CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

TIME IS TICKING

[ tw: various 'torture' methods used, including nudity to cause humiliation, but i want to emphasise it DOES NOT lead to sexual assault/rape, however if this is triggering to you, please don't read this chapter. If you drop a comment i'll be happy to summarise it for you or something <3 ]

Angeline's hands were trembling from where they were tied behind her back. To say she was scared would be an understatement - she was fucking terrified. Yet, pursing her lips together, the brunette girl did her best to act as though she wasn't. She'd grown up doing this in front of her manipulative asshole of a father and had gotten pretty good at it, but this was different. It was a whole other ball game.

Williams looked exactly as he did the last time Angeline had seen him when he'd approached her at the front gate of her father's home. Greying hair, and the iciest of eyes that Angeline had ever seen in her entire life. It was extremely difficult not to be intimidated. Even dressed in a suit with his hair styled to perfection, Mr Williams looked slightly rough around the edges. Like she didn't want to mess with him.

He crouched down beside her head, causing her cheeks to blaze with embarrassment. She was still on the floor from where Darcy had knocked her down, and she couldn't move an inch, her limbs tied to the seat.

Williams gave a tut. "Bruises already, Angeline," he said, "I see you haven't been cooperating very well with my daughter. I thought an old face might have made you feel a little more comfortable."

Angeline bit down on her tongue. Don't say anything, don't say anything.

"Well?" Williams huffed, "You seemed rather talkative when it was just the two of you in the room. Has a cat got your tongue now, Angeline?"

Still, the teenage girl said nothing.

"Or should I call you Angel instead, maybe? That's what your friends call you, isn't it?" Williams said as he stood up, walking around her.

Angeline was tense, her entire body stiff. She could hear his voice and his footsteps stop right behind her, but she couldn't see him. Her face held a permanent flinch, terrified that she would earn a kick to the back of the head or something even harsher to her back.

"Come on, Angel. We don't have all day," Williams said, "And I really don't want to have to get violent with you, but I will if need be. The fact that you are a teenage girl will not faze me, I hope you don't think of it as an advantage on your behalf."

Angeline gritted her teeth. It was getting harder and harder for her not to say anything. All she wanted to do was lash out at this man.

"Let me get you off of that ground. Maybe then you'll feel more... comfortable to communicate with me."

She heard a snap of the fingers and flinched hard. For a split second, Angeline had thought it was the clicking of a gun. Instead, two men stepped forwards, hands gripping either side of the chair and effortlessly lifting it so that she was sat upright again. Angeline grimaced at the pain in her head and her ribs from where Darcy had hurt her.

Angeline saw the blonde woman standing a few feet away, her arms folded across her chest as she leaned against one of the walls, just watching.

"Mila, would you say I have been treating Angeline fairly so far?" Williams asked.

Angeline almost forgot Darcy's real name. It was hard for her to refer to her as Mila in her head now.

The blonde nodded. "Very fairly, father. Perhaps too much so."

"Oh?" Williams chided, "Do you not think that I was unfair when I was forced to murder those two teenage girls? What were their names again?"

Angeline began to shake with rage. Keep quiet. This man was the real deal - Mitch had warned her about him. He'd find weaknesses in her that she didn't know existed, and he'd exploit them until he got what he wanted.

Darcy scoffed. "Kira and Sage. Something like that."

"Fuck you!" Angeline suddenly burst. "You know their names! You know their fucking names, you fucking cunt! You're a sadistic bitch and karma will have its fucking way with you -"

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and Angeline thrashed about to get it off. "Get off of me! Leave me alone! Don't touch me!"

"Ciara Watson and Paige Jones, was it?" Williams said calmly from behind her and Angeline found herself freezing, dry sobs of frustration still leaving her. "I admit it was a shame. Perhaps they really didn't know anything, but we couldn't take chances."

Angeline clenched her eyes shut and tried to ignore him.

"But after that, Mila, would you say I was unfair to send you after Mitch Rapp?" Williams asked.

Everything inside her boiled at the sound of his name leaving Williams' lips.

