Kidnapped

Job - 28

Emma POV

The following few days were peaceful, relatively speaking. After having watched the news a few days ago and finding out that people were still searching for me, I was feeling much less hopeless. Meanwhile, when Evan found out, he wasn't ecstatic. Luckily he wasn't angry at me, which was all that mattered. Josh didn't hide his disdain from me, but surprisingly Evan explicitly told him not to touch me. I couldn't help but feel grateful, which was ridiculous.

I had the choice between being locked in Chris's room, and hanging out around Chris whenever he allowed it-- albeit under his surveillance. Surprisingly, Chris allowed me  to be around him a lot more than I'd expected. I was glad, but I refused to thank him. We had an unspoken peace treaty of sorts. I kept my animosity at a minimum, and he lengthened my leash.

Meanwhile, it was a whole different story with Alex. He avoided my gaze whenever he saw me. Most likely due to me glaring daggers at him. He tried to apologise the day after Evan's 'punishment lesson,' but I didn't talk to him. I was still feeling betrayed.

Chris hanged out a lot around Mason, which meant I also hanged out a lot around Mason. I was given a book to read whenever they'd be doing some work on their laptops or making cryptic phone calls.

This evening I was perched on the couch as Mason and Chris typed away at their laptops. Curious I flopped my book down and stared at the two of them. "What do you two even work on?"

Mason who seemed to have been very focused took a few long seconds before answering, "Work, princess." I gave up telling him to stop with the nickname, he liked teasing me. I didn't hate it, though I did give him an annoyed look.

"What kind of work?" I asked, "I'm curious."

Mason gave me a lopsided smile and shook his head, "the type of work that the less you know about, the safer you are."

I frowned, "How did you end up being part of this whole gang mess?"

My question caught Chris's attention too this time. "Why did you turn into criminals?"

Chris's eyes travels slowly from me down to his clenched hands, but Mason held my gaze.

"Evan got Josh out of a huge mess, but nothing is for free. As the older brother, I-" Chris caught himself, "Basically that's how it went".

"I joined because of the easy money, although I didn't know how deep this shit will go." Mason shrugged, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.

I was stunned by the fact that they actually answered my question. I half expected them to dismiss it. I felt elated at having learned something about them, however small it might be. Every piece of information could be useful for my future escape.

Before I could say anything Evan strode in and gave me a strange look. I held his stare as he stepped towards me.

"You're going to help us," Evan said as he crossed his arms.

"Huh?" I was confused. Evan took a step towards me, not breaking eye-contact. I felt my muscles tense and pushed myself up, ready to pounce.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."  Evan smirked, his eyes cold. "As I was saying, you're going to help us. You're going to help us kill someone."

"W-What?" I jolted up to my feet. "I c-can't."

Evan only watched me calmly, waiting for me to settle down before he continued. "You will, and you can. Mason will help preparing you for the job."

"Why me? I never k-killed anyone!" I couldn't reign in my panic.

"You have to do it, because you're disposable." Evan smiled at me, as if he complimented me and I should be grateful. "Unlike us, If you get caught you, you'd have no substantial information to reveal."

"I can't do it, its- its not possible." I shook my head, "what if I fail?!"

Evan crouched in front of me, and placed his hand on top of mine. He caressed my shoulder soothingly, his face looking sympathetic. "Shhh, Emma. Just take a deep breath." He softly wiped tears off my cheeks, his touch gentle. "If you fail, you die."

I froze and looked into his eyes, he only gave me an innocent smile as he continued to soothingly caress me. Like hell I am. I'm gonna get out of here. Even if it means I need to kill Evan first.

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I know this chapter is kinda lacking action. I struggled writing this transitional chapter, the next chapter will be better ;]  Anyways thanks for reading!!! Please don't forget to vote <3 <3 <3

Art by Ko Byung Jun