Chapter 1
His calloused fingers gripped her jaw, the grooves pulling at her supple skin before he pushed her away with a smile that held no humour. His eyes were filled with a lust that caused nausea to build in her stomach.
“I want my money by Tuesday, Netty,” were his parting words. The girl’s diminutive figure shook almost imperceptibly at the nickname, but she nodded and quickly spun on her heel, scuttering down the alley, attempting to avoid skinning her arms on the coarse bricks that held up the old bakery that had stood on the edge of this town for many years. The bag of white powder in her handbag weighed her down, feeling like a pile of rocks. Whether that was to her muscles or her conscience she was unsure. Her escape didn’t last for long, as a gravelly voice sounded from the end of the alley, causing her to rotate once again.
“Adrien, I didn’t expect to see you-... never mind yes I did”
A gentle gasp left her lips as she saw Adrien on his knees, a towering man crouched behind him, a blade pressed against his neck. How this had happened in the mere seconds since she had begun to retreat she didn’t know.
Adrien was quick to start begging, “I have your money! I promise, just give me a couple of days!”
She despised the man, the pressure of his unwanted hands on her thighs and waist still lingered, but to see him like this was still disconcerting. The tall man said nothing more before the knife gracefully held in his long fingers swiftly slid across Adrien’s exposed neck, creating a fountain of blood before his choking body cracked against the gravelled floor. Unbeknownst to her, she had been gingerly retreating from the alarming scene, but this movement was brought to a swift halt with the quick yet painstakingly clear sound of a gun cocking behind her ear, and she knew a round was sat in the chamber, readily waiting to be lodged within her skull.
He held the gun at her head, the power rush settling a smile on his face. “You’re going to drop that bag now,”
The slight frame of the girl in front of him moved slightly before she soundlessly obliged, dropping her bag to the floor with a dull thud. His finger shuddered, flattening against the trigger guard, as for the first time in his godforsaken career he hesitated to blow a hole in the back her head. He was further taken aback when he glanced down and saw her hands loosely positioned behind her back. Questions sprinted through his head as he wrapped the twine around the girl’s wrists, as she accepted it quietly, without protest.
He spoke to her once more, “I’m taking you to my car now,“. He waited for a response, but all he got from the fae-like girl was an almost indiscernible nod. The street behind the alley was deserted, and he had no fear of being noticed. The dark clouds felt like a disguise on a divine level. His co-worker opened the trunk of the car, and the girl sat on the edge, then he helped lower her in. His hands gripped the trunk lid, but before he had a chance to slam it up the girl spoke up. “May you-” she paused, contemplating her words, then spoke up, her voice even more pitiful than before, “I know you have sedation there, and I- well -I get car sick,” Before she could finish her sentence he stopped her with a finger gently pressed against her lips. He reached into his pocket, drawing out a capped syringe. He pulled the cover off before his finger pushed against her temple, exposing her neck, then he slid it into her neck. Her doe-like eyes met his, but before she went he wanted to ask her one more question-
“What is your name?”
“Trinette,” then her were shielded from the world.
An hour and a few miles later his eyes still stared blankly out the front window. Questioning everything he knew about the small girl. He was harshly dragged from his daydreaming as the car spun harshly to the left, down an unpaved road. “For christ’s sake Matthew! You may be a getaway driver but if you hadn’t already noticed, this isn’t a getaway!”
The younger man in the driver’s seat glanced over to him, “Sorry dude, you know how invested I get”
A chuckle left his lips, “Yes, I do,”
He turned back towards the window, his eyes drifting shut.
Before he knew it the car had come to a stop outside a large house, the bright exterior a stark contrast to the dark pine trees that surrounded it. The dark forest that surrounded his home didn’t scare him, the woman marching out of it towards the car did.
“Clean hit?” She questioned, no hello’s, how are you’s or any pleasantries. It didn’t bother any of the seasoned employees, after all, they were there to get a job done, not for socialisation.
“Well,” he began, before the younger man interrupted.
“We have a friend!”
The woman turned back to him, a frown on her face, “And why do we have this, ‘friend’?”
“A witness,” he responded bluntly.
She nodded, “Let me see him,”
“Well,” he said again, and opened the trunk, revealing the unconscious young girl.
The woman stood, a frown across her face, “And you’re certain she saw?” Her employee nodded, then gently shook the sleeping girl,
“Trinette, wake up,”
The woman stood bemused, an eyebrow arched as she looked at the dainty girl, and her normally brazen worker, tenderly tapping her shoulders. Trinette’s eyes fluttered slightly, and she squeezed them tightly shut before opening them. The woman stared at the girl inquisitively, and she struggled to spin her legs over the ledge of the trunk with her hands bound. The woman’s worker helped the girl onto the ledge. She stood up, seeming steady on her feet. The woman looked at her worker, “Max, I’ll need to-“. She was interrupted by Trinette dropping to the floor unconscious. Both her and Max had rushed forward, stopping the girl from smashing against the tiled pavement.
“What is wrong with her?” She glanced at him.
“She got into the car willingly and then asked to be sedated, she’s obviously so small it’s still affecting her, Sadia” he responded.
Sadia sighed, “-wait what?” She suddenly processed what he had said. “She ASKED to be sedated?”
He nodded, “yeah, said she got car sick,”
She paused, “okay.. let’s take her inside - put her in the guest bedroom next to mine, and make sure she’s handcuffed to the bed, the police are already suspicious and we can’t have her leading them to us.”
Max nodded again, but there was just something about the girl that made him question if that was even a possibility.
