Taken, Kissed, and Loved [FREE and COMPLETED]

Chapter 23

David reacted instinctively, grabbing Christina and pulling her down on the ground, shielding her with his own body. He reached for his gun, but of course it wasn’t there, he didn’t think he would need it. The door flung open, kicked in by a big black boot. David grabbed the rifle barrel that appeared behind the door, yanking it forward and causing the men holding the rifle to stumble inside and fall. David jumped on him, his elbow aiming for the neck, which happened to be the man’s only visible part between kevlar armor and a helmet. There was a soft knack and the intruder started to wheeze and sputter, gasping for air.

The rifle was on a sling around man’s shoulders and it would take precious seconds to get it so David reached for his sidearm instead, pulling it out of the holster and sending a few bullets into the opened door. The sound of gunfire in the small space was deafening but he was used to it. He heard Christina scream out, but noticed she did a fairly reasonable thing - stayed on the ground and tried to crawl to the wall.

He didn’t really have time to care for her now, as another man tried to pass through the door and pulled back only after David sent a bullet his way. It was a crappy position. The room only had one door, but there were several large windows and David could hear them moving outside. Just as he was thinking about it, a small grenade flew through a window. He barely had time to close his eyes and cover his ears before the thing exploded with a deafening noise. Even though his eyes were shut tight he could see the blinding light emitted by the flashbang. It was a non-lethal grenade used to temporarily disorient enemy senses, ideal for situations like this where you wanted to take them alive, preferably without the civilians getting injured.

Before David opened his eyes, three of them were already in the room, two jumped through the broken windows, and one finally made it through the door, only to get shot right in the face. By David’s counting, there should be still three bullets in the gun, providing the first man (who was still slowly dying on the floor) came with his weapons fully loaded. He sent them after each window-men, trying to aim for knees and shoulders, hitting at least one by the screams of agony that followed the clicking his empty chamber made. His body lunged forward to grab the door guy's gun but suddenly stopped working after a short burst of incredible pain. A taser. They didn’t even have the decency of putting a bullet through him, they shot him with a f*****g taser!

He tried to move, but his limbs didn’t respond, twitching uncontrollably. The guy holding the taser pulled the trigger once more, causing David’s muscles to convulse again, not even being able to scream in pain. He was only half-conscious when they jumped on him, tied him up, pulled a black bag over his head, and dragged him away.

---

It was a shitty position. He remembered thinking about it when he saw Christina in it and now he could experience it first hand. It was not the first time, but, as Malcolm put it, he was in some pretty deep s**t right now, hanging mid-air by his wrists, dressed only in his boxers, ankles tied and attached to a loop on the floor. You should have never let her go back home. No, he shouldn’t have. She brought them, obviously, but was it intentional? David hoped with his whole heart it wasn’t. When Peter Anderson walks through the door, David is in for a shitload of pain. But if she were there standing next to her father, deep green eyes watching him suffer without a single sign of remorse… Well, that would feel worse than whatever Anderson could do to him. Yea, keep telling yourself that when they start pulling your fingernails out. I bet a broken heart is nothing compared to that.

His mind offered him a plethora of torture options and he shivered. Yes, he was going to try and be strong for as long as he could, but he knew one thing all too well. Everybody breaks. Everybody talks, sooner or later. His job now was to protect his people for long enough so they have time to disappear. What if he already got to them? They could have followed Shannon back to the hideout and your entire team could be either dead or hanging in rooms next to this one. Either way, he was going to find out. Peter Anderson wouldn’t hesitate to rub such information in David’s face.

The door creaked and David tried to put on a calm face. It was him. Anderson looked like he had just come from a board meeting, wearing a priceless suit and a perfect red tie. He looked weirdly inappropriate in this basement torture room. He unbuttoned his jacket and slowly took it off, carefully folding it and putting it on a table in the back. David had been avoiding looking that way, the blades and pliers and other creepy s**t lined up there were not a nice sight. Plus he knew it was part of the act - if you show a few sharp instruments to a person in his position, their imagination will do most of the job for you. Most people didn’t even need to be tortured, all it took was convincing them that they were going to be tortured and they started talking. Knowing about the trick took most of that magic away. But not all of it.

