Chapter Text
Debts Owed, Lives Gambled
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Stupid cheapskate bastards. Lowballing me on practically new, high-quality items, but a couple of grand is a couple of grand,” James Padalecki muttered as he stalked from the pawnshop. He headed towards his newly leased Mercedes Benz while counting the cash in his hand, but then smirked as he pulled a shiny new credit card out of his son’s wallet. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed straight to a nearby ATM, planning to draw out the maximum amount, just as he had done earlier in the day. His thoughts were of money, gambling, and his new car; he didn’t give a single thought to his son’s whereabouts or condition.
Sticking the card in the ATM, James snickered that his son was stupid enough to write down the PINs and keep them in the wallet. “Stupid kid deserves what he gets,” he muttered but then frowned when the machine not only didn’t give him the cash he’d requested but also kept the card while flashing an error message.
“What the fuck?” the man growled, hitting the button to try to get the card out. When the machine refused to release the card, he tried again with a different card only to have the same thing happen again. “What the…”
“You didn’t seriously think the boss wouldn’t cancel those the first time one became active after we learned what you did, Padalecki?”
The deep gruff voice that spoke from behind him had James turning in obvious surprise only to grunt when a hard fist connected with his face, knocking him down. Before he could react, that same fist was gripping his new silk tie and jerking him up to meet hard eyes as Chris Kane glared at him.
“K-Kane, what the hell do you want?” he managed to get out before another fist hit him and then other hands were grabbing him as a car pulled up to the curb. “I... I haven’t…”
“You haven’t what, Padalecki?” the bodyguard snarled while Mike easily muscled the surprised man to the back of the car as the trunk popped open. “Broken your deal with my boss? Screwed over your kid for a second time? We know exactly what you’ve done and you’re going to be singing your guts out for me or whatever Jared’s going through right now will seem tame compared to what I have planned for you.”
A hard shove had the man stumbling back into the trunk and Mike quickly slammed it shut while taking a quick glance around to be sure they didn’t have an audience. Not seeing anyone on the street, the bald bodyguard watched as his superior stalked to the side of the car and jerked open the door. “You think he’ll tell us who he dealt with or where the kid is?” he asked.
“Oh, he’ll tell me what he knows,” Chris replied with confidence as he got in the back of the limo while Mike took his place in the front seat beside the driver. “Hey Chad, did you get the stuff out of the pawn shop?”
“Yep. Rick’s a good man. He recognized the Rolex when it came in from the description you faxed to all the pawnshops. He called us right away and was perfectly happy to give it and the phone to us for what little the asshole took for it.”
Jensen was silent as he sat next to Chris in the back of the limo. His eyes were fixated on the phone as he scrolled through pictures that Chad had clearly taken the night of the ballet. Finally, he sat back and tossed the phone to Chris. “The dick didn’t even have the sense to wipe the phone back to factory settings.” He fingered the watch, wondering again where its owner was. “He talks or he bleeds, Chris.”
Chris nodded, understanding the unspoken order, but he had to wonder if Jensen knew how badly his hands were shaking. “We’re going to find him, Jensen. We will.”
“I know. I just hope he knows that and doesn’t give up hope.” Jensen slipped the watch into his pocket while taking the phone back to stare at a photo of Jared laughing as Chad tried to show him how to take a selfie without cutting his head off. “Hang on, Jay. Just hang on.”
40 Hours Earlier:
“The Master said to place the boy in the center room on the St. Andrews Cross. He is hosting a meeting right now, but before he takes him to the training area, he wants him to understand his new place.”
The voice seemed muffled or maybe it was the ringing in his ears that made it sound that way to Jared Padalecki. He couldn’t be sure if his ears were ringing from the constant abuse his face and head were taking or if there was some other reason for it.
