In Andrea's attempt to help the woman, she took her over to the back seat and before she could open it up, the door flung open and she felt a sting on her neck. In the blink of an eye, there was complete darkness.
"Take the wheel," Lauren said to the man who opened the door while the man who sedated her pulled her into the car. "To the warehouse," she said and they immediately sped off.
★★★
The apartment...
"She's still not answering," Lana said, pacing around. "I shouldn't have sent the text first. She's not gonna pick. She's upset."
"Calm down love," Jackson said soothingly as he tried to console Lana, rubbing her arms. She however gave him a sharp look before moving out of his embrace. "Maybe she's not coming back right now because she's infuriated by the fact that I'm here. She probably doesn't want to come and meet me here. You could text her and tell her we're stepping out to talk. We won't be long so long as you don't want to."
"We definitely won't be long," she said with a hint of anger in her voice as she texted Andrea per his idea.
Jackson and Lana had been dating for about a year but broke up about three months ago. That happened at Jackson's birthday party. Lana claimed her parents had insisted she and Andrea go home so she wouldn't be available. Unknown to him, she intended to surprise him. She arrived at his party in his penthouse later with Andrea and met his two best friends, Roland and Jeremy.
"Thought you weren't around," Jeremy said with a soft smile.
"I wanted to surprise him," Lana said excitedly.
"I see," he said with a dimmer smile and turned to Andrea, who had nothing more than reluctance written all over her face. "And you? You don't need to say it. You were clearly dragged here," he said with a short loud laugh, mocking Andrea.
"Well smarty-pants, even a day old baby would figure that out," she said, earning a smooth sharp glare from her sister. "Oh c'mon Lana. I tried my best to seem cheerful. It's JJ's fault," she defended. Jeremy was practically the only person, aside family, Andrea really connected with without being forced to. Just before he could defend himself and counterattack Andrea, Lana interrupted.
"Where's Jackson anyways?"
"He said he wasn't feeling the party and went up to his room. I think he's just missing you so why don't you go surprise him," Roland said and immediately shifted his gaze to Andrea. "I'll keep Andrea company," he said with a smile.
"Hi Roland," Andrea said, trying hard to not make her fake smile obvious. Roland had always been clear about how into Andrea he was. She had no interest in him in that sense but what really infuriated her was the fact that he would make passes at her knowing that she knew he had a girl. It was as though he was trying to get her to be his side chick.
Lana left to go see Jackson with Andrea's eyes following. Barely a minute later, Lana came rushing out in tears. She tried to pull Andrea away but Andrea wouldn't budge. She was fuming with rage seeing her sister so devastated. Suddenly, she saw Jackson come out in just a pair of blue denim pants with his belt unbuckled and his blonde hair in a mess, calling out to Lana.
"Andrea I said let's go!" she yelled. Andrea couldn't get her eyes of the approaching man. As a matter of fact, no one could.
Just before Jackson could hold Lana's hand, Andrea stepped between them and held his hand, yanking it aside before pushing him away with so much force. He fell to the ground immediately. After struggling to get back on his feet, Roland moved over to help him but Andrea pulled him away in an instant and landed a resounding punch on Jackson's face. Immediately, Jeremy lifted Andrea with his arms wrapped around her waist from the back.
"Let me go Jeremy," she struggled, "I always knew he was no good. You Jackson are nothing but garbage."
"What's wrong with you? Huh?" Jackson asked wiping the blood coming out of his nose. Andrea saw Lana make a move and was sure she was about to help him. A sharp glare from Andrea's side eye was enough to warn her against it. "You don't even know what's going on," he said and Andrea begged Jeremy undertone to let her go which he did with reluctance. "Lana let's talk things out. It's..."
"Don't you bloody play her emotions bastard!"
"Please stay out of this Andrea. This has nothing to do with you," he said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Ha!" she feigned amusement and slowly got closer and closer to him, making sure she was right in front of him. "Nothing to do with me, huh?! Huh?! You think it takes a genius to know that the tramp descending the stairs quietly, like a thief, just got out from your bed after what, how many rounds punk?!" she yelled and suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper, through gritted teeth, "Well I bet you have a poor memory so I'll remind you. I warned you Jackson, that I would pretend I believed you made a move on me only because you were drunk...but if you dared to hurt my sister, most especially by cheating on her, you'd regret it." In the blink of an eye, she struck his nuts with her knee and punched him on the other side of his face just before Jeremy could carry her away.
Ever since then, Jackson, during and after treatment, had been trying to apologize to Lana and get back with her but she had pushed him away.
★★★
The warehouse...
After about two hours, the bucket of very cold water was poured on Andrea. Waking up with a fright, she opened her eyes to find herself in a dimly lit room. There were three muscular men and a woman in a pair of black boot heels wearing a white long sleeve blouse and blue denim pants with her black long hair held in a neat ponytail.
"It's about time you woke up Andrea Cabrera," Lauren said and threw the bucket aside.
"Wh-Who are y-you?" she stuttered, shivering.
