Darkness Before Dawn

is in the shower. He must be present to make any statement about my whereabouts that day."
    "Impressive."
    Mark steps out of his room wearing sweats and a T-shirt. "What's up, Cole? You met Connor. Connor, Cole is the missing kid."
    "That's right. The kid Benny took?" Connor asks, obviously familiar with the story. The way he says their names surprises me, it sounds like he knows them, but I'm not about to ask him any personal questions. Mark was there that night, I know that much, but I never considered that he could have been friendly with the other men that took us.
    Connor sighs and runs his hand over his buzz cut hair. "Well, I met Blake yesterday," he says over a mouthful of chips.
    That stops me dead in my tracks. "What?" I ask, feeling my heart rate quicken. "MY Blake? What the fuck do you mean you met her yesterday?" My stomach drops when I run through everything I was doing yesterday when this dude was meeting my lost girlfriend.
    "And that's why I haven't handed you your beer yet," Mark mutters under his breath.
    I glare at Mark before looking back to Connor. "What the fuck do you mean you met Blake?" I ask through gritted teeth.
    Connor puts down his beer and rubs his forehead. "I met her-" he says quietly before looking at Mark for reassurance. Mark nods and shrugs his shoulders.
    I take a deep breath and grab on to the back of the couch before I take the fucker down on Mark's glass coffee table. "Can you just cut to the chase?"
    "Well, I went to my girlfriend's house yesterday to pick her up, and Dean brought Blake into the kitchen to eat while I was in there. She freaked out when she saw me…I guess I kind of did too. I mean—I knew she would look like her mom, but damn. Not that I ever saw her mom, obviously, but pictures. I talked to Dean a little but she just sat there playing with her food before they went back to the basement. Dean said he's gonna help me get her out. She's fine, though. She looks...I mean...she looks good, considering." His shoulders slump and he sits down.
    "Considering what? That she's been fucking kidnapped?" I shout desperately.
    He crinkles his eyebrows and I see the uncertainty in his blue eyes before he clears his throat. "Yeah. Anyway, I'm getting her out of there."
    "Connor," Mark starts in a warning tone before I interrupt him.
    "Mark, shut up and let the kid talk!" I say, exasperated.
    "Dean and I talked about it. They're having a huge party in a couple of days and won't notice if she slips out. It'll be quick." Connor shrugs before Mark's laughter cuts his words short.
    "It'll be quick?" Mark asks in disbelief. "You know how Benny and Alex work. Hell, you know how Jamie works. You've been around their shit long enough to know nothing is ever that simple."
    Connor gets up from the couch and crosses over to stand in front of Mark. "What the fuck do you think is gonna happen when Uncle Liam finds out about this shit? You think he's gonna call Jamie and be all fine and dandy about it?"
    "Jamie doesn't even know about it!" Mark shouts, making Connor's brows rise to his hairline as I sit there watching on.
    "Ha! You think Jamie doesn't know? Damn, Uncle Mark, you're a dumb sonofabitch sometimes. No disrespect," Connor replies, raising his hands in defense.
    Mark scowls at him. "He would've called Pops by now if he knew!"
    Connor sucks his teeth. "You think Dad and Grandpa always give you the inside scoop or something? You're a lawyer, dude!"
    "First of all, WHO THE FUCK IS DEAN? And can someone get a pen and paper and start drawing out the family trees and everyone's connection to everyone else?" I demand. And I mean it, this shit gets exhausting and keeping up is impossible. I should've brought Aubry so he could give me the cliff notes on these people and their complicated issues.
    Connor laughs and walks over to me, sitting on the couch in front of me, as Mark follows him and takes a seat on the other side of the couch I'm on.
    "Dean's a good guy, don't worry about him, he's family. Anyway, Alex and Benny are the guys that took Blake. They work for Jamie. Blake's parents and them go way back. Like waaaay back. They were all best friends, grew up together, ran with the same crowds. They were all friends until Benny started fucking shit up," Connor explains before taking a swig of beer.
    Talk about information overload. I think my brain just exploded. I sit here dumbly staring at Connor for a bit with my mouth hanging open, still processing everything and trying to figure