When he’d regained consciousness on the airplane, the black-suited thugs had tormented him with threats, crude comments, and promises of things to come. “You just wait, pretty boy; you can’t even imagine the things the Master has planned for you.” The head thug, as Jared had come to think of him, ran his hand suggestively down Jared’s chest and then over the front of his jeans, fondling him through the material. Jared frantically tried to twist away, to do something to get the man away from him, but he was strapped down too tightly. In a final act of desperation, he leaned his head all the way back and then sharply jerked forward, bringing a torrent of blood from his molester’s nose. “Son of a bitch!” the man hollered staggering back several steps. Someone handed him a wad of paper towels, which he used to staunch the flow. “You broke my damn nose you little prick... you are going to regret trying to fight back.” The man lurched forward and grabbed Jared around the throat with his bloodstained hands. Jared started to panic at the sudden lack of air but no amount of thrashing on his part loosened the hands around his neck. As his surroundings began to fade, he dimly heard someone warning the man not to kill him. Then the darkness returned.
Jared had only been vaguely aware of the plane landing as he drifted in and out of consciousness. He had no idea if they’d been in the air for 2 hours or 20. The head thug removed the belts holding him to the seat, but with his hands and feet still bound, he was forced to remain sitting, waiting for the men to move him. The duct tape over his mouth was ripped harshly away and a huge ballgag was forced between his teeth and strapped in place. He took in a few frantic breaths through his nose but then the thug put a thick and heavy hood over his head and he wasn’t able to see anything when they dragged him off the plane. The total blackness as well as the ballgag stretching his jaw to its limit had him struggling to avoid a panic attack, but he couldn’t quite fight it and within a few minutes he began to hyperventilate and once again passed out.
Now his ears were ringing, making him dizzy, as he felt his body literally dragged up four steps. He managed to count them as his feet bonelessly slapped onto each one. He could tell that he was now inside someplace, but he couldn’t figure out where. Something in the place smelled... weird. There was a chemical smell as well as sickeningly sweet smells that seemed to be trying to cover other odors that Jared couldn’t place, but he was fully certain that he’d smelled something similar before.
Then the stiff, slightly accented words registered and Jared suddenly realized what his kidnappers were being told to hook him to. He began to weakly struggle, but it was a useless effort given that he was still tied and his arms and legs were nearly numb from being restrained for so long.
He had seen the St. Andrews Cross in action both in clubs with his father and at the party Jensen had taken him to. Jared knew that once he was on that thing, every lewd and vile threat and promise made to him would happen because he knew in his gut that these assholes were not bluffing or exaggerating what they would do to him.
“Oh yeah, you just keep fighting, pretty boy. It’s actually turning me on! You’re just making this harder on yourself. It won’t be long before the boss gets here and starts whipping you into shape... literally.” The head thug chuckled darkly as they shoved the struggling young man back against the heavy metal bondage device. He pressed his hands into Jared’s shoulders, holding him in place while snapping orders to cut Jared’s legs loose and then hook them down. “The boss wants the whole club membership to get a look at you, sweet thing. Then he’ll take you below where the real fun’ll happen.”
Jared felt the bindings on his legs come loose, but he didn’t have time to even try to kick before his legs were pulled apart and strapped to the device. Then his arms were freed only long enough to be pulled up and secured above his head. He was now tied spread-eagled on the bondage device; so far he still had his clothes on, but Jared knew that would probably change soon.
He strained against the cuffs but soon realized it was useless. Jared tried to stay calm; he hated the hood and the gag but fought against the panic by thinking of Jensen. He struggled to believe that despite the threats and comments from the thugs that he’d been forgotten and no one would come looking for him, that Jensen was looking and would hopefully find him before anything too terrible happened.
Then he heard the sounds of footsteps approaching, heavy footsteps, which told Jared it was mostly men. He felt bile threaten as his stomach churned and knew anything that happened now would be bad.
“Strip him for the Master!” a sharp voice ordered and all Jared could do to avoid panicking as rough hands began cutting and tearing away his clothes was focus on deep green eyes and pray for rescue.
