Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) by A.T. Douglas

and pull me to them.  I’ve never wanted to be in
my parents’ arms more than at this moment.
    “It’s your lucky day, Mr. and Mrs.
Whitford.”  Mark’s voice shatters the beautiful virtual moment my family was
just sharing together.
    “What do you mean?” Dad asks, as
confused as I am.
    Mark leaves the phone trained on me. 
“It turns out you’ll get the opportunity to talk to her, though she may be too
busy screaming to talk back.”
    I’ve just started to process Mark’s
words when he nods to man at the side of the room .  I
noticed him standing there before, but now he’s wearing a ski mask that covers
the majority of his face.
    He rushes me, grabbing my chin and
pulling my head back with one hand as he moves swiftly behind me.  I can feel
the cool metal of the blade of the knife he’s holding to my throat with his
other hand even before its sharp edge pierces my skin.  I yelp as the flesh
opens and proceed to screaming as he traces the blade slowly across my neck.
    When he’s done, he removes the knife
and leans in close to the side of my face.  He takes in the scent of me briefly
before kissing my bruised cheek through the mouth
opening of the ski mask.  He moves his head a little more and kisses me directly on the lips.  I try to cringe away, but he
holds my face there, forcing me to taste his chapped lips and cigarette
breath.  Eventually the man pulls away from me while still holding my head back
in my neck’s most vulnerable position.
    I hear my parents’ frantic cries
through the speakerphone the entire time.  Mom is in hysterics at one point,
and then I don’t hear her anymore.  Silence fills the room, and I wonder for a
moment if the phone call has been disconnected.  Warm blood seeps out from the superficial
wound on my neck as we all await whatever is going to happen next.
    “Who is that?  Which fucker on your
crew just drew blood from my daughter?”  Dad’s voice is furious.  “Who’s next
in line after you to get a bullet in the head when I find you all?”
    The tough and determined dad I’ve been waiting
to hear is finally back and fighting for me.  Despite my bleeding neck, I’m thrilled to hear him pissed.  I want
him to channel his anger into the search to find me.  He’s no longer hopeless.
    “Goodbye, Robert.  Nice speaking with
you as always.”  Mark ends the phone call without another word, and my dad’s
face is no longer looking back at me on the device.  I immediately miss him.
    “Sensitive skin there on the neck, isn’t
it?” Mark asks me.  “Just a little deeper and he could have cut your throat.”
    I can already start to feel the blood
drying as it drips down my neck.  I’m so sick and tired of bleeding for this
man.
    “You’ve only just encouraged him, you
know.  The last thing you should be doing is pissing my dad off.”
    I don’t know where this sudden bout of
courage is coming from given my situation, but I’ve put it out there and it’s
too late to take it back.
    “He can be pissed all he wants.  I need his fury.  I encourage it!”  Mark seems about as fired up about
this as my dad was .  “It’s not going to make the money
appear in his account any faster.  It’s not going to give him a magical path to
find you, dear.”
    Mark can say whatever the hell he
wants.  Dad’s found a reason to fight for me again.  That’s all that matters.
    “I’m sick of this sudden attitude,
girl.  As much as I love looking at your pretty face, I can’t stand having you
here a moment longer.”  He looks over his shoulder at the back of the room. 
“Leo, get this little shit cleaned up and put back in her cell.”
    Leo.  Thank God .
    As much as Mark thinks he’s won this
evening, I feel like the true victor in this little exercise he’s put on.  My
dad’s probably doubling his efforts to find me at this very moment.  To top it
off, I’m leaving Mark’s presence for the night in the company of the one man in
this