Chapter 24
Mia
I open my eyes, my head throbbing in pain. I can’t see anything clearly, but I can hear waves crashing outside of my window.
I glance around, trying to figure out where I am.
A dark room. Barely any light. Just a smidgen of it coming in from the sun outside.
There’s a tiny window near the ceiling of the room with bars on the outside. I shake my head, sitting up on the small cot I’m in.
My whole body aches, and I stretch my muscles as I try to get my bearings. Where am I?
The walls are bare. The floor is hard.
A chill lingers in the room, and I hug onto myself trying to stay warm.
The lock sounds and I lie down, pretending to be asleep. Hopefully, whoever walks in will leave me alone.
No such luck. The door opens and loud footsteps walk across the floor and kick the side of my cot.
“Get up.” I recognize the voice and open my eyes.
“Enzo? What are you doing here?”
He laughs, but there’s no humor there. “I said, get up.”
I sit up a little too fast and feel my head sway. I hold on to my head, trying to stop the spin. “Where am I?” I ask, once the spinning stops.
“I knew that fucker wasn’t your father.” He pulls me by the arm and drags me from the room.
I keep my mouth shut because I have nothing to say to the man that he’d want to hear.
He leads me down a long musky hallway to a wide opening at the end. Inside, there are three chairs, and he plops me down in one of them.
The large room is dark and dank, and I realize I must be in an abandoned warehouse. “Please let me go,” I tell him, wondering how far I am from Sebastian’s home. Am I even still in London?
I rub my temples, trying my best to ease the headache away.
Enzo laughs, and another man walks into the room. A man I know well.
It’s my father.
Tears well in my eyes when I see him come closer.
“Daddy, please.” I don’t really know what’s going on, but I know this is not the father I know and love. This is a monster in his place.
My father would never hurt me.
But this man he is now, would. “Daddy,” I plead, trying to get him to look at me.
“Just play along, Mia. It’ll all be over soon,” he says.
“Play along with what?” My voice sounds wobbly, like I’m talking under water. “Did you drug me?” It explains the way I’m feeling.
“Mia, listen to your father. Your real father,” Enzo says. “We just need to use you as bait to get what we want.”
I stand from my chair on wobbly legs, and try to move across the room to my father. “Dad, please look at me. You can’t do this to me.”
“Have we treated you poorly?” he finally says. “You’re fine. You just need to stay here until they come for you.”
I shake my head. “Until who comes? Sebastian?”
Enzo laughs like a crazed hyena, and the sound grates on my nerves. “When I explained you and Donovan Sabatini to Georgio, he laughed. He said Sabatini didn’t exist and we realized the game you both were playing.”
My father sits in one of the chairs, pointing to the other for me to sit down. “Sit, please.”
Enzo continues speaking, “Does your father know you’re fucking his best friend?”
My dad’s eyes snap to mine. “Please tell me Enzo is wrong.”
I’m upset my father would use me as bait in his stupid games, so I lean forward, holding onto the back of the chair. “He’s right. And also know, I’m in love with him, Daddy Dearest .”
My father stands and pushes his chair across the room. “No, this isn’t true.”
“Oh, it’s true. I love him and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
My father paces the large space. “You will not see him again.” And then he turns and gives me a menacing stare. “You’ll never see him again because he’ll be dead.”
My eyes widen. “No.”
My father stops pacing to stare directly into my eyes, and he’s different somehow. An evil lurks there that frightens me. “We’ve got everything worked out, Mia. Sebastian admits to everything and we kill him. Everything will go back to the way it was before.”
“I can’t believe this. Why would you steal from your friends?” I ask. “Why would you frame Sebastian? He’s been nothing but loyal to you.”
My father smiles, glancing at Enzo and he smiles, too. Their sinister faces make my stomach churn with acid.
“Mia, you’re being overdramatic,” my father chides. “This is all business.”
“I won’t help.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Mia, you will help. You’re already helping. We’ve heard Sebastian has everyone out looking for you right now. He’s got Dean Maddox and Sophia helping.”
“Sophia?” I worry about my friend.
“Mia, you do this, and we’ll be set for life. We’ll never have to worry about money or business ever again. We’ll have everything we could ever ask for. You’ll never have to work.” My father glances at Enzo. “And you and Enzo will be married and happy.”
