Chapter 20 Amberly
AMBERLY
“No. Please. Stop, please!” I exclaimed.
I held tightly onto my crying boy as Vlad reached for his shirt.
He tried wrestling my son away, but I threw all my energy into keeping him with me.
Mason cried out for me. He wrapped his hands into my shirt and shrieked as loudly as he could.
And the second Vlad smacked his hand over my son’s face, I wanted to rip his fucking throat out.
Mason’s eyes bulged. Tears soared down my cheeks.
He wrestled my son away from my grip and I dropped to my knees, begging Vlad to let him stay.
“Please! I’ll do anything. Just tell me what to do to get more time with him!”
I reached out for my son, watching as Vlad stopped in his tracks.
The wild, mischievous smile on his face made me retch.
Gag. Heave, in front of my son. But he released him back to me.
Mason scuttled across the ground, wrapping his arms around me as I knelt there on my knees.
I buried my face into the crook of his neck, my mind spinning out with emotions I no longer knew how to control.
“Please don’t let him take me away again,” he said, sobbing.
“I love you. I love you so much. Always know that,” I whispered.
“First, I need to hear from you that you agree to the plan. In full,” Vlad said.
“I’ve already done that,” I spat.
A hand twisted up into my hair and my head wrenched back.
“Mom!” Mason exclaimed.
“You backtalk me again and he’s dead. You hear me?” Vlad hissed.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Give me another chance,” I whispered.
“Good. That’s what I like to hear. I want you to repeat after me.”
“Okay. I will. Yes.”
“I promise to fulfill the tasks set before me,” he said.
“I promise to fulfill the tasks set before me,” I said.
“By my boss, from his boss,”
“By my boss, from his boss,”
“Until the tasks are completed and it’s time to come home.”
“Until the tasks are completed and it’s time to come home.”
“And then, at that time,” he said.
“And then, at that time,” I said as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“I shall return to my latent duties and reclaim my former position as a worker for the Norden Crime Family.”
Oh, no.
Vlad paused. “I can’t hear you, sweet girl.”
“I shall return to my latent duties and reclaim my—my former—”
Mason nuzzled tightly into me as Vlad grinned down at my face.
There it was. The one thing he wanted to make sure of.
He wanted to make sure I knew that I had to return back to him.
That I had to come back and continue slaving away as some sex object for the rest of my days.
I ran my fingers through Mason’s hair. I tried settling him down as I gazed up into the eyes of my captor.
With his hand tightening in my hair, more tendrils came lose.
More hair broke off, destined to create more bald patches of skin he’d eventually kill me over.
Since they weren’t “pretty,” and all that.
“And then, at that time, I shall return to my latent duties and reclaim my former position as a worker for the Norden Crime Family,” I whispered.
“Good girl,” Vlad said.
He shoved my head and I went tumbling to the ground.
Mason came with me, settling on top of me as I laid there on the asphalt.
He cried into my neck as I stared up at the sky, debating whether or not life was worth living any longer.
I mean, what kind of life was Mason living anyway? Maybe we were better off dead.
Maybe the both of us were better off trying this again in another life.
“You’ll check in daily, or he pays the price,” Vlad said.
“Okay,” I said softly.
“You’ll update me on any physical ventures required for this job.”
“Okay.”
“And when all this is done, you’ll return to me. Where I’ll nurse you back to health before you start work again.”
“And get time with Mason?” I whispered.
I slowly looked over at Vlad and watched him nod.
“If you’re a good enough girl,” he said.
I knew he was just pulling a power play.
Just to drive home the point that I was his and no one else’s.
But I wanted more time with my son. I wanted more time to figure this out.
And maybe, just maybe, the right opportunity might present itself.
Maybe, just maybe, Mason and I could somehow get away from all this today.
Away from Vlad. Away from Saint. Away from the biker gang and away from all this fucking nonsense.
Just me and him. Like it should have been in the first place.
“Mommy, what’s happening?” Mason asked through his sobs.
I kissed the top of his head. “Nothing, sweetheart. I’m just working, that’s all.”