Present Time in Las Vegas:
“Please! I don’t know what this is about! I’ve kept my deal with your boss! I’ve stayed out of his damn place! I... was…”
The moment the trunk of the limo opened, James Padalecki was shouting non-stop at a non-impressed Michael Rosenbaum who pulled him out and shoved him into a heavy chair that was bolted to the floor. The gambler looked around what appeared to be an empty warehouse.
“Then I guess you can explain how you came to be in possession of Jared’s watch and his credit cards. Come on, Padalecki, we know you made another deal with someone else for him and we know you were part of the attack on him and Chad the other night. Setting up your own son’s kidnapping, taking him away after you made a deal with me, definitely counts as double-crossing me!” Jensen Ackles spoke as he stepped from the limo to glare at the sweating gambler.
“What? I don’t know what you... Oh! Jared’s credit cards? Oh! Those are actually mine... I just put them in his name. I’ve had them since before he went to you and... ugh!” James was quickly cut off when Jensen’s fingers were suddenly around his throat.
“How fucking stupid do you think I am, Padalecki?” Jensen growled furiously, shoving the man back as his hands were cuffed behind him and then to the chair. “You don’t have a valid credit card to your name! Did you think I’d just forget that I took out cards in Jared’s name for him to use and then when he was grabbed, thanks to your greedy plans, not think to look for them to be used? Also? The Rolex that you pawned is inscribed to him but I doubt he ever saw that and I know you never bothered to look. Plus ... the phone is linked to my account and you never reset it. So you want to try another lie or do you actually want to try the truth before Chris gets to play?”
James glared up at Jensen. He wasn’t stupid enough to not be worried but his dislike of this arrogant faggot made him forget the position he was in. “He’s my stupid kid! Apparently, you weren’t using him like I thought you would. My expectation was that you would teach him his damn place so when I got him back I could actually make some damn money from ugh!”
“Jensen!” Chris had been willing to allow Jensen to take the lead on this but the moment the damn moron got mouthy and he caught the flash of rage on Jensen’s face, he was shoving between them while Mike tapped the barrel of a gun on James’s head as if to say how stupid that had been.
“You would never have gotten him back, you goddamn bastard. You will never see him or Molly ever again!” Jensen had never liked the man but that comment, right there, told him everything he needed to know about him and his feelings for his children.
“Nope, I don’t have to worry about seeing him because he’s with someone now who’ll use him for what he’s good for, and I’ll get a free ride on my son’s ability to be a good fuck for…” James suddenly clamped his mouth shut as he realized he might’ve just given away too much. “But you won’t be seeing him again either, hotshot. I hope you enjoyed the couple months of ass you got out of him ‘cause now he belongs to someone else and there ain’t a damn thing you or the muscle boys can do about it.”
“Oh really?” Chris had been trying to shove Jensen far enough back to make sure he wouldn’t be able to do anything to hurt their chances of getting the necessary information out of the man, but with that smug comment, he suddenly stopped restraining his friend and turned to face the sneering gambler with a slow, cold, hard smile. “If you seriously believe that then you are in for a very rude awakening because what I threatened you with when I called you before was mostly play. At that point you hadn’t really done anything to seriously piss me off, but now? Now, you’ve seriously pissed me off. I will get that kid back and if you don’t want to end up dead in some alley or coyote bait in the desert, I suggest you give some serious thought to telling Jensen who you dealt with and where Jared is right now.” He stripped his jacket off to show the shoulder holster he wore while motioning Mike to step back.
