Chapter 5 KIDNAPPED

I pull over at the casino at exactly quarter past nine. I hastily exit the vehicle and dash outside. My excitement, rage, and curiosity are fiercely propelling me inside. However, just as I approach the entry door, the lights go off and the door slams shut in front of me. I pause as fear starts to consume me.

A very rippling jolt skints through my nerves. Maybe I can understand the lights going off, but the closing of the door? And why isn't there any goddamned soul walking in or out of the casino? This is supposed to be a busy time for such places. What's wrong here?

I dart my eyes around, sampling in fear and worry, and just like it was when I pulled over, I don't notice any figure in the compound.

Was I trapped? Should I run for my safety? But what if there really is something that the waitress wants me to see or know?

In my battle to decide what to do in this life-threatening darkness, as I try to crack the puzzle of what is happening here, some hushed voices stroke my ears from far behind. I tense, forcing my frigid legs to turn around and try to trace those voices and movements.

I start walking back to the farthest left corner of the parking lot, where I am hearing the voices. I am shaking as I maneuver through the cars, keeping my movements at bay.

The voices fade away after a short distance, but I keep going. The compound becomes frighteningly silent. I pause as more fear rises within me. I crouch behind a car and try to catch wind of anything that might warn me that those voices are coming back. But nothing but a dreadful lull stroked my ears for a while. I can't hear anything. Nada!

But I'm positive. I heard conversations over here, and no car has driven out. I'm becoming more anxious about this now. Whence did they vanish?

"We found her!" Shock spanks me as a cold voice speaks from behind. I turn around in a flicker, and at the same time, blinding lights shine on me, almost impairing my eyes.

I shut my eyes for a moment, and I peel them slowly to adjust to the blinding lights. There are masculine men everywhere around me. Men wearing black suits, hats, and sunglasses. I am unable to make out even one of their faces. I am surrounded by unidentified men who don't seem to be good people.

"We managed to corner the feisty, beautiful journalist, boss!" The man speaks again.

So, I was trapped in this? Why? By who?

"Alright, boss!" He adds and drops the call.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?" I ask.

He takes his hand to his back and brings it forward again with a gun. I swallow hard! I am doomed. Who wants me?

"I heard that you are feisty, and I am not in the mood for struggles. I want to carry you like a baby since we need you in good condition as per the boss's orders. This will hurt, but only for a while."

The next thing I know, he smacks my head with a gun, and everything turns dark and lulling.

A while later!

I don't know how long I have been dragged along like this. The last thing I remember was passing out after a blow I received on my head. I can feel some cold liquid on my face, and I don't need to ask what it is. My head is throbbing, perhaps from that impact.

A loud moan escapes my lips as I collide with the cold floor. These monsters don't care whether I break my bones or not, and I can't tell what happened to 'our boss wants you in one piece'.

I try to listen to anything that can give me a clue of where they have taken me, but all I hear is a deafening lull. Only the choice of their heavy footsteps against the hard floor.

"Where am I?" I ask, realizing that my hands are tied to my back and I have a blindfold on.

I got no response. The strong arms continue pushing me like I am a criminal being dragged to where my verdict awaits me. Or, better yet, a pig being taken into a slaughterhouse. I may be right or wrong, but the second one seems to be the case.

After some corners, I hear the sound of the door opening, and I am pushed inside. The side closes, and the barbarous arms free me.

"Boss! Here is the package!" One man says beside me, and I presume he is the one who has been dragging me along.

Package? Am I a package?

I hear echoes of menacing steps from in front of me at a slow, unnerving pace. And they stop just a short distance from me. I feel a male finger trace the scar that I got from that smack back at the casino.

And I am tense! Really tense.

That touch... that...

"I asked that she be brought here without a scratch. What is this?" The man inspecting me spoke, and that voice broke the tube containing adrenaline in my body.

I feel the adrenaline all over me, arousing all my nerves. I freeze.

That voice? It feels so familiar.

"I am sorry, boss," the man beside speaks again. "I had to do this just to be careful."

"And you had to hit her this hard? This will affect the bid, you idiot!"

The sound of a gun makes me leap in fear, a whimper escaping my lips. A man's growl comes from the floor, and I suppose that he was the one who was shot.

But forget whoever received the bullet. Forget even this bid they are talking about. That touch. That voice. I cannot be mistaken. And I cannot keep my lips sealed any longer.

"Dan?" I whimper, still hoping, against all odds, that I am gravely mistaken.

"Take off her blindfold," that voice orders, and in a blink, the blindfold is taken off my eye.

Immediately my eyes peel, I almost freeze after I take in the sight of the nightmare standing in front of me.

I almost don't believe my eyes. But after countless blinking of my eyes, the figure does not change. He is exactly the way I have known him-tall, dark, with an arrogant look. Not a single feature on his face seems doubtful.

Daniel!!!

A gun perfectly hugged in his hands as if he is used to using it-my boyfriend. Oh, bittersweet correction, ex-fiancé. Cold washes over my entire being, threatening to paralyze me.

"Hello, sweetheart." His voice echoes with sarcasm, and coupled with the annoying smirk on his face, I am convinced that he is mocking me. Then his idioms turn dark and cold in a flicker: "Sorry, I had forgotten. We are no longer an item, so, hello, dear ex! I am glad you got here safe."

So, he ordered my kidnapping? He is the one behind all this?

Why?