DAY TWO
Adam had been gone for over an hour and Melissa knew it was her only chance of getting out of there. She tried loosening the ropes around her hands, but every time she tried the ropes just tighten.
“Damn it!” She yelled. “Okay, Mel, think! I need to get out of here. I need something sharp to cut through the ropes.” She looked around the room and her eyes landed on one of the machinery with a sharp edge. It was too far out of reach, so she used her feet to push herself. “A little bit more.” With one last push, she could reach the machinery. “Yes!” She moved her hands back and forward, trying to cut through the rope. After what seemed like forever, the rope finally broke apart. She quickly removed the rope from her hands and then untied her feet. She ran towards the only door in the whole warehouse. She turned the knob, but it was locked. “DAMN IT! Adam must have locked it. There has to be another way out.” She scanned the warehouse, but all she saw were boarded up windows. Just then she heard the door opening and she quickly hided behind some crates.
Adam glanced over to where Melissa was tied up, now only seeing an empty chair. Adam just laughed, knowing she was still in the building. There was no way out that was why he picked the place.
“Come out wherever you are!” He slowly walked the lower level of the warehouse. “Come on Mel, I have a present for you! We are going to Barbados!” Melissa peeked between two crates and saw him holding two passports. “See Mel, Barbados doesn’t have any extradition treaty with the U.S., so they can’t make us come back.” He stopped and looked around. “And even if they try, we’ll move to another country. Thanks to a friend of mine, we have new identities. No one will ever be able to find us.”
“He’s going to take me out of the country! I can’t let that happen. I’ll never see my parents, my friends, or Nick ever again.”
Adam headed up the stairs to one of the rooms. “I have to make a run for it once he enters the room, it’s the only chance I have. Please let it be unlocked.”
The moment he entered the room, she ran over to the door. “NO!” The door was locked. “This can’t be happening!”
“Yes, it can and it is! What am I going to do with you Mel? You untied yourself and now you are trying to escape.” He inched closer to her; all she could do was lean up against the door. “I tried being nice, now I’m going to have to use force.”
“Stay the hell away from me!” Adam lunged at her and she used all her strength to hit him with her fist. Adam backed off, touching his cheek that was bleeding. He reached for her left hand, looking at the object that scratched him. Her engagement ring.
“You will be sorry for that!” He slugged her in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Adam drugged her over back to the chair and tied her up.
“Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, what are you doing here?” Nick asked, surprised to see them.
“I called them Nick. I thought they had a right to know about Mel.” Julie stated interrupting the conservation.
“What’s being done to find my daughter?” Mike, Melissa’s father asked the officer.
“Right now, Mr. Barnes, we can’t do much because she hasn’t been missing for 24 hours.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, it’s the law to wait 24 hours because a lot of times people just ran off.”
“But this isn’t the case!”
“Officer Garner, Mel wouldn’t run off. She was finally happy in a long time. She was back in school, she was getting married. She loved her family and friends and there is no reason for her to leave.” Cathy, Melissa’s mother, said.
“I know, Mrs. Barnes. I have been here the other times Adam has caused problems for your daughter.” Officer Garner replied.
“What other times?” She asked looking over at Nick. Nick sighed, knowing he had to tell them what had happen the past couple of weeks.
“Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, there is something I need to tell you.”
Melissa’s body ached from the blow Adam had infected on her. She gasped for air and with each breath the pain was excruciating.
Adam pulled a chair up in front of her and sat down. He smiled at her, proud that finally things were going his way. He had her and in a little bit of time they would be out of the country away from everyone. He watched her trying to catch her breath.
“I’m sorry I had to do that Mel, really I am. But you left me no choice.”
“Go…to…hell…Adam.” She coughed.
“Watch that mouth; you don’t want to go home in a body bag, now do you?”
“I would…be better…off…dead then…with…you.”
“That can be arranged.” He moved closer to her. “There is nothing stopping me from ending your life.” His cell phone rang, interrupting them. He stood up and walked away from her.
“Cheer up Mel; I have another surprise for you.” Once again he showed his cocky smile, sending chills down her spine.
Nick told Melissa’s parents everything that had happened since Adam had showed up.
“Why didn’t she tell us?” Cathy asked looking at Nick.
“She didn’t want to worry you; she said she had caused you enough grief. She wanted to protect you.”
Cathy looked at her husband, he looked at her. “That’s our Mel.”
“I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect her.” Nick said standing up and glancing out a window.
“Nick, you have nothing to apologize for. Thanks to you, we got to see our daughter so happy. You did that and we are so thankful for that.” Cathy said as she stood next to him.
Nick faced her with tears in his eyes. “I want her back.”
