Chapter 9 | Kidnapped

Callie's POV

Stefan's body laid sprawled on the cement floor, shackled to a post. The only sign of life escaping from him was his dull breathing, and the sight of his chest pumping up and down.

Melanie was pacing the basement anxiously watching the clock on her phone, "He should be awake any minute now, where is Chad?"

Before she had a chance to speak any further the door to the lift came open, and I could make out Chad's figure unsteadily making it's way into the basement.

He rushed on over to the stand-in sink washing the remnants of blood from his hands, "Benji shouldn't be an issue anymore. I spoke with Katherine, made it like Stefan never showed up to Georgie's tonight." His glare shot towards me, "She blames you."

His words pierced my insides as they escaped his mouth.

Melanie intervened, "Shut up Chad, this isn't her fault. We're all in this together now. In fact, you're in deeper. You murdered someone tonight."

My mind flashed to the thoughts of Benji's lifeless body laying in an alleyway somewhere, or where ever Chad had decided to dispose of him. The entire night had turned into a surreal mess. The plan Melanie and I had conspired was officially in the garbage, none of it was playing out as it should have been. I didn't take into account Benji driving Stefan to Georgie's, much less being there to pick up Stefan at a certain time. Too many factors I hadn't considered came into play, and it made things so much more overwhelming.

Melanie piled everything unnecessary into a duffle bag as time for Stefan to wake up drew nearer, "You're going to be alright, we're only going to be a few floors up." She pointed towards the camera Chad had assembled a week prior to the kidnapping, "Sound and motion sensor, if anything happens we're watching." She slung the bag over her shoulder as Jeremy and Chad filed themselves into the lift. She brought me into a quick embrace, "Kick his ass."

I gave out a slight chuckle as I watched her disappear behind the doors to the lift.

Stefan started to rustle around on the cement floor, the sound of the chains from the shackles took me away from my thoughts and I turned to face him.

He was moaning and seemed severely groggy, "Where the Hell am I?"

I walked on over to him crouching down enough to make eye contact, "Do you remember me? The mother of your unborn child."

His eyes met mine, I could see the tears beginning to fill his ducts. "What do you want from me Callie?"

"I want for you to tell me why," I jumped up and began pacing around the basement, "You dropped me like I was nothing. I was there one day, and the next I didn't exist to you."

"I had to fix my marriage Callie," he began sobbing, "I loved you, I really did. I'm sorry things ended up this way, but you can't keep me chained to this pole like a dog. What is that going to prove?"

The tension in the room grew as I paced back and forth questioning my next move. Chad wouldn't be back with the razor blades and salt for another hour, and Melanie's job was to pick up clamps and a battery while Jeremy figured up a plan to keep Katherine busy. I cradled my stomach and watched Stefan out of the corner of my eye, he did nothing but stared off into space.

"You loved me," my manuscript had begun, "You told me I satisfied you in ways she couldn't. You had lost interest in her, I could see it in your eyes. The passion was there, the electricity, and the intensification. It was all laid out there for you, you just had to make the right choice. You didn't, and I still had faith in you. Stupid me, actually thinking a baby was going to reel you back into my life. That's the problem with women these days, we believe our ability to carry children magnetizes a man to us. It's a sickening cliché." I walked over to a countertop that displayed various items including the ultrasounds I had intended to show Stefan, as means of hopefully grabbing him by his senses.

He sat there sobbing uncontrollably, "Please just let me go Callie, I'll do anything you want. Anything. If it's money you want, child support, I'll do it. I'll tell Katherine about the baby, I'll do whatever it takes. Just please, please let me go."

His words pierced through my heart, again it had always came back to her. "It'll always be her, always. You had an affair, because of her. You left me, because of her. You want me to set you free, because of her. What about me? Where does all of this leave me? A single mother raising a baby that I didn't even want, by myself. I didn't ask for this, but I'm doing it," I towered over his pathetic body, watching him squirm away from me as saliva spat out of my mouth in between words.

"Just let me go Callie," he stared at the floor unable to bring it within himself to make further eye contact, "Nobody has to know. You haven't done anything wrong, just let me go before this gets out of hand. Before you do something we both know you'll regret."

The slamming of the elevator abruptly brought my attempt at a response to a halt, I could see Chad's biceps hoisting the lift opening.

"Look what the doctor ordered," he drug in an old car battery and toted in a white plastic bag which jiggled around razor blades and clamps. After setting everything on the countertop he brought himself over to face Stefan, "Well, Buddy looks like you got yourself into a pickle. A pregnant mistress, a confused wife, and a dead driver."

