Chapter 102

***Alicent***

I open my eyes and look around me. 
Where am I? 
What is going on? 
And why do I feel so fuzzy? 
I try to move my left hand, but it is so heavy. Then I move my right hand... and something tightened around it. This place *stinks* so bad!
I glance over... and stare right into Logan’s eyes. His very intense, angry eyes.  
“I’m glad you’re finally awake, dear Allie,” Logan says with a wicked grin.
I sit on the ground, feeling winded and dazed as I recall what happened. I was in the car with Vi, and all I remember is her urging me to hold on tight seconds before we crashed. Then, two guys attacked her right after that while Logan blindfolded me before dragging me out of the car. I tried to gaze around, but all I noticed was close to pitch black, which made everything more terrifying. We could be out in the middle of nowhere... And I know my ex-husband can do anything to me now. 
I try to scramble backward, away from Logan, but I stop when I find the wall behind me. My hands are bound tightly, and my feet are shackled to a chain bolted to the wall beside me. 
I quickly glance down at my jeans, and with a wave of relief, I see that my pants don’t appear to have been ripped open while I was unconscious, much less my long-sleeved shirt, both of them just dirty and a little frayed. As for my feet, I notice that I’m not wearing my shoes anymore, and I only have one sock on one foot, which is dirty at the heel, likely from being dragged across the ground.
“Logan.” My voice falters a little, but I still look up at him, standing there staring down at me. “Why did you do that? Why? I was already on my way to meet you so we could sign the document.”
I feel like a complete idiot. A total fool. Minutes later, after stepping into the mansion and leaving Ethan behind with Kell, I checked my email and found a message from Logan. Since he doesn’t have my new number, he tried to contact me in another way. In it, he said he no longer wanted custody of our son and was willing to sign over full custody to me. Attached were the first pages of the legal document. That alone was enough to send me scrambling to find a way to get to Summerville immediately. Logan had warned that if I didn’t meet him on the same day, he’d change his mind. He also made it clear that if I showed up with anyone else, he’d do the opposite. He said he’d take my son from me just to make me suffer.
I didn’t tell Ethan or Vi the real reason. But honestly, I was relieved when Vi agreed to come with me. If Ethan had known the truth, he would’ve never let me go, insisting it was a trap. And, well, he would’ve literally been right.
Logan let out a vicious laugh. “You’re the dumbest person in the world, Allie.” Well, *that’s exactly how I feel right now*. He takes a step forward and crouches down next to me. “Do you really think I’d give you full custody of Az?” He laughs loudly. “Never.”
“Then why am I here, Logan? Why are you doing this?” My body shudders at his proximity to me. I yank at the chains, desperate to break free, but it’s no use. They don’t even budge, they only smear me with grime.
“I almost died, Allie.” Logan narrows his eyes at me, forearms resting on his knees. “I don’t know what the hell you did to me or where you got that strength from, but you almost killed me. And you would have killed me, wouldn’t you?”
His smile makes me tremble. “If you don’t let me go right now, I’ll scream!” 
“I’ll scream,” Logan mocks. “So, scream. You think anyone in this neighborhood gives a shit?”
“Logan, please let me go.”
“Now you want to beg?” He tsks with his tongue. “See, I almost died, but the love of my life saved me.”
“Chelsea?”
“Don’t be stupid. That bitch doesn’t love anyone but herself,” he sneers. “I’m talking about the true love of my life. She saved me and told me she would *claim* me if I did everything she asked.”
“Claim you?” I frown, and it hurts my head. “What are you talking about? Are you drunk?”
“So clueless. So stupid.” Logan shakes his head. “But it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re going to die anyway.” He shrugs. “She said I should kill you, but I thought to myself, why? Why kill you so quickly when I can have so much fun first? Don’t think that I forgot what you said when you were about to kill me. At that moment, I even thought about calling the police on you, but having you right where you are now is much better because I can do whatever I want.”
“Logan, please, Az needs me!” I put my tied wrists in front of me for protection.
“I did everything for you, Alicent, but after what you did to me… abandoning me and stealing my son? No! You don’t deserve anything.”
I try to concentrate on using the strength of *that black light* I had that night. And without any effort, this energy takes over my body again, but unlike that day, today, it seems to dominate my whole body instead of me. And this time, it’s like I’m going to lose myself completely. Like *it* will control my body and my mind!
No. 
I can’t let this light take over me. 
I try to contain and control it. The ache in my head grows, blooming. The longer I resist, the worse the pain gets, as though it’s begging me to give in. 
Logan yanks me by the crown of my hair, forcing my head back. “Aren’t you listening to me? I’m talking to you!”  
I clench my teeth against the pain, my legs twisting to the side, and suddenly, I feel something shift in my pocket.
The knife. 
