Juliet's body ached, her eyes burned, and her limbs had long ago become painful. The pin-pricks in each one told her that soon, she would lose all feeling in them.
The lack of blood flow was dangerous, and she was anticipating that they wouldn't care or help her in order to keep her hands and feet alive. Hell, they had been hitting and hurting her for hours. She doubted they were going to keep any part of her alive, so there was no reason for her to plead her case for them to loosen her restraints. Each time they tried something new, she just met their stare with a blank one of their own and watched as they approached. Her true feelings would break free with each hit or cut, and she would whimper or cry out, but she never cracked. "When I am done with you, Diego will come play, and he is much worse than I am. Might as well start talking." He cooed, and Juliet let her head roll forward as she panted, trying to get her heart to slJuliet couldn’t hear past the ringing in her ears, but that was nothing compared to the blinding light. She squeezed her one previously working eye shut as her body protested the bright flash. Something brushed by her shoulder, and she jumped with fright only to be held down by her restraints. The panic she had previously felt came back full force as the ties that held her mixed with her disorientation, and she was sure the walls of the room had begun to close in on her. Her eye blinked rapidly as she shook her head from side to side in an attempt to get her sight and hearing back. The cool air of the room was thick as she took in large gas
Juliet wasn’t sure if it was the sight of the badge he flashed her, or the shock she was sure was about to hit, but she had finally felt like she could take a breath. At first, it was one, then two. Before she knew it, her knees were hitting the floor and Juliet loudly pulled in deep gasps of air as her body wracked with sobs. With her arms wrapped around her stomach as she curled into her chest, her body gave in and began to shake violently. Juliet looked up at Agent Knowles with tears streaming down her face, and he motioned for the medic to approach her.The men and women moved quickly through the building as Juliet was getting stitched up.The oxygen mask on her face to calm her shock irritated her, but she was thankful for it as she began to regain contro
Agent Knowles, or Lucas, as he asked to be called, had brought her into the house, leaving her in the mudroom while he checked all the windows and doors. Once he was done, he guided her to the couch and sat her down, handing her an ice pack before he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and a protein bar from the pantry and gave it to her.Juliet had no idea what to do with the ice pack. Her whole body hurt, and she had too many injuries for one pack to take care of them.She was certain she should have been admitted to the hospital, but the security risk was too great. They couldn't bring her there without her location being obvious with the armed guards that would have to come with her, and according to the C.I.A. agent calling the shots, they said everything that h
“Okay, so you were investigating something that came to the U.S. and because it involved U.S. citizens, you had to hire independent contractors to do the digging? Why didn’t the F.B.I. jump in then if the C.I.A. couldn’t do it?” Juliet was trying to put the pieces together, but with the limited information, she was not fully following.She wanted to grab his shoulder and shake him as she yelled for him to explain it like she was a teenager.“At this point, we are still gathering information to prove that the men and women in the U.S. are part of the same organization. Once we do, the F.B.I. will take over here and work with us while we continue to investigate internationally.” He said, and she watched as his eyes ran over her face to check that she was following. “How does Matthew fall into this if he is not with you?”
It was bright in the room, and on her way out, she glanced over at the clock on the nightstand to see it was late afternoon. She had not slept that long in years, but based on the dark circles under her eyes, the bruising and cuts that covered half of her face, and the pain meds that she desperately needed another dose of, she was not surprised her body had shut down.“Oh, good. You’re up.” The familiar voice came from across the living room and Juliet looked up to see that man she had karate chopped in the throat smiling at her. “Lucas should be back soon. I went in to check on you a few hours ago, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought you were dead.” The laugh he let out did nothing to help Juliet feel any more relaxed. Having paused in the hallway when she saw him, Juliet rubbed the sleep from her eyes and then silently made her
Hawk didn't bother to turn from his wall of screens as Matthew burst into the house, nor did he spare Matthew any attention when he entered his office. It had been difficult for Matthew to find the kid's location, but not impossible.It seemed the only one who had to stay in hiding was Matthew, and while he understood since he was the compromised agent, it was still frustrating."I just mopped. Your shoes better be clean." Hawk muttered, not taking his eyes away from the wall of screens before him.The room was cold, but the closer Matthew walked to Hawk and all of his computers, the hotter it became."Where is she?" Matthew asked, looking from screen to screen.Several safe houses were flashing across the monitors above, but the monitors at his eye level were different."Safe," Hawk said.Several black screens with code and text that Matthew didn't bother trying to decipher had Hawk's attention as he typed away.