Anderson walked over to him without any rush. Looks like he cleared his busy schedule just for you, you should feel honored. “So, you are the piece of s**t who decided to take me down?” His voice was free of emotions, but David could sense the rage bubbling in the back. “Did you seriously think I would just throw my life away because you threatened to kill some girls?” Some girls? Seriously?

“No.” David’s voice was firm and confident. “I was going to kill them to make you feel at least a bit of pain you caused.” Anderson chuckled but didn’t respond. “Yea, but then I realized you are a heartless bastard who doesn’t give a damn, not even about his own daughters, and by killing them I’d only lower myself to your level.”

Anderson showed his teeth in a shark-like grin. “So you aren’t just stupid, but also weak. Let me give you some advice.” David saw his fist clench and tried to prepare but it still hurt like hell when it hit his stomach, pushing all the air out of his body. Anderson leaned in closer. “When you start something, you also need to finish it.” He walked to the door and said something to a person on the other side, stretching his fingers on the way back. Both his fists raised this time, he punched David several times in quick succession as if he were a punching bag hanging somewhere in a gym.

David desperately gasped for air, trying to deal with the pain somehow without letting it show too much on the outside, but it was damn hard. It became even harder when the door opened again and somebody pushed Christina in. She stumbled, her tied hands barely stopping her from falling directly on her face. He could feel a bit of relief - she wasn’t working with them, she didn’t betray him. But all he felt was creeping horror and despair. Her father didn’t give a s**t about her life, he had proven that earlier. David could withstand pain inflicted upon him, but if Anderson decided to take it out on her instead… Their eyes met and he tried to shake his head to let her know to do nothing, to stay silent no matter what happens. But he didn’t think she was going to do it.

Grigorievich entered the room after Christina, giving David a furious look and rushing over to him, fists raised.

David prepared for another hit, but Anderson’s cold voice interrupted them. “Get out,” he hissed at his head of security.

“But… he killed two of my men! And the third one is still in surgery.”

“You knew who he was and what he could do. If you got caught off guard anyway, it means you are a piece of dumb s**t. Now get the f**k out.”

The man snorted in anger, narrow eyes piercing David, and for a second it looked like he wouldn't obey. He eventually turned away and left, but not before looking at Christina with unconcealed lust and giving David an evil smirk that frightened him more than fists ever could.

“Dad?” her voice was shaking. “What are you doing?”

“Well, daughter, this is the man who kidnapped you. Twice apparently. I wonder how that happened.” He leaped towards her without warning and roughly pulled her up. His rage was starting to bubble up and Christina felt it, trying to squirm away from his grip. “I didn’t believe it. When Grigorievich told me you messed with my computer, I said ‘No, that couldn’t have been her. She is my daughter, she would never do that to me.’ But the very second I gave you the opportunity, you ran off? To him?!” He pointed at David and as his hand returned, he slapped Christina’s face.

“Stop it, you asshole!” David tried to get his attention but Anderson ignored him.

“You had EVERYTHING!” He pulled her closer and was now yelling straight into her face. “And still you betrayed me? For this pathetic piece of s**t?!” His palm hit her again, knocking her down to the floor. She stayed down, sobbing quietly, covering her face. For a second it looked like he was going to kick her, but he managed to control himself. He crouched next to her. “I’m going to kill him here in front of you. Very slowly, making him beg for mercy, just to show you how weak and pathetic he is. Apparently, I owe you some extra education, I must have missed something when raising you.”

David watched Christina and felt his heart break. You did this to her. If you f*****g stayed out of her life, if you didn’t show her the video, if you didn’t… Fall in love with her? But he did. And ended up f*****g everything up. He wanted revenge for one love and ended up finding another one and breaking her, completely destroying her life. How are you any better than this asshole in front of you?