chapter 3

"If you're not brave enough, no one will back you up."

~Shannon

My life was spiralling in the wrong direction, on high-speed and I was in a dilemma, on whether or not to report Matthew to the authorities. What if he pushed through with his threats? I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my family. I swore to protect them at all cost.

"Look at me," Lionel held my face in his hands, "tell me what's happening. Is he threatening you?"

I seized the opportunity to study him, he had the cute bad boy look--- the too good to be true kind. His eyes were emerald green and his pink lips were to die for. Don't even get me started on his eyebrows, he didn't deserve them, I did. I always wondered why men got eyelashes and eyebrows they did not need. He had chocolate brown hair that was perfectly trimmed, to fit his personality.

He called my name and brought me back to reality, where getting hit by a bus would have been better than my current situation. Why me? I wondered. What had I done to get such a harsh punishment.

I pulled away from his hold, sobbing like a loved one had just died. If I had not survived, my parents wouldn't be in so much danger. My younger sister Ashlie was an easy target. She took the bus to school everyday and hang out with her friends at times, it was not difficult to harm her.

If I didn't enslave myself to Matthew, he would hurt them and the thought of it made me sick to the stomach. 

Kayleigh's arms wrapped around me, "It's going to be okay, Shannon. We're going to help you, trust me."

"You can't help me, Kay. No one can." I stammered.

I lifted my head and looked at her, she didn't know what kind of trouble I was in so I explained everything and to say that she was in shock would be an understatement. She didn't expect Matthew to go that far.

"He's not going to harm any of you, I'm going to make sure of that." Lionel tried to assure me but I did not believe him.

"How?" I tried to hold on to the little hope I had.

"Let's get you treated and discharged first, then we can talk about what to do next." He said.

"You're going to do me more harm than good. He said not to tell anyone." I whispered. Kayleigh rubbed the back of my hand softly, it helped me relax. 

"That's blackmail and you know it. I've heard that same line too many times than I care to remember and only weak people bow to it." He pulled a chair and sat next to me.

"Absolutely." Kay sided with him.

"What do you expect me to do?" I cried.

"There are too many ways to kill a rat. We're going to fight back." He stabbed his finger in the air.

"No! Please don't, many people are going to end up dead if we do that." I covered my face with my hands.

"Listen to me," he scolded, "you have to be brave if you want to get your life back on track. 

* * *

Mom followed me with her eyes as I limped to the wardrobe and back, I needed to get as many clothes as I could. We were not going to get done any time soon, if she continued staring at me.

"You should be packing up."

"And go where? I still don't understand a word you're saying. How come Matthew is suddenly abusive, a gang leader and a drug dealer? You said he was a good man." She was clearly in denial, I had been there before and I understood her.

Lionel did a background check on him and discovered that he was working directly with the Boss--- The most wanted drug dealer in North America. And getting in their bad books meant death.

I sat down and took her hands in mine, "We're not safe here, Mom. He always hit me whenever we had an argument. I didn't say anything cause I loved him. Yesterday, he beat me to the verge of death and I woke up today, at the hospital. He then called and said he was watching you, that he would hurt all of you if I didn't go back to him."

"My goodness! This is a lot to take in. Have you spoken to your father and Ashlie?" She rubbed the sides of her head with her fingers as she paced up and down.

"Yes, they're both on their way but I told them not to act panicked, so as not to alert the guys who may be following them. It's going to be okay once we leave here. Please just go and pack and remember to close all the blinds."

She nodded, wrapped me in a warm embrace for a few minutes before leaving. I got back on my feet and hobbled to the window. Slowly, I lifted the edge of the curtain to peep outside. A strange car was parked across the street and a man who's face I couldn't see sat inside.

I immediately dialled Lionel's number, "There's a big problem, a man is watching our front door and we don't have a backdoor."

"Alright, just hang tight. I'll be there in a few, I'll know what to do." I could hear him move.

"Alright, thank you."

I resumed packing everything I would need and within no time, I was done. But the whole exercise was tiresome, my injuries had a lot to do with it.

When Ashlie walked in unharmed, I was so relieved that I crushed her in a tight hug. Things were beginning to get better, slowly but surely.

We impatiently sat and waited for dad as Ashlie went up to her room, to add any stuff of hers Mom may have left behind.

An hour later, I received a call from Lionel, "Come to your backyard."

"What?" I was confused. How did he get to the backyard when there was only one door to getting into the house, before you could go through the kitchen to the yard?

"Just come, there's no time for questions."

Lionel was so unpredictable and he had me do weird things since I met him. As I stood from the couch, pain shot up my entire body and I hissed.

"Are you okay?" Mom was beside me in seconds.

I nodded, "I'm going to the back. I'll be back in a minute. Don't open the door unless it's dad."

"Okay, but take it easy." She moved aside so I could hold on to the wall as I walked.

When I got to the back, I scanned the area quickly but he was nowhere to be seen. I clicked my tongue, I was not in the mood for jokes and Lionel was clearly messing with me.

"Are you looking for me?" His voice had me looking up at the wall that separated the house behind us from ours. He sat comfortably with a ladder in his hands. I chuckled, how did he even get there?

"Story for another day." He smirked, he was too good at reading my mind. "Well, don't just stand there. Go get your things." He put the ladder down and made sure it laid perfectly on the wall.

Aargh! So bossy!

I went back to the house and alerted Mom and Ashlie of the new plan. Mom burst into a fit of laughter, she already liked Lionel. She said his humour was as classy as he was, yet she hadn't even met him. I was sure they would get along fine.