“No way.” I shake my head. “I’m not marrying him.”
My father furrows his brow. “I’m no longer asking you, Mia. You’ll do as I say or else.”
“Or else, what?” I glance around the room, looking for an escape route.
There’s nothing promising. Nothing that looks like it could be an easy out for me. The windows are all high up. I’d have to run past my father and Enzo if I have any chance of escaping.
I know I could beat my father in a foot race, but I don’t think I could outrun Enzo.
I pace the room, tears falling down my face. “I can’t believe this.”
I just can’t.
My father turns on his fatherly charm. “Mia, I know what you must be thinking. I would never do anything to hurt you. I would never put you in harm’s way. I love you. You’re my flesh.”
“You are putting me in harm’s way.” I stare into his eyes. “You put me in danger the minute you stole from your friends. There’s evidence against you. Sebastian has already shown the evidence to Hector and Don.”
This is obviously news to my father, because I watch as his eyes narrow. “Evidence?”
I smile, feeling more powerful since I woke up in this strange place. “You weren’t expecting that, were you?”
My father shakes his head, not wanting to play anymore games. “Mia, what evidence?”
I shrug. “Don’t know.” Even though I do. “Something Sebastian sent out to everyone. They all know you stole from them.”
My father scowls, but only for a moment. As if a new idea has popped into his head, he laughs. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll get him to confess. We’ll say he doctored up whatever evidence he showed. Nate Scott will vouch for us.”
“Nate Scott is how we got the evidence.”
My father looks as though I have shot him. “No, he would never betray me.”
I shrug again. “Well, he did. He told us how to find Oliver. And with Oliver we were able to get everything we needed.”
“Oliver has nothing,” Enzo balks. “Anything you think you may have is a lie.”
I want to punch Enzo in the face, and I harness my inner Sophia. “You’re scared,” I tell him, moving closer.
He stands from his chair, moving away. “Stay away from me. Sebastian is going down.”
I shake my head. “No, you both are. And I’m not helping you catch him.”
There’s a noise off in the distance. My father smiles. “It’s already too late. The time has come.”
“Sebastian,” I yell, just in case that’s who has shown up. I need to warn him. “Sebastian,” I shout again. “How did he find me?”
Enzo smirks. “I left some pretty big clues. I made sure you saw me at the market. And then I’m sure they asked around with my photo at the market and it would lead him here.”
“You won’t get away with this,” I spit out.
“Get her in the chair. Tie her hands,” my father says.
I shoot him a look. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.”
He waves off my words. “Just do your part and everything will be fine.”
Enzo moves closer, and I punch at his face, not connecting as he wrestles me to the chair. My father hands him some zip ties, and Enzo has me tied to the chair within seconds.
How could my own father do this to me?
“It’s almost like you’ve done this before, asshole.” I buck in my chair, to no avail.
Enzo smiles. “You didn’t think Sebastian was the only one into bondage, did you?”
Chills skate over my skin, grossing me out at the fact that Enzo most likely watched us have sex. No, there’s no way he could have seen anything. Maybe he knows of Sebastian’s past, or maybe he’s just fishing for something he thinks he knows.
I spit in his face. “You disgust me.”
“Leave her alone, Enzo, and check outside,” my father booms.
Enzo leaves us and I stare up at my father. I give him my best pouty face and puppy dog eyes. This look used to always work on him. “I’m so disappointed with you, Dad.”
My father makes one last ditch effort to convert me. “Mia, understand. I did this for you. For us. For your mother. We won’t ever have to worry about money ever again.”
“We never really worried before. It’s not like we’re broke.”
My father’s face says it all. He blinks. “I made some bad business decisions. We’re in debt.”
“How much?”
I don’t expect him to answer but he does. “Millions.”
I raise a brow. “Millions?” It’s like I’m living in a terrible dream. “I want to go home.”
“Mia, that life is over now. You don’t want to see the families come after me, do you?” His eyes appear hurt and my heart breaks for him. “They’ll kill me.”
“But it’s ok if they kill Sebastian instead? Daddy, he did nothing wrong.”
“So, you think he should get to live and they should sentence me to death?”