James stared between the men before laughing. “You ain’t nothing but a bag of hot air, Kane. He told me that Ackles’ wasn’t nothin’ but a waste of space, a coward on his way to losing that piece of crap casino ‘cause he doesn’t have the balls to stand up to his old man.” He shot a fierce glare, a little more confident as he talked. “The guy I dealt with this time, the guy who not only wiped my debt clear but is giving me an open tab in his joint, is a real man. He’ll teach that kid of mine how to take it up the ass like a good submissive and he said you won’t hurt me so just drop the act and let me go. Huh? Hey! Where’re... what’s…”
“You’re right about one thing.” Jensen’s tone was ice-cold and furious as he fought for control. He finally stepped back after murmuring something to Chris and getting a terse nod out of the man. “ I won’t hurt you. That’s what he’s for.” He nodded to a smirking Chris. “Get me what I want to know and anyone here that doesn’t want to watch can take a walk.”
39 Hours Earlier:
“He’s not a very obedient slave.”
“True, but this glorious body more than makes up for little annoyances like that.”
“He needs to be collared. Perhaps if he’s difficult to break, the Master should brand him in case he slips the collar.”
“Wonderful idea. I believe he’s also considering having a special surgeon implant a microchip under his skin in case tracking is required.”
“Ahhh, a very good plan these days. There are too many goody-two-shoes out there who don’t believe in our lifestyle. This one will bring the Master good money once he’s broken, so he won’t want to lose him.”
Jared jerked his head or tried to, but his head was held firmly in place. Once the head thug had removed the hood and replaced it with a blindfold, he hooked a leather strap across his forehead to keep it still, making sure Jared wouldn’t be headbutting anyone else.
He couldn’t see but he could hear and feel plenty. The noise in the room told him there had to be a dozen or more people, both men and women by the sound of it, wherever he was. Their tones were mocking, crude, almost as bad, and in some cases worse, than anything he’d heard at those clubs or from friends of his father. Jared thought he recognized a couple of voices from that horrible party but he told himself that wasn’t possible. Despite his attempts at denial, his heart began to speed up as he started to suspect who had taken him.
The head thug had whispered lewd promises as he cut away Jared’s clothes until finally Jared was naked and trapped spread-eagle on the St. Andrew’s Cross in front of a bunch of sick and depraved people. The young man knew he was blushing and for once he was actually glad he couldn’t see as he didn’t think he could handle the stares and leers.
Hands had touched him, groped, and fondled him in places and in ways that Jensen hadn’t. People were commenting on the size of his penis, his balls, and someone had even stuck something in his ass while commenting on how tight he was.
Enough time had passed that some were getting a little too hands-on and grabby while expressing in detail what they’d like to do with him if he were theirs.
“But he’s not yours, Emery. This little pet belongs to me... just like I knew he would from the first moment I saw him.”
The low oily deep voice had Jared’s heart nearly stopping in his chest. Even blindfolded, he recognized that voice. It was one of two that he doubted he’d ever forget regardless of what happened to him. Hearing it now told him with no further uncertainty that his father had literally made a deal with the devil and Jensen would never be able to find him.
Presently in Las Vegas:
“What happens if this dick doesn’t give the guy up?” Chad Michael Murray asked with concern from where he sat on the hood of the limo. He was watching Chris Kane work on Jared’s father using tactics that the computer specialist hadn’t ever seen the head bodyguard use before.
In the computer and security rooms, people often discussed Christian Kane in hushed whispers, wondering if he really had done some of the things they had heard about or if those were just rumors. As far as Chad knew, no one except maybe Jensen had ever seen this side of the man before... and quite frankly Chad decided he would never piss the man off again.
“He will,” Jensen replied, but even he was beginning to have doubts as he glanced at his watch and saw that 40 minutes had passed. He had honestly expected the senior Padalecki to be screaming his lungs out after the first blow Chris expertly landed. “He has to. They’ve had him for too long already.”
Jensen understood the dark underbelly of the D/s world. He had been an adult before he learned that there were Dom/sub relationships between two consenting adults, relationships in which both parties were happy and fulfilled. For years he had seen only the dark, demented side with people who called themselves Doms but were little more than abusive assholes and where the subs were little more than slaves.
