long flight of stairs, clutching the bleeding bullet whole in his thigh once he finally reached the ground.

"Ouch," I mumbled, stepping backwards as he landed right in front of me.

As if forgetting that she was being held at gunpoint, she got up off her knees and rushed to his side to provide him comfort. I watched their little love scene before rolling my eyes, stepping over his groaning body and heading over to where Daniel was.

His eyes followed me, occasionally darting to Sadie but always coming back to me until I was in front of him. He lowered his gun to the side and took my chin in his hand, making me look up at him.

"You can shoot a gun, right?" I nodded my head answering his question. "Good. Stay here and watch over dumb and dumber."

"Where are you going?" I asked meekly, taking his hand away from my chin.

"I'm going to the car. I need to do some things." He handed me his gun and turned me around so I was facing the couple in our presence. "Just make sure that they don't move from where they are. Not even to make a phone call."

I nodded again, casting a quick glance over my shoulder before looking back at the couple. Sadie seemed to be struggling to get her husband to sit upright against the wall. I waited for Daniel to complain, but he didn't seem to have a problem with it so I kept my mouth shut.

By the time Daniel had walked out of the door, Sadie had successfully gotten Jacob sitting the right way. His eyes were closed and his teeth gritted as he continued to hiss in pain, but not nearly as much as when he had originally acquired the injury.

I walked closer to them, making the couple snap their attention to me almost in unison. I held my hands up in my defense, carelessly waving the gun around before continuing to walk towards the stairs where I took a seat and watched the couple in silence.

"So..." I mumbled, looking around at the foyer. "You do this often?"

"Yeah, actually. Strangers showing up to our house and holding us at gun point happens almost on a daily basis," Sadie said, making me snort and roll my eyes.

"Look, Sadie," she looked surprised at the fact that I knew her name but was too shocked to say anything, "I'm going to be really honest with you right now. I have nothing against you."

"Sure, right," she snorted, looking the other way until her husband groaned and her attention was back to making him feel better again.

"Believe me," I insisted, still flaunting the gun around. "I like you even. The person I have a problem with is your husband, Jacob. You just got caught in the crossfire."

"Jacob didn't do anything to you. He wouldn't hurt a fly," she defended sternly and in the corner of me eye, I noticed the man in question cringe. "Right, honeybee?"

We both stared at him, waiting for his answer but he only shut his eyes, rolled his head to the side and let out a low groan.

"See? You're stressing him," she said, throwing me a sharp glare that I couldn't care about any less.

"You're wasting your time here," Jacob groaned, making me look to him. "You won't find out anything that you don't already know. And..."

"And...?" I prompted him to continue, holding the gun to his head.

"And I've called for backup. Men from the Costillo's will be pouring into this house in no time."

"Such a shame that they would've just missed you," Daniel's voice joined the conversation.

We all turned towards the front door where he walked back into the house, dripping from head to toe in water. In his hands were a packet of zip ties, a roll of duck tape, a brown sack bag and what looked to be an old white tee.

It didn't take me long before I realised what exactly was going to happen.

Unfortunately, Sadie and Jacob had also realised too and the lady had scrambled to her feet, picking up a white vase and smashed it against the wall. She pointed it at Daniel as if to use as a weapon, but he only raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm going to say this once," she hissed, her voice coming out shaky even though she was trying to be firm. "Get the fuck out of my house and don't ever come back."

"Sit down, Sades," I rolled my eyes, but she only turned around to glare at me.

Before I could duck, she had hurled the broken vase in my direction, aiming the jagged ends straight for my face. Good thing she didn't have good aim.

I stared at her with wide eyes before turning back to look at where the white ceramic scattered shattered pieces along the stairs. I turned back around and silently raised the gun, pointing it at her chest before diverting my aim towards her husband's other leg and shooting before she could even react.

Jacob let out a yell of pain at the second bullet wound in his body, this one left by me instead of Danny and Sadie screeched, rushing to his side to check up on him.

"What have you done?"

"Keep messing up and it'll be your legs next," Daniel threatened, unable to hide the humour in his voice as he walked towards Jacob with the zip ties in his hands. He chucked the tape into my lap, making me look at him confused. "Seal his mouth."

That was all I needed to hear.

I put the safety back on and got onto my feet, waiting for Daniel to finish tying up both their hands and legs before crouching in front of Jacob.

I placed the gun on the ground, knowing that with his hands tied now he had no way of snatching it. With delicate hands, I ran my finger tips along his face, over his sharp jaw and high cheekbones and brushed them through his hair, loving the way he was trying to hide how nice he probably felt.

