Chapter Four #2
Nestore closed his eyes briefly with a blissful smile.
When he looked at me again, the longing in his gaze made me press myself against the bars, the cold steel caging in my cheeks.
Nestore struggled into a sitting position, pain etched into every stunning line of his face.
He gripped the bars with bruised fingers and pulled himself closer to me.
He looked closer to death than life. “All my firsts are yours too,” Nestore rasped.
As a man in our world, Nestore would already have lost all his firsts a long time ago if my father hadn’t locked him in a cage like an animal to humiliate and torture him.
Nestore leaned forward and pressed his lips against my cheek, the touch so gentle and sweet, I wanted to cry. How could he still be this good after what had been done to him?
The door to the basement swung open, and my father stepped in with two of his men before Nestore and I could pull apart.
He held one of his pet chimps, the female, dressed in a checkered dress, by a leash.
Father’s face twisted with disgust and utter rage.
He shoved the leash at one of his men and stormed toward me.
He had changed out of his tracksuit and now wore a business suit.
“Don’t—” I wanted to beg Father to spare Nestore his rage, but his palm struck my mouth, leaving blood in its wake.
I fell to the floor, my ears ringing, my lip throbbing, and blood pumping into my mouth.
I retched at the potent taste. The chimp let out screeches and hoots that echoed in the basement and raised the little hairs on my neck.
Cruel fingers tangled in my hair and wrenched me upward. I scrambled to get on my feet to stop the burning pain in my scalp, but Father didn’t give me the chance as he dragged me toward the steel door.
“Don’t hurt her! Hurt me! I tricked her into kissing me!” Nestore roared.
I was sobbing from the pain in my scalp, but still managed to shake my head. “No.”
“You’ll get your turn, Nestore. Don’t worry.
I’ll be back for you later,” my father snarled as he opened the steel door and wrenched me through it.
I stumbled after him up several flights of stairs until we reached my room.
He tossed me inside, and I fell to my knees, pain shooting through my knees and up my legs.
Relief filled me as the pain in my scalp subsided.
With watering eyes, I looked up to see my father remove his belt.
“I was far too lenient with you. That ends today. I don’t care if I have to give you a lashing every day until your skin peels off your bones.
” Before I could utter a single word, he lashed out with the belt, and it whipped against my upper arm.
I cried out in pain, backing away, but he followed, and the hard leather hit me again and again—my arms, my legs, my back.
My face was the only place he spared, and I knew why.
He wanted to marry me off to another Underboss.
I wasn’t blind. I had seen the looks the men who visited us gave me, and it creeped me out. I needed a pretty face for that.
I half wished he’d leave scars on my face to be spared a future at such a man’s side. Nestore wouldn’t care about a few scars. Strike after strike rained down on me until my world was pain, and sweet oblivion eventually overcame me.
I woke in my bed. Every inch of my body ached, and my skin felt too tight, as if it were on the verge of bursting.
Whimpering, I opened my eyes to find Flavia perched on the bed beside me, her brows tugged tight with worry.
“Finally,” she said and blew out a breath.
Her makeup was done to perfection, several layers of professional foundation covering up the bruises on her cheek and throat. “He’s never beaten you this badly.”
I tried to sit up but gave up at the intense pain in my back, arms, and legs. The last time I’d gotten a beating almost this bad, I had asked him why he kept torturing Nestore.
“You’re bruised all over. It’s a good thing it’s winter. That way, we can cover the marks with clothes. Even my makeup wouldn’t be able to cover everything.”
I tilted my head and glanced down at my arms. They looked like a painting of modern art. Different shades of blue and purple, and the occasional streak of red where my skin had burst open. Flavia wrung out a cloth and put it against my forehead. The cold felt good against my skin.
“Why did he punish you like that?” she asked.
“Nestore kissed my cheek.”
Shock crossed her beautiful face. She was only twenty-five and had already survived seven years with my father. Pregnant with his heir, maybe she had a chance to survive even longer. Her eyes crinkled with sympathy.
“He shouldn’t have done it!”
“I wanted him to.”
The disapproval in her face would have made me angry if there weren’t worry in her eyes.