"Not at all, father. Angel has been being treated very fairly considering the circumstances."

Don't fucking react. She could practically hear Mitch's voice in her head, telling her to keep calm and shut up before she really did lose everything.

"I'll let you know a secret, Angel," Williams said and then leaned down dangerously close to her ear to whisper, "Mitch Rapp wasn't supposed to die."

Angeline tried her best not to choke on her cries. To not give in.

"You see, the plan was to capture the two of you. We figured torturing him in front of you would eventually get you to talk," Williams continued, "However, it seems Rapp couldn't even handle a bullet to the shoulder. He was too weak after all."

Angeline could barely constrain herself now. Her hands trembled, her entire body shaking with rage and pure agony. Not from the physical pain, but from the emotional. She missed Mitch so fucking much and a few months ago she didn't even know he existed.

"What do you think is happening to his body right now, hmm?" Williams hummed, "I mean, there will be no funeral. No family, no friends. They've probably just shoved him under the dirt and are replacing him already. Nothing but collateral damage."

Angeline remembered how he had given in and told her some bits about his family after she'd had an episode over Zimmerman. The way he admitted he had nightmares for months after, and that she was the first person to ever try and help him.

Fuck. She couldn't help him in the end. His blood was on her hands. If she'd called someone sooner, if she'd been better at stopping the bleeding or driving faster...

"Shut up!" Angeline cried, "Just shut up! Shut up!"

Darcy shook her head with a smirk. "You fell in love with him, didn't you?"

"No. I'm just not a heartless fucking arsehole like the pair of you," Angeline cussed, "You're sick and twisted and vile -"

"We don't need you to list every synonym for 'bad' that you know," Darcy hissed, "We need you to tell us the codes."

"Mila," Williams warned, "Is your interrogation time not over?"

Darcy raised her chin. "Fine," she snapped, "But, just so you know, you're going to get nowhere with this. If you want my opinion, you're gonna need to beat the information out of the bitch."

Angeline felt a sliver of fear course through her.

"Thank you for your input, Mila, but it is very much unnecessary," Williams said sternly. "Now, you can either watch silently, or leave. We will have the codes by this time tomorrow. Don't you worry."

...

"Rapp, you fucking bastard!"

Mitch groaned and rolled his eyes. He knew as soon as he saw the private number calling his burner phone who it would be.

"You left the hospital without permission, you've broken into Lewis' home, knocked out some old lady, trashed his security room, and now what? You plan on finding this girl by yourself?" Stan snapped down the phone.

Mitch glanced out of the plane window, seeing nothing but clouds as the sun began to set. The private jet that he was on belonged to an old friend of his - part of the same group of people who had gotten him weapons and a car once he had left the hospital earlier. Before the CIA, they were all he had to aid his missions. He could do it again.

"That's the plan," Mitch replied, "Since you don't plan on helping her yourself."

"I knew it. I fucking knew you'd gotten too attached for her," Stan growled at him, "Where are you right now?"

"Currently flying," Mitch said, "I'm going to New York."

"New York?" Stan repeated, "New fucking York? Who - Who do you think you are?"

"I think, sir, that I'm one of the best you've ever had, and I'm about to put my ass on the line to save this girl that you think of as nothing more than collateral damage," Mitch replied, "So, with or without your help, I'm going in there and I'm getting Angeline back. And whether I personally make it out alive with her might be down to you."

Stan sighed heavily. There was a long pause.

"Well then you're going to have the element of surprise on your side."

Mitch's eyebrows furrowed and he shifted in his seat, glancing away from the window to glare at the table a little.

"What are you talking about?" Mitch demanded.

"They think you're dead," Stan told him, "We had sources leak that a twenty-two year old male with your exact description was found dead at the scene they found Angeline Lewis."

"So they're not expecting me?" Mitch sat up straighter, feeling a little more confident than before.

"No, but they could be expecting Lewis' men, so you should still be cautious."

"You're not even going to try and make me turn my ass back around?"

Stan groaned loudly. "Look, Rapp... How many men do you need?"

...

