Secrets of Sin: The Finale

BEN

My little kitten wraps her arms around me like a warm blanket, and I melt in her embrace.

She is so beautiful. She is so kind and precious.

What did I ever do to deserve her?

She has been my everything since we were children; she is all I ever wanted.

All I ever needed.

How did I get so lucky?

I look into her beautiful eyes, and I see my future.

I see my past.

I see everything that has ever mattered to me.

She is my everything.

Mari, I see you.

Mari, I love you.

I see her in my dreams, and she is like a vision.

She is the sunshine on a summer day.

She is the whole world.

But something isn’t right.

Something just doesn’t sit straight.

Where am I, and what the fuck is going on?

I wiggle in the darkness, but I can’t see a thing.

I feel the weight of my stupor sucking me back into the darkness.

Back into my dreams.

My dreams of her.

WAKE UP! My mind screams, and I snap to reality.

Everything is dark, and my head aches like a bitch.

I try to kick my legs out, but they are pulled up to my chest; I am scrunched in some small compartment.

I’m confined. I’m in a small, dark place, and nothing makes sense. I struggle to stretch out.

What the fuck just happened? I reach for my throbbing head.

That’s when I realize I’m bound and gagged.

“What the fuck?” I grumble, but my words are just reverberated garbage against my gag.

I tug my wrists up to my face, trying to gnaw off the zip ties, but it’s no use.

They are too tight, too strong, and I cannot tear them off.

The restraints dig deep into my wrists, tearing the flesh, and my mouth is dry.

Who the hell dares to come at me like this? And why?

I want to scream and rage and holler, but I am unable.

I growl, and I feel myself choke on my gag. I try to kick my feet, but I can barely bend my legs.

I am genuinely fucking trapped, and it makes me feel weak for the first time in a long time.

“Fuck,” I snarl through my gag, but it still sounds like gibberish.

Drool spills out of the corners of my mouth as I try to make the words come out.

I want someone to help me, but more than that, I want to help myself.

I want to know who has done this to me and why.

“Fuck.” I grumble as I try to snap my legs out, tugging at my wrists like they’ll magically come unbound.

My restraints keep me shackled in place.

I realize that I’m alone, in the dark, in what seems to be a trunk.

I hear the purr of a car engine, and reality hits me. I really am bound and gagged in a fucking trunk.

Are you fucking serious?

Who would have the audacity?

Don’t they know who I am?

What I could do to them.

Only cowards break into a house and hit a man from behind.

I struggle against my restraints, but they only cut me deeper.

My stomach lurches as we veer through traffic; I hear horns honking and sirens in the distance.

But not for me.

No, no one is coming for me.

I wriggle against my bindings, once again trying to tear away my zip ties with my teeth, but it’s no use. The gag is in the way.

The sounds of traffic rush by.

How far we have traveled, and how long was I out?

I was just at home, working out in my home gym when something heavy sent sparks bursting behind my eyes.

One minute, I was bench pressing. The next, I was in some dark, dank trunk that smells like ass.

My head aches and throbs, and I feel the faint tinkle of blood dripping down my temple.

I try to wipe it away, but I can barely reach it in this confined space.

Suddenly, a man laughs, and I hear a muffled conversation. I cannot make out the words, but it’s clear there are at least two men in the car with me.

Two men who I will likely kill in the end.

My stomach lurches as we come to an abrupt stop.

The trunk lid pops, and I am blinded by daylight.

The rays from the sun blur out their appearances.

“This is him?” A large man sneers, patting his belly. “This is the one everyone fears? Look at him. Pathetic.”

“Yep, that’s what the boss said. I don’t see much to brag about, but the boss knows what he is doing,” the other man growls, equally as large.

“Shouldn’t he still be passed out? Did you give him enough?” the first man barks.

“I gave him a full dose,” the bald man says, rubbing his head.

Give me enough. Oh, fuck, did they drug me?

That explains a lot, like this splitting headache and the fact that I’ve been abducted.

That never would have happened if I had been in my right mind.

“Fuck you. I’ll kill you,” I try to snarl, but my binding only makes muffled noises.

I growl and writhe, trying to come out of my bindings, threatening to kill them both.

The two men laugh, looking down at me like I’m some caged animal at the zoo.

It riles me to my very core.

“Look at him scream. What a little bitch,” one of them heckles, shaking his head.

“Someone needs to shut him up. All his whining is going to get us pulled over. We can’t give him any more drugs. It’ll kill him.” One of them snivels, wiping his nose.

“Fair enough. Do you want the honor?” I notice for the first time that one of them is balder and fatter than the other.

The bald, fat one shrugs his shoulders and punches me in the face.

CRACK.

My neck snaps back, and I lose sense of all time and space.

Jesus Christ, he hits like a bitch, I think as my eyes roll back.

“That ought to do it,” the skinnier one laughs, closing the trunk.

But it doesn’t.

I kick my feet wildly, screaming against my gag, and the trunk pops open again.

The two men look down at me like I’m some kind of spectacle—like I’m the one in the wrong when they abducted me.

“Jesus Christ, he just won’t quit,” the fat one stammers.

“I guess you gotta hit him again,” the skinnier one laughs.

“Fuck. Okay,” the fat one croaks as he swings his fist back, cracking it against my temple.

The pain shoots through my skull, and I see stars.

I see Mari. I see my life and everything I have ever wanted, and then it fades away.

What have they taken from me?

What are they doing?

They slam the trunk shut, and I fall into darkness.

The last thing I remember is thinking of Mari.

What happened to her? If someone could take me so easily, what has happened to my wife?

Have they hurt her?

Have they killed her?

Why wouldn’t they be so bold?

If they didn’t, if for some reason they left her alone, it’s only a matter of time before they come for her.

I cannot abide that. I won’t let it be true.

As long as I live, no one will ever hurt her again.

I promise.

My eyes fall back, rolling inside my skull as I feel the concussion coming on.

Is someone going after my little kitten next?