Page 79 of Under Your Scars

I take a deep breath and lie on my back to try and relieve some of the ache in my body. If I can just relax until the police and ambulance get here, I can kill two birds with one stone.

They can patch up my injuries and then lock me in the psych ward for dating a serial killer.

I hear footsteps running towards me. I turn my head towards them to show that I’m not unconscious. Yet.

I wince in pain when one of them steps on my stomach to hold me down, and then another one kneels next to me and whispers in my ear.

“Hey, Eliza.”

I wake up with a headache and my body is freezing. My eyes take a few seconds to adjust to the ambient yellow lighting of the room. I’m on a leather couch, my cheek stuck to the seat. I sit up slowly, my ribs throbbing as my blood begins to circulate fully through my body. There’s a big window in front of me. I must have been asleep for hours.

No. Not asleep.Unconscious.

I gasp and I feel over my body for injuries, whining when I touch my torso. My arms itch from all the glass that sliced me up. I’m still shoeless and braless like I was when I left the Reeves Estate.

I look around for my phone and all the color drains from my face when I realize where I am.

I’m in Frank Valenti’s private suite on the top floor of the Hellfire Lounge.

Fuck.This is bad.This is so fucking bad.

Frank’s friends were probably murdered in this very room, judging by the burning scent of rubbing alcohol and bleach in the air.

Cold, thin, bony fingers wrap around my shoulders, and I stiffen.

“Don’t panic,” Frank whispers into my ear. “Don’t you worry about a thing.” I shiver against his touch, and his breath fans over my neck in a cruel, malicious way. Without looking at him, I take a deep breath to try to keep myself calm.

How the hell did I get here?

I was downtown when I got in that accident, miles away from the Hellfire Lounge. The police would have found me before Frank did.

Then I remember the voice right before I passed out.

Hey Eliza.

Neil. Neil was there. He crashed his car into me. But for what? So he could bring me to Frank Valenti? What do either of them want with me?

While Frank has his back turned, I do the only thing I can think to do—press the panic alarm on my wrist and hope Christian will come. I don’t know why I didn’t rip it off when I was running away from him, but I’m so glad I didn’t.

Frank takes a seat next to me on the couch and pulls me closer to him by my shoulders. “Did you know that the poverty divide in Meridian City is bigger than anywhere else in the country?” he asks rhetorically. “In this city, you’re either filthy rich, or dirt poor. And when pretty young women are dirt poor in this city, they come to me. Just like you did.” He brushes some of my hair away from my neck. “My personal record for the selling price of one of my girls was two hundred thousand. She was a beautiful redhead with bright green eyes and plump lips.” I tremble and tears fall out of my eyes, soaking the collar of my sweater. “Do you want to know what my new record is?One million. One million dollars. Cash. That’s what Christian Reeves paid for you.”

“If he bought me, why am I here?”

He chuckles to himself and runs his hands along my chest, gripping and squeezing my boobs. “Because you’re a very valuable girl, Ellie. You see, you’re worth so much more than money to me. Tell me, how good is that cunt of yours? Do you drip gold when you’re wet? Not only is a billionaire dropping a million dollars to have you all to himself, but the Silencer is willing to cross me for you, too. What’s so special about you?”

My stomach drops and I begin to tremble. “I’m not…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Footsteps slowly tapping along the polished floors cut me off, and I turn my head slightly. My entire body goes numb when the man approaching us has a sinister grin to match his broken arm.

“Hey Eliza,” Neil sniffs. His pupils are dilated. He’s got a tiny dry drop of blood in his nose. He sits on the cushion next to me, both of them surrounding me like lions cornering a gazelle. Neil clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He smiles at me, and I hate it, because it’s disgusting. His smile is nothing short of creepy, and he only solidifies that thought by running his hand across my collar bone like he did at the restaurant. He runs his hands all over my body as he speaks, like he’s restless and can’t keep himself still. “Did you know that after I was fired from Reeves Enterprises, I bought a security company?” he asks, though he doesn’t wait for me to acknowledge him before he continues speaking. “There’s an ATM right next to the club. You know what that ATM camera is pointed at? An empty, unassuming alleyway.”

Neil pulls out his phone, and my eyes go wide when he presses play on the screen. It’s a video of the night the Silencer cornered me in the alley and asked me to help him with taking down Frank. The video cuts off while he’s pressed against me.

Even though nothing happened that night, it certainly doesn’t do me any favors of proving my innocence. Frank and Neil make me watch every second of that footage, staring down at me with satisfied smiles on their faces.

I swear I see Frank adjust himself in his pants.

He squeezes my neck lightly, causing my horrified gaze to meet his eyes. “Neil here came to me with a proposition to get a thorn out of my side. I give him drugs, he gives me you. That psychopath killed my friends because of you, Elena.”