25. Isa
ISA
I woke up in a strange room with a pounding headache.
I didn’t move my head from the pillow, only looked around with my eyes as I tried to think back to the last thing I remembered. My mind was drawing a blank.
What happened?
I didn’t want to move around too much, but even if I didn’t understand my situation, I knew I was in trouble.
I licked my parched lips, my mind moving a million miles an hour until it finally settled on one memory. I was at Valentino’s apartment.
And that one memory opened up a floodgate.
I remembered everything.
The apartment got broken into.
I tried to hide in Valentino’s bedroom.
It wasn’t until I was under the bed that I realized I had left my phone in my purse, which was sitting on his kitchen island.
It didn’t take them long to find me.
I was dragged out from under the bed by a man I didn't know, who had looked at me like…
I clenched my eyes shut, trying to shake off the image of the man, and focused on the fact that Dad had been there with him.
He obviously showed the man where Valentino’s apartment was, where to find me.
I struggled, but it was two against one. It was me against two men who had trained for most of their lives to fight.
I didn’t stand a chance.
My hands moved down to my ribs as I remembered when that man threw me against the dresser in Valentino’s room. The wood had cracked under my weight.
They laughed. Dad had laughed the hardest.
I took in a deep breath and tried to keep the panic from clawing its way up my throat.
It was the same side where Dad had kicked me just a couple of days before.
I winced when I pressed my hand against the soreness.
Did I break it?
I swallowed.
I remember being dragged out of Valentino’s room after that, screaming for help.
Tears streamed down my face. It was no use.
The man pulled his arm back and punched me in the face.
I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek. It felt sore, and I could still taste the tanginess of blood.
I couldn’t just lie here.
I had to leave.
I opened my eyes and slowly dragged myself out of bed, freezing when I saw an unfamiliar girl sitting on the recliner in the corner. She was watching me cautiously.
She was…
Small and nonthreatening.
At least, she would have been had I not been injured.
I blinked at her.
She blinked back.
“You shouldn’t move around so much. You’re still hurt,” she said normally, as if I wasn’t being held here against my will.
I glared at her. “Who are you?”
She looked off to the side, her jaw clenched, as if asking who she was had offended her in some way. As if her own identity offended her in some way. I would have felt bad for my tone had I been in any other situation than the one I was currently in.
When she looked back at me, I couldn’t help but make note of her brown eyes. Sad, defiant eyes, like she was in a hopeless situation but would be damned if I felt sorry for her. Was she being held here against her will as well?
I didn't know what to make of her.
“Don’t worry. They’re going to want you to heal up a little before the wedding,” she said, and my heart ran cold.
“What wedding?” I managed to croak out.
She stood up from the chair. I flinched back, and she looked at me curiously. “I’m going to get you something to eat,” she said.
I shook my head. She wasn’t answering any of my questions, and I had a feeling she was doing that on purpose.
She was already by the door when I stopped her by saying, “I still don’t know your name.”
She smiled a little. It was one of those smiles that hid more than it revealed. “I’m Nova.”
And with that, she walked out of the room, leaving me alone with nothing more than my thoughts.
I didn’t like this.
I didn’t like the sudden silence.
It would be so easy to just give in to the panic attack I could feel bubbling up to the surface, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen in this strange house.
I got up and looked around.
At first glance, it appeared to be a normal, typical room.
There were no colors other than the generic neutral ones that didn’t tell me who it belonged to. Perhaps I was in a guest bedroom?
I headed over to the window.
Metal bars were attached vertically from the outside. There was no escape. Did they put the bars there for me? I shook my head. They looked old and rusty. Not old enough for me to break, but old enough that I knew they had been there for some time.
Perhaps this was where they kept all their prisoners?
How many prisoners had they kept in this house to warrant this?
I didn’t know.
From the window, it seemed as if we were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by thick trees and no roads. No neighbors… no other person around who might help me.
I looked around the room, hoping there would be something to help me defend myself. There was nothing but a few pens, but that wasn’t a good weapon. Not in my hands, at least.
I walked over to the closet, frowning when I opened it and found rows of women’s clothing hanging there.
And they weren’t new clothes, or even well-kept. They looked like they were falling apart at the seams. They weren’t for me… at least, I didn’t think so. I didn’t need to look closer at them to know they were too small to fit me.
