Stolen Hearts

7- Rhino At The Door

Bang bang.

Bang.

Shhhh.

Bang.

I am abruptly awoken from my deep slumber by the apparent rhino headbutting the front door, which also appears to have awoken Jordan who rolls out from next to me with sleepy eyes and a gorgeous mound of bed hair.

BANG.

His eyes shoot open and dart to me instantly.

"Stay there. Don't move." He orders me, whilst pulling on some trousers and retracting a gun from the locked nightstand. He makes his way out of the room and down the stairs.

"Who's there?" I hear him call, a muffled answer comes from the other side of the door, as I hear Jordan quickly fumbling with the chains in a hurry.

"Where is she?" The voice viciously growls.

"Uh, upstairs, I'll go get her." Comes the sound of Jordan's voice, followed by his fast footsteps up the stairs, when he appears at the door, he looks much more awake than he did previously, and in pure panic.

"Okay, don't freak, but my boss is here. Get changed quick." He stumbles over his own words, and I don't argue, quickly jumping out of the bed and grabbing some clothes from the walk-in-wardrobe. I glance up at him in anticipation as he comes to a realisation and turns around so I can change in peace. When done, I appear at his side.

"Don't speak unless spoken to, act scared and do what he says. I've been disciplining you for the last couple of days, hitting you and stuff. Okay?" He whispers, and the look in his eyes is enough to incite real fear into me, so I just nod. He's been disciplining me? Sure, if you count watching Disney movies as that, which is pretty much what we did for the rest of the evening yesterday after our little fall out.

He practically drags me down the stairs with a firm grip on my arm, and I am faced with three barbarous looking men who all stare me down like a piece of meat. I gulp as we all take a seat on the sofas, which Jordan and I thankfully restored to their original state yesterday.

The two men either side of the one in the middle appear to be only a little older than Jordan and I, maybe a similar age to Ash, they wear all black and both have solemn faces. The man in the middle of them looked to be in his mid-thirties and oozed the very definition of superiority, his critical eyes scouring both me and Jordan with his dark eyes and tense stare. He was the first to speak.

"How are you, Jordan?" His low tone snakes through the room, dripping with an eerie venom that sends shivers up your spine, and gives you the idea that Jordan's welfare is in the least of his interests. He need only speak quietly, yet his voice seems to rise above all else in the room, causing an eerie, suffocating silence. So silent, that I hear Jordan nervously swallow.

"I'm good thank you, sir, and yourself?"

"As a matter of fact, Jordan, I am not 'good'. In fact, I am so not 'good' that I need one reason, imminently, why I should not have my men strangle you so hard that your vocal cords come out of your eyes." The sentence makes me feel nauseous, yet he says it so calmly, he appears almost uninterested in the conversation, rolling a speck of dust between his gloved fingers.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't understand." Jordan answers, his tone having raised a few nodes.

"You don't understand? I wouldn't expect you to, considering nothing seems to penetrate your thick skull," he continues, his eyes slowly rising to Jordan's. "Certainly, you weren't thinking straight yesterday when you allowed that girl to use your phone."

Realisation hits Jordan in the face like a train as his eyes widen and he stops breathing momentarily.

"Has something happened sir?" He asks, clutching on to his self-control by a fine thread.

"Oh, lets have a look shall we? "Growls the man dangerously. He gestures towards one of the henchmen, who pulls out an iPad from a case and turns it round so the screen faces Jordan and I. A video begins to play of a news lady, most likely from this morning's news.

"And now, police are said to have a lead in the Ivy Tyrell investigation. Ivy was last seen on Wednesday night, and it is believed that she has been entered into a human trafficking ring like many other teens, such as Tamsin Ward and Rubi Wong, who went missing just over eight months ago. New evidence came when Tyrell's family received a call yesterday morning at 10:16am. Ivy told her family she was unharmed and safe, but appeared in a hurry to hang up, the police are currently working to find the location from which the call took place." The room falls into silence, and the danger in the air in intangible.

The man's eyes prey on me like a hawk.

"Girl, tell me, how did you acquire a phone?"

I gulp and nervously look up to Jordan who's unreadable eyes are boring deep into my own. If I tell the truth, and tell him that Jordan let me call, I'll be in less trouble, but I risk being separated from Jordan, who is the only person in this room I even moderately trust. If I lie, I risk being found out, and who knows what could happen.

"I- um. I stole it." I mutter, feeling Jordan stiffen beside me.

"How?" The man presses, his voice sharp.

"I took it from Jordan's pocket." I lie.

"Is that so?" I am unsure if the man believes me.

"That's not tru-" Jordan cuts in.

"Yes it is." I cut him off.

The man's eyes dart between the two of us, narrowed into slits.

"Jordan?" He drawls.

"She's telling the truth, sir." Jordan says, shocking me slightly.

"And have you punished her?" He says, causing both Jordan and I to gulp.

"Yes sir." Jordan lies.

"Good, however I am not satisfied with the level of discipline. Punish her again."

"I will do, sir." Jordan slowly says.

"Now." The man orders. Jordan turns to me, his face drained of colour, and I've no need to act scared- I already am. He raises his shaking hand into the air, and his eyes bore into mine, screaming apologies, as he brings it down on my face, hitting me with such force that my face swings sideways. That hurt. I bring my watery eyes up to those of the scary man, who is smirking in a sick kind of way.

"Good. Anyway, with your carelessness yesterday, they police will no doubt find this location, so you must move on. One of my men is outside with a van and he will relocate the two of you. I hope you know how much trouble this has caused me, this house has been our safehouse for a long time, and thank to your antics, we'll have to find somewhere else to store the girls. Considering this was your first assignment Jordan, I will let it slide, however from now on, I expect your eyes to be on the girl at all times," He says, standing up, his henchmen following. He takes a step towards me and roughly grasps my chin, forcing me to look at him. "and you, brat, better watch yourself from now on," He growls, releasing me and turning to look at Jordan once again. "I see no point in you keeping her much longer as her disappearance has been publicised, so I will have her picked up in 3 days from your new location.". And with that, the three men leave the house, leaving me and Jordan to release a heavy breath. He pulls zip ties from his pockets and begins to tie my arms behind my back.

"Sorry." He whispers, and once tied, brings his hand up to my stinging cheek and very lightly rubs a thumb over it, almost as if he is trying to erase the hit, our eyes search one another's for a moment before he sighs and pushes me towards the door. I guess we're leaving the house for good.

As we get outside, I see a sumptuous black car pulling away, which I can only assume is holding the three men, and waiting by the gate is a black van.

The one that started this whole mess.