Stefan's head shot up as his body started going into rages of convulsions, "If you lay a twisted finger on Katherine, I'll kill all of you myself! You're fucking crazy, you know that? Chad, you were supposed to be my friend. What are you doing?"

A sinister smirk spread across Chad's face, a sign that he was about to spill the full truth of what had happened on the night Melanie and I had ran into Jeremy purposely at the pub.

∞∞∞

Jeremy sat across from us as we filled him in with our dark plan, "It's simple, all you have to do is pour in one syringe worth of chloroform into his glass. Help us load his body into the back of Chad's Sedan and get him out of here before anyone notices. After we get rid of him, your job is to distract Katherine. They're fixing the marriage, so odds are she's going to be wondering why he hasn't came home. Chad will feed her the story that he never showed up, and it'll be golden from there."

Just as his name was brought into the mix, the crowds gathered in chatter as Chad made his way through the entrance. He made his way over to our small clique and seated himself to my right resting a single hand on my thigh, "Hey, doll face. You are looking as striking as ever."

He planted a kiss on my cheek and from the corner of my eye I could see Jeremy sending him daggers from across the table, "So this entire time you've been fucking him instead? You come here throwing yourself at me, and this is the way I'm getting treated? Yet you need my help."

"Jeremy it's not like that, you're my friend. I know you don't like Stefan just as much as anyone at this table," I motioned my hand in the directions of everyone seated, "Chad wants the firm, Melanie is about to devote her life to helping me raise Stefan's baby, and he took your girl. Don't let my relationship with Chad steer you away from giving me a helpful hand. I did you dirty, that's not fair to you, but I need your help. I can't do this alone."

Jeremy's eyes held nothing but empathy, "I'll do it, but on one condition."

I leaned forward resting my hands beneath my chin, "I'm listening."

"I want a date. A fair date. Movies and dinner," his eyes shot towards Melanie, "With her, Melanie."

Melanie surprisingly postured herself excitedly and nodded her head eagerly, "I'll actually do that."

I shrugged my shoulders, "If she's willing to go through with it, I'm more than happy to spread my blessing."

Chad slammed his hand on the table, "Now that it's squared away, Jeremy how about some alcohol over here?"

The group bursted out into unanimous laughter as Jeremy made his way back behind the bar to start delivering the shots and club soda to the table.

∞∞∞

"This entire time you were supposed to be my best friend and you've been fucking my mistress," Stefan stared at the brick wall in front of him blankly and in utter disbelief.

The smirk never left Chad's face, "I wasn't fucking her when you were, I don't swim behind my friends. After you were long gone, well, you were married. We were never friends, we were colleagues. There's no friendship in that. I don't make friends with the likes of you anyhow. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll see myself out." Chad had turned heartless but he turned to face me and the look suddenly turned into one full of lust, "Have fun, sweetheart. I'll be watching." He made his way back into the elevator hoisting the lift shut. I listened to the eery creaks and thumps it made as it made it's way up from the underground.

I fiddled with the contents in the bag: clamps, salt, lemon juice, razor blades, and a gag to muffle Stefan's screams.

He stared away in disbelief as if he knew the fate that was unfolding before him, "You want to kill me, I can't say that I blame you."

I shook my head, "I want you to feel what I feel, I want you to hurt as much as I've been hurting over you. This isn't fair and you had every chance to make things right, but instead you'd rather me have you kidnapped."

"You don't understand Callie," his eyes spelled out his begging, "You aren't married, I am. There was no easy way out for me. You can still walk away, nobody's hurt. I'll tell Katherine about the baby, I'll pay child support. I'll be in the baby's life if that's what you wish, Katherine has always wanted a baby. She will be more than happy to help."

I lunged towards him holding a razor blade to this throat, "Let's get one thing straight, I don't need Katherine or her sympathy. She will never be a mother to my child. If you say some stupid shit like that again, I promise I will slit your throat and watch you bleed out on this floor right now. Nobody dies, not today."

He watched his breathing as I put more pressure on the blade against his throat, a hairline scratch began to appear and I could make out tiny droplets of blood escaping from his his throat and onto the razor.

"If you're going to kill me just do it now," he clutched his eyes shut as if waiting for the slice.

I couldn't give him the satisfaction, "That would be too easy. The games have only just started. Sit tight Stefan, it's a bumpy road ahead."