4. WINTER
WINTER
A groan escapesme as I come to, my head pounding with what has got to be the worst headache I’ve ever had before. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping that it will do something to make the pain go away.
Itdoesn’t.
Whichisn’t a surprise. I let out a sigh as I try to turn over so that I can lie on my back instead of my side. The slight movement causes pain to shoot across my body which makes me halt my movements and stay in the position I’m currently in.
Itfeels like everywhere on my body is on fire and I don’t even know why. What the hell happened? I realize my mind is a little fuzzy as I desperately try to recall why I’m in pain right now. It doesn’t take long for all the memories to bombard me and I instantly wish I didn’t remember any of it.
Fuckinghell, what a clusterfuck of epic proportions!
First, the fake video with the guys and I got leaked somehow, though I’m sure everyone who saw it no doubt thinks it’s real. I let out another sigh at the thought that this is just another one of Mason’s many betrayals added to the never-ending list he already has.
Iremember running away from school because I just had to get away from everything. All the whispers and stares. The humiliation I felt when everyone started to laugh and point their fingers. It felt like the first time all over again, only this time seemed worse somehow. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to live that shit down.
So, I ran.
Iran all the way to London. In that moment, all I wanted was to see my dad. This place also has so many bad memories that I wish I could get rid of. The next thing that plays through my mind is the fact that I went to the cemetery to visit my father’s grave but then I came face to face with Archie and Melanie while I was there.
Atear slips down my face as I recall their words to me. Their betrayal. It fucking guts me all over again as I lay here thinking about it. At least now I finally know the truth of what happened that weekend. They were the ones to drug me and they were the ones to carry out that whole ploy to make Mason think I was cheating on him. Which then led to seeing him in bed with that skank Amber. All of that would’ve never happened if they didn’t fucking stab me in the back, I think bitterly.
Whateverthey gave me worked really fucking good because I still couldn’t remember that night no matter how hard I tried. I guess I should thank them for finally filling in the blanks for me. ButI won’t because they don’t deserve it.
Theirbetrayal cut so fucking deep, it’s hard to get past it. I thought they were my friends, while they ruined my life for money. I really do need to choose better friends. How the hell could one little lie fuck my entire world up like that?
Iguess people will do anything for money. AndI have first-hand experience with that since Mason’s dad and my not mother is after me for mine…
Idon’t think Mason will ever know how much it fucking crushed my soul when he didn’t believe me. When he believed all the lies over my truth. I’ve been paying for their lies with my blood and tears and I’m still paying…
Thesad part of this whole shit show is that had they asked… had they asked for help or even money, I would have gladly given it to them. I would’ve helped them in any way I could without a second thought because that’s what friends do for each other. But they chose to royally fuck me over and destroy my life instead. What happens now? And does it even end?
Mythoughts are still a jumbled mess as I try to remember what happened after that. Oh, I remember storming out of the cemetery because I couldn’t bear to look at them anymore. I just had to get away from them and their betrayal. I went back to the hotel…
Ah, and then Mason and my brother showed up at my door not long after me. Got to give it to them, they tracked me down pretty fast.
Iremember screaming and fighting with Mason and then showing him the documents that contained information on his mother and how she died. I still can’t believe that his dad had her killed. But then again after dealing with Alister and seeing his true colors I know he’s definitely capable of committing murder. The man really is a fucking monster.
Afterhanding Mason the documents, I left him alone to go over them. In that moment, his betrayal was still fresh in my mind and the added pain of finally getting confirmation that I really was innocent all along was too much so I left to get some air because suddenly being inside the hotel was suffocating me.
Ihad to get away from him, from the pain that always follows me around whenever he’s near me. How could the person you want to take all your pain away be the one to cause it all in the first place?
Then… fuck, my brain feels like it doesn’t want to function right now. What happened after that? Moving, car—ah, I was driving, not paying much attention to my surroundings. Instead, I was only focused on getting the hell away from Mason, again. And that, as they say, was my downfall because I didn’t realize what was happening around me until it was too late anyway…
Myeyes suddenly pop open when I remember the crash! Some asshole intentionally ran me off the road causing me to crash into a small ditch and then everything went dark around me. And now I understand why my body is in so much pain.
