Page 20 of Beautifully Ruined

Enzo snorts. “You should remember that I’ve got stories of my own, dickwad. Stories pretty Violet here would probably be very interested to hear?—”

I huff. “This is all great, but can you reminisce about your conquests and old times after we’ve got the girl and we’re out of here? Please?”

The basement is a warren of rooms. One of them has blood on the floor and nothing else in it, and the way Cade looks at the spot turns my stomach.

Is this the room they beat him in?

But this is a basement for storage. They didn’t want him near me, so…there must be a deeper layer. A sub-basement.

I ignore Enzo pushing us to get out of here, and I go to the other end.

There’s a door and a flight of steps.

I go down into the bare, cold light. And my heart starts to thump.

My palms sweat as I clench my hands, and I make myself move forward.

This is it.

I go down the hall and there are four cells next to each other. The one I was in and two others are open.

The final one is shut.

I put a hand on the wood. “Hello?”

No answer.

I try the lock. It won’t budge.

“This it?”

I almost scream at Cade’s voice, my mind back to the timeless minutes spent down here.

On the floor of my cell is the water bottle and if I pulled back the blanket, the horrible sandwich would be there.

I nod. “Yes.”

“We really need to go.” Enzo tries the handle. Then he thumps. “You in there? Answer!”

“Dude, that’s not…” Cade turns to the door. “Stand back if you’re in there, away from the door.”

He takes his gun and shoots the lock, putting a hole in the door.

It swings open.

I push and step in, my eyes scanning the space.

It’s empty.

The two men exchange looks.

Enzo frowns. “No one came up.”

“Ivan got away.”

“Ivan and a bunch of very trigger-happy men, man.” He shrugs. “Maybe your girl made up this girl to cope.”

I glare at him. “I didn’t. Apart from the fact I wasn’t even in there overnight…”