Within the Shadows by J.D MCG (knowledgeable books to read .txt) 📕

Thirty minutes had passed before Jacob pulled up outside his apartment. He sat there for a minute before leaving his car. Thoughts kept playing on his mind. Where would she take Barnes? She must have found a place well before any of this.

He pulled himself out of the car and strutted into the building. No ghosts following him, no stuttering lights, just Jacob. He placed his key inside the lock and entered his apartment.

Everyone was in bed. The apartment was silent and dark. He felt the wall for the light switch. The light beamed brightly as the bulb flashed on, blinding him. He glanced around at the surprisingly clean apartment. Wow, Belle must have been busy, he thought.

Jacob headed for his bedroom, stripped off his clothes and entered the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror, noticing how tired he looked, before hoping in the shower. He washed the day off, before breaking down into tears. His mind couldn't stop thinking that the nightmare he was living. Lily was set out to destroy him and his entire life. He hoped Barnes was alright wherever he was.

Jacob got ready for bed. He stood there once again, staring at the bed he once shared with Lily. A tear released itself before he wiped it from his cheek. Deciding to sleep on the sofa for another night, he pulled some blankets out of the wardrobe, before leaving the bedroom. He lay down on the sofa and placed the blanket over his tired body. His head hit the pillow and he was gone. He had fallen asleep within seconds.

Chapter 3

It was freezing in the abandoned warehouse. The temperature had plummeted since the sunset. Barnes hung from his wrists, with as little as just his shirt and trousers on. The handcuffs that bound his wrists had created cuts. His arms ached from being raised above his head, but there was nothing he could do about it. Small amounts of blood trickled from his wrists from where the handcuffs cut him.

His shirt had been ripped open so cuts could be made on his chest. Barnes' breath created smoke as it left his mouth from the drop in temperature. He was so cold, but his captor didn't care, in fact, she relished in the idea of Barnes being frozen.

Barnes was out cold. He had been most of the day. Lily sat watching him, knowing she was in the final stage of her plan for revenge. She pondered on what she was going to do to him. Barnes was the last person to be a part of her plan and she wanted to make him suffer.

Lily lost patience in waiting for Barnes to come around. She picked up a bucket of ice-cold water and threw it over him.

'Wakey, wakey.'

Barnes sprung back to life and gasped for breath as the freezing water took his breath away.

'What? Where am I?' he asked, trying to catch his breath back.

'You're at my new crib. What do you think?' she joked.

'Why am I here?'

'I think you know the answer to that.'

'I had nothing to do with your sister’s death,' he tried to explain, but she wasn't having any of it.

'Oh please. I remember you were both there that night. I watched your partner push my sister off the rails of that car park.'

'What? He never pushed your sister, she jumped,' he informed her.

'She wouldn't do that,' Lily dismissed what he'd told her. 'She wouldn't leave me behind.'

'Well, she did. No matter how much you try to deny it, she had no choice. It was either that or be put away for the crimes she'd committed. We'd have preferred her to have come with us, but it was her decision in the end, and that was the decision she chose, whether you like it or not.'

Lily didn't like the comments coming out of his mouth. She retaliated, smacking him in the cheek with the back of her hand, resulting in her engagement ring making a cut across his face. Barnes became mad.

'Do not talk about my sister like that!' she yelled. 'She loved me and she'd have never committed suicide. You're just covering your own arse.'

'Why would I lie? I've got nothing to gain. You're going to kill me either way. I know I'm not getting out of this alive.'

'Well it's nice to see you’re right about something,' she smiled. 'I've got another question to ask you, Joe.'

'Fire away,' he replied.

'What did you do with the diamonds you found at the last crime scene?' she asked him.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' he lied.

'I know you took them into evidence. Where are they?'

'Look, I don't know what diamonds you are talking about.'

'Don't play stupid with me, Joe,' she raised her voice. 'I need those diamonds, so I'll ask you again before I get really creative. Where are they?'

'As I've already told you, I don't know!' he yelled back at her.

Lily pulled a surgical knife off a metal tray filled with other objects and pointed it directly at Barnes' chest, before making an incision. Barnes held back a scream of pain. He didn't want to seem weak, but Lily knew how to torture someone. She had been thinking about it for weeks. It was all she thought about.

'Now, I'm going to ask you again. Where are the diamonds?' she shouted.

No one was around to hear her shouting at Barnes. The warehouse had been abandoned and empty for years, deserted in an empty industrial section of the city. Holes in the roof let drips of rainwater splash on the ground below. Nobody would ever know Barnes was being held there.

'I don't know how many times I need to tell you this. I don't know what you are talking about.'

'Wrong answer,' she