"I've heard from my daughter that you're quite the talker," Williams said, placing the chair he had had one of his men bring to him opposite Angeline and sitting down on it. His arms rested on his thighs as he leaned forwards, closer to her. "You don't seem to do much talking today."

"I have nothing to say to you," Angeline replied instantly.

It had been half an hour since Darcy had gotten up and left, and Williams had done nothing but watch her silently. Maybe he thought that she would break under the silence, but it just gave Angeline time to dwell on how much the man in front of her had taken from Angeline. Mitch, Ciara, Paige...

Williams cracked a smile. "You sound exactly like your friend. The one with the pink hair."

Angeline could have been sick. He was talking about Ciara. Her Ciara.

"You look pale. Could I offer you something to drink? Something to eat maybe? It must have been a little while since you last consumed something substantial," Williams poked at her.

"I wonder whose fault that is."

Williams chuckled. "Well, your father's, of course. Aren't you glad you're here? His men were shooting to kill you, Angel. My men were shooting to save you."

"Save me?" Angeline scoffed loudly. "Yes, because I look pretty saved right now!"

"You're not dead, which is what you would be right now if it had been your father to catch up to you first," Williams replied hastily, "Which is one of the reasons your father and I never worked as business partners. I was too gullible in the past, and he... Your father was ruthless. So ruthless, in fact, that he is willing to kill his own daughter over this."

Angeline swallowed thickly, trying to ignore how badly those words hurt to hear out loud. She'd always known he didn't love her properly, not like a father should love his daughter, but there was always that childish hope inside of her that one day he would realise how much he cared and she'd be able to have the kind of relationship that Ciara had with her father or something.

"I am more of a family man, you see," Williams said, "My Mila is a few years older than you. Twenty-three. But she will always be my baby. I understand you weren't as close with your father?"

Angeline didn't say anything.

"He was always closer to your brother, yes?" Williams continued, standing up from his seat to walk around her chair slowly. "How furious does that make you? That they never loved you? That you've always been just... just some sort of black sheep in the family?"

Angeline bit her bottom lip and then forced a small smirk despite her fear. "Well, you see, Williams... I am rather proud to be the black sheep in that sad excuse of a family. So that tactic is not going to work on me. Tell me something I don't fucking know. I don't care about my father."

"Not even your brother?" He pondered, "You must have been close at some point in your lives. He wasn't born some sort of monster, was he?"

"He's dead to me," Angeline whispered through gritted teeth. "But keep trying. It's not going to upset me."

"You say you have your mother to live for?"

Williams smirked when he saw Angeline visibly still in her seat.

"We can easily escort her from London to New York. It will be no problem."

New York? They were in New York? She supposed it didn't really matter where she was because, at the end of the day, she was going to die here.

"Good luck," Angeline swallowed as if unfazed. "I still wouldn't say a word. I was lying before to make a fool of your daughter. Why do you think I live in California? To get away from that - that woman."

The lie pained her, especially knowing it could be the last thing she ever said about the woman who had birthed and raised and loved her more than anybody else, but it was completely necessary to keep her out of it. Angeline wished she was in London right now, curled up on the sofa with her mumma, having her hair stroked whilst they talked quietly.

"Make a fool of my Mila?" Williams chuckled, "You merely made a fool of yourself. You're nothing but a pathetic little teenage girl who finds humour in the most crude forms."

Angeline took a deep breath to contain her fury.

"That might be true," Angeline muttered, "And if that is the case, then your daughter is nothing but a pathetic old nonce who fell for my crude form of humour. And she can still suck my fucking dick."

A glint of anger washed over Williams and Angeline was grabbed by the jaw. Unlike before, Angeline couldn't force any saliva up to spit in his face, for Williams had pressed his fingers into her neck, also cutting off her air. Angeline tried not to struggle against him.

"Who are you entertaining, Angeline?" Williams hissed, "This act that you're putting on is getting you nowhere."