Suddenly, I gripped a handful of his hair and tugged, making him let out a low groan. I peeled the edge of the tape off and placed it on his cheek before wrapping it around his head, making some fall between his lips into his mouth.

"You know, I learnt this technique from one of my lovers," I said, reaching my hand around him as I continued to wrap the tape tightly around his mouth. "Granted, it was much more of a sensual bondage. And he used his tie instead of tape. And it hurt less, but you get the gist."

Daniel snorted from behind me and I couldn't help the genuine smile that had fallen onto my face at the inside joke. Jacob only huffed or tried to around the tape.

"Please, please don't do this," the woman begged, watching as I brought my face close to her husband's to use my teeth and cut the tape. To her, it probably looked like something different.

Good.

Daniel placed the sack bag over his head, ignoring Sadie's cries while he did so and once he was done, he wasted no time dragging him out by his feet. The man yelled in pain, his restrained hands reaching out to press against his bullet wounds, making Daniel suddenly drop his feet.

"My bad. Sorry, Jake, forgot about the shots."

He didn't sound the least bit sorry, but neither me nor Sadie pointed it out. Daniel picked up the old tee that he brought and tied it tightly around Jacob's bullet wound, making the middle-aged man hiss in pain. We couldn't see his face but his shirt was now saturated with sweat and his chest heaved up and down.

I could almost feel the anxiety rolling off of Sadie.

"Do you have a spare shirt?" he asked me in all seriousness, but I was wearing a dress so I only shook my head. "Fuck, he's going to bleed out. You shouldn't have shot him again."

"Whoops," I shrugged, not really caring as I picked up the gun and walked towards him. "Just use your shirt."

Maybe I just wanted to see him shirtless. Maybe I just wanted him to catch a cold. No one really knew, but Daniel didn't give into my fantasy. He stood up onto his feet and kicked Jacob a bit.

"You'll be fine, won't you, Jake?"

Jacob let out a groan in response and Daniel nodded, taking that as his answer. Wordlessly, he began pulling Jacob out the door again. I stayed and waited until they were completely out of sight.

With a sigh, I turned back to Sadie who was sniffling with her head bowed on the ground. "I don't think you deserve this." She snapped her hopeful eyes up to me, probably hoping that I was going to have a change of heart. "The only thing I can tell you is that you should not take anything that happens to you to heart."

"What do you mean?"

"This is the last time you'll see your husband," I said bluntly, making her let out a sob. "But Daniel, as bad as he is, he's... fair. Jacob dealt with things... things far greater than what you could imagine. It hurt me. It hurt us and now he's back to - I don't know - get revenge or something, you know? The works."

"Shut up," she said lowly. "My husband isn't bad. You're all just a bunch of snakes."

"Believe what you want," I shrugged, deciding not to waste my energy.

"Get out, get out, GET OUT," she screamed as if I wasn't already doing so anyway. I caught Daniel just as he slammed the trunk shut with Jacob in it.

"Be careful," I snorted, walking past him to the side of the car. "You know he's old. We don't want him having a stroke or something."

He grabbed my arm and directed me back into the house, prying the gun out of my hand. He walked towards Sadie, crouching in front of her and grabbing her chin so her green eyes were fixed on him.

He held the gun to her head and spoke. "Go to the police after this," he said lowly, his voice almost too low to hear as he dragged his gun along her cheek. "I dare you."

That was the only warning he gave her before he got up, dusted off his pants and turned towards me to walk out the door, leaving Sadie a sobbing mess on the floor.

I smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry."

And then I left.

*****

Okay, so the lyrics above are from a song called Olivia by Natalia Lacunza and basically they mean:

She carries her poison. He never knows how to brake. Don't tell her that you love her, because the wind takes it.

The full song is up there somewhere I guess.

Anyways, I know I didn't post last Saturday. I kind of didn't have my priorities straight and was too focused on writing a new chapter. I'll try to fix that lmao.

I'll be starting school again this Monday and I'm dreading the shit out of it because I never have time to do anything I like. Not even on the weekends it pisses me off.

Anyways, summer break is in five weeks so I'm pretty sure the chapters I have written will take us there so you probably don't have to worry about having to wait for the next update.

I guess I'll talk to yall later. I'm a lot more active these days so don't be afraid to reach out to me.

Also, thanks for 500 followers. I know it happened ages ago, but still thx. K bye.