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EVELYN TRUDGED UP THE STAIRS of her apartment building. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying the whole way home. She stopped in front of her door for a moment and prayed for a way to ease her pain. She shook her head softly. Nothing but time will help her. She then unlocked the door and swung it open slowly. She had been a bit paranoid after the previous break-in.

She stood in the entryway silently examining the entire dark apartment. Her bag gradually fell off her shoulders before she threw it across the room in anger. She didn't even flinch nor care when the bag knocked the lamp off the end table shattering into a million pieces on the wooden floor. If she wasn't so broken, she would've admitted that it felt a bit good. She understood now why people say that throwing and breaking things is a good stress relief and way to release anger. But unfortunately, the brief solace she had felt wasn't enough to ease her pain. The only thing—the only one—who could heal her pain was the person who broke her.

Evelyn walked over to the kitchen hoping that she could drown all her sorrows in caffeine for the night. She reached up on her tippy toes and turned on the light above the stove. She watched the coffee slowly made its way into the pot as she felt her eyes sting once more. And here she thought she was all out of tears. She leaned forward on the counter then brought a hand to her mouth. Her eyes squeezed shut as a sob escaped her lips. Evelyn's legs had grown weak as slowly fell to her knees. Her back rested against the cabinet as she sobbed.

Her phone vibrated from the inside of her jacket pocket, and Evelyn wiped her cheeks free from tears. She sighed as she dug blindly for the noisy device. Her hand found the cool surface and she pulled it up to her face. And due to her current foggy mental state, she answered the call without checking caller ID. Her first mistake.

"Hello?" She answered. Her voice was scratchy from all her crying.

"Evelyn..." she straightened up her posture. She felt her face tensed up at the sound of his voice. She hated this man with a fiery passion.

"What the hell do you want?" She snarled at him, and she heard a chuckle on the other line. She didn't want to deal with him right now. She was so angry at him, herself, and the world. She didn't have enough energy nor the patience to listen to his threats.

"I'm calling to check on your progress. Did you convince my son?" Lewis asked.

"What do you think?" She asked him sarcastically. "Maybe, if you didn't drill into your son's head that he wasn't worth receiving love from another person, then maybe you'd have what you wanted, or maybe if you were overall a decent human being or a good father, then maybe you wouldn't need my help? Maybe, your son would actually want to be around you? Maybe, he would actually want to help you?"

"Listen here-" he warned coldly.

"No, you shut up and listen! I had enough with people thinking that they can walk all over me or thinking I'm spineless cause I was an orphan or because I have morals. I'm over you and your bullshit. You think you can break into my home, and threaten me into doing your bidding because you're too much of coward to face your son? You can't even get him to speak to you without enforcing violence just like you can't even do a simple job without his help." She spat venomously.

"It's funny, you spent all of Leonard's life teaching him to be a criminal, and yet he bettered you. You had him believe that he will always need you, yet here you are desperate for his help because you can't even accomplish a simple thieving job on your own. Even I was capable of that even before I met Leonard. The truth is Lewis, it's you that's nothing. You're not worthy of love of any kind let alone the love of your children. Leonard is fine without you. It's you who will always need him. You're nothing without Leo." Evelyn chuckled humorously at the irony.

There was silence on the other line briefly, although she could still hear his breathing. "I really hoped that this would work out , because I know how much my son loves you. But you just have to be so difficult." He told her in mock disappointment, and she suddenly felt uneasy.

Evelyn slowly walked over to the entryway. The door was closed shut. Everything was exactly how she left it. She froze in spot when she felt the presence of another directly behind her. She closed her eyes momentarily to recollect herself then spun around quickly catching the wrist of one of Lewis's goons. She eyed the needle in the man's hand that was filled with an unknown substance. All of the things Leo had taught her back in the day all came rushing back and kicked in like it was just yesterday. Evelyn twisted the man's arm and he released an agonizing yell.

She bolted for the front door when the man got a hold of himself and lunged for her. Evelyn screamed as the man roughly gripped her shoulders and threw her backward away from the door. He panted as he towered over her. His chest rose and fell on a steady pattern as he tried to catch his breath.

Evelyn crawled toward her phone that flew out of her hand. Her hand hovered over the device when she saw from her peripheral vision the man pick up the needle from the floor. She instead reached for a shard from the broken lamp that lay in a mess before her. She held it tightly to her hand as she waited for the right time. The man went to stab her with the needle when Evelyn swiftly turned around and jabbed the shard straight into the man's hand.

"You bitch!" The main screamed out in pain as he dropped the needle. He glanced down at his hand in shock. The shard of glass tore right through his hand as if it was paper. Evelyn quickly lunged for her phone and rose to her feet. She felt her heart pounding against its cage as she dialed Leonard's number.

"Come on. Come on. Leonard, please, pick up." She whispered as she tried to make a break for the door.

She unexpectedly felt her muscles tightening painfully as the man stabbed her in her neck with the needle. She collapsed to the floor crying as she felt the unknown substance course through her veins. Her head suddenly felt heavy. Her vision went in and out of focus until her eyelids slowly shut all together. The last thing she remembered was Leonard's soft voice sounding far away before she was engulfed in darkness.