"I'm entertaining myself," Angeline managed to rasp, "After all, it's pretty fucking boring around here -"

She was cut off by a punch to the stomach, so sudden and piercing that she really did stop breathing for a few moments. Williams stepped back as if to admire her broken form, the way she gasped, hunched over in her seat, her arms still tangled behind her, wrists bleeding and scarred. Angeline nearly gagged at the sensation, trying her best not to cry.

Being punched by a fully grown man was definitely not the same as being punched by Darcy.

"Shall we make it more exciting then?" Williams spat, "I have various forms of torture that might get you speaking. Maybe we'll move to cutting your fingers off one by one later if this doesn't get you talking. I heard you have a phobia of vomiting?"

Amidst the fogginess in her brain as she tried to recover from the punch to her stomach, Angeline briefly wondered how on earth this man knew that, before realising Darcy must have told Williams literally everything she knew. Angeline forced a harsh glare, wishing she could at least touch her stomach and ease the hot pain in it.

"What do you think?" Williams asked, "Should I force you to throw up until there's nothing left? And then force more water down your throat so you can keep going until you tell me?"

Angeline released a bitter laugh. "Trust me, old man. I'm scared of being sick, but not scared enough to give you the fucking codes over it."

"Oh?" Williams muttered, "So I should amp it up a bit? Maybe cut straight to the finger-thing? No pun intended."

"Go fuck yourself," Angeline groaned, earning a quick smack to the side of her face.

She was pretty sure she heard something crack, her ears buzzing for a few moments, and then she realised, as the stinging sensation left, that there was warm blood trickling down the side of her face and something burned like a cut. Angeline's eyes were bleary as she straightened up, realising his ring had cut her.

"You seem rather proud of yourself," Williams hissed, "Too proud for a girl in the palm of my hands."

Angeline felt him move behind her and he began to fiddle with the ropes around her wrists, causing her heartbeat to pick up.

"Let's hope when you wake up again, some of that pride will be shed."

Something blunt hit the side of Angeline's head and she was out.

When her eyes flickered open again, Angeline was all too aware of how cold it was. She realised that she was pressed against the freezing concrete floor, no longer attached to the chair. However, her ankles and her wrists were still tied together with rope.

Lifting her cheek from the hard ground, Angeline cried out in a mixture of fear and embarrassment when she realised that she was naked. Someone had stripped her of all of her clothes when she was out, leaving her as bare as the day she was born.

So this was how Williams planned on knocking her down a peg or two. It had certainly worked already. Angeline had never felt so humiliated in her entire life, especially when her head raised a little to make eye contact with one of the security men, their eyes meeting.

Angeline immediately collapsed her head again, cries leaving her lips. No tears leaked, it was as if she was too exhausted to do so, but dry sobs heaved and she felt like being sick.

"My, my," William's voice echoed in her ears. "My daughter and I certainly left some nasty bruises."

Angeline kept her head curled towards herself, refusing to lift it and look at him. She was in pain and embarrassed.

Williams clearly didn't appreciate her lack of communication, for then she was being grabbed by the back of her hair. Angeline yelped out, glaring at the man as he held her up off the ground long enough for her to catch his smile.

"It's not taking long to break you at all, Angeline," Williams said, "Do you see how long it took me to figure out? You've spent your entire life with this ego - born rich, born beautiful, popular friends, millionaire family... I just had to knock you down a peg or two and look at you. Acting like a little crybaby."

Angeline's lips quivered and her eyes finally brimmed with tears. She shifted to hide her face even more.

"None of that," Williams said firmly.

She felt her head being grasped again but knew it wasn't him. Angeline thrashed, screaming out in fear that one of them would touch her, and she felt a bag going over her head again.

"No!" Angeline belted without thinking.

Water was chucked over her yet again, the material soaking into her mouth and nose. Angeline withered about, coughing and spluttering as bucket after bucket of icy cold water was chucked over her head. Angeline continued to sob dryly, trying to catch her breath. She was drowning again.

It must have been about forty seconds before the water finally stopped. She lay there, naked and cold, shivering in a puddle of ice. A large hand seemed to press the bag against her face, making her cry out as the last of the water soaked through her numb skin.