Itake in my surroundings and see that I’m in a room I’ve never been in before. It’s dark but there’s a light on outside in the hallway which I can see from my prison-style door. Yeah, you guessed it. The door is made up of bars. I don’t know where I am or why I’m here but I already hate it because I know that nothing good is coming my way. I feel a slight chill go through my body at the possibilities floating through my mind.
It’sa little dark in here but my eyes have adjusted a bit from the glow coming from outside and I see that the room is small. On one side of it is a toilet and sink and I’m on the other side on an extremely uncomfortable twin-size bed and there’s nothing else in here.
Idon’t even see anything that can be used as a weapon, once whoever has me here comes for me. I know that someone will, but I just don’t know who it is yet…
Ilet out a groan. WhatI really want to do is scream this place down. Can life get any fucking worse? I try to sit up and wince at the pain that seems to intensify with any kind of movement on my part. It takes a little longer than I would have liked, but I finally make it into a sitting position and go to move one of my legs off the bed when I hear the clinking of what definitely sounds like chains.
Ilook down and sure enough there’s a leather cuff attached to one of my ankles and there’s a long chain connected to the cuff which is nailed into the wall. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me right now!
Itlooks just long enough to move around the room with. My wrists are thankfully not restrained. Not that it’s much but at least I have that. MaybeI can scratch my kidnapper’s eyes out or something. Let’s just hope for a miracle.
Withthis new development, I forget all about the pain in my body for a moment as I slowly get to my feet and walk over to the foot of the bed where the chain is connected to the wall. I try to pull and tug at it, to wrench it out of the wall but it’s in there good, almost like it’s molded into the wall. I’m definitely not getting out of here until someone releases me since there’s a lock on the cuff.
Iwalk over to the door and grab onto one of the bars and start screaming for help as loud as I possibly can, hoping that someone will at least come and tell me why I’m here or something. The not knowing what’s going on is killing me. I have a feeling that I’m going to meet the person who has been stalking me, I don’t know how I know but I just feel it in my gut. That’s the only thing that makes sense.
“Help! Somebody help me!” I scream at the top of my lungs. I try to push my face into the bars to look out into the hallway but from the little that I can see, it’s empty. There are a few more doors just like mine though. Which means I’m definitely not the first prisoner that’s been here.
Iwish I had something for Mason and my brother to find me. I mean hopefully they know I’m missing by now. That’s when I remember my necklace! I clutch at my neck to feel for it but my heart sinks when I don’t find it there.
Didwhoever take me pull it off? Or did I somehow lose it in the crash? Shit! I’m really screwed now! I feel the little hope inside me die a quick and sudden death. How is anyone going to find me now?
Ihave no doubt that Mason will lecture me to death with an ‘I told you not to leave and go anywhere by yourself’ if he ever finds me. Grr! How do I keep making a mess of my life? I did not sign up for any of this crap. I start to scream for help again when someone across from me answers.
“Would you stop yelling? You’re giving me a headache,” the sound of a voice, heavy with a pretty accent comes through from the room that’s directly across from mine. I look up to see a beautiful girl sitting on the floor right by her door. I take up the same position so that we’re facing each other.
“Sorry. It’s not every day you get kidnapped, you know?” I huff.
“Oh, I know. But welcome to the club,” she snickers.
“Well never mind, that’s not right. This is actually my second time being kidnapped. GuessI must have the words ‘kidnap me’ written on my forehead or something,” I mutter.
“Ouch. That sucks but weirdly enough this is also my second time. GuessI must have the same words written on my forehead too,” she tells me with a sigh.
“Why the fuck does this keep happening to us?” I grumble. “How long have you been here?”
“About a week,” she replies.
“So, there’s no getting out of here?”
“Nope. None that I could find,” she sighs. “This place is locked up tighter than a virgin who doesn’t want to have anal.”
“Fuck! And that was a weird as fuck analogy,” I say, chuckling despite the situation we’re currently in.
“It made you laugh though, didn’t it.”
“That is true,”
“I mean sometimes you need a little weird humor when you’re in deep shit. Otherwise, you’d just go crazy with all the overthinking and shit,” she tells me and I guess she’s right. I do love to overthink shit.