"Before I explain anything to you, I'd love to have some fun," Lauren said with a giggle. "Hang her. I'll be right back," she commanded the men and left.
"Who on Earth is she?" one man asked.
"I have no idea but I feel sorry for her. She offered to help when she thought Lauren was having an attack. I would have thought she was an enemy of Lauren herself and not the Boss. But if she was, she would have noticed been weary of her," another man said.
"Maybe she's not aware she harmed her or the Boss. This doesn't seem right. Arnold told us we were to get the place ready. He didn't tell us to do anything to anyone. That order came from her. What if the Boss is not okay with this? We won't have his protection against the law then," the first man said.
"Just obey orders. She's the boss's favorite after all. You don't want to get her mad. Besides, this is the first woman we get to deal with. It just might be fun," the third man said, staring at the shivering woman deviously.
The first guy excused himself. He took his phone and placed a call to their leader, Arnold, informing him of all that was going on. Arnold had no idea about it which was unusual and told him to delay things until he got back to him. After the call, he returned to the room and found Andrea shivering and hanging by her hands. The ropes were old and hard. The little broken strings of the rope were sharp and piercing her delicate skin. The air-conditioners surrounding the were on and on full blast. She could die of the cold in the those soaking wet clothes.
"I'm back Andrea," Lauren said walking into the room swinging a baseball bat. "Now," she said with a satisfied smile, "let's play."
"Who...the hell...are you?" Andrea asked, still shivering.
"W-What did you say?" she asked quite amused as she lifted the bat. "You better watch your mouth!" Lauren said through gritted teeth and struck her ribs with the bat. Andrea groaned in pain.
"You seem very confident you'll get away with this. Do you work for Antonio?" she asked trying to hold back the pain.
"Don't speak his name with your filthy mouth," Lauren said angrily and struck her a few more times.
"Miss," the first man, Dan said.
"What?! Do you also want to get into trouble with the boss?" she said angrily. She could tell her authority was being questioned. The man stood back in silence. After all, Arnold hadn't said anything yet. Lauren beat Andrea up with the bat, striking her stomach, ribs, back and the shins of her legs.
"I haven't touched your pathetic little face because I know you're a YouTuber. You should have stuck with your little computer rather than making such an enemy for yourself," Lauren said.
"Is that enemy Antonio or jealous you," Andrea forced to say while she groaned in pain and coughed out blood.
Lauren struck her one more time and ordered the men to fix her back into the seat, this time, binding her hands to the chair with handcuffs. She ordered that the water hose kept at the corner of the room be brought to her with a towel. Lauren picked up the ropes previously used to bind Andrea's hands to the seat. She fixed them around Andrea's neck and began to squeezing it hard, till her face would turn crimson. Andrea could hold back no more. The tears began to flow as she coughed hard, drops of blood accompanying. Lauren repeated this and laughed hard at Andrea's expression. Almost passing out, she looked up at her and could tell from the look in her eyes that Lauren hated her.
"If you're going to kill me, do it already," Andrea said weakly.
"Don't be silly dummy. You'll have to relay a message to your boss for mine."
Andrea was confused and suddenly she thought that Lauren mistook her for someone else. "My boss? You've got the wrong per..."
"That's what they all say," Lauren said with a chuckle. She yelled at the men to hand over the water hose and towel. Dan, who held the hose and towel, and Norman, the second man, looked at each other questioningly. Eric, the third, simply snatched the hose and towel and handed it over.
"I'm not the one you're looking for," Andrea struggled to voice out.
"Shut the heck up," she said and placed the towel over Andrea's face. "Turn it on," Lauren ordered and immediately, Eric turned the tap, allowing the water to flow through the hose. Andrea began struggling aggressively as the water soaked the towel, making it impossible for her to breathe. The handcuffs started to mark her wrists. It looked like they would cut through her skin anytime soon.
Dan, who still felt very uneasy about things took out his phone to see if he had received any message from Arnold. Suddenly, the empty bars indicating no service available reminded him that the room was without reception. He immediately rushed out and placed a call to Arnold.
"Boss?"
"Where the f*** have you been?! Did you do as I said?!"
"S-Sorry boss. I don't know what you're talking about," Dan said worriedly.
"You were in the room. That means she's being tortured," Arnold said and facepalmed himself so hard that Dan could hear. Suddenly, he heard muffling. "Oh goodness. Antonio will be there any minute now. If he finds her in a bad state, you're all dead because he's furious. He never made any orders of that sort and she's definitely not a target. You need to stop Lauren if you can. If he's already there, get away. I'm on my way."
Immediately he spoke those words, he hung up. Dan gulped hard, in fear of what could happen next. He opened the door to the room and spotted Andrea in a seat, hanging over the huge pool that was behind her. They were going to drop her in and pull her out with the old lever that hadn't been used in ages. It could collapse any second now.
"Miss, you need to stop this. The..." Before Dan could complete his statement, Eric flipped the switch and Andrea dropped into the water, still bonded to the chair. At that very moment, the other door flew open, almost coming off, startling everyone in the room.
"Boss!"