Stolen (Book 1 of the Greed series)

Chapter 2: Memories and Discoveries

One thing was for sure, I was still starving. Not to mention I didn’t have a clue where I was, and the fat that it was burning hot didn’t help. I thought that it would be nice to kick him in his perfect face the moment I saw him. I groaned and mumbled for whoever it was that was with me to turn the AC on, but of course, no one ever listens to Anna, the possibly kidnapped.

In the moments that passed I felt as though it had gotten warmer in the room, if at all possible, and I thought that mystery man was going to get an earful.

“Listen you assssshole…” I slurred my words, not really noticing. “You’re goin’ to let me go, now, or I’m going to call the poooolice.” About then, I started to come to. I had flashbacks from Callahan and I felt numb to it all.

Callahan’s name really isn’t Callahan. It’s Joshua, but I think he was under the understanding that Callahan sounded more threatening. About a year ago Josh and I met at a bar that I obviously wasn’t old enough to be in, considering I was only 18. I was there anyway, and I wish I had never been.

“So, where are you from, Andromeda?” Joshua asked me with a flirty smile.

“You can call me Anna, and I’m half Greek, half American.” I mirrored his look, twirling my hair between my fingers. I’d had 2 daiquiris and had a record low tolerance for alcohol.

“Where in Greece?” He grilled me with questions and I giggled slightly.

“Athens. I’m from California on my mother’s side.”

“You know, I think I’ll call you Andromeda.” He placed his hand over my own, and I my face grew hot. “Its much more…” He trailed off, thinking. “Beautiful, than Anna. Don’t you think?”

If it had been possible, my face grew even warmer and I looked down hoping he hadn’t noticed. He seemed to have noticed, however, that I wasn’t answering him and went a different way with the conversation.

“So, Andromeda, Are you free tomorrow?” I had to admit, that did catch me off guard.

“Why, yes. I am.”

In short, he was cute and I am weak. Either way, on our second date, he ended up drugging me and taking me on a special vacation with him to Greece. I can’t remember much, but I do remember knocking over a priceless vase at some extremely expensive store where Josh was going to buy me a diamond necklace. Instead, he ended up paying for the vase.

Then, I became aware of a blindfold over my eyes and a rope around my wrists. The knots were loose and tied incorrectly.

“Hey!” A gruff voice yelled at me as I tried to slip my hands from out of the rope. I immediately recognized it as the man from the ally. “You can’t do that.” He said.

“To hell with that.” I replied. “Where am I?” I asked as he yanked my blindfold down.

“My house.” He answered, his voice thick with a lie.

“Oh, yeah, thanks, that helps.” I spat back at him.

“Does it really matter?” His expression hardened, but there was something in his eyes. “Besides, I’m not here to help you, I’m here to make sure you’re miserable.” Still, that unknown emotion filled his eyes to the brim and I couldn’t quite make out what it was. Suddenly, he turned around and walked into a dark room across the hallway and didn’t return for what seemed like hours.

I ignored him then, and went back to working on the knots squeezing my wrists improperly. Warm thoughts of chicken clouded my mind and my spirits lifted as I imagined the sweet smell of a cooked meal. I stopped my thoughts as I realized he had probably left all of my hard earned food in the ally way.

“Hey!” I screamed out angrily. He then came out of the room looking about as horrified as I felt, and clamped a hand over my mouth, shushing me.

“What is wrong with you?” He asked me, his hand smothering my mouth. I tried to tell him what was wrong, but his hand was still pressed against my lips. My words came out as if I was speaking through a pillow. He rolled his eyes, taking his hand off of my face, and I immediately asked questions to help my argument once I found out how to escape.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Mark.” He stopped, his eyes wide and staring up at me. “Tell anyone I told you that and It’s your head.”  I said his name, it suited him. All the way from the roots of his dirty blond hair to the bottoms of his feet. Mark.

“Mark?” He nodded and I smirked a trademark ‘You’re in for it’ smirk. “Well, Mark, I’d like to know where my groceries are.” He looked dimly confused.

“Not sure I follow.” He said coldly.

I stared at him for a good three seconds just breathing in and out heavily. He laughed at me, breaking the tension in the room. “So you’re hungry?” he asked.

“I am starving.” This made him laugh more.

“You’re not starving. Not yet.” He continued to chuckle but I was less amused. “What exactly did you do to Callahan to make him hate you?” He asked and I looked down.

“You don’t know?” I looked up at his questioning face, eyebrow raised.

“No. But I’ll tell you a secret if you don’t tell anybody else.” As handsome as Mark was, he was not very bright.

“Callahan has my girlfriend.” He said quietly, pausing while my face fell.

“What can I say? Callahan’s got game.” I laughed back at him and all he did was glare at me.

“He sent me a ransom note… In a way. He told me If I didn’t get you that he would kill Marie.” He stared off into space. What an ugly name, Marie. I scrunched up my face.

“So, obviously, I took you. But you know that. I’m still waiting for instruction.” It hit me like a bullet when he said instruction. Callahan was quite open to vile torture methods. I grimaced.

“So…” I trailed off, surprised that I sounded a little more sympathetic than what I was actually going for. “What’s the story?” I asked, not really wanting to hear it. He laughed a sort of humorless laugh, the one that makes people sad. Mark’s face glazed over.

“Marie and I were headed to a carnival. Stupid, right? But she loved them.” He stopped and sat in front of me, on his knees. “I was going to propose to her. That’s when it all went bad. She said she was going to use the bathroom, but she never came back.” He looked down. “I thought she had ditched me or something, it was dumb. But then I got a call, about an hour later, telling me that she was going to be dead if I didn’t do something about it.” He rubbed his hands tiredly over his face. “It’s all words, Andromeda. Just empty letters thrown together to create a story.” He puffed his chest out, probably trying to save at least a little dignity for himself. “I love her.”

It was a cute story. If my heart could stop without me dying, it just did. All of my thoughts were interrupted as a phone rang. It had me excited until I realized it had come out of Mark’s pocket. His jaw muscles tightened and he hesitated before shoving the phone’s screen towards my face. The life went out of my eyes and my breathing constricted as I read the name on the screen. The worst feelings filled my gut as all the emotions this name gave me hit me like a train, right where it hurts.

I looked up at him, straight into Mark’s blue eyes to find he was already looking at my own. In that moment, we were not villain and heroin. We were both victims of a twisted crime. We shared a flat, fear dominated look that seemed to have silently communicated the caller’s name.

Callahan.