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Her head was pounding furiously. She pried opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was still a bit off. Evelyn attempted to get her eyes to focus on the wall in front of her, and after a short while her sight returned to normal. She glanced around her current surroundings trying to figure out where the hell she was. The room was huge. It looked as if it went on for miles. The walls were a plain white color, and the floor matched in style with its boring grey tiles. The room was piled high to the ceiling with boxes scattered around the area.

"Ah, you're awake." Lewis said as he walked over to her. Evelyn jolted upward at his sudden appearance only for her to be tugged back down. Her sight casted downward to find her wrists tied to the arms of the wooden chair. She emitted a growl. If looks could kill, Lewis would be dead.

"What do you think you're doing?" Evelyn hissed. "Untie me, now!"

"I can't do that. You see, I need you. I need to show my son that I'm no longer playing around. And since you failed to complete your end..." Lewis trailed off with a shrug.

Evelyn huffed at his absurd reasoning for kidnapping her. She was being used as bait. The feminist in her was fuming at the thought. She really didn't want to be a damsel, but until she finds a flaw in their plan and can find a way out on her own; she's gonna have to wait for Leonard to get here.

"It's pointless, Evelyn." Lewis said with an amused smile as he watched her try to free herself from the rope that bounded her to the chair.

"Just do everyone a favor and shut up!" Evelyn snarled at him. She kept forcefully yanking her wrists upward in attempt to loosen the ropes to the point where she could slip her hands out, but it wasn't working as fast as she hoped.

"Now, I can see why my son has a thing for you." Lewis told her. He chuckled darkly as he slowly walked toward her. "You're smart, fierce, a good thief...." He stopped directly in front of her, and Evelyn froze her movements.

Not wanting to look at him, she glanced at his shoes. He then roughly grabbed her chin, and forced her to look up at him. He stared down at her, and he could make out the hatred in her eyes. He loved every minute of it. "Beautiful." She yanked her head out of his grip.

"Touch me again, and I swear.... I'll kill you myself!" She threatened him coldly to the point where she didn't even recognize her own voice.

"I'd like to see you try." He countered with a smirk. Evelyn wasted no time and spat in his face. Lewis's smile vanished as he wiped the spit off his face in disgust. "If you want to live to see another day, I suggest you get an attitude adjustment." He threatened her through gritted teeth. He glared at her momentarily then stormed off.

Evelyn watched his retreating figure carefully until he was gone. She then checked her surroundings throughly one more time. Evelyn's eyes fluttered shut momentarily as she inhaled a deep breath. She leaned to her right as far as she could so that the chair was leaning on one of its legs. "Alright, Evelyn. If we do this right, we can do it on the first try." She whispered to herself. She exhaled then swung herself to her left, and the chair fell sideways, shattering the moment it made contact with floor.

Evelyn winced as lowly as she could. She pushed herself up to her knees. She rubbed her left arm though that didn't cease the burning sensation running all up and down the left side of her body. She quickly stumbled toward the exit of the warehouse the best she could. Her body forbid her from moving at her normal pace.

"Hey!" She heard a man shout.

Her heartbeat pounded so loudly that she felt as though the man could hear it. She prayed that she would make it out in time. But the minute she had her hand on the door, she was injected with the same liquid from earlier. "No..." she gasped. The man threw the empty needle on the floor. She felt his hands grab her arms. Her eyes focused on the blue skies and the green grass, and she learned how long she'd been unconscious for.

"Say goodnight, Evelyn." The man whispered darkly into her ear as she fell victim to the darkness once again.

Her mind was foggy, and she knew she was coming to her senses again which meant it wouldn't be long before she received yet again another injection. And though her eyes felt glued shut, she felt the familiar feeling of rope fastened around her wrists. She hoped they at least for their sake learned their lesson and didn't tie her to a wooden chair again.

She opened her eyes slowly and with her blurry vision she caught sight of Lewis. He was standing a few inches away. He had one hand in his pocket and the other was gripping tightly onto his cell phone.

"She's unharmed, for now." Lewis told whoever was on the other line with a sick smile. "And she shall remain that way. You have my word. But full warning, my word will expire in twenty four hours."

Lewis turned his head and made eye contact with Evelyn who was out of it at the moment. She felt as if she was stuck in the middle of being awake and asleep. Her mind was aware of everything along with her surroundings, but her body wasn't in control. She had no choice but to sit and watch as they use her for their own personal gain.

"I swear, I'm not lying. She really is here." Lewis was silent for a moment clearly waiting for his turn to speak. "You're gonna have to find that out for yourself, but you of all people know the things I'm capable of. You know the lengths I would go to get what I want."

Lewis smiled mischievously at Evelyn then gestured to his men to deal with her with his hand. Evelyn groaned groggily as the man injected her yet again. Evelyn was able to remain awake for a little bit longer to catch the last of the conversation.

"I'll see you soon, son."

A/N:

Poor Evelyn...