When I Find You

Chapter 18

Jessica
I opened my eyes slowly and I immediately wished I hadn't. The sight in front of me was completely traumatizing. Ian, Mathew and Evan were sitting unconscious covered in blood. Next to them I saw Ryder with a bloody face but unlike the guys he was awake. To the left of Ryder was a man. I couldn't see his face because his head hung low but somehow he looked familiar.
"Jessica!" Ryder screamed. He tried to run toward me but he was pulled back by the chains on the feet and hands.
"Whats going?!" I asked worried.
"Jessica. I'm so sorry" Ryder began to sob.

I had realized that we were in a truck when we drove in a pot hole.
"Jessica. How did you end up like this?" Ryder asked.
"The last thing I remember was that Ian was driving the truck and I was next to him, then another truck came and crashed into us. Then..... JEREMY!! He raided the truck with about a dozen armed men and then he began to beat us up" I explained.
"Jessica look." Ryder nudged his head to the left indicating that the other man was lifting his head.
I saw his face and I froze.
"Dad" I managed to breathe out.
"Jessica!" He sobbed. "My Jessica"he cried. He tried to free himself from the chains but it was useless. Soon enough I was crying and all I wanted to do was run into my fathers arms. I've been dreaming about this day for a while now. The day I got to meet my real father, I never imagined that it would be like this.
"Oh dad i'm so sorry." I cried. "I didn't know. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry" I cried harder and harder with each word.
"No sweetie, don't you dare say that. I'm so sorry that we had to find each other like this. Please Jessica forgive me for dragging you into this whole mess." He cried with me.
"Jess?!" I looked to the right and saw that Ian and the guys had finally woken up.
"Oh my god, guys I'm so sorry!!I sobbed.
"Honey it's not your fault." Ian said while cracking his neck. I guess his neck got cramps for hanging in one position for too long.
"Honey?" I heard my dad say. So I guess the over protection starts right away.
"Dad not right now" I laughed. He chuckled along with me.

Ian snapped his head to the side and said "Frank!" Ian's eyes lit up and seemed way more happy to see my father than I did.
"Ian...Matty, Ethan!!My dad screamed back. Wow there was a lot of crying and screaming
"My my how you've all grown." My dad said with a smile.
"Yes uncle frank." Ian chuckled. "Uncle frank, I'm so sorry I didn't get you earlier." He apologized.
"Ian it's because of you that my daughter found me. Thank you"
"Alright guys enough sappy stuff. We've gotta figure out how to get out of here." I said.
"Jessica these chains are made of steel. We can't break through them. I'm sorry we can't escape this one." Mathew replied. I leaned against the side of the truck and huffed and deep breath.
We were all quiet.

For the first time ever I actually feared Jeremy. I saw the scars on my father's face, his tattered clothes and his dehydrated lips. It showed Jeremy's capabilities and I was scared of what he was going to do all of us.

The truck came to a sudden stop and we could all hear the front door open and close. Someone made their way to the back of the truck. The doors swing open and there stood Jeremy. He had 6 armed men beside him and they all had huge smiles on their faces.

"Ah my dear Jessica, I see you've met your father. Quite the family reunion, am I right??" He laughed. I gave him a cold stare and so did the others.
"Don't look at me like that. You should be thanking me. This is going to be a marvelous story to tell your children Jessica. That is if you make it out here alive." He let out an evil chuckle. I didn't bother to respond to him. His men climbed into the truck and tied each of our hands together with a rope. Then they released us from the chains and dragged us out of the truck. We stood in front of a huge abandoned building with wood nailed to the windows and doors. They pulled us to the back of the building. Jeremy took out a key and unlocked the door while the guards pushed us in. None of us resisted because we knew the consequences. We were not taking chances with armed men. We were lead into a dark room at the end of the long hallway. Jeremy tuned on the lights and there were 6 chairs...one for each of us.
We were forced to sit down in the chairs. My father on my right and Ian on the left. Mathew, Ethan and Ryder were on the right of Ian. This is it, this was our last days alive.

