I screamed in pain from the whip Rowen was beating me with, failing to shield myself with my weak arms. With every strike, the knife on the end of the tool sliced into my back. Despite my agony, Rowen didn't relent. He slapped the whip over my back again and again, laughing when I finally collapsed onto my knees.

As I lay writhing on the floor, he crouched close. "Still got that bite in you?" he asked, licking the cut on his lip.

I did my best to glare, but I don't think he could tell. My face was so messed up from the beatings, I doubted anyone would've recognized me. Hell, when I glanced in the mirror, I didn't even recognize me.

"Hey, eyes here," Rowen said, tapping my cheek. I looked at him again and he frowned. "I'm going to start teaching you discipline, and you're going to learn every lesson I teach when I teach it, do you understand?"

I wanted to spit on him, shove him away, grab at his hair and tug until he bled the same way he tugged at mine when I tried to crawl away. I almost didn't care what the consequences would be. What's one more bruise, or a dozen? But I already hurt so bad... My body was already trembling so much from just this lesson, I didn't know if I could take another.

"Don't look so glum," Rowen said. "Maybe I'll even show you off to Cliff when I'm done with you. He would want to see you smiling, wouldn't he?"

Suddenly, an alarm went off, three short beeps, and Rowen straightened.

"What's that?" I croaked.

I received a scowl from Rowen for speaking, but he didn't hit me again, so I took it I wasn't his top priority. He pulled a remote out of his pocket and switched on a TV hanging in the corner. "You watch," he said, and left the room.

The image on the screen was of a living room, but aside from Rowen walking through and disappearing into a hallway, there was nothing else. I was staring at the TV as I waited to see whatever it was he wanted me to watch when I heard a voice come through speakers I I hadn't known were there. 

"I wasn't expecting you," Rowen said, reentering the living room. Someone entered behind him and my eyes widened. 

"Where is he?" Cliff growled, looking angrier than I had ever seen him.

"I'm in here," I whispered. Then, with more volume, "I'm in here!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. He who?" Rowen asked innocently.

"Zane. Where is Zane?" Cliff demanded, he eyed the rest of the room with a heated gaze.

"Whoa," Rowen said, putting his hands up in defense. He looked genuinely concerned. "Calm down, just talk to me. He's not at your place?"

I crawled to the center of the room to see the TV better, yelling to be heard from my solitary prison. When Cliff still couldn't hear me, I struggled to my feet and stumbled to the door. I banged my fists on the metal."Cliff, I'm in here!"

I looked between the TV and the door, hoping Cliff could hear me, but my hopes soon fizzled. After Cliff stalked about the room, even coming close to the camera at one point, he seemed to deflate. "Sorry," he said. "I guess I overreacted..."

My hopes of a rescue plummeted. "No... No! Don't listen to him! He's lying! I'm here!" I yanked on the door desperately as a knot formed in my throat. No matter how horrible Cliff was or had been, he was a saint compared to this man and I was willing to go back if only to get away from Rowen. However, no matter how loud I shouted or how hard I pulled, Cliff did not hear me and the door did not open. I was forced to watch as Rowen comforted Cliff with an arm around his shoulders as he lead him back towards the front door. 

"It'll be alright. Do you want me to come over to help you look for him," Rowen asked. That was the last thing I heard before they got too far away and I was left in silence once more. I sank to my knees, eyes wide with despair. He hadn't heard me.

I was wallowing in self pity for only a minute or two when the door opened and Rowen grinned down at me. I crawled backwards away from him as he shut the door and leaned on it. "Enjoy the show?" he asked. I glared at him and he chuckled. "Cliff wasn't wrong when he said you had guts."

"And he wasn't wrong when he said you were a raging sociopath," I spat back.

Rowen's face shifted from amusement to anger, but he didn't react. He switched the TV off. "I have some errands to run, but I'll be back," he said. "Why don't you get to know your roommates. You'll be friends in no time, I'm sure."