I wish somebody could wake me up from all of this.
“Dad, maybe we can work something out. Maybe Sebastian can help you.”
My father shakes his head, a furrowed brow replacing his previously scared look. “No, there’s only one way out of this.”
I’m full on lifting the chair off the floor, trying to free myself. A gunshot blasts through the air. My father shakes, fear all over his face.
“Mia,” he says, rushing over to me to release my hands. “What have I done?”
I’m set free, but I don’t know where to go. Or what to do. Somewhere out there somebody has a gun.
“Was that Enzo?” I ask my father.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. Stay close,” he says, holding my hand as we rush to the shadows and out of the open, lighted area.
He tells me to be quiet as we crouch down behind a box. “Mia, I don’t know what I’ve done. I’m sorry.” I’ve never seen my father cry, but right now and right here, he cries before me.
I wrap an arm around his shoulders. “It’ll be ok.” Although, I no longer believe my own words.
There’s more gunfire off in the distance and I tremble as my father holds me tight.
“Mia,” Sebastian’s voice calls out from far away.
I stand. “Sebastian, we’re over here.” Before I can run in his direction, someone is pulling me by my hair.
“Don’t come any closer or I kill her,” Enzo says, holding a gun to my temple.
My eyes zero in on Sebastian and Dean standing across the room from me. I spot Sophia near the door with Jeremy. Sebastian and Dean lower their guns.
“No one has to get hurt here,” Sebastian says, placing his gun on the ground and holding out his hands. “We can just talk.”
“Shut up. We’re the ones who will do the talking.”
My father still hides behind the box and I stare at him for help. He shakes his head, and pulls a gun from his waistband.
“Daddy, no,” I whisper.
Before I can say anything more, my father points his gun at Enzo. “Let her go, Enzo. It’s over.”
Enzo scoffs. “You’re all a bunch of pussies. All over what? This girl.” He shoves the gun harder into my temple and I squeeze my eyes shut.
At the thought of everything ending here for me, if he pulls the trigger, I think about Sebastian. More than anything, I want to tell him I love him. I want to make sure they don’t kill him or frame him.
Hot tears fall from my eyes.
I’m scared.
“Enzo, let her go. She was never part of the plan,” my father says, his tone demanding and powerful.
But Enzo doesn’t budge, not dropping the gun from my head. “We had a plan. Frame Sebastian. What the fuck are you doing?” Enzo says to my father.
Dean still has his gun in his hand, not yet dropping it to the floor, most likely hoping Enzo won’t notice.
At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.
A part of me wants to sacrifice myself so Sebastian can be safe. If Enzo takes me out, then I know Dean would take him out.
“Enzo, I’m not telling you again. You let her go or else you’ll die.”
And then everything happens so fast. My father steps closer and Enzo removes the gun from my head and points it at him.
The moment the hold is taken off me, I drop to the floor and a shot is fired. It’s deafening as the sound echoes throughout the warehouse.
My father crumples to the ground, and within seconds, another shot fires and Enzo falls straight back.
“Daddy,” I shout, rushing to his side.
There’s so much blood everywhere. I press at his chest, where a pool of blood seeps through his shirt. His eyes search mine, trying to make sense of what’s going on.
Sebastian rushes to my side, assessing my father’s injuries. Sophia’s helping him, and she removes her cardigan to stop the blood.
Dean checks on Enzo. “He’s dead.”
I return my attention back to my father. “Daddy, don’t worry. You’re going to be ok.”
Sebastian and Sophia share a look and I try to ignore it. He has to survive.
“Georgio, don’t move,” Sebastian says.
My father tries to sit up. “Sebastian,” he stumbles through his name. “Take care of my daughter.” He coughs up blood as he speaks.
I shake my head. “No, you’re going to be fine.”
“Sebastian,” my father says louder.
Sebastian grabs my father’s hand. “I’ll take care of her. I promise you.”
My father smiles and closes his eyes.
“You’re going to be ok. Help is on the way,” Dean says, kneeling down beside us.
This can’t be happening. My mind is overworked and I can’t process everything going on right now. I’m completely numb, my body shivering uncontrollably. I feel a hand on my shoulder. And then another. I sob as my father takes his last breaths.