“Do you know if Nestore is okay?” Fear filled me like a flash flood. If my father had punished me like this, Nestore must be at death’s door.
“I didn’t see them carrying out any body bags.”
I swallowed. I had to hope that meant Nestore was alive.
I tried to sit up again, and this time I managed, driven by sheer determination and worry.
Flavia lightly touched my arm. “I understand the wish for love, Amelia, but in our world, we as women only experience love from our children.” She stroked over her bump. Her first child. Or the first she’d hopefully carry to term.
I swallowed hard. “I love Nestore.”
“You’re young.”
“Not too young to love.”
“Fifteen. So young,” she said as if the word was a stranger, when she wasn’t even that old. But living with my father, she probably felt ancient.
“I wish I could help him. I wish I could run off with him.”
Her gaze jerked toward the door as if she worried my father would burst in. “Be careful,” she murmured. “Next time, he might not stop.”
I knew my father was capable of killing me, especially now that he had a boy on the way.
The only reason he tolerated me at all was the chance of marrying me off to another powerful man to solidify his own power.
Perhaps even to Benedetto’s oldest son, Remo, who was killing off high-ranking Camorrista in his quest to become Capo.
I was bargaining material he didn’t want to lose.
“Don’t you ever wish you could run away. To save yourself and the baby?”
Flavia’s eyes gave me the answer she didn’t dare to say aloud. Her fingers curled around the fabric of her dress, knuckles turning white.
I considered asking her to help me get the key for Nestore’s cell, but she was pregnant, and I wasn’t sure my father wouldn’t beat her and the unborn child to death, heir or not, if she went behind his back.
Two of her pregnancies, both with girls, had ended early because of his temper.
He found a pregnant belly disgusting, so it enraged him.
That was why my mother, his second wife, and even Flavia hadn’t managed to give me a sibling yet.
I dragged my legs out of bed. Someone had dressed me in a nightgown. “How long was I out?”
“Three hours.”
“Thanks for taking care of me.”
She nodded with a small smile and rose to her feet, her thin hand coming to rest on her protruding belly. “I would tell you to stay away from Nestore, but I can see in your eyes that you won’t. Just be careful.”
“I will be. Don’t worry.”
She left, and I put on a cardigan and slippers before I snuck out. Every step caused a ripple of pain in my entire body, making me stop and suck in a sharp breath. It took me a while to reach the basement, shuffling my feet over the floor to avoid the worst pain in my thighs.
Anxiety sloshed in my stomach when I opened the emergency exit door and snuck into the cellblock.
I sped up despite the ache in my body, desperate to see Nestore.
I found him sitting on the ground with his back against the neighboring cell.
The moment he spotted me, he shoved to his feet and rushed toward the bars, grasping them in a white-knuckled grip.
His eyes scanned me from head to toe, his face displaying rage and despair.
I wished I had covered up my legs and collarbones, the only skin I was showing.
“One day, I’ll make him suffer for everything he’s done.”
I smiled shakily and grasped the bars below his hands, our skin brushing. “I’m okay,” I lied. “What did he do to you?”
Nestore shook his head. “Nothing yet. But imagining him hurting you was torture. I was so worried he’d kill you.”
I gave a small shrug, then winced. “Not yet.”
It was meant as a joke, but Nestore pressed his forehead against the bars with a look of feverish anguish. “Don’t risk your life for me.”
“I won’t stop coming down here. And I’ll find a way to get you out of here.”
Nestore closed his eyes briefly, then gave me a bitter smile. “You’re the reason I’m still alive.”
“I’ll get you out of here.”
“Only if you come with me,” he murmured.
“Of course.”
My father had always been distrustful, but since becoming Underboss, he had become downright paranoid.
He didn’t trust me to begin with, and even less so since he’d witnessed the kiss.
In the weeks that followed the incident and the beating, I tried to get back in his good graces.
Still, it became more difficult to visit Nestore in the basement.
Guards patrolled the cellblock more often than before.
I needed to figure out a way to free Nestore before things got even worse.
For me to get close enough to my father to steal the keys to the cell without him noticing required a miracle.
My best bet was one of the guards. They, too, were wary, but if I pretended to flirt with them, maybe they’d lower their guard.