As I lifted my eyes in the direction he pointed, my stomach churned. With that, Rowen left and I found myself shivering in the dim light of the barren room. I looked at the TV screen, hoping to see something, but it remained resolutely blank, and before I knew it, I felt angry tears slipping down my cheeks. He wouldn't break me, I vowed as my shoulders shook. If it was to be anyone, it wouldn't be him.

*******

Cliff drove home in silence, devising a plan in the far reaches of his mind. He knew Zane was in that house, but he also knew he couldn't win against Rowen if it came down to a fight. Rowen had taught Cliff everything he knew, and there were still things Cliff was practicing. Rowen would've squashed him like a bug.

As Cliff drew closer to the house, however, he was distracted from his thoughts by the sight of a car parked in the drive and the front door standing wide open. Cliff was not in the mood for this shit. He parked and stormed up to the house in a fury. "Excuse me! What the hell are you doing in my house at this time of the morning?" Cliff asked the same two FBI agents that had bothered him the first time. They were standing in his living room while several other people prowled about his home. "How did you even get in?"

The older agent, Sam, turned to him. "We have a warrant to search you house, Mr. Dine. We would've have waited for you to return, but we weren't sure when you would be back."

Cliff scowled. "Didn't you do that last time you were here? What are you looking for?" he asked. "Maybe I could help you find it faster, if you would just tell me."

Without blinking an eye, agent James held up a picture of Zane. "We're looking for this boy. Have you seen him?" he asked.

Cliff took a very short glance at the photo. "He was on the news," he said. "I haven't seen him around here, though."

The agents looked at each other like they were trying to decide if Cliff was lying or not. The looks on their faces said Cliff didn't have the benefit of the doubt.

"You can look around," Cliff said, waving an arm to the rest of the house. "As you'll find, like you found before, he isn't here. I just wish you had come at a better time."

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Dine?" Sam asked, crossing his arms.

"I just got home from a long shift and I'm tired," Cliff said. It took all of his willpower and sanity not to ring the man's neck. Still, he couldn't help but glower at the unwelcome guests.

"Where do you work?" Sam questioned.

"I'm a nurse at the hospital down the road," Cliff replied.

They seemed satisfied with Cliff's answers, so Cliff asked them to at least keep it down, and he walked to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. They meticulously searched the entire house from top to bottom with a fine-toothed comb; however, because of Zane's reluctance to grow close to Cliff, the brooding homeowner wasn't surprised when they found absolutely nothing. He was surprised, however, when they proceeded to ask if they could look around the property. With a grumble, Cliff told them to go right ahead and moved to the back patio to watch. His land was pretty big, so he didn't expect them to go over all of it, but they did, and it took an unpleasant four hours.

By the time their search came to an end, Cliff was happy to all but shove them out the door and slam it behind them. With a deep, exasperated sigh, Cliff walked back into the kitchen. It was past 9:00am. Wonderful, Cliff fumed. He had wasted an entire morning.

*******

"Looks here like he's telling the truth about the hospital," James said, fiddling around on a tablet in the passenger seat. "He works late shifts every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday."

Sam grunted, only half listening. 

"What time did he show up at the house?" James asked.

Sam turned on his signal to get over. "About 5:00. Why?"

"Because it says here that his shift ends at 3:00am," James informed his partner. They looked at each other as James began to spell it out. "If it's a fifteen minute drive and he got home at 5:00am..."

"Where was he for the other hour and a half?" Sam finished for him.

"We should ask at the hospital, see if he stayed later than his shift time," James said.

Sam nodded and turned down the road leading to the hospital. When they got there, they asked different nurses and docters what time their suspect left the building, but they all said the same thing: Clifford Dine left the hospital at 3:00am on the dot and didn't return at any time for any reason.

After thanking the hospital staff for their time, the two agents left. "There is something about that man that's bugging me," Sam said as they drove. "Both times we've spoken to him, he's been in a hurry for something. Almost as if he has somewhere else to be."

James thought hard for a long few seconds. Then he snapped his fingers. "I bet I have it," he said. "He doesn't have Zane at the house. He has him somewhere else."

*******

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