Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

chapter thirty eight

We fit together like puzzle pieces, a jigsaw with no name and no end image. All of our jagged edges and our broken, awkwardly healed places matched each other, holding us together with a bond so tight we could not be ripped apart.

My body recovered, and while I still woke screaming and bloody, still broke down in tears and pure panic, my mind, too began to heal. December came and went, the red and green of the holiday season fading into the sad grey and dull brown of January. Slowly, slowly, life filtered back into me. My cheeks pinked, the spaces between my ribs filling in. My cuts and bruises and broken bones knitted, leaving me whole for the first time in months.

Lex left the mansion more and more often, taking day trips into the city to work-but not overnight. Never overnight. He refused to leave me to myself during the dark hours. The trust that I had thoroughly crushed rebuilt, fragile and thin, but there. The ring on my left hand reminded me of who I was, of the promise I had made. It was a symbol of my commitment-to stay alive, to stay.

Snow still stood knee deep around most of the property. It drifted into little peaks, making the lawns looks like waves of an ocean. The garden in the back froze over, the rose bushes standing bare and crooked, weighed down by ice. I liked to sit in the gazebos, huddled in my winter coat, and let the frigid air recenter my brain. The cold was sharp, and it kept my mind clear. Lex didn't like me outside alone, but I told him over and over that I was safe, that I could yell for the groundskeeper or maids if I fell or needed help.

The problem was that I didn't get a chance to yell.

I was tucked up on the wooden bench, watching a bird as it pecked at the seeds I spread out over the crust of the snow for it. It was fat, it's feathers fluffed out against the chill. I loved the way they hopped, never breaking into the snow beneath. My parents used to put out pine cones covered in peanut butter for the birds in the winter, to help them through the lean times. Every time a chickadee flew by, it reminded me of them, pulling my attention inwards. I was watching this bird, remembering making the bird feeders at our scrubbed pine table, when a hand closed over my mouth.

I tried to bite at it, but it was covered
in thick black leather. I felt someone shift behind me, pulling me tightly to their chest. I scrabbled at the arm that held me captive, trying to find purchase with my nails.

"Don't fight." Someone said. "This will be so much easier on everyone if you come quietly."

I kept fighting as I was dragged to my feet, kicking and squirming, but I froze when I felt the cold steel of a gun pressed to my head.

"You're more valuable alive, but I won't hesitate to pull this trigger and let Luthor find the inside of your head splattered through his nice garden." I clenched my jaw, but let myself go limp. "There's a good girl."

My hands were cuffed behind me, and I was thrown over my assailant's shoulder as if I weighed nothing at all. I was tempted to cry out, but the reminder of the gun to my temple kept me silent.
Whoever was kidnapping me clearly had insider knowledge of the place. He carried me along the footpath, and through the trees that bordered the property. Not only would our footprints be completely indistinguishable, but no one would be able to see us from any of the windows. I knew the security cameras didn't extend to the property line. When Lex got home, I would be gone without a trace. There would be no way to know who had grabbed me, or where we went. I cursed myself for refusing to wear the tracker necklace.

There was a car idling beyond the trees. I was set down on the snowy ground, and for the first time I caught sight of my attacker. He was young-older than Lex, but still young. Half his face was concealed with a black scarf, but his blue eyes were cold. He drew a length of black cloth from his pocket, and squatted in front of me.