Page 26 of Stolen

“Where have you been?!Shit, I was ready to call the cops!” Valerie screeched when Blossom entered the building of Love Blossoms. Even though she’d been kidnapped, the day after she was saved was the only day, she had missed work. Thankfully, it was a weekend and anything she had on her calendar was for the evening. She knew Valerie was in the office and wanted a chance to warn her. With her escape, she didn’t know what Chance would do. Still, she didn’t want to worry Valerie either.

“Sorry! I lost my damn phone!” Blossom explained, which was in actuality the truth. Chance had her phone. Valerie looked through the glass paned doors where SynTanner was leaning against his bike waiting for Blossom to return.

“Um, excuse me. Is that the chief deputy?” she asked.

“Ah, yeah,” Blossom replied, walking through the office. She went to her large office that was sectioned off my more planes of glass, allowing her to see out into the waiting area.

“I’ve never seen him in person. Damn, whatta man,” she swooned. When Blossom didn’t answer her, Valerie looked up and saw that Blossom was already in her office.

“So, you lost your phone? Is that why the deputy is with you?” Valerie asked, rushing to catch up with Blossom in her office.

“No. Look, we’ve gotta close up shop for a few weeks. Don’t worry, you’ll get paid time off. We just both can’t be here. And I need you to be away from this place, just in case; to keep you safe.”

“What?! Blossom was the hell is going on?” Blossom opened her desk drawer and pulled out the work phone she used. It was her back up phone that she kept at the office, refusing to bring it back to Chance’s home in case he wanted to take it away from her like he’d done with her other phone.

“Something happened with me and Chance.”

“So much that you’ve gotta close up this place and we have to stay away?” Valerie asked.

“Remember how every time you asked about me and Chance and our dates and I would smoothly evade answering?” Blossom asked.

“Well yeah, but I wouldn’t say you smoothly evaded my question, I always knew you were hiding something. I just didn’t press the issue,” Valerie shrugged.

“That’s because I wasn’t with Chance by choice. On the night when I went to his home for the first time, he blatantly told me he was keeping me there forever. He threatened your life and the life of my clients if I didn’t comply. To make it look like I hadn’t been kidnapped, he forced me to come into work every day.” Valerie’s eyes widened.

“And you said nothing?! Couldn’t you have slipped me a message?!” Valerie shrieked.

“No. He had someone watching me. I was so afraid if I said one thing out of line, your life would be in danger. I just—didn’t know what else to do. The deputy was the one who rescued me from Chance. But now I’m afraid Chance is going to do something reckless. I just want you to continue being safe. We both have to get out of here and stay low. And I am so sorry that I put you in danger like this but I will protect you.” Blossom was beginning to shake with the words she spoke. Even if she was trying to be brave and secure about the situation, honestly, she was scared to death.

“Blossom. Take a deep breath.” Valerie placed her hands on Blossom’s shoulders.

“It sounds like you’ve been through hell. I’m not going to add any extra weight on you by blaming you or being upset at the situation. The only person to blame is Chance. That psycho bastard. I can’t believe he did this shit to you,” he grunted. Blossom took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

“I just never thought that me trying to find my happily ever after would lead to this,” Blossom said shakily.

“Don’t worry about it Blossom. Maybe this is happening for a reason. We just have to get through it. Since we both have to get out of here, I can work from home with cancelling events or changing them into virtual ones so people can still interact with the matches they picked out,” Valerie said.

“That sounds like a good idea. Let’s be quick. You can take the laptop home with you and anything else you may need,” Blossom said.

“You got it boss.” Valerie rushed out of the office, going towards her desk in the main sitting area. Blossom was watching Valerie kick it into gear, thankful that she had someone so understanding in her life.

An explosion of glass ripped through her thoughts. BANG! BANG! The echo of two shots rang out into the air, following the explosion. Dread filled her gut, causing her to double over with pain as she watched in horror as Valerie’s body jerked unnaturally. The sounds of peppered bullets kept spraying into the building, shattering glass. Blood sprayed from Valerie’s body.

“VALERIE!” Blossom screamed, her knees becoming weak. She felt to the ground, trying to cover herself from the clash of bullets raiding the building. All the while, she didn’t take her eyes off of Valerie’s still body.

Through the haze of bullets, Blossom heard her name being called. Her mind was in such a shocked daze, all she could register was how blood began to soak through the perfectly colored cream dress Valerie was wearing. She was such a beautiful soul; Blossom would be resigned to guilt for the rest of her life if Valerie had her life taken.

“Please. Please,” she whispered, leaning against her desk, trying to hide herself from the array of bullets.

The sound of the first bullet had pierced SynTanner’s ears with a sharpness he’d grown used to from his years on the force. The people around him on the street began to scream, scurrying away. Naturally, SynTanner ducked and tried to find the direction the shots were coming from. The windows of Blossom’s company being blown to bits made it clear of just who exactly the target was.

“Blossom,” SynTanner gasped. His heart welled with panic. What if she was hurt? Just as he moved to rush to go in to protect her, the bullets began to explode nonstop into the building. The sound of bullets spraying at such a speed stopped him in his tracks. Squatting down, SynTanner held his temples. He clenched his eyes closed. Blood. Flesh. Bodies. The images of death began to take root in his brain, forcing him to see what the damage bullets could cause. Putting his hands over his ears, he tried to drown out the sound of shooting.

“Stop it! Stop it!” he screamed, trying to use his own voice to get the gory images from his head.

“Not now, not right now,” he groaned, knowing that Blossom could be in trouble and he was stuck out there on his ass because something was triggering his trauma. SynTanner punched the ground as bullets continued to ravish Blossom’s company.

Blossom. She needed him.Opening his eyes slowly, SynTanner began to see through the blood and the gore his mind was conjuring. Blossom’s company was completely ravished, bullet holes decorating the entire building. Still, while the bullets continued to fly, SynTanner scurried into the building. He blinked several times, both trying to ignore the sound the bullets were making and the images it was forcing his brain to relive.