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[closed - Caden]
Over the past month, the list of people April has kept in touch with has been very small. She talks to Caden the most, followed by Coop and then her father, though she's really only texted Robert twice, mostly just to let him know she's still alive. If she decides not to return to Siren Cove, she isn't sure what she's going to do. Keeping in touch with him seems like it's the right thing, but when it comes to family, April has no idea if the right thing is always the best thing. Maybe it would make more sense to just cut her losses and get out of Siren Cove for good.
Caden can travel, clearly. He has money, he has a house in California, he's no more tied to the town than she is. And since he isn't, there's really nothing keeping her there. Nothing except maybe Coop and her father. And maybe Les, even if she hates to admit it even to herself.
That's what she's thinking about when she enters her hotel room that afternoon. She's thinking about family and people she's allowed into her life. She's thinking about packing and about maybe heading to California for a little while before going home. (Is it home? The label scares her a little.) She's thinking about these things and she's distracted, it's the only reason she doesn't immediately notice that there's someone else in her room.
He hits her hard enough to knock her out.
The next two days are a bit of a blur.
They don't hurt her, not at first. They just want their money, same as before, only without Les here, without Lara, she's in a bit of a bind. They're different sirens this time, less prone toward brute force and more likely to find what they're looking for just by being thorough. They go through her belongings, looking for something that indicates where she might be storing the money from her mother's estate, but April doesn't keep anything in her real name. All her assets are held in banks across the world under various identities and the only account under April Ross has sixteen thousand dollars in it. Not bad, but not enough.
They go through her phone, whisper amongst each other, then send someone a text. When she asks who they're trying to communicate with, she's hit again, so hard that her head rocks back against the chair they've tied her to, and she keeps her mouth shut after that. She isn't afraid, not exactly, but she doesn't know how she's going to get out of this. Not this time. The only real solution seems to be to pay them off, but she hates the idea of tipping them off to what she's really worth.
"Maybe her boyfriend will be more interested in paying off her mother's debt if he sees he bruises," one of them says and snaps a picture of April on her phone.
She laughs. "If you're texting Les, you're out of luck."
"Not him. The rich one. The writer."
And something in her chest seizes. She doesn't want Caden involved, not in any of this, but they send the text with the picture of her, bruised and tied to a chair, and she isn't sure there's anything else she can do but wait.
Caden can travel, clearly. He has money, he has a house in California, he's no more tied to the town than she is. And since he isn't, there's really nothing keeping her there. Nothing except maybe Coop and her father. And maybe Les, even if she hates to admit it even to herself.
That's what she's thinking about when she enters her hotel room that afternoon. She's thinking about family and people she's allowed into her life. She's thinking about packing and about maybe heading to California for a little while before going home. (Is it home? The label scares her a little.) She's thinking about these things and she's distracted, it's the only reason she doesn't immediately notice that there's someone else in her room.
He hits her hard enough to knock her out.
The next two days are a bit of a blur.
They don't hurt her, not at first. They just want their money, same as before, only without Les here, without Lara, she's in a bit of a bind. They're different sirens this time, less prone toward brute force and more likely to find what they're looking for just by being thorough. They go through her belongings, looking for something that indicates where she might be storing the money from her mother's estate, but April doesn't keep anything in her real name. All her assets are held in banks across the world under various identities and the only account under April Ross has sixteen thousand dollars in it. Not bad, but not enough.
They go through her phone, whisper amongst each other, then send someone a text. When she asks who they're trying to communicate with, she's hit again, so hard that her head rocks back against the chair they've tied her to, and she keeps her mouth shut after that. She isn't afraid, not exactly, but she doesn't know how she's going to get out of this. Not this time. The only real solution seems to be to pay them off, but she hates the idea of tipping them off to what she's really worth.
"Maybe her boyfriend will be more interested in paying off her mother's debt if he sees he bruises," one of them says and snaps a picture of April on her phone.
She laughs. "If you're texting Les, you're out of luck."
"Not him. The rich one. The writer."
And something in her chest seizes. She doesn't want Caden involved, not in any of this, but they send the text with the picture of her, bruised and tied to a chair, and she isn't sure there's anything else she can do but wait.