A Piece Of Me

Chapter 67 "In The Brink Of Death"

A/N : This is the last chapter before the epilogue. Enjoy :)

Luke

I watched helplessly at dad as he was trying to comfort Annie who was crying since earlier with Kelly on her side trying to hold it together. It pained me seeing them like this and I hated myself for being useless. We had been looking for Claire, including the police and our private investigators but still we couldn't find her. I didn't know what to do anymore and it didn't help the fact that my gut was telling me something bad would happen.

I was barely holding it and the only thing that prevented from breaking was Claire. I knew she was out there, waiting for me to rescue her and I couldn't just let the dread and stress overcome me.

I walked to dad's direction but stopped midway when I felt my phone vibrated on my pants' pocket. Fetching it, I looked at the caller id and I frowned when it was an unknown number. I pushed the answer button and brought the phone to my ear.

"If you want Claire to live, you have to do anything I say," My breath hitched when I heard a woman's voice on the other end. I was about to walk up to dad but I stopped when she spoke again, "Oh and don't even think of mentioning this to anyone... or you might not see your girlfriend alive," she added. I looked around me, trying to find someone acting suspicious, thinking that maybe the unknown caller has someone inside. But everyone in the room wasn't acting suspicious or strange.

I made my way to the door, to get out of earshot and with such haste, I almost bumped with Michael. He looked at me curiously while I was taking a moment to compose myself.

"Lacela, are you alright? You look pale and seem to be in a hurry...,"

"Remember, shut your mouth," the woman on the other end warned.

I raised my index finger, and averted my gaze from Michael, "Um, s-so she wasn't there? But did you find anything?..." I asked, pretending that I was talking to one of my contacts. I turned back my attention to Michael and gave him a slight nod before walking past him. I ended up walking to my car, thankfully Michael didn't follow me.

"Look, I don't have time to play games with you, so who are you? Is this Luisa?" I asked as I looked around to make sure no one was lingering around.

"Oh, my, my, how'd you know?" she asked, chuckling.

"Someone saw you entered Claire's room last night. You're the main suspect and it just a matter of time before they catch you."

"Ohhhh, I'm trembling right now, okay, I'll surrender." she said in a mocking tone before laughing.

I gritted my teeth, "What do you want?"

It took a minute for her to stop laughing and when she did, she clicked her tongue and spoke, "Okay, I'll stop playing and let's talk business. If you want to save your little girlfriend, you have to come alone and I mean alone Luke or else...you don't wanna know."

"How do I know you're not bluffing?" I heard her chuckle before there was silence then followed by a rustle on the other end. I heard her spoke again although it wasn't directed to me, it was as if she was forcing someone to speak. I couldn't tell what she was doing but not before I heard something connected to a flesh. I curled my hand into a fist, thinking that she probably hit Claire, if she had her.

"Now talk," she snapped making me cringe. By now, all I was hearing was heavy breathing until I felt like my heart would stop beating when I heard her.

"Luke, don't come it's a tr-..." Claire's panicky voice was cut of and was replaced by another rustle before I heard Luisa sighed. My stomach dropped hearing her sounded terrified.