But Nova…
The door opened, and Nova appeared with a plate holding a simple sandwich and a bag of chips. Under her arm was a water bottle.
She froze when she saw me standing there. “This is your room.”
She seemed embarrassed but nodded.
“How old are you?”
She looked younger than me, but I could be wrong. There was just something about her that made me feel like she was left… wanting.
Wanting for things she couldn’t have.
Wanting for more.
Just… wanting.
She didn’t answer me right away, just moved over to the bed and set the food and water down. I eyed it, wondering if she had put something in there. She didn’t look like the type.
“Twenty-five.”
It took me a moment to realize she was answering me.
“Twenty-five,” I repeated.
She was a year older than me. That was hard to believe. Her features hardened. I didn’t think she realized that look didn't have the intended effect. Her harshness just made me want to wrap my arms around her and protect her.
Which was stupid on my part. I didn’t know this girl. She could be the enemy.
“You should eat something,” she said.
My stomach grumbled. I didn’t even care that she might have put something in it anymore. I just wanted food. I needed the energy for when I planned my escape. If what she said was true, then I had at least a few days to plan it.
I cautiously took a seat on the bed and picked up the plate. Nova went back to her usual seat in the recliner.
I ate while she looked out the window.
I didn’t know what to say to her.
I didn’t know her situation.
She lived here.
She was apparently free to roam around the house whenever she pleased. I would have tried her room door had I not seen the big man standing outside it, obviously to keep me in here.
But she wasn’t free, was she?
The bars on her window probably meant she tried to escape before and failed. I could use that to my advantage.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked.
She looked over at me. For a moment, I didn’t think she was going to say anything. Then she surprised me when she said, “My whole life.”
I frowned. That didn’t tell me why she was here. If she had been here her whole life, then she wasn’t kidnapped when she was little.
Was she…
Was she related to the man who broke into Valentino’s apartment to take me?
She let out a small sigh. “He’s my uncle. The man who took you. I know you want to ask.”
I didn’t deny that. “Your uncle?”
She nodded. “He’s the president of the Devil’s Wings MC.”
“The Devil’s Wings MC?”
That was the rival gang Elio was having trouble with.
But the De Luca Famiglia was fighting with the MC. And Dad was somehow involved with them? That would brand him as a traitor.
I knew for a fact that Valentino had cameras set up inside his apartment. And Dad didn't bother to hide his face. He was so sure of his alliance with the MC that he would outright betray Massimo.
How fucking stupid.
And I knew why he was so sure of it.
He was using the information he gathered as a high-ranking member under the De Luca syndicate and was marrying me off to the fucking president.
I was nothing more than a bargaining chip for him to regain power.
I looked down at my half-eaten sandwich, losing my appetite.
“Are you okay?” Nova asked me.
She stood up from the recliner and cautiously made her way over to me. I didn’t think she realized I wasn’t really a threat to her now.
Not in my current state.
“Are they keeping you here against your will?” I asked, peering up at her. She looked… hungry, like she wasn’t eating enough. Like she was on the verge of fading away, of disappearing while no one around her even cared.
She didn’t answer me.
“Don’t you want to go?”
She gazed out the window, a faraway look entering her eyes. “There’s nowhere to go. And you shouldn’t try to escape. They’ll find you. They’ll always find you. They know these woods like the back of their hands.”
They had broken her.
Completely?
I didn’t think so.
A part of her still wanted to leave, still wanted to escape once more. I could work with that.
“These woods? Where are we?”
“Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.”
I wasn’t the best at geography, but I had heard of this place. My heart dropped. We were at least four hours away from Las Vegas. How the hell had I gotten here? Was I knocked out long enough for them to transport me here? And how the hell was I supposed to leave now?
Even if, by some miracle, I managed to escape this house, I would likely get lost in the forest. I wouldn’t survive. If they didn’t find me, the elements would surely take me.
I tensed when a knock came at the door. A rough-looking man walked in without waiting for a reply.
I jumped in surprise, but Nova didn’t even blink as he set down a black garment bag.
He looked me up and down, making my skin crawl, before shooting Nova a nasty smile and walking out of the room.
I set my plate down and opened the bag, feeling my heart drop at the sight.
It was a white wedding dress.