Since I’d developed some curves, I’d noticed the stares from my father’s men.
I put on a dress that was a little too tight by now, revealing more leg and neckline than I was comfortable with, but it was perfect for my purposes. My belly burst with nerves as I left my room in search of the guards.
Flavia came out of the bedroom at that moment.
She took one look at me, and her expression tightened.
She grabbed my arm and tugged me into her bedroom.
She and my father didn’t sleep in the same room.
They only shared a bed when they were intimate, a thought that made me feel very sick.
Though he now mostly favored his mistresses and whores because Flavia had a belly.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a low voice.
“Trying to get the key to Nestore’s cell,” I said with a shrug. I had waited far too long, had been too scared.
She shook her head slowly, worry clouding her expression. “These men are monsters. I won’t let you walk around them like this.”
“They won’t hurt me. They’re too scared of my father.”
“Your father will punish you if they touch you. Maybe he’ll punish them too, but you will get the brunt of it.”
“I must save him, Flavia. It’s all I can think about. I must do it before it is too late.”
“I will get the key for you. Promise me you won’t go near the guards like this. Stay away from them.”
“I don’t want you to risk the baby’s or your life for me.”
“Your father won’t kill me until his son is born. He needs an heir to appear stronger. I always knew my death was a likely result of this marriage.”
“Flavia—”
“You took care of me when your father tried to beat me into submission at the beginning of our marriage. You were a child, but you risked everything. It’s my turn to give back. This is my choice.”
I gave a small nod, even if I still worried about the consequences. I didn’t want her or the baby to get hurt. “Promise me you’ll come with us. Promise me you’ll run away.”
She sighed. “I’m in no state to run. I…” She gave me a resigned smile. “Don’t worry about me, okay?”
I didn’t agree, but I decided not to argue with her for now.
I returned to my room and changed into my usual clothes.
That night, Flavia came over to my room and handed me a bundle with keys.
There were the keys to Nestore’s cell, the front gates, and almost every door in the house on it.
The front door and gates also operated with fingerprints, but the system broke down on occasion, so Father and the guards always had physical keys on hand just in case.
I gave her a wide-eyed look as she hovered in front of me in a skimpy nightgown.
“Your father fell asleep afterward. Hurry. Now’s your best bet to make it out of here. ”
I slipped out of bed and put on sneakers and a cardigan. I didn’t want to waste time getting dressed. I only owned dresses, so there was nothing good for an escape.
“You should hurry. Take a car. But the keys to them are in the guard rooms.”
Father never drove a car himself after he became Underboss.
“Maybe we’ll escape on foot and then try to hitchhike.”
Flavia nodded, but her eyes reflected sorrow and fear.
I touched her belly. “Be safe, you two, okay?”
“As safe as we can be. Find happiness.”
Happiness… what a wonderful concept. I stuffed some money and the keys into a bag and hurried away, not looking back at Flavia.
My pulse pounded in my ears as I rushed down the stairs to the basement. When Nestore spotted me, he pushed to his feet. He had the slightest limp from his last beating, and my heart sank, worrying about how we’d get out of here if he couldn’t run.
“Amelia, what—”
I pulled out the keys and picked the one for the lock in front of me, then opened Nestore’s cell.
For a moment, trepidation flashed across his face.
The sound of the lock being turned usually meant pain, so his reaction made sense and filled me with a new resolve.
We needed to get out of here before my father killed Nestore.
“We’re running away,” I whispered as I swung open the door.
For the first time in two years, no bars were between us.
Nestore stepped closer, then over the threshold into the corridor.
He let out a deep breath as he peered down at me.
I had forgotten how tall Nestore was. Standing in front of me, he towered over me.
His entire face morphed into wonder as he looked left, then right in the corridor.
“You risk too much for me,” he said eventually.
“Not just for you. I’m doing this for me.”
The truth of the matter was that I would have never run away if it weren’t for Nestore. I wouldn’t have been brave enough for myself.
Nestore held out his hand. “Come on. I know this place by heart.” I put my hand in his, and he closed his fingers around mine. We had this one chance to make it out of here alive, and we had to take it.