A kick was delivered to her back, making her groan. Angeline curled up into a ball, shivering and shaking as someone finally yanked the bag back off of her. She spat out some water that was still in her mouth, sniffling through her rosy nose.

"We'll keep doing it until you start giving us some numbers or letters, Angeline."

She closed her eyes in an attempt to ignore Williams, praying with everything inside of her that when she reopened them, she'd be somewhere else. Somewhere safer. And Mitch would be there. And so would Ciara and Paige, and her mother too...

She was cut off by another icy bucket of water being chucked over her body. Angeline's eyes snapped open and she tensed, releasing a small whimper as she felt her skin grow numb. They threw more water over her, again and again, some in her face, some over her bare body.

"T - This isn't going to work," Angeline snapped through chattering teeth. "Humiliation won't make - make me tell you anything."

The water stopped and Angeline was yanked up. She cried out at the fingers digging into the back of her neck, trying to move away from him. Williams pushed her into a sitting position against the wall and Angeline lifted her knees to try and hide as much of her body as possible from them all.

Williams lowered closer to her. "Very well then. I suppose we will have to amp it up a bit. You're a very brave girl, Angeline."

...

Three men was all Stan could afford to lend Mitch, and he hoped it would be enough. He'd spent the past hours researching as much as he could on Williams and the building that Angeline was being kept captive in. As far as he was concerned, it was a penthouse in the very centre of New York City, and that would be fairly easy to gain access to.

He just had to get in there without Williams' men getting in there first. Then, he'd have to take Angeline as far away as possible and figure out how to get the fucking chip out of the back of her neck.

If she's still alive, a voice in the back of his head reminded him, much to his dismay.

Mitch wouldn't allow himself to think like that. Angeline had to be alive because there was no way on God's earth that she would give up the codes. The Angeline that Mitch had gotten to know was stubborn and caring - she was going to persist. Mitch knew it.

When the jet landed, Mitch couldn't get off of it fast enough. With his duffel bag hauled over his shoulder, he moved to the car that Stan had waiting for him, and he threw it into the back. Sitting in the front seat, he checked the tablet device again.

Angeline's red dot still blinked at the penthouse. He stared at it for a few seconds. Just the fact that they were now in the same city again filled him with some sort of pathetic rush of hope, something Mitch wasn't used to when he went on missions. No other mission had ever felt this important and personal.

Even his first one, where he avenged his dead family. Whilst it had meant so much to him, there had been this hopelessness about the entire situation. He would get close to murdering the terrorists who had taken everything from him, and then he'd wonder if it would even make him feel better. After all, he was never going to get his mother, father, and sister back once it was over.

Once this was over, though, Mitch would have Angeline back. That felt like an even greater reward to him, though he refused to admit it.

You just feel sorry for her. It's just part of the job.

But God fucking dammit if he turned up and she was hurt, then all hell would break loose. That's when it would get fucking personal as far as he was concerned.

His phone began to ring and Mitch picked it up.

"Rapp. It's Phelps. Hayes and Larson are here too. You just landed?"

"Yeah, I'm in the car," Mitch said, "I've come up with a plan on the ride here. We'll have fifteen minutes max for me to explain it and for you to learn it and then we're going in."

"Larson reckons we should stake out for a little bit to see who comes in and out -"

"We don't have fucking time for that, Phelps," Mitch snapped, putting his seatbelt on with one hand before starting the car. "I'll be there in twenty minutes max. We'll be in there by the hour."

...

hope this chapter was okay!! as you can see i am out of my crybaby slump as of right now. let's see how long this lasts aha! i was rereading this fic last night purely for the comments because i can never really read them in my notification since everything's so chaotic and jumbled, but they were making me laugh so hard - i got rid of the 'sir' kink in the smut bc someone said that it reminded them of dobby because angeline is english and i just couldn't stop crying— and i never really liked the sir kink anyway lmao

it really made me miss writing this book so i hope this motivation stuff sticks around for me to hopefully finish it soon!!! <33

thanks sm for reading <3

word count: 4.2k

dyiansobrien.