"Say whatever you want to say to each other. You've got 10 minutes left." Jeremy said as he leaned against the door.
"Ryder I am so sorry, we got you involved in this." I apologized to Ryder because he didn't deserve this. This was my fight and I dragged him into it.
"No Jessica. I'm a part of this now. And for once I've done something good in my life. I helped you get your father back and I don't care what happens to me." He said.
"Mathew, Ethan. Thank you, for everything you guys have done for me. You guys are amazing." I said.
"Jessica we're glad we helped You get your dad back. Just because we lost our dads to this asshole, doesn't mean you have to loose yours too. Frank's like a dad to us and your like our sister and we love you" Ethan said said.

"Ian" I said in a hushed tone I looked to my left and faced Ian. We looked at each other's eyes and I knew this was the moment to say it. This wasn't the way I planned it but I he had to know now. "Ian I-I" before I could finish, Ian cut me off and finished what I wanted to say. "I love you" he said with a passion. I smiled at him and said "I love you too Ian" our chairs were close enough to share one last kiss.
"Ewe PDA guys" Mathew laughed and we broke out kiss smiling at each other. We all laughed at Mathews comment and then I turned to my father.
"Dad, I've missed you. I knew that man was someone different. He never compared to you. I wondered why you were different, why you became cruel. But now I know, it was never you. We weren't there for each other before, but now we're together and we'll get through this together. I love you" I cried my heart out to him. And he began to cry.
" I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you as a child. I wanted to be the one to teach you how to ride a bike, and help you with your homework. I can't imagine the torture that man put you and your mother through..." He paused for a minute. "Your mother." he sobbed harder. "I wish I could see here once more. I never stopped loving her."

"I love you guys." I said to everyone and we all smiled at each other. We knew what Jeremy was going to do. He was going to kill us in these chairs, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

"Alright. Here's how this works. Your going to sign the real contract or else I'm going to make you watch everyone you love die." Jeremy threw the papers at my lap and a guard came and untied my hands. My body was still strapped to the seat so there was no way I was going to escape.
"Sign now!" Jeremy ordered.
I quickly took the pen and began to sign my name. I stopped halfway and I thought to myself. He's going to kill us no matter what.
"Wait!" I screamed.
"If I sign this, your still going to kill us." I said.
"Way to state the obvious sweetheart."Jeremy said.
"Why should I sign this then?" I screamed.
"Because if you don't then you'll watch them die one by one. If you sign the paper then you will all die together. Now sign the paper!" He said agitated.
I looked at my everyone once again and then I hung my head low. I closed my eyes and breathed. I waited for a moment hoping a miracle would occur but nothing happened. This was it. This was our defeat. It's time to give up, I thought to myself.
"Can you stop stalling and sign the damn papers already?!?" Jeremy yelled. I looked up at him "Jeremy why do you want the company so badly?" I asked.
"Excuse me?!" He said.
"Why?!" I yelled. "Why the hell is this so important to you? It's a fucking company, not a billion dollars." I yelled. Jeremy chuckled at my question, leaving me confused.
"Oh on the contrary, it's not a company, it's an empire and it's not worth billions, it's worth trillions my dear." My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't making any sense.
"What do you mean? It's just one company. All you did was export drugs from it." I said.
"Sweetheart. I turned your father's company into a global empire. My company is in every country. There's only a handful of people that know about my drug exporting..." He paused and then continued but with a much evil tone "I want everything your father gave you, because you don't deserve it. I worked hard my entire life to keep this empire as big as it is today and then my stupid father gives all of it to my brother and then my brother puts the company in your name .... You know what it feels like to work for something so hard and then end up with nothing!" He yelled with anger and rage.
"You know what fuck It, I want you all dead. But before you go, I want this back" He marched towards me and gently removed the necklace off of my neck. It was the ruby necklace he gave to me on my wedding. Why did he want that back?

"kill them" He said to the guard next to us. "Goodbye" he said in a villainous tone.

I looked at everyone one last time and wished it could've ended differently. These guys didn't deserve this. Well I guess it's officially over...