“Then, quit this job. He’s mean, Mommy. You deserve a nice boss.”
Vlad chuckled and it made my stomach turn.
“I got a deck of cards if you guys want to play,” he said.
I sat up with my child and nodded my head.
I held out my hand, feeling the cards drop down into my palm.
And as we sat there on the asphalt, covered by the shadows of a restaurant, I held Mason in my lap.
The two of us played all sorts of card games, even though we could see one another’s cards.
We played Go Fish. We played through a game of Solitaire.
We sat there, silently, trying to soak up as much time as possible with one another.
All while the restaurant emptied out, counting down the minutes until we had to part again.
“I love you, Mommy,” Mason said.
I kissed the top of his head. “I love you too, kiddo. So, so much. Always remember that, okay?”
“How much more time do we have?”
I peeked up at Vlad and he flashed me five fingers.
“Five minutes,” I whispered.
“It’s not enough time, though. You need more vacation,” Mason said, his eyes filling with tears.
“It’s okay. Hey, hey, hey. Sweet boy. It’s okay, I promise. Soon, Mommy will be spending a lot of time with you, okay? She’s got a lot of vacation time coming her way, where she’ll recuperate and things like that.”
I looked back up at Vlad and saw him shrug. Like he was thinking about not holding up his end of the bargain on all this. I wanted to wring his neck. I wanted to claw his eyes out. Never in my life had I contemplated murder with a smile in my heart.
But if I ever had a chance to kill that man, I would in a singular heartbeat.
While fucking laughing about it.
“Promise?” Mason asked.
I lip quivered as I kissed the top of his head again.
“Promise, promise,” I whispered.
“What the—”
In an instant, Mason was ripped from my grasp. He cried out for me, his hands reaching out as Vlad whipped him back around toward the SUV. Cards fell from my lap as I stood up, reaching out for him. And when I jumped onto Vlad’s back, he knocked me to the ground with a slap.
“Give me my son! Where are you going!?” I exclaimed.
“You’re an idiot for bringing that club here with you. The deal’s fucking off, you bitch,” Vlad hissed.
“What? What--what are you--?”
Heavy footsteps came for us and I whipped around. Saint and Ryker headed straight for me and I held my hands out. I tried to get them to stop. I tried to get them to go away. And as Vlad slammed the door on the SUV, I turned around to try and reason with him.
“I didn’t know. They must’ve followed—I didn’t know, Vlad! Please!”
“You’re done, do you hear me?” he glowered.
“Give me my fucking son, you raging psychopath!”
I lunged for him, but he shoved me to the ground. My head hit the asphalt, disorienting me as my son’s voice came into view. He shrieked for me, cried out for me. And as I tried pushing myself up off the ground, tires peeled out of the parking lot.
“No. No, come back. Mason. Please! Come back with my baby boy!”
I stumbled after the red SUV, listening as my son pounded on the window.
Sobs fell from my lips as I fell to my hands and knees, retching with sickness in the pit of my gut.
My shoulders shook with sadness. My chest bounced with sobs.
I couldn’t think. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe, see, or hear anything except the slow, deafening fade of my sweet boy’s shrieking voice.
“Mommy! Don’t let him take me!”
“Oh, no,” I moaned.
I rocked back and forth as I settled my head in my hands.
It felt like my world was crashing down around me.
If Vlad killed my baby boy, I had nothing to live for.
I’d never forgive myself. Bile crept up the back of my throat.
I still tasted breakfast on the tip of my tongue.
I tried getting up, but every time I did the world knocked me back down onto my knees.
Typical, for the life I’d led. Every time I got a leg up, it smacked me off my balance and tumbled me back into darkness.
“Give me my son back,” I said breathlessly.
I finally stood up, getting my bearings as I gazed off in the distance.
I heard the squealing of tires, and I looked around just in time to see the red SUV careening toward the highway.
I stumbled toward the road. I wanted to go after them.
I needed to get back on that bike and follow them, and not stop until that damn SUV had run out of gas and they needed to fucking stop.
Then, I felt a hand come down onto my shoulder.