Cathy embraced him. “I want her back too. She will be back and she is strong. She’ll make it through this. She’ll come back to us.”
“Thank you.” He said after they broke their embrace.
“Honey, you don’t need to thank me. You’re family now; we are there for one another.”
Nick smiled, Cathy reminded him so much of Melissa.
“What are you holding?” Mike asked once he noticed a shiny object in Nick’s hand.
“Oh, it’s a necklace I gave Mel a long time ago.”
“I remember that necklace. Mel would never take it off; she loved it so much because it was from you.”
“Yeah, she told me that. When I found it on the floor, I knew something was wrong.”
“Mel did that on purpose. She knew that you see that and know something was wrong.” Mike said looking at Nick.
“See, she’s smart and tough. Mel will come back to us. I know it.” Cathy replied, trying to be optimistic.
“Are you ready for your surprise Mel? You will never believe what I have in store for you.” Adam sat back down on the chair. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I had a partner. Someone who did all the dirty work for me, he was my eyes and ears.” Adam stood up and walked over to the door. “Would you like to meet my accomplice?” He opened the door and someone entered the warehouse.
Melissa strained to see who he was letting in. Her eyes finally focused on that person. “Darrell?”
Darrell walked over to her. “Mel. I see Adam has been having fun.” They both laughed.
“You can’t be his accomplice. I saw you on the ground bleeding.”
Darrell kneeled before her, making eye contact with her. “That was all staged, just for you.” He looked over at Adam. “Of course you didn’t need to hit me that hard.”
“Hey, it had to be real, so no one would suspect you.”
“No one suspect me, not even Nicky boy. He actually came to my aid before looking for you.” He started laughing. “That poor bastard didn’t know what happened.”
“You are just as crazy as Adam is.” Darrell stood up and walked away.
“You were right boss, she’s a hand full.”
“What did I tell you? Feisty and strong minded!” Adam said to Darrell. “I always hated those things about you.”
“Because you feel the need to control everything in your pathetic life and the moment I took away that control, you crumbled! You couldn’t handle it, so instead of being a real man, you hit me! You are nothing, but a sorry excuse for a human being and I hope you rot in hell!” The next thing she knew, Adam had hit her, knocking her unconscious as she laid on the ground still tied up.
“Bitch!” He said looking as she laid on the ground. “I’m going to have fun controlling that attitude!”
DAY THREE
She slowly woke up, feeling a pain across her cheek. “Oh, my cheek.”
“I’m sorry honey, but that mouth of yours had to be controlled.” Adam stated sitting in the chair across from her.
“Why are you doing this? There has to be a reason behind all of this, not just the need to control me.”
“I have a reason.”
“Then tell me. Tell me why you are doing all of this!”
“You really want to know why?”
“Yes, I want to know.”
“I have always gotten everything I wanted and I always will.”
“So you are doing all of this for power and control?” Adam didn’t respond. “Fine, but why couldn’t you leave my family out of it?”
“Because they got in the way of what I wanted.”
“So you cut my father’s brakes because he protected me from you?”
“I’m not admitting to anything.”
“Come on Adam, I know you did it. I’m not stupid, you were the only one who hated my father that much to hurt him.”
“Alright, so I did cut your father’s brake. He got smart thinking he could tell me to stay away from you, so I took matters into my hands. I went to your father’s job, found his car and cut the brake line.”
“YOU SICK BASTARD, YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!”
“THAT WAS THE PLAN.” Adam stood up and faced her. “To let you know who had the control…me. Not your father and not you.”
“This is like a game for you. You are messing with people’s lives, don’t you care?”
Adam sat back down and smirked at her. “No, I can say I honestly don’t care.”
“BOSS! You are going to want to see this!” Adam walked over to Darrell who was watching TV.
“We have breaking news! The fiancée of Nick Carter, a member of the famous music group, The Backstreet Boys, has been kidnapped. Melissa’s picture came onto the screen. “Melissa Barnes was kidnapped on Monday evening and authorities believe this man is involved.” A picture of Adam appears on the screen. “This photo is of Melissa Barnes’ ex boyfriend, Adam O’Neil. He is suspected in other instances involving Barnes and her family. If you have any information on him or Melissa Barnes’ whereabouts, please call police. The police consider O’Neil dangerous and ask that no one approach him, instead call authorities. We will keep you update as soon as more information is available.”
“DAMN IT! Now my face is out there, its going to harder to leave!”
“What do you want to do boss?” Darrell asked.
“I need you to go back to the house. Keep up your cover; I don’t need any suspicion on you. Also keep me update on what’s going on there.”
“What about her?” Darrell and Adam looked over at her.
“I’ll handle her.”