My Beautiful Doll

Chapter Twenty Nine

"Then what the hell are you planning now?" Don growled, trying to hide the fear that curled within his gut.

Baker let out a warm chuckle before gently swiping his thumb across Don's cheek. "Well, I did have a wonderful dinner planned for us but because of your little stunt," he said that last word with so much disgust it sounded like a personal insult, "I didn't have the time to cook." Suddenly he got up and stepped away again, rummaging around the area before sounding like he's setting something up. "So just for that little disobedience, I'll make sure everyone knows what I have planned."

"Don't bring them into this," Don said, so close begging but just falling short. He frantically tugged at his bonds as if he thought he could snap them in half if he just tried, desperation fueling his every move. Don knew that this was a power play on Baker's part, designed to get everyone either so disheartened, distracted, or angry that their entire momentum gets thrown off. And knowing his team, he had a feeling that it might work, especially when it came to Charlie. His little brother tended to let emotions rule him when a case got too personal.

Like you have a say in that department, a voice that sounded too much like Ian popped up in his head.

As much as I hate to say it Donnie, he's right. You haven't made the best choices throughout this entire case, the voice that sounded like Billy rang in his head. Don rolled his eyes at that. Of course in this life or death situation, the best thing that his mind could supply were those two things.

Real helpful guys, he thought sarcastically to himself. Don wasn't usually the type to show fear, but he had an inkling that he's been putting out his feelings on full display this entire time. "Alright! I won't try to break out okay!" he shouted, shaking his head. "Just leave them out of this." There wasn't anything worse in the world that he could think of than to have everyone see him break.

"Sorry doll," Baker said calmly, "but I've given you too many chances".

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Don's thoughts whirrled wildly through his brain like a tornado, each one worse than the last. What's he going to do? Don was worried. He didn't know what he's going to force them to see and a part of him would rather have them stay in the dark. The only solace Don had was Baker's promise to him, the second biggest promise he made to Don, the promise to not take him. Don didn't think he could ever recover if his family saw him being assaulted on camera.

"Setup is done~" Baker hummed happily.

How the hell is he so cheerful? Don still couldn't fathom the insanity that hid behind the kind face even with the horrors he sees everyday. Then again, Terry did say that extremists don't have to be wild-eyed drooling maniacs. Maybe this was one of those examples.

You have too much hope in humanity Don, fake Ian said. Don almost snorted at that. Everyone would say that he was too pessimistic, too jaded about the world. But Ian and Billy would say that he's too optimistic. In reality, he wasn't really any of those. He just wanted to help people and bring criminals to justice, plain and simple.

"Oh, just one more thing."

"What?" Don bit out through clenched teeth. Baker didn't say anything, he just went around the room again to find something. But then Don heard the familiar sound of duct tape and knew what was going to happen. He barely had time to even register where Baker was before he felt the sticky tape cover his mouth, effectively silencing him.

"Mmmmph," he let out a noise of protest, pulling at the cuffs.

Don could feel Baker run his hand through Don's hair lovingly. "I know, i know..." he said, as if he was trying to placate Don. "You don't like the duct tape. Don't worry, it'll only be on for half of the recording and then I'll get it off, okay?" he asked sweetly.

You've got to be fucking kidding me...

At that, Don decided that now would be the best time to launch every single obscenity and swear word he's known at Baker while the man had no clue what he's saying. Maybe by then, he would've gotten it out of his system and could stop being a sarcastic ass. He could do with a lot less pain. Yeah right, I don't need to be a math genius to know that there are better odds of Charlie calling math pointless than me keeping my mouth shut.

Don could feel Baker kiss him gently through the tape before ruffling his hair. "That's my sweet angel," he praised, making Don gag internally. "Alright then, smile for the camera!"

If Don could give Baker the stink eye, he would. But as of his current condition, the best he could do was roll his eyes behind the blindfold. Listening to Baker's monologue, one thing became abundantly clear.

This is going to hurt, he thought to himself.

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I should stop being right for once, he thought to himself after the recording was done, This definitely hurts. He should really stop predicting bad things because evidently, the universe really liked to prove him right on the most painful and inconvenient hunches.

The cuts on his body still stung as they got exposed to the cool air of the basement. The bite marks on his neck and shoulder were honestly even worse than the cuts Baker did with the knife which was saying something. His leg wasn't any better as Baker kept manhandling it, causing Don to react almost instantly. His throat was dry and painfully sore. Whether it was due to the cursing or the screaming, he had no clue. He could feel the slight burn on his neck where the prongs were embedded, his fingers still slightly twitchy due to the shock. There were almost certainly bruises where Baker grabbed on too hard especially on his neck where Baker kept pulling on the collar.

The worst one was his mouth though. Not in terms of pain or injury, but in terms of how close it was and how panicked he felt. He honestly thought that Baker would just cut through his mouth like he did with the first victim when he first slid the knife into Don's mouth. Don could remember vividly the metallic taste of the knife on his tongue followed by the cool temperature against his cheek, the sharp edge pressed just so.

Thankfully, after all that, Baker decided to leave the house to deliver the footage himself. So Don took this as an opportunity to recover. A large part of Don hoped that Baker would be caught because of his cockiness, but he also knew that Baker was a slippery bastard. He wouldn't put it against them if they failed to arrest him, that is, if they knew who it was and if they even realized that Don went missing.

Did they even realize he was missing?