DARK

Dark!

That was the first thought Denise had when she gained consciousness. Her head felt heavy and it buzzed, as if a gazillion bees had made their homes in her brain.

There was a sound in the air above all the buzzing. It sounded like a groan. And it took her ten seconds to realize she was the one groaning.

What happened?

Her eyes rolled beneath their lids, trying to force them open. The last thing she remembered was walking out of her bookstore.

No, that wasn't right.

The last thing she remembered was finishing an account of the total amount of books that left the store that day. Then she went for a quick sniff of all the old books in the back of the store. It was a funny addiction, but who else didn't love the smell of old books?

She had a good sniff then walked out of the bookstore, pretty pleased with herself when someone grabbed her by the waist and pressed a funky smelling napkin to her nose.

There. That was the last thing she remembered.

Her eyelids finally freed themselves and she found herself staring at the damp rotten ceiling of a warehouse. The wood that held up the roof looked even more weak and scarier in the dim light.

Her eyes squinted into tiny slits as she took in the light that filtered into the room through the holes in the roof. Bright sunlight. If not for the sun, the warehouse would be pitch black just like her abductors would have wanted.

Kidnapped, Denise thought, her stomach dropping in fear. She tried to scream then realized to her horror, that she had tape on her mouth. With her hands and legs tied up, the only part of her body she could move was her head.

Help! Help me!

“Dee!” Someone whispered in the room. She was an older woman tied up to a chair not so far from Denise. She did not have a tape to her lips. Either the kidnappers had forgotten to tape her or she had struggled to yank the tape off somehow. “Dee, are you awake?”

There was only one person in the world who called her, Dee. Her head whipped quickly to the side and tears burned the corner of her eyes.

Mom, she wanted to scream. Mom what the hell is happening?!

“It's okay, Denise,” Bethany soothed. Her voice did a little to calm the girl trashing on the floor, trying to break out of the bonds.

Denise struggled to speak, her words muffled back by the tape but Bethanny nodded as if she understood every word.

“It's okay, Denise. I'm here. Mom's here. Everything will be fine.”

To Denise, the way her mother's lips quivered with every word that slipped from her lips, it did not seem like everything would be fine. She tried to make a list of what she could have done that could possibly have gotten her and her mother abducted.

One, maybe she sniffed those books too hard and she was dreaming.

Because there was no other possible reason. She lived a very simple and quiet life. She had gone to college to study a course more than half her friends had seen as boring.

Who spent three years in college learning about Library and information? Denise Gravel, that's who. She graduated, got a nice job at the local bookstore as a bookkeeper and still lived with her mom. She rarely got into fights.

Scratch that, she never got into fights.

So who could possibly have kidnapped her? Why had they done so? For money?

Denise scoffed mentally, trying to calm down. The tape on her mouth did not feel like it would loosen anytime soon. She didn't have a dime to pay for ransom if that was what the scoundrels wanted.

“Denise,” Her mother called, snapping her back to reality. Bethany's eyes were hazel and wide with fear. “Listen, do whatever they say, okay honey? Don't try to fight it.”

Fight it? Denise thought, her stomach crawling with anxiety.

She did not have much time to contemplate what exactly her mother meant when the single door that led into the warehouse flew open with a bang.

Denise went still, the only sounds in her ears were the sound of her harsh breathing and the sound of a rather fine pair of timberland boots hitting the cemented floor.

A man stood at the door. Tall, huge, muscular with a cigarette stuck between his lips. He was backing the light so all Denise could see at first was his silhouette.

Perhaps if she wasn't all tied up, she would admire his handsome frame. But she didn't have the time nor the liberty to do so. The man before her was definitely a kidnapper!

She tried to yell at him, but the words were muffled with the tape.

“Denise, no,” Her mother warned, shaking her head vigorously. “Please, please just remain still.”

The man stepped forward, walking towards them and to their horror, about four men trooped in after him.

Denise had a harder time remaining still. She wanted to obey her mother- Her mom knew best after all.

Wait a minute. Didn't that mean that her mom knew why this was happening?

“This?” The muscular man grumbled, stopping a few inches away from Denise. The sunlight that filtered in from the roof caught the Chestnut brown color of his hair. They were thick and curly strands. She saw his face a little clearer and felt the anxiety in her stomach shift to panic.

He was good looking.

But he had a terrifying scowl of disgust on his face and that made her feel small.

“My brother gets the blonde bimbo and I get a depressed bitch?” He hissed, glaring at Denise.

Depressed?

She looked to her mother who kept mouthing the words “Please.”

“Have you told her?” The stranger gritted, turning his head slightly to face Bethany.

“Please,” Bethany begged, constantly glancing between the stranger and her daughter. She worried that the minute she blinked, something horrible could happen to Denise.

And Bethany would never forgive herself, if that happened.

“Please?” The man scoffed. “Now you beg? You should have known better, hag.”

Denise remained confused even after watching the whole exchange. How did her mom cross a man like this? Good looks aside, he was a ruffian. A vagabond. A bad man.

She was out of names to call him, but he definitely wasn't someone her sweet mother would meet on a normal day.

“Take the tape off,” The stranger ordered. One of his men, the goons behind him, stepped forward. His face was so impassive, it looked stone cold. He reached for the tape and ripped it off gruesomely.

A loud pitched scream filled the room and everyone winced as Denise sobbed from the pain. Her lips stung, her eyes burned. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

“That's enough,” Her abductor spat, folding his arms petulantly.

Denise did not stop. The questions, a million and one of them, came pouring.

“Who are you?! What do you want from me!” Her voice was hoarse from disuse. She had been kidnapped the day before and tied up all night.

“Dee!” Bethany yelled, trying to stop her daughter but the poor girl was beyond listening.

“This is illegal, do you hear me? This is illegal! The police will-”

“Do what? Arrest me?” The man taunted, his lips splitting into a grin that made Denise terribly uncomfortable. “Send me to jail? You're lucky I let you keep your lips at all, with how quick they move.”

“Do not hurt her!” Bethany screamed. “You promised you wouldn't hurt her!”

“You're in no position,” The kidnapper snarled, turning in a slow, menacing way towards Bethany. “To tell me what to do, and what not to do. This whole shitty situation is your fucking fault!”

Denise watched her mother shake violently in her chair, but she held her tongue.

“Mom,” She called weakly. “What's going on?”

Something heavy got tossed on her face and for a brief second, Denise thought it was something murderous and screamed in horror.

She stopped when she saw it was a wedding dress and looked up at the kidnapper in confusion. But he was facing her mother now, a sneer on his lips.

“You know what is at stake, Bethany Gravel,” He spat. “You have an hour to get her ready. That's all. One fucking hour. If she isn’t ready, I'll blow both your brains out. Saves me the hassle.”

One of his goons marched up to them and untied Bethany.

“ An hour?” Denise said, looking at her mom when the man straightened and walked outside the same way he came- with his goons flanking him. “What does he mean by that, mom? What's going on?”

Bethany rushed towards her daughter, hugged her really tight while she whispered. “That man is Dominic Dona Pante,”

Denise’s jaw dropped. “Please tell me you're kidding,”

Tears slid down Bethany cheeks. When she spoke again, the world came crashing down on Denise Gravel.

“You are getting married to him in an hour.”