“Why are you here?” I question. “And you totally don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”
“I was kidnapped and then forced to work in a strip club. Set the shit on fire and got caught. TheMafia boss wants to have a chat soon. Obviously, I didn’t know the stupid club had ties to the Mafia, I just thought that sleazy asshole running it was all there was to it, but I was wrong. So, I’ve just been here in limbo waiting for him to come deal with me,” she says in a flat tone.
“Holy shit! That is wild. I’m sorry,” I offer.
“Why are you here?” she asks, her turn to question me.
“I’m not sure exactly… but I think my ex, well not ex really, more like… fuck I don’t know it’s fucking complicated. Anyway, I think his father hired someone to stalk me and well, here I am now. I’m not a hundred percent sure though, because it could also be my mother. Well, I recently found out she’s not really my mother… but it could be her,” I say with a sigh. Sheesh, talk about complicated. Why the hell am I oversharing?
“Whew! Damn girl, that is some complicated family drama!” she whistles.
“Tell me about it. I’m fucking exhausted from it all.”
“Where are you from?”
“A town in California called Ravenwood. What about you?”
“A small town in Italy called Genoa,”
“ThoughI was actually taken while I was in London. I’d say we’re a long way from home but I have no clue where we are right now. Do you know?” I question.
“Nope. I wish I did but I don’t have a clue. No one really talks much when they come down here to give me food,” she tells me.
“How often do they come down here?” I ask.
“Twice a day, or three if I’m lucky. They usually just bring down breakfast and dinner and when they’re not being assholes, they bring lunch too.”
“Are we the only ones here?”
“Yes, as far as I can tell,” she tells me.
“I need to get out of here!” I say with urgency in my voice.
“I hear ya, sister! So do I, but it would take someone saving us or a fucking miracle to get us out of here. I have a feeling that the owner of this hell is a professional. Did you notice that the place is actually clean here? Like it isn’t a shithole like in the movies. And since I’ve been here, I’ve seen dozens of girls come and go. I-I think they’re selling them and it might be to the type of rich assholes with nothing better to do with their time,”
“What?” I shriek. “You’re kidding me right! How do you even know that?”
“Okay, well sometimes the assholes do talk a little. It’s usually when they’re getting the girls dressed in lingerie, and I’m talking the explicit kinds too. They usually say shit like ‘oh you’re going to bring in a pretty penny in that get up’ or some other off-colored shit along those lines,” she tells me and I gulp, the fear of what I’ve gotten myself into finally settling in.
“Fuck! I hope we get out of here before we get sold or some shit! I don’t think I can deal with that after all the crap that’s happened in my life over the last few months. This shit might just send me completely over the edge,” I mumble.
“I hope so too,” she sighs. “What’s your name?”
“Winter. Yours?”
“Scarlett…” she says trailing off.
“That’s a pretty name,” I tell her.
“No. It isn’t. It’s the name of the person I had to become in order to survive this new hell I’m living in,” she says with a sadness in her tone that I feel deep in my soul.
“How did you get kidnapped in the first place if you don’t mind my asking?”
“SinceI don’t know if I’m going to even make it out of here alive, I guess someone should at least know a part of my story, right?” I nod my head and she continues. “I just wanted to celebrate my birthday with my best friend, so we went to Milan. I had been saving up for so long just so we could take that trip. But while there, we were taken, just like that,” she tells me with pain and sadness pouring out of her.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I tell her in a choked-up voice. It astounds me that we live in a world where such monsters exist. They can just take you and play around with your life, whenever and however they want, and they don’t ever pay for their horrible actions. “Is your friend here too?”
“No,” she says flatly. “She’s dead.”
Ihear the anguish in her voice and it has tears streaming down my face. She doesn’t have to say it, but I know it has to be who took them and killed her best friend.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her.
“What about you?” she whispers.
“My situationship ex showed up and we had a fight, because I found out some things earlier that made why we fell out in the first place clearer and I ran away from him. Which now I can see was very stupid, but anyway, I was just driving to put some distance between us. I was going to go back after I cleared my head, but someone rammed into me causing me to crash and then everything went dark and I just woke up here.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up. I’m going to take a nap, since it’s the only thing to do here until they’re ready for you because I’m mentally drained right now,” she tells me. I see her moving to stand and I instantly hear the clanking of chains too. Guess this is their signature work, chaining people up.