The sound of Hawk clicking made Matthew relax as he slowly pulled back as the video feed changed. The knife fell to his side as he stared at the all-too-familiar living room. Juliet was sitting on the couch. The green blanket his mother had made for him was wrapped around her, and he hoped it brought her comfort. He hoped that even if he couldn't communicate with Juliet, she could feel how much he missed her and wanted to be there for her. The camera he was using had to be the one over the television, as Matthew could see the kitchen behind her. Her red hair was down, covering her face, and he wanted to push it back to see her. It was a relief that he could see that she was alive, but he didn't know what state she was in or if she was really okay. Her body was curled up in a ball beneath the blanket, and Matthew tensed as Slater walked into the kitchen, glancing at Juliet over the back of the couch. "The fuck is Liam doing there?" Matthew muttered. He was happy to have someon
The next two weeks passed slowly for Juliet as Lucas and Liam took turns watching over her. They spent the first few days watching movies and playing cards until she was feeling well enough to stop taking her pain medicine and could finally stay awake for longer than an hour at a time. Then she started with her questions, much to the men's annoyance. Liam had stalled, claiming he needed permission to tell her anything, even though she was being targeted by the people involved.Still, once Liam got 'clearance,' Juliet learned a lot more about what had been happening, and the details made her cringe. There had been a drug and prostitution ring running through several countries that had been making its way to the U.S.A girl, Scarlett, who had been taken during a spring break trip in New Zealand with her college roommate and was ‘put to work’ as the man had worded it to Juliet. She had gotten out when the location she was being held at was raided by the local law enforcement, only to
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When his monthly calls stopped, her worry eventually outweighed her anger, and more than anything, she just wanted to hear his voice or see him one more time to know that he was okay. He called her after speaking to Cadence and was flabbergasted by the fact that she had answered the phone at all after ignoring his calls for so long. He was left speechless when she demanded that he return home so she could see he was safe for herself. Juliet watched as he bit back his emotions at hearing his mother’s voice, but he was ecstatic that he would get to introduce Juliet to the other women in his life. “We talked on the phone. Come on, you are perfect, and they will love you.” As he stepped to the side to pull her toward the entrance of the home once more, the front door was thrown open, and a beautiful blonde sprinted out with a shout of glee as she threw herself into Matthew’s arms. “Hey, sis. I’ve missed you too.” He said with a laugh as he held onto her just as tightly as she did
Juliet walked slowly across the gravel driveway with her hands down at her sides in fists to hide the fact that they were shaking. It had been a long four years, but it was also the best four years of her life. Matthew walked up behind her and placed his warm palm on her lower back, and she felt her muscles loosen at his touch. The large, beautiful ranch-style house in front of her added to the intimidation she had felt toward their current situation, and she had half a mind to run back to the car and not come out. “Relax, Red. Everything will be okay.” He bent down and whispered into her ear before he kissed the crown of her head. His hot breath fanned across her skin, and she gave a jerk as a chill ran down her spine from his proximity. It didn’t matter how long they were together. Her body still reacted like it was the first time. Sparks would dance across her skin, goosebumps would appear as they followed his lips where they trailed across her body, and her mind would melt
Juliet pushed up on her toes, wanting more, needing to be closer to him. The warm water felt nice and refreshing, but touching Matthew, being pressed against his wildly impressive form, was like touching an electric charge. She was sure that at any moment, she would be startled awake, but as Matthew stepped forward, making her move back, she felt completely out of control. Matthew didn't stop until she had her back to the cool shower wall, and he was consuming her. She lifted her leg, wrapping it around his hip, and Matthew released a deep, low groan of "Fuuuuccckkk," as he placed his tip at her entrance and slowly sank into her. They had only been apart for a few months, but it felt like ages. She welcomed him and his touch back greedily, gasping into his mouth as he pushed forward. "Tell me you're mine," Matthew insisted, thrusting quickly and taking her breath away as he entered her. "Oh my God!" Juliet cried out, her nails digging into his back, and yet, he only thru