The knife sits in my pocket! Before I went to Summerville, I made sure to bring my pocket knife with me. I didn’t think Logan would try anything in public, but I felt better with it in my pocket. I never imagined he could attack us before we even got to town. 
“Ignoring me will only make your situation worse—”
As badly as I shake, and even with my hands tied, I still manage to grab the knife. With a lot of effort, I instinctively stab it into Logan without aiming too much.
“You cunt!” Logan abruptly takes the knife out of my hand. “You’re going to pay for this!” 
*SLAP!*
He slaps me hard across the face.
The sharp sting radiates through my cheek. The force of it makes me bite my tongue, and I taste blood almost instantly.
When I glance at where I tried to cut him, I realize I barely left a mark.
Freaking awesome! I should have thought better. Ugh.
“Logan, please, let me go!”
“Shut the fuck up,” standing up, he snarls. Then he kicks at my legs. “And learn to fucking obey, you cunt!”  
Despite the pain, I force myself to stand up as well. I struggle to stand still, and it gets worse when Logan places his arms on either side of my face on the wall behind me.
“I can do anything I want with you, Alicent,” he threatens, looking into my eyes. I turn my face to the side. “No one will stop me.” 
I grimace, my nose wrinkling as the sharp scent of alcohol hits me from his breath. If Logan’s said these things to me another day, without alcohol in his system, I would have thought I could get away. 
But he’s drunk. I know him all too well. He means his words. 
This realization is quickly followed by a heavy punch in my rib.  
Breathless, I beg, “Please let me go, Logan, no one has to know.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Logan yanks me by the hair once more and throws me around.
I land on my knees on the rough ground. I attempt to get to my feet again as I scream as loud as I can for help. 
But instead of a panicked yell from him, all that greets me is Logan’s laughter before he slams his foot into my side. 
*SNAP!*  
I am yanked backward with enough force to knock the breath from my lungs. 
I scream as blinding pain engulfs me. This isn’t happening... it isn’t happening again. Something deep inside me begs me to let it out. 
Another kick. 
This time to my gut. Then Logan picks me up. At this point, I’m sobbing for breath, my entire body trembling that I don’t realize what he’s doing. He throws me to the ground. 
I tremble in agony as he strides over to an old, weathered wooden table nearby. The room around it is bare, the walls stained with water damage and stripped of paint, crumbling and damp. “You should’ve obeyed me when you had the chance, Alicent.” A glint of metal—a gun—caught my eye in his hand. “Now, you’ll pay for every bit of your ingratitude.” 
I don’t answer him because I’m too busy trying to take a breath. 
But I don’t need to because the door suddenly swings open, and the last person I expect to see walks in. 
Chelsea steps inside, her face twisting in disgust as she scans the room. Then, her eyes land on me, and she says with a grin, “I was going to ask if you’re comfortable here, but I guess you’re used to places like this, right? Must be just another day for you.”
Chelsea closes the door and walks towards Logan. Again, I wish I could say I have some smart-ass comeback, but my brain can’t even keep up with what is happening. 
“Logan, you said that once I helped you, she would introduce me to her brother!” Chelsea snarls. “My part is already done! You only met her because of me! *Me*!"
“Now you want me to thank you for cheating on me with my fucking boss?” Logan yells at her. I don’t waste time, I search around for my pocket knife, but I can’t spot it anywhere. Logan probably has it.
They continue to argue, but I don’t understand a thing of what they are talking about. Chelsea points her manicured hand at her cleavage, pushing her purse higher on her shoulder as she says through gritted teeth, “Duh! If I wasn’t with him, she wouldn’t have smelled you on me and gone after you!”
What? What are they talking about?
“And if it weren’t for me, you would still be with that low life over there!” She points at me but still looks at him.
Logan moves his gaze from Chelsea to my face and then to my body. I close my legs. His gaze feels so filthy that I want to immediately jump in the shower. And still, I don’t think I’d get that oily feeling off my skin.
Then Logan faces her again and shrugs.
“What the hell?” Chelsea’s eyes blaze with fury as she shoves him hard, both hands slamming into his chest. “You owe me, Logan! You’re only where you are because of me! You can’t just toss me aside now that you’ve got everything. You owe me!”
“I don’t owe you shit.” Logan raises his arm in one swift motion, the gun gleaming in his grip. Her eyes widen, realization dawning a second too late. Chelsea’s head snaps back with a hole in the middle of the forehead after the gunshot echoes through the air. Then Logan adds as Chelsea falls mid-breath open-mouthed on the ground with a sickening thud, “Dumb bitch. You were just a headache.”
He steps over her on the ground in a single stride without another glance, treating her lifeless body like nothing more than an obstacle. Terror-stricken and immobile, I watch Logan making his way to the door, and before closing it behind him, he says to me, “I’ll come for you later.”