Run

C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N

My dad didn't come back the rest of the night. And even though I was alone, I was still too paranoid to fall asleep.

What if he came back? What if he was angry that I didn't forgive him?

What if Vincent came?

I know it's unlikely, but I just can't help but think that Vincent will burst through the door at any minute and sweep me off my feet. For all I know, he could be in the hospital; he could be dead.

I can't bare the thought of him dying. He has his flaws; everyone does, but he was just starting to open up. He was just starting to let me in. If he dies his blood will be on my father's hands and that's not something I can stomach.

My father already took away his father, I won't let him get rid of Vincent the same way.

The door suddenly slams open and the three men from yesterday walk in. The each carry what looks to be a DVD case in their hands and one of the men who had tied me up rolls in a large TV behind him.

"What do you want." I say with as much malice as I could. I'm definitely not over what happened yesterday. This man laid his hands on me, so he can't expect me to play nice now.

"We just wanna ask you a few questions, Leah." He says, with an obviously fake smile on his face.

"Then what's the TV for?" I fire back. I don't trust these guys, and I definitely don't trust that they just want to ask me some questions. There's always a catch.

"It's just a little reinforcement in case you don't feel like answering."

Reinforcement? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"I refuse to give you any answers." I can tell my words anger him by the way he clenched his jaw and narrows his eyes. Even if I wanted to give them answers, which I don't, I wouldn't be able to. Vincent's always been secretive about his company, so I don't know much.

"Well perhaps this will change your mind. Play number one." He directs to one of the other men and they slip a disc into the TV. After a few seconds a video appears on the screen, but it's to dark to tell who it is.

"Do you know who that is, Leah?" One of the men asks me.

"No." I respond back honestly. The picture is still too dark to make out, but the sound is completely clear. I can make out the voice of a male, who's obviously scared. Of what, or who, I don't know. Everyone becomes quiet as the man begins to speak.

"P-please I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to- I mean, I didn't want to. They made me. They would've killed me. Please don't hurt me."

Another voice speaks now, a deep voice that sends shivers down my spine puts an immediate picture in my head.

"Vincent?" I question, mostly to myself, but it didn't go unnoticed by the men standing next to me.

"Exactly, Leah. Your little Vincent is not the saint you make him out to be. He hurts people. He kills people, just like your father. He's no better than the rest of us."

His words hit me like a truck. I can't fathom the idea of Vincent killing someone, it isn't right. But then again, I couldn't imagine my dad killing anyone either, but here we are.

"You're wrong." I say through gritted teeth. "Vincent wouldn't do this."

"Oh, he wouldn't? Well, let's just fast forward a little, shall we?" He fast forwards the tape a couple minutes in, now there's even more yelling; even more begging.

"You disclosed our location! Now the fate of my entire company could be decided by your 'little mistake'. Your stupidity could cost everyone here their lives. And because of that, you made me realize something." Vincent's voice gets softer, gentler. It almost makes me think he'll forgive him, almost.

"A-And what would t-that be, sir?" The poor guy says, almost hopefully. And if Vincent had a tiny sliver of humanity left in him, he would've realized that.

"I realized that I can't afford to have people like you around." And without another word, Vincent pulls out a gun from the back of his jeans, and shoots him in the forehead.

Dead. The man sits slumped over in his chair with blood dripping down his face, and his eyes still open. It was nothing short of a scene from a horror movie. Everything about it just screamed torture. But it makes me wonder. How many times has he done this? How many men has he mercilessly killed without a second thought? I've been so naive. I really thought that he could be different. That he could change. I was wrong, so very wrong.

"Now Leah, as much as I'm sure you enjoyed watching this, we'd be happy not to show you rest. All you have to do is answer a few questions." His voice is sickly sweet and I know he's losing his patience with me. I should just do what they ask me, I shouldn't want to see anymore of this torture. But I do. I want to see it. I want to know what drove him to kill, to be able to do it without mercy. I need to know why.

"Show me the rest." Then man's smug look immediately disappears and a deep frown embeds itself on his face. He stands there, just staring a me, for a few seconds before reluctantly motioning one of the the other men to play the rest of the discs.

"You'll regret this, Leah." He says to me, his voice filled with absolute hatred.

"I might," I say. "but at least I'll know the truth."

******

Adrianna Russo's POV (Leah's mom)

"You showed her those tapes?!" I screamed at my husband. I knew this was a bad idea. Letting him give our daughter away, then forcefully bringing her back, and tying her up nonetheless.

"She wanted to see them! I don't know why, but she did. You have to stop blaming me for everything bad that happens around here."

"Are you fucking kidding me!" I scream at him. "Everything bad that's happened these last few weeks has been because of you! You think you know what's best for this family, but you don't. And until you figure it out, I'm leaving."

I turn and storm out of the house before he could reply back. I just can't deal with this anymore. I've been putting up with this for almost twenty years now. I've kept his secret from our daughter and the rest of our friends and family for our entire marriage. I allowed this entire thing to go on far too long.

But I'm done keeping secrets. It's time to tell the truth. Even if it gets me killed.

******

Y'all, I seriously cannot express to you how grateful I am that RUN has reached almost 42 thousand reads. I know I'm not the best writer. I know I don't update on time, but you guys still read this story and you give me so much positive feedback.

So I would genuinely like to thank all of you who have been supporting me throughout this book. We still have a ways to go, but I'm you'll stick with me till the end.

Once again, thank you and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.