"You look pretty tired," Tony teased, as Lalie sat by the door.
"Don't even start with me," Lalie warned him in a somewhat joking tone before getting up.
Tony ran his fingers through his brown curly hair, which seemed to complement his hazel eyes. He watched Lalie walk to the other side of the room. "About earlier," he broke the silence as Lalie looked at him. "I hope you're not mad that I didn't wake you up."
"Don't worry about it," Lalie assured him. "That was the best sleep I've had since being locked up in this place."
"I guess it wasn't as bad as you made it out to be then," Tony figured, standing up and brushing off his legs.
"You could be right," Lalie told him, not giving a definite answer. "Look, I know we didn't start out as friends-" she began to say, only to get cut off by Tony.
"We didn't?" Tony asked. "I felt that friendly feeling from the moment you tried to stab me with that knife!"
"You'll never let me forget about that!" Lalie told him as a smile unknowingly formed on her face. "I wouldn't have gone through with that," she admitted. "You did run the side of that knife against my cheek, though," Lalie reminded him as Tony shrugged. "Let me finish what I wanted to say now."
"By all means," Tony encouraged.
"I know we didn't start out as friends," Lalie started again. "After all, you kidnapped me, but I know you wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for Marcia," she figured. "I think we understand each other a little better now and, hopefully, we can put aside what happened in the past so we can try and figure out just how to get out of here."
A depressed look grew on Tony's face. "The only way out of here is through that door," he pointed out. "And that door is locked from the outside."
Lalie tried not to be dismayed by what Tony said but she stared blankly at the door. She knew there was no way that they could get on the other side of the door with the outside lock on it.
Any remaining sunlight had been overtaken by the darkness of the night sky as Marcia parked her rental car next to the mansion's front gate. She glanced towards the backseat to make sure it was ready for her occupants.
As Marcia stepped out of her rental car and made her way up the path, which was now completely blanketed with overgrown vines, a car with no headlights rolled up the street and parked behind her rental car.
Maneuvering her way through the darkness, Marcia slipped through the back entrance and left the door open so that she could bring Lalie and Tony out.
The person in the car stepped out and silently trailed Marcia to the back door. "I can't believe I'm really here," the person muttered, continuing to keep her distance from Marcia, but following her every move.
Marcia knew exactly where she was headed. She knew that within a short while, the mansion would be deserted and Lalie and Tony would be moved to International Falls.
"You're right," Lalie began, looking at the door. "There isn't one way out of here."
"At least people are looking for you," Tony told her. "No one is bothering to look for me."
"That's not true," Lalie softly told him, walking over to him and rubbing his arm. "I'm sure your two brothers and one sister are worried sick about you."
"They probably don't even know that I'm missing," Tony replied in a serious tone. "Give them a year to figure it out."
"Tony," Lalie started in a polite tone. "They're out there and they want to bring you home."
"Where is home?" Tony asked her. "I wonder what stories Marcia told Kevin about you."
"It doesn't matter," Lalie confidently replied. "My parents and sister know that I wouldn't leave them without saying anything. They're probably here right now," she stated. "Tony," she started to say.
"About Tony," he interrupted her but then stopped abruptly. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Lalie wanted to know, looking concerned.
"That noise," Tony replied, hastily walking over to the door. "It sounded like footsteps were making their way to the door."
Different emotions were going through Lalie's body when he said that. Happiness, fear and anger were the most common. "Oh, my God, do you think Marcia is on the other side of that door?"
Tony put his hand up to signal her to be quiet as he leaned his ear against the door to hear what was going on.
The person who was following Marcia hid behind a corner as a whistling Marcia walked up to the door with her flashlight. Marcia looked over to the left and squinted her eyes. She bent down and picked up whatever she saw and put her hand on the latch.
"Oh, my God," the person muttered in disbelief, occasionally glancing around the corner to see what Marcia was doing.
Marcia continued to whistle as she removed the latch from the door and slowly opened the door.
"There are my two happy campers," Marcia announced with a smile, looking at Lalie and Tony standing side by side on the other side of the room.
"What do you want, Marcia?" Lalie simply asked her, anger was apparent in her tone.
"I have good news and bad news," Marcia let them know, putting her hand under her chin in thought.
"What the hell, let's hear the bad news," Tony told her, watching Marcia walk closer into the room.
"I want you to hear the good news first," Marcia told him. "Why?" she asked. "Because I said so!" she answered her own question with an evil cackle.
Lalie held onto Tony's sleeve as Marcia cackled at her own joke. "What has gotten into you?" Lalie muttered in a scared tone.
Marcia ignored Lalie's question as she began to tell them what she needed to. "The good news," she began. "You will be getting out of here in a few minutes. You will finally feel the fresh air touching your skin again."
Lalie let go of Tony's sleeve as a smile appeared on her face, but Tony still looked suspicious.
"The bad news," Marcia continued. "I'm taking you to a new place tonight where no one will find you."
Lalie hung her head in sadness as Tony held onto her before she fainted.
"There, there, Lalie," Marcia tormented her in a fake comforting tone as she walked over to the door and grabbed what she picked up in the hall. "Look what you're getting back."
Lalie lifted her head from Tony's chest and looked over to see Marcia holding her keys and purse. "Thank God for that," Lalie muttered, walking over and forcefully grabbing her belongings off Marcia. "Wait a minute," she paused. "These are only my house keys and my home car keys. Where the hell are my rental car keys, and better yet… where's the car?"
"It's outside on the curb," Marcia replied.
Lalie couldn't believe it. "You mean, it's been outside the whole time and no one has seen it there?!"
"Remember when I said the rental car was taken care of?" Tony chimed in, looking embarrassed that he ever had a part in this.
Lalie turned around and asked, "Yes?"
"While you were passed out, I brought it back to the place where you originally got the car," Tony began to explain. "Marcia met me there and she signed your name on the paper saying that you were returning it early."
"And when I picked up my new rental car before, it just so happened that they gave me the same car that you had. Same license plate number," Marcia explained.
Lalie shook her head in disbelief at Marcia. "Now you're forging signatures?"
"That wasn't the only time," Marcia began with a smirk. "I wrote a letter and gave it to Kevin, saying that you left town with an old college lover. I'm so glad our penmanship is so similar!"
"You what?" Lalie screamed, standing directly in front of Marcia. "How could you?"
"I figured it should be easy to trick Kevin after the schemes your money-hungry sister was able to pull off," Marcia giggled. "Let's just say, Kevin and James are now competing for Georgia Caldwell's affections. I think Kevin is winning," she winked.
Lalie grabbed Marcia's hair and hit her in the shoulder, and Marcia fell to the ground. Marcia kicked Lalie in the knee as Marcia grabbed onto Lalie's shirt.
"You two!" Tony shouted out as he tried to pull Lalie off from Marcia.
Lalie stood up and brushed herself off as Marcia stood there and tried to fix her hair.
Marcia grabbed both Tony and Lalie by their arms and prepared to lead them out to the rental car. "I'm more than ready to move you guys."
"Freeze!" a voice shouted, standing in the doorway.
Lalie and Tony looked on in relief, astonishment and happiness as Marcia, still with her grasp on Lalie and Tony, looked at the woman in uniform pointing a gun straight into the room, with a look of defeat in her eyes.
"Officer Adelyn Brady," she introduced herself to Lalie and Tony, her eyes focusing on Lalie. "You must be Lalie, I've heard a lot about you," she said as her eyes traveled to Tony and then stopped. "Oh, my God," she whispered to herself, still looking at Tony.
Chapter 26
Non-Nsync {Fiction}
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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