Never Ending

~35~

For two days, I have not heard from Tara. I take it as a good sign. Finally, she is giving up and moving on. Despite how much my heart aches, I tell myself it is the best thing to do. I shouldn't forgive her so easily. Besides, I need to focus and not let her get in the way of my plans anymore. With August gone, it's up to me to get the plans in motion.

I keep convincing myself that she is to blame for everything, but it doesn't stop me from appearing at her door the next day at day break. I am pathetic. A part of me wishes she isn't at home.

I knock on the door once. Twice. The third time I am convinced she isn't home. I should be relieved but I am not. I turn, heading to the elevator.

Halfway through, I walk back to the door. I turn the knob. The door swings inwards. The blinds are shut, the lights are on in the living room and there are two glasses and two wine bottles like a scene from a memory. The inside looks deserted, for days even. Something is wrong.

I walk back to the door and almost trip. I look down and spot a lone shoe lying near the door. My blood runs cold. I was trying to deny it all along but Tara has been kidnapped.

I move around the house looking for some clue to where she can be, but there is nothing. At the lobby, they don't know anything either. I run my fingers through my hair making it disheveled. My gaze wanders. Where can she be? Where did they take her?

Just then, I receive a text. 'She's waiting for you at the Mansion.' the message ends there. I don't have to be told twice.

I hurry outside and jump into my car. I hit the highway going way over the speed limit. It's too early for the traffic which makes it easier for me. I glimpse the house even at the bottom of the hill. The first time I came here, it was too dark to see much. Now it looks foreboding and gloomy. My nerves increase as I drive up to the vast front door. A butler meets me at the door. He tells me to follow him.

I walk down a marble floored hallway, it's walls adorned by paintings from eons ago. My footsteps echo along the walls. Despite the gigantic windows casting in light, the house still feel cold and gloomy. He leads me to the rear of the house and down a flight of stairs.

As we go down, the light diminishes and the decor changes. This part of the house is barely furnished, the walls are bare concrete and the luxuriant marble flooring seen in the rest of the house is replaced by a coarse brick. The light becomes sparse and I start to wonder if we are going to another town at this rate. We make a sharp turn and come upon a door. There is a heavy duty lock keeping it tightly shut. The man turns and goes back up the stairs leaving me there alone.

A voice speaks from a dark corner. "You're quite the gullible one, Carter." Von flicks a light on revealing himself. He is sitting in a leather armchair which looks at odds with this place. "But then so was your father."

"Where is Tara?"

He smirks. "In there." He points at the locked door. "If you're wondering why you're here, you are going to see Tara's last moments with me."

To think this is her father saying this. "There will be no such thing." I reply with firmness.

He cracks a lopsided smile. "Ah, the classic hero act. Don't waste your breath. It may be your last." He gets up from the chair holding a set of keys. He inserts one in the lock and opens it. He pushes the door in revealing a crumpled figure on the dirty floor. I run forward and fall on my knees before her.

Tara's face is pale. Her parched lips are slightly open as she looks at me drowsily. Her arms hang limp beside her. She looks so sickly, her pain creates an ache within me.

"What did you do to her?" I ask, anger boiling in my skin.

"She did this to herself." Von replies carelessly. For what he cares we might even be talking about the weather. I look around and see a couple of upturned plates and food on the floor. Trust Tara to be defiant even with her life on the line.