Blind Eyes

Chapter 14

My blood ran cold when he turned around to show a large knife gripped tightly in his hand. Oh god. Was he going to cut off my fingers now? Or just kill me all together?

No, he wouldn't do that. Not now at least. He wanted to draw this out, make it last, enjoy it for longer. I just had to put up with it until dad got here.I had to be strong. I had survived Obadiah, I would survive this...I hope.

Ivan approached me, that sick smile back on his face. I closed my eyes and waited, expecting that any second that my fingers would be cut off. Instead he gripped my jaw and forced my mouth open. My eyes flew open and I tried to struggle but it was useless. Ivan had a tight grip on my tongue and a tight grip on the knife.

"Your lying tongue needs to be cut out."

Oh god no. He's going to cut out my tongue? The adrenaline pumping through my veins increased and my heart jumped into overtime. There was no way I was going to let this insane man cut out my tongue. I began thrashing in my seat, tugging at my bonds. It was having no effect but I'll be damned if I was going to sit there and do nothing as I let him cut out my tongue. I couldn't believe that this was about to happen. I would give anything for it to be yesterday, to just be back in California, to forgive my dad and tell him we'd work everything out.

All I could think as I watched the knife descending was that I would never be able to tell dad how sorry I was, how much I loved him. I felt the moment the knife first touched the side of my tongue. He dragged it slowly, obviously wanting to inflict maximum pain. Tears sprung in my eyes. He'd only gone a quarter of an inch across when a piercing beep sounded from the computers across the room.

Ivan growled as he removed the knife and stomped over to the desk. A whimper of relief escaped me. The cut he'd made was stinging and bleeding but I was just thankful to still have a tongue. I looked down to see my hands, still taped to the chair, were shaking. My heartbeat and pounding in my ears. I needed to get out of here before he came back and finished the job.

"Your father is quicker than expected," Ivan said as he typed something into the computer to cease the beeping.

Dad was here? Oh thank god. I had literally never been more relieved in my life. He certainly liked to leave this to the last minute. A couple of seconds later and I'd have been tongueless. My relief soon turned back into fear as I realized that the beeping had been warning Ivan that dad was coming, not that he was actually here. He still had enough time to plunge that knife into my chest before dad come blasting through the roof.

That's exactly what I thought he was going to do when he walked over to me, knife in hand. The knife flew down, cutting the duct tape binding my hands. I was momentarily stunned until he grabbed my hands and quickly tied them together. My feet were next. With his hands around my ankles he pulled me from the chair, knocking my head on the ground in the process, and proceeded to drag me from the room.

I wondered what the hell he was doing. Why didn't he just kill me? As he dragged me out into the warehouse, I decided to just flat out ask him. "What are you doing?" I asked after swallowing the blood in my mouth.

"Before I kill you and your father, I want the world to see him for the man that he is. He can't protect you and he can't protect them. After tonight they will see that. And after I destroy his name, I will destroy you both." His thick Russian accent echoed through the expansive warehouse.

"What-" I was momentarily confused, wondering just how he planned to ruin my father in just one night when it hit me. "The expo."

The sick smile of pleasure on his face was all the conformation I needed. The bastard was planning on doing something at the expo, something that would no doubt involve killing numerous innocent people. Oh God. Pepper, Happy and Natasha were there. I needed to warn them.