Chapter 35
CHAPTER 35
S hinji
“Wake up!”
Cold water splashes across my face following the unfamiliar man’s demand. My eyes are heavy, my head pounds, and my shoulders are strained. Despite my discomfort, my instincts shout at me to wake the hell up because I’m in danger.
I have no idea where I am or how I got here. I blink until the room comes into focus. Faded writing and an icon of a smiling mattress embellish an otherwise dirty wall of windows. Broken signs emblazoned with the name of a defunct local mattress retailer are in a pile in the corner, adding to the rundown quality of the space.
Are we still in Serenidad? Does anyone know?
Don Tomasso, the first person I see, sits with his legs crossed and looks bored.
Takeshi…
I swing around, realizing the pain in my shoulders is because I’m hanging from the ceiling. Takeshi is similarly bound and wet from being splashed, but he hasn’t woken yet. He groans beside me both reassuring and alarming me.
He’s alive, and with life, there’s always hope. We’re in the same situation: in enemy territory with no reinforcements.
“I underestimated you Kimuras,” Tomasso says. “I won’t do so again.”
“Yeah, crossing us comes at a heavy cost.”
Tomasso nods at a man beside me who rears his arm back and punches me in the stomach. I cough at the instant pain radiating through my abs. My current position doesn’t allow me to gird myself for the incoming hits and minimize the impact.
“If you’d handed that woman over the first time I asked, we wouldn’t be here.”
“That woman is our wife.” Takeshi glares at Tomasso, a challenge in his gaze that defies his bondage.
“Wife? She’s a whore who fucks for a living. Then again, degenerates like you would desecrate the sanctity of marriage.”
I contort my body, building up leverage to kick out at the man closest to me. He responds with a swift jab to my jaw. While he metes out punishment on me, Takeshi, in an unexpected burst of action, swings and catches my assailant’s neck between his legs and twists until the man’s neck snaps. My husband releases him, leaving him to drop to the ground with his head at an odd angle.
“Don’t fucking touch my husband.”
Tomasso lurches from his chair. “Know your fucking place.” He points to two men. “Restrain them. And someone get me some clippers.”
His men wind a rope around our legs and loop it with the restraints around our heads, arching our bodies until our feet reach behind our ears. My thighs burn from the stretch, but I won’t give Tomasso the satisfaction of seeing my pain.
By the time Tomasso’s men finish trussing us, another person arrives with the requested clippers.
“It’s almost heartwarming how you stick up for each other.” Tomasso walks behind me and a buzzing sound begins. “Tell me, does that bitch like your hair?” He slides the clippers along my scalp.
Lakeisha loves playing in my hair, sometimes using my locks when she’s most agitated, almost like a second security blanket. And she’s not alone. When Takeshi is at his most domineering, he directs our play by grabbing fistfuls of my hair. And now this bastard has taken something precious from me.
“Stop!” Takeshi yells, his body futilely swinging and unable to enact the violence shooting from his eyes.
“Who’s going to make me?” Tomasso laughs. “Do you get it yet? You have no say. Just like you won’t have a say when my nephew gets his hands on the whore who disfigured him.”
The buzzing sound continues, sometimes with the blade digging into my scalp. Although I can’t see myself, Takeshi’s rage and hurt tell me the damage is extensive.
“Now, let’s proceed. Gentlemen.” Tomasso pats the shoulder of two men. “Teach them a lesson. Try to steer clear of the face. We have tons of time to break every bone in their body before we deliver them to that cazzo Katsuo.” He resumes his seat and leans back as if he’s about to catch some sun rays.
His men pound on me and my husband. Pain explodes along my ribs, legs, spine… gut. Even my face. Blood fills my mouth and smears across my cheeks. With our bodies swinging, Tomasso’s men land punches wherever our bodies connect. The hits are brutal, and we’ll need time to fully recover.
“While you learn your place, I’ll let you in on what’s in store for that bitch when we catch her. Since she loves dick so much, we’re going to make sure she gets more than she can handle. And when she’s bleeding and torn apart in all her orifices, we’ll put her out of her misery. Because we’re merciful and only want her to experience a portion of Paul’s agony over the years.”
“The fuck you are.” I double my efforts, straining my arms until a loud pop precedes excruciating pain. I grit my teeth and bite back a scream.
The door slams open and a familiar voice says, “Zio Tomasso, stop.”
Under the barrage of punches, I catch glimpses of Paul whispering in his uncle’s ear. They switch to Italian. By Tomasso’s murderous expression, he doesn’t like whatever Paul is telling him. He shoots out of his chair and stomps away while yelling something over his shoulder.
The men pummeling us into near-unconsciousness draw their last punches and release us. My limbs shriek as I draw them closer to my body. They drag me and Takeshi to a back room and throw us on a lone mattress.
I hug my dislocated arm. “Can you move?” I ask, breathing through the pain.
Takeshi rolls to his side, then his knees. “Shit, let me help.” He grips my arm and shoulder. “This is going to hurt.”
“No more than what I’m already suff?—”
Without warning, he pops my shoulder back in.
“Ahh! Fuck!”
“We have to get out of here.” He drops back onto the mattress, his breathing heavy.
The only sign of his level of pain is his constantly bristling mustache.
“I know. We have to get to Lakeshia before they do.” I look around the room where there’s nothing we can break apart to use as a weapon.
“And before she does something stupid.”
“We have some time before she’ll act,” I say. “After all, Katsuo will play interference.”
“I doubt it. Tomasso and Paul want to hurt her and won’t hesitate to let her know they have us. She’ll dwell on everything Tomasso has taken from her already. This could be her last straw.”
I push my body closer to Takeshi, needing his warmth as much as his closeness. “I wish you hadn’t reminded me. Dammit, I don’t trust her to sit and wait for us to free ourselves.” I rest my head against his shoulder and he brushes my forehead with a kiss.
“We will get out of here, and we will destroy every last Giametti,” Takeshi vows.