Bianca had been one of those people, his father another, and he could easily name several more in Sin City, including the very man whose name he was desperately praying did not come out of James’s lips when he finally began screaming for Chris to stop.
“Talk! And talk fast because my patience ended about 38 minutes ago,” Chris growled, jerking the man’s head back and shoving the barrel of his pistol under his jaw. “Who the hell did you sell Jared to? Who’s this high roller who would give you a free pass at his casino since we all know he was obviously looking to get his hands on the kid. Your constant losing streaks and racked-up bills were just a means to get Jared. Who?”
James had thought he could buy himself enough time for Kane to get bored and decide that Jared wasn’t worth his time or trouble. He had been determined to tough it out but it was becoming painfully obvious that the bodyguard hadn’t been bluffing with his threats to hurt him until he gave up who he’d made the deal with.
The man knew that if he gave up the name, he’d be blowing his easy life and instant source for booze, gambling, and women, but he was now more interested in just hopefully walking out of this with his skin attached, which he realized he was very close to losing.
“Wait! Wait a damn second, you damn sadist!” he screamed, trying to ignore his pounding heart or the fact that he’d pissed himself in his fright. “I’ll tell you but it won’t do you any good. He took the kid out of the city. He’s beyond your... ugh!”
Chris dug his fingers into the soft flesh of James’ neck while leaning into his face, no flicker of emotion remaining. “Who took him?” he demanded in a low hard toneless voice. “Who?!”
39 Hours Earlier:
The voice that spoke chilled Jared because he knew it. He knew it and hated it now like he’d hated it that night at the party at The Devil’s Lair.
A rough hand jerked the blindfold off his eyes and removed the ball gag from his mouth even as strong fingers gripped his jaw. Jared kept his eyes closed, not wanting to see the face that went along with the voice.
“I’ve waited a long time for this, Pet. I have such plans for you. You are just going to be my perfect submissive little slave. Now before I gag you again, I’d like to hear you acknowledge me as your new Master.” Jared wished he could turn his head away, but the strap across his forehead along with the hand gripping his jaw ensured that he was immobile. He defied Pellegrino the only way he could, by remaining silent. “Now, Pet,” the man chastised. “Don’t be stubborn. Your training will be so much easier if you are obedient.” When Jared still refused to speak, the fingers on his jaw tightened painfully. “Damn it boy! Look at me and speak!”
Opening his eyes was the last thing Jared wanted to do because he didn’t want to see the man who was behind his kidnapping, but as the pressure on his jaw continued to increase, Jared thought about Jensen. While he hoped Jensen was looking for him, he suspected that he was far beyond his reach. Even though he had little hope of rescue, he was determined not to willingly submit to the man before him. Marshaling his courage, he slowly opened his eyes to stare into the cold shark-like eyes of the tall man in front of him.
Jared knew it would be safer to either keep silent or say the word that the man was requesting, but the casino owner’s leering smile, both now and the night he’d jumped him, gave the younger man one more burst of courage. “… …Fuck you,” he gritted out, seeing the rage in those eyes a moment before the gag was forced back into his mouth and a hard and heavy fist smashed into his bruised jaw.
“Oh no pet, that’s what I and all my friends will be doing to you,” Mark Pellegrino sneered, and turned to snap at his guards. “Take him below and have him prepared. I will be personally overseeing his training. By the time I’m through with him, there will be nothing left of the boy you see now; Ackles won’t even recognize him.”
Present Time, Las Vegas:
“Pellegrino! Mark Pellegrino has him!” James screamed, gasping as Chris released him and pulled back with a harsh curse. “But... but it’s too late! He... he has a place in South Lake Tahoe where he does his really hardcore BDSM stuff and that’s where he took Jared.” Trying to get his breath back, the man looked to see Jensen staring at him and couldn’t help sneering. “It’s too late, hotshot. My kid’s nothing but a broken shell by now.”
TBC