I had to sit and wait for them to get all our luggage to the back. I didn't have the energy to help and they weren't giving me room to lend a hand. Ashlie climbed the ladder and Mom passed her suitcase by suitcase which she handed over to Lionel, who had another person receiving them at the other side of the wall.

"You first, I'll help you climb." Lionel said to me after receiving the last suitcase.

"My dad isn't here yet and I'm going nowhere without him." I protested. 

"Neither am I." Mom backed me up, Ashlie was at the verge of tears. She was too vulnerable to speak. I wrapped my arm around her and she leaned on my shoulder. She was closer to him and just the thought of leaving him in danger broke her.

"We'll call him and tell him where to meet us, come." He beckoned at me.

"But, but we could just wait for him. I'm sure he'll be here in no time." Mom stuttered, I bobbed my head in agreement.

"We can't stay here, it's not safe. Someone may be onto us. Let's get you to a safer place first, then we'll know what to do."

Mom sighed, she agreed with him but half-heartedly. He did have a point, staying there would risk three lives and I didn't want that. Ashlie nodded when I looked at her for the final decision. Everyone's opinion mattered.

"Wait, I'll have to call him first." I took my phone out of my pocket and dialled his number. It rang a couple of times but he did not pick. I was getting worried, what if something happened to him?

"We'll leave someone behind to wait till he arrives." He smiled, it was so thoughtful of him.

Without hesitation, I went for the first step and he helped me up the ladder, but he had to do a lot of touching for me to land safely on the other side. He handled me with care and not once did he touch my wounds.

With his help, Mom and Ashlie climbed the first ladder up, then the second one down where three men were ready to cushion them in case of a fall. Our luggages were already in the car that was to transport us to our secret hideout.

Lionel thanked our generous neighbors for allowing us to invade their privacy and even handed them a couple of dollars. They were newly weds and you could tell that they were deeply in love. I envied and admired them at the same time.

Throughout the ride to the deserted airport, Lionel kept looking at his side mirror--- he couldn't risk anyone trailing us. It was a 46hours drive from San Diego to North Carolina and it was only practical to travel by air which was about 4hours.

As we got ready to board the private jet, I called dad once again but there was still no response and we had no choice but to go without him. "I will find him," Lionel whispered when he noticed how troubled I was, "and I have to take your phones. Or else, all we're doing will be in vain."

After clobbering our phones, we got on board and were in the air in no time. There was a peaceful kind of silence but I was nervous, I was thinking of dad. I wished he would have come earlier and made the mood lively. It felt like the remaining piece to solve a puzzle was missing.

* * *

"Hey, we're here." Mom shook me till I fluttered my eyes open. I didn't even know when I fell asleep.

"Dad?" I looked up at her expectantly, with my fingers crossed. She shook her head and forced a smile on her face. She was as scared as I was, maybe even more. She tried to keep herself together for our sake, but I knew her too well.

I had this gut feeling that something was wrong but I hoped I was just being paranoid. Mom, Ashlie and I said a short prayer before we got off the plane. I looked around us, it was a whole different environment from what we were used to.

I breathed in and out on our ride to Banner Elk, a small secluded town. The air was so fresh, it was the best place for some peace and quiet.

When we got the destination, I got captivated. I had always been in love with nature and being around such a place just gave me goosebumps. Once we got out of the car, I felt a cool mountain breeze on my cheek. 

"It's so, beautiful." Ashlie voiced out my thoughts.

"Wait till you take a tour, you will get tongue-tied." Lionel whispered but we all heard him.

"I can't wait." Ashlie bounced on her heels.

"It feels like a vacation but it won't be complete until your father gets here." Mom hugged herself, she really missed him.

"You guys settle down, I'll take care of finding him." Lionel said.

I nodded and turned around to face the house. It was a two storey building, surrounded by lush greenery and high walls that caved us in from the outside world. There was too much glass adorning the house, it was classy but didn't sit well with me.

"It's bullet proof." Lionel said when he saw my crumpled face.

"Oh!" I examined it more closely, it looked kinda safe and was translucent so you couldn't see inside.

As soon as we got into the living room and sat down, Lionel's phone rang, "Hello . . . Yes . . . What?" He shot up from the chair and backed away from me. "How? When?" He whisper yelled.

Something was definitely wrong, I hurriedly walked towards him and tried to listen in on what he was saying. Mom and Ashlie stood a few feet from us, anxiety filled their features.

"How bad is it?" He facepalmed, "Yes, do that. I'll meet you there."

"What's going on?" I asked immediately he took the phone off his ear.

"It's ah . . "

"What? Tell me." I roared.

"It's your father, he had an accident."

"No!" Mom screamed.

"What? Why? Where? When? What happened?" Tears sprung to my eyes.

"You promised he would be safe." Ashlie whimpered.

"He was shot, at his workplace. He'd barely left the building when . . . He's still in San Diego, undergoing surgery as we speak."

"God no!!" Mom wailed.

"What's his condition?" My lips trembled.

"Critical." Lionel bowed his head. I didn't want to blame him but I wish we could have done more for dad.

"Take me there now!" Mom cried.

"I can't do that. It's a trap, Matthew did that to make you go to him and once you show up at the hospital, he'll abduct you." Lionel concluded.

"Are you going to leave him out there?" I paced up and down, ignoring the slicing pain in my thigh.

"Just give me half a day, stay here and don't leave the compound. I'll bring your father to you, safe and sound. I promise." He placed his hand on his heart.

For some reason, I trusted his word. I knew he was going to keep his promise and I prayed for him like there was no tomorrow.