Matthew hurried as he heard the shower turn on, eager to join his Juliet. He wanted to inspect every inch of her to see if she was telling the truth about doing better and healing, but he needed to finish locking down the house and doing mild surveillance. For the next two weeks, the U.S. Marshals would have someone posted nearby to blend in with the neighborhood as a precaution to ensure they hadn't been followed and that they were no active threat to them. Once they had, they would leave, and it would just be Matthew and Juliet all alone. He couldn't wait. He finished checking all the windows and doors, making a note of every neighbor whose windows allowed them sight into Matthew's new home, and he tried to memorize what area of the house each window granted the people in that home access to. He wanted to be sure he was fully informed and one step ahead of the enemy should they attack. The sound of Juliet dropping something made him pause, though, and he checked the lock on th
Juliet couldn't let him go even if she wanted to. Her body protested even the thought of releasing him, but Matthew seemed to feel the same way. He held her just as tightly, kissing her again deeply as if making up for lost time before a loud clearing of a throat disrupted them. "It's time to go." The Marshal said, but Juliet couldn't pull her eyes from Matthew. He walked her to the SUV and helped her inside, chuckling when she was reluctant to release him. "Let's go home," Matthew whispered, and Juliet nodded as the car was put into gear and the U.S. Marshal accelerated. "Where is home going to be?" "That information is classified." The Marshal said, and Juliet narrowed her eyes, unamused. "How is it classified when we are the ones going there?" Juliet asked, but she was fully distracted by Matthew's hand on her thigh. The heat of his touch burned through her jeans, and she leaned closer to him, her hands grabbing his arm as she tried to maintain as much contact as possible f
If she ever saw him again, she hoped he would give her a hard time for taking it. It was part of why she had taken it out of the box and put it on. “And I’m sorry again that I chopped you in the throat.” At this point, both let out a small laugh at the memory. “Would you also please tell Liam I appreciate you both for saving me? You also need to take care of Sophia. I know that you keep denying it, but it is so obvious that something is going on between you two whenever I bring her up.” Juliet had more that she wanted to say to everyone and more that she wanted to ask for him to pass along, but the most important thing she needed to say was to Matthew, and she left it written down in the letter she had written for him. “You’re not dying, you know,” Lucas said teasingly, turning the radio down to be nothing more than low background noise. “Don’t you worry, okay? We will take care of all this, and you will be home before you know it.” “For a special agent, you don’t take anything se
Juliet had felt sick even since Lucas got the call, alerting them that it was time for her to enter witness protection. They hadn't told her what had changed or why it was safe for her to be moved now versus before, but the lack of information was stressing her out. They surely should be able to tell her if something good had happened. At least, she hoped they would. It seemed reasonable that since it affected her, they could give her some sort of update, but they didn't.She was in the dark and very frustrated by the lack of information. “Are you ready yet?” Lucas asked with his boyish excitement. He was in charge of getting Julie to the U.S. Marshals, who would take over her care and get her to her new location. She wasn't ready, though, and had done everything but scrub the baseboards as a way to stall. That morning, she had taken a shower so long she almost questioned if it was possible to run out of cold water and had cleaned every surface of the house twice (much to Liam’s pr
Juliet was surprised that they stayed so long. Was she happy to be in one place? Yes. Was she sick of the canned beans and rice in the pantry? Absolutely. She refused to look because she was pretty positive they had expired a long time ago. Still, she kept her mouth shut because she knew it was better than the MREs. "Morning," Liam said, bursting into the bedroom, and Juliet sighed as she stared at the ceiling in boredom. At least he didn't say it was a good morning. That would be an outright lie. She had been watching the news every morning and every night, but there had been nothing so far. "Hm," Juliet hummed. "Have fun," Liam said, dropping a box onto the bed beside her, and Juliet's eyes shot wide open. The familiar logo and shape made her giddy with excitement. Juliet had grown bored and was getting impatient to the point of anger as she waited to hear news about Matthew. It didn’t help that she had to spend time each day practicing her new signature and re