Serenity

Chapter 82: The Return of the Ring

Jo's POV

I'm just standing in between the two assholes and I can't decide who I want to shoot more, my grandfather or my sorta ex-boyfriend. "Hero can we talk..?" I ask and he looks at me as if I should talk freely here. "Alone, I mean," I say a bit angrily.

We walk out of the room that feels like the world is closing in on me. "What?" He says defeatedly and I stare at him speechless.

  "I've always just been a pawn in your game," I say softly, pushing the tears I have for him down as much as I can. "He's a psychopath, you know," I say. No one believes my family when we say that, mostly because he trained my dad to be as much of a pathological liar like he is.

  "You haven't always been a pawn-" he starts to say but I cut him off. It's a bad habit I have, but not one I'm willing to shake right now.

  "Until now?" I say and I start putting my poker face on. Part of me wishes I was still locked up in the fucking basement; it would feel better then this betrayal.

  "Until you went away. I had to make something of myself that wasn't completely dependent on you. He... he wants the same things I do, it's a good relationship for both of us." He tells me and I laugh, more then I should.

  "He fucked my dads first wife," I say and he stares at me like it's normal. "Then when she got pregnant and he claimed he never raped her." I say and still have no reaction. His face is too stoic, I need some emotion. "He told my dad that everything he tried to build would never be achievable. He's the reason you're after Salvatore, not for your own selfish reason. This may have started with you wanting his territory, but something has changed in you and I can't tell what," I say and watch his face falter.

"You don't know me," he says like that will rattle me the way that it used too. We've both have changed, but while I become a more distinguished version of myself, he became something resembling a monster.

"No, apparently not anymore. That's not the point though, I'm not gonna tell you where my dad is, and I'm sure as hell not gonna tell him. You can use me in your games but that doesn't mean I'll cooperate." I say and he looks down and then back at the door.

"Just talk to him," he says and I laugh. I feel like I do this a lot when someone says something completely ridiculous to me.

"You haven't heard a god damn thing I've said, and it shows," I say and I lean against the wall. I don't feel anything anymore because I've lost the one person I've truly loved in this god forsaken world.

He stares at me as I'm against the wall and I feel empty. I'm empty of everything that once was. "Please Jo," he says, begging. He's begging now and part of me is worried but it doesn't matter.

  "I can't..." I say softly and I look down, feeling slightly defeated. "And you've become the person I never wanted to be." I say softer then before and he looks at me confused.

"And who would that be?" He says in a similar tone, clearly trying to get on some kind of level with me, but I'm angry. I'm so fucking angry at him for doing this to me, for cornering me like this.

"A heartless killer," I say and I watch his face fall. "You can do whatever you want to me Hero, but I'm not gonna give up where my father is." I say in the same soft tone.

"I was afraid you might say that," my Grandfather says coming out the door. "Not the heartless killer part, but the not telling us where Salvatore is. You see, we haven't an agreement here. I get my information out of you, any information I want, and Hero gets to kill your father. Your little escapade of becoming 'someone else' threw a large wrench into our operation. That being said because of the good person you are, you ended up here. So I'm going to get my information, one way or another." He says and two guys I've never seen before grab my arms.

"No..." I mumble as a third guy comes and pats me down for any weapons. "No let go of me," I say and start kicking my legs, trying to break free. It would've worked if they didn't end up changing them. "I said let go!" I yeah and now just keep kicking as the chain slowly digs into my ankles.

"Calm down Josephine, this is for the better," my Grandfather says and the men start to pull me away to god knows where.

"No! No! Hero, you son of a bitch, help me! Fucking help me! You did this to me, this is what you've become! Help me!" I scream, hoping I could watch Hero make a movement, any movement. I don't expect him to come after me, but even just a small face movement so I could guess what he's thinking would be helpful.

I get pulled into this room I've obviously never seen before and literally thrown at the wall. They close the gate on me and I run up to it, grabbing it with my two hands and trying to pull it opens.

The gate just shakes and I slowly stop, giving up. I slide now a bit so I'm squatting as I take in my crazy reality. My ex boyfriend is working with my psychopathic grandfather to get information out of me to not only kill my father but who knows what else.

Yeah, sounds about right.

I sigh softly and sit on the floor, leaning on the concrete wall that's next to the gate. I take in my surroundings: a bed, a small window, another room that has a toilet, a sink, and a shower, a bookshelf full of books, and a toiletry bag. I'm living the good life here obviously.

I crawl over to the bed because I might as well lay on it. The past few hours have been absolutely insane, and I never thought you would stab me in the back like this. For once, the knife fucking hurts. As I'm staring up at the ceiling I realize one thing:

I'm never getting out of here alive.