This Cruel Love

He laughed, but she didn’t flinch, she just took a seat next to me on the sofa.

“Don’t worry, Ryley. This won’t last long. It’ll all be over before you know it,” she said, as if she knew something I didn’t.

“It’ll be over when I say it’s over for her. I’ve got big plans for you.” Ed walked over to a laptop on the dining table and carried it over to the coffee table close to where we sat.

“Recognise this?” Ed spun the laptop around, and there, playing on a pop up in the corner of the screen, was the video of us taken in Jackson’s office.

“You’re gonna pay for that,” I spat out, giving him my most evil glare.

“No, sweetheart. You’ll be paying for it. That right there,” he pointed at the corner of the screen, “is a taster of what the clients are bidding on.”

It was then that I noticed what was on the rest of the screen. It was some kind of website with a timer on it, counting down each second and showing less than eight minutes to go on the clock. But that wasn’t all; there were pictures of me, and a banner that called for people to bid for a once in a lifetime chance. To win me.

“What the hell is this? Are you… selling me?” I tried to swallow, but my tongue felt like sandpaper, and my throat felt like I’d gargled shards of glass. I hadn’t just walked into an ambush, I’d walked into a living nightmare.

“This is bullshit. Don’t listen to him, Ryley.” Chloe gripped and squeezed my knee, but I wasn’t hearing anyone clearly. A whooshing sound filled my ears and my body felt heavy, like my blood had replaced itself with liquid lead.

“Oh, it’s real.” Ed smirked. “And she’s already reached over a quarter of a million.” He rubbed his vile hands together and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone.

“Let’s give Jax a call.” He shrugged at me like the crazy madman he was, jumping from one extreme emotion to the next. “I’m not a total asshole. I’ll let you say goodbye.”

He strode away from us as he began to tap away at his phone. With his back turned, I was able to glance around the room at my dismal fate. Justin lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of red. The clock ticking away, counting down the seconds to when God knows what was going to happen. And then there was Chloe, sat by the side of me, the picture of calm, and smiling like she was at a tea party.

I frowned back at her, and she held her closed palm in front of her and opened it. Inside was a small key.

“What? How did you get that?” I whispered.

She held her finger up to her mouth to shush me and then reached behind to unlock my handcuffs.

“Just a little trick my father taught me. It comes in handy when you need to pickpocket someone.” She looked down at Justin’s body. “He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, was he? But thank God he had the key in his pocket, otherwise I’d be using bolt cutters to get these off.” The cuffs fell away, but Chloe shook her head. “Keep your hands behind your back. We don’t want to spook him.”

I could see what she was doing, lulling Ed into a false sense of security.

“We need to run,” I begged on a whisper, aware that time wasn’t on our side.

“We need to deal with him first,” she replied with determination.

It wasn’t on the top of my to-do list. In fact, getting away from here was all I could focus on. But Chloe patted my knee again and stood up slowly. I’d no idea what she had planned, but something told me I was safer staying put with her than trying my luck running for the door.

Ed spun round and covered the phone with his palm.

“What are you doing?” He scowled at Chloe, who stood confidently in front of him.

“I need to use the bathroom. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to pull a fast one.” She held her hands up to show Ed she didn’t have anything on her, and then she turned the corner to the bathroom and locked herself inside.

“Jackson, my old friend, long time no speak.” Ed laughed down the phone and looked me dead in the eye.

“I have someone here that you might be interested in talking to.” He held the phone to my ear and gave a sadistic chuckle.

“Jackson, I’m okay,” I said, and instantly heard Jackson lose his shit on the other end.

“What the fuck. How the hell did he get to you? Where are you? Please don’t panic, I’ll find you, I promise.” The phone was swiped away from me before I could respond, and Ed continued taunting him.

“She just wanted to say goodbye, and you know me, Jax. I’m a nice guy. What sort of friend would I be, if I just cut her out of your life for good without giving you closure? We all need that, am I right?”

I heard shouting down the phone, but Ed wasn’t fazed by it.

“Look at your emails, Caine. I’ve sent you a link that you might be interested in checking out. At least you’ll know where she’s going when you do.”