One Year to Live: I Traded My Toxic Family for Global Fame novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Warehouse

The dark lasted only a moment, and a hand closed around Tegan's arm in the middle of it.

She heard a woman's gasp from the stage and a chair go over.

Then a sack came down over her head, and her feet left the floor.

She did not fight.

She had practiced not fighting in her head for a year, and she kept her chin down and her mouth closed and the microphone against her collar.

Doors banged.

Cold air hit her through the sack, and somebody put her down on concrete.

Someone cut the sack off with a knife.

She was sitting on a wet floor in a small, high room with painted-over windows.

There was a floor drain by her left boot.

The steel door behind the men had been painted blue.

Camille sat against the opposite wall, in her white gown, with a strip of tape across her wrists that she had arranged herself.

"Gentlemen," Camille said, in a clear voice. "Please make this quick."

The thin man coughed into his fist.

"Two of them is two prices," he said.

"I told you there might be two." Camille adjusted her skirt. "Leave her tied and leave her alone. A rescue team arrives at twelve fifteen. I told you."

The thick man crouched in front of Tegan and zip-tied her wrists.

He did not look at her face.

The two men went to the door and stood there, whispering.

Camille let her head fall back against the wall.

"You can't help yourself, can you, Birdie," she said softly. "You walked right in. You were supposed to stay at the table."

"You asked me to promise."

"I asked you to promise so you would sit where nothing could reach you." She shut her eyes. "Do you know how many times I did this in my head? Every night. I'd fix the plan. Fewer men, shorter time, no knife. This time I would hold your hand while it happened."

← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend