Agony

28

All I could see was darkness. 

It reeked like mold and iron.

Even though I must've been sitting on the cold floor for hours, my eyes dark-adapted, there was nothing to see. Perhaps the room was empty.

All I could remember was being drugged. Then I was dragged half-conscious into this place. My hands were bound in handcuffs, my feet the same way. As well, my hands were pulled above my head, chained against the wall. I couldn't move my arms and they'd become numb from the loss of blood circulation.

Abruptly, I felt something crawl up the left leg of my jeans. Despite not being able to see a thing, I knew it was a spider.

I shrieked against my will, shaking my leg, trying to get the damned thing off of me. But it kept crawling higher and higher.

I cursed, there was nothing I could do.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a key being inserted into a lock. A door was pulled open and then shut just as quickly. A beam of light fell over me. A flashlight.

Then, a dark figure stepped forward.

I scooted further against the wall, afraid.

The figure laughed softly, leaning forward, their hand reaching for my thigh.

I was about to scream bloody murder, but the man didn't touch me. Instead, he picked up what, as I had guessed correctly, was the spider. He tossed it to one side.

I let out a nervous breath. "Where am I?" I asked the figure.

They stepped back. "Welcome to the Romano Manor."

Romano.

Ashley Romano.

"Who are you?" I whispered. The figure was a man. Even in the dark, I could tell that he had bright eyes. Dark hair. A sharp contrast.

Like a movie, the lights turned on.

The room, as I'd thought, was bare. 

Well, almost.

I looked to my left and nearly pissed my pants.

The horrid stench I'd noticed earlier came from a bloody dead carcass in one corner of the room.

But that wasn't what made my stomach curl. 

There were thousands of bugs crawling everywhere around the carcass. I could only pray it wasn't a human.

I swallowed nervously, controlling the urge to throw up, before looking back at the figure.

Staring back at me was someone who had a striking resemblance to Ace.

"Beau. Beau Hendricks." The man greeted, offering me his hand.

I glared at it. He was Ace's father.

His nostrils flared. "I can't imagine how my son managed to date you when you're so cold."

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually nice to people who have a connection to my parents' deaths." I spat back.

"You're lucky Sebastian isn't here, he'd have slapped you for that sharp use of your tongue. A lady is supposed to listen when a man is talking, not snap back."

"Guess I'm a man." I hissed.

Beau laughed, he didn't appear the slightest bit fazed by my attitude.

"Very well, tell me, Charlotte, what is in the vault?"

My smugness fell immediately. "What vault?"