STALKED AND STOLEN

Chapter 14

Tommy grabbed his backpack and unzipped up. He leant down and pulled out his black balaclava mask, and pulled it down over his face. I got a thought pop into my head that scared me, and I immediately shoved it away again. Then it popped in again as I watched him. Sexy. Thay was the word. He was so frickin sexy. I was scared of him, yet I thought he was a dam good looking kind of man. Sure, he could be a bit of a dick, but his kindness secured my thought. I was grateful to him for letting me shower. Giving me clean clothes. Stealing food for me. I just knew that despite his hard childhood, deep inside of him he had a good heart.

He chucked his backpack to the bacl of the van and pulled the large holdall over to him. He unzipped it and the ruined money poured out like a waterfall. Fifty pound notes fluttered around like butterflies before all landing in one large heap in front of me. Dad was rich, but I’d never seen so much money in person before.

“Come on then, Princess,” Pete said. He stared at me through the holes in his mask and I felt a wave of nausea. He walked over to me and wrapped his grubby hands around my wrist and pulled me up to my feet.

I whimpered and squirmed like a scared puppy. He pulled me over to the doors, I heard a beep, and then they opened. The three of us jumped out and onto a sidewalk. The van was parked on a curve in the road. The sun was setting, leaving an orange tint in the sky above the trees that surrounded us. I sucked in large gulps of the fresh air, my head tilted upwards. The men walked at either side of me as we followed a trail into the trees that led to an open area near a children’s park.

I saw a man and a woman standing at the fence, and my heart felt like it dropped into my shoes when they turned around and I saw they were my parents. Mum looked so skinny and frail. Her hair hun like a dead rat over her shoulder, and the slacks she wore looked two sizes too big for her. She bit her nail and shuffled on her feet. I didn’t even know my mother owned a pair of trainers, but there she was, looking like the average person. My kidnapping had clearly affected them more than I ever imagined.

“Zoe!” she cried when she turned her head and saw it was us heading towards them.

Then my dad turned around and he looked just as bad. He had huge bags under his eyes, telling me he hadn’t slept. His eyes looked bloodshot like he’d been crying. I never thought my dad was even capable of crying, he was a machine. He was the strongest person I knew.

They both hurried towards us and Pete grabbed me by y hair and dug his gun into my temple. My parents stopped still, eyes wide.

“Just brought you a little reminder not to fuck us over!” Pete snarled. “Put the money in the bag.”

Tommy tossed the empty holdall and it landed between my parents and us.

“Don’t hurt her. We have your money. It’s all here.” Dad dropped the holdall that he had on his shoulder and he unzipped it. Tears ran down my mother’s cheeks and she held a hand out to me, but we all knew I wasn’t allowed to take it. I wiped my wet cheeks and gave her the best smile u could muster up. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to show them that I was OK so they didn’t have to worry and lose sleep.

Dad quickly transferred every last note from his bag to Pete’s, and he stood back up. He held his arms out at his sides, trying to give the impression he was unarmed and wasn’t going to make any sudden movements. Such a powerful man looked so weak, and it broke my heart to see him like that.

“You have your money, now hand over my daughter,” dad said.

My heart did a hiccup in my chest. I was going home. This was it.

“I don’t think so,” Pete said, dashing all my hopes and dreams with three simple words. My heart dropped, and dad stepped forward, a look of determination on his face. He looked like he was going to smack Pete, but Pete dug the pistol further into my head and I moaned in pain. My hand gripped onto his arm and I tried to lean away.