Kidnapped By The Mafia

Scared

The hours leading up to midnight felt like a slow descent into madness. My mind was filled with dread and anticipation. Each dragging second felt like an eternity. The weight of what I was about to do pressed heavily on my chest but there was no turning back now. I kept repeating that to myself, a prayer that kept me from falling apart.

Xander was nowhere to be found, which was a small mercy. I couldn't imagine facing him now, not with the fact that I was planning to meet Noah behind his back. The very thought of him finding out sent shivers down my spine. He would kill us both, without a second thought. But I had to take the risk.

The instructions on the crumpled note were clear. Midnight, Warehouse 13. It sounded like the start of a bad horror movie and maybe that's exactly what this was. I was walking into something I might not survive. But the fear gnawing at my insides was nothing compared to the desperate need for answers. I don't know when and I don't know how, but Noah has slowly started to become the only light left in my life, a thread I had to follow, no matter where it led.

The mansion was eerily quiet as I prepared to leave, every creak of the floorboard made my heart skip a beat. I moved through the halls as quietly as I could, slipping past rooms that held memories I couldn't bear to face. My footsteps were soft, almost soundless as I grabbed my coat, pulling it tightly around myself as if it could shield me from what's about to come.

When I finally stepped outside, the night air hit me like a slap to the face. It was cold, bitterly so, the kind of cold that seeped into your bones and made you feel as if you would never be warm again. The sky was moonless, the stars hidden behind thick clouds. The only light came from the mansion behind me, its glowing windows looking like the eyes of a beast watching me leave. I had never felt so small, so vulnerable.

There was already a car a few yards away, waiting for me. The driver asked for the code which took me a while to understand. I gave him the paper with the address after which he finally opened the backseat door for me. The road stretched out before me, endless and black, the trees on either side towering like vipers. I kept checking the rearview mirror, half expecting to see Xander's car tailing me, his eyes burning with that cold, calculating rage. But there was nothing, just the empty road and the sound of my own breathing.

When I finally arrived at the warehouse, it was even more desolate than I had imagined. It stood alone at the edge of an industrial park, surrounded by nothing but empty lots and the remains of other buildings long abandoned. The warehouse itself was a mass of concrete and steel, its windows shattered, the walls streaked with rust and grime. It looked like a place where nightmares were born waiting to consume anyone foolish enough to enter. But Noah had chosen this place for a reason, and I had no choice but to trust him. Or at least, to trust that he wanted me here for something important.

My hands were shaking as I got out the car. The gravel crunching under my feet sounding impossibly loud in the stillness. The wind whipped around me and I pulled my coat tighter around myself and forced my legs to move.

Inside, it was pitch black. I fumbled for my phone, the small screen casting a weak, pale light that barely penetrated the room. The air was thick and stale, heavy with dust and the stench of old, forgotten things. My footsteps echoed in the emptiness, bouncing off the walls and making it feel like I was being followed, even though I was alone.

Or at least, I thought I was.

"Noah?" My voice sounded small. There was no response, just the same oppressive silence that seemed to stretch on forever. My heart pounded in my chest, every beat reminded me of just how fragile my life was, how easily it could be snuffed out in a place like this.

A sound to my left, a soft shuffle, barely more than a movement made spun around, my phone's light sweeping across the room, catching nothing but empty space. I squinted into the darkness, my eyes straining to see, but there was nothing. Just the same overwhelming blackness. My breath hitched in my throat, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I wasn't alone.