“Talk to you later,” I tell her as I get up as well and head back to the tiny bed. Might as well take a nap too, since I don’t know what they’ll want whenever they’re ready for me. I lay awake for a long time though, just staring up at the ceiling as sleep evades me.
* * *
I must have eventually fallenasleep, though I’m not sure for how long. AsI wake up, I groan, when the aches and pains in my body make themselves known again. I wish I had some pain killers to help ease some of it but I know for a fact that it’s unlikely I’ll get any kind of relief. What would be the fun in that for them?
Idon’t even know how long I’ve been here. It could be hours or even days. Okay, that’s too far-fetched to be days, since I haven’t seen anyone bring food yet and Scarlett said they usually bring food every day. So that leaves hours. How many hours? Well, that’s what I’m not clear on.
Idon’t move another muscle. I just lie there and think about what a mess my whole life has been up until this point and I guess I’d take the mess compared to being here. I know Mason is sorry, but fuck, so much has gone wrong between us that I don’t know where to go with him from here.
There’sbeen a change in him since I tried to kill myself in Aspen even if he’s still a douchenozzle. He did a complete one-eighty and became mister bossy ass. I hate to say this but he was right for being such an annoying and paranoid asshole. IfI ever get out of this, I’m never telling him he was right though. He can kiss my ass!
Idon’t hear a peep from Scarlett but I don’t bother her, I just keep quiet. Our conversation earlier was kind of heavy, but hopefully she’ll talk again when she’s ready. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her to lose her best friend, especially under these circumstances. Then have to live every day knowing what happened, but then not knowing if you’re ever going to get out to let her family know or not.
Damn, now I’m in the same boat as well. Hell, I have no idea if I will ever see my family again? Well, it’s just my brother now. IfI die, will he ever even know what happened to me? I absolutely hate this train of thought I’m having right now.
Idon’t know how long I lay there in the silence, but I eventually hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. I wonder if it’s the people bringing the food, and now that I think about it, I am kind of hungry.
Isit up and wait anxiously. I have enough sense to know that whoever is coming won’t be anyone who can help or rather anyone who would help me, help us. The overhead light in my room turns on and so do the ones in the hallway. After being mostly in darkness, the light blinds me a little and I have to blink rapidly, until my eyes adjust.
Amoment later a man in a crisp black suit comes to a stop right in front of my cell. I look up from his shoes and then go all the way up his body. I’m scared to look at his face, that’s why I’m taking my time. I just know I’m going to be rocked to the core.
Idon’t want to see the monster that’s captured me.
Idon’t want to know, but I also know that I have to. I have to see the asshole that’s ruining my life further by kidnapping me and then sticking me inside this prison.
I’mpretty sure my face would be comical with the look of shock I must be sporting when I finally look up at the man’s face. Our eyes connect and we hold each other’s gaze, as if I’m frozen in place. I can’t look away, not even if I wanted to.
Whatthe actual fuck is going on? He is not as confused as I am. Instead, he’s sporting a big grin on his face with a predatory look in his eyes, all while the only thing I’m capable of doing right now is continuing to stare at him with my mouth open in shock.
Hismask is off, finally showing me the true monster.
Thefucking devil really does come with a pretty face full of deception and lies.
LiesI can’t fucking believe I fell for.
Liesthat I thought were real.
Lies, lies, lies and more fucking lies!
“Hello, cara…” he says, trailing off as he keeps looking at me and smiling.
“Antonio…” I whisper, my breath caught in my throat on a gasp.
Antonio fucking Bandini…
Theman I thought was a friend.
Theman who could have been more if MasonKing didn’t already own every bit of my heart and soul.
Theman who is nothing but a fucking liar and a fake.
Ifeel my hand and body begin to shake as shock and anger consume me. I hope and pray that I don’t have a seizure right now because that would be extremely awful, especially in front of this asshole. I try to push my shakiness away and focus on how mad I am because only that will keep me grounded.
“You!” I spit at him.
“Yes me,” he grins.
“Why? Why would you do this?” I question as my voice breaks.
“Someone paid a lot of money to have you taken. Would have done it sooner if that boyfriend of yours wasn’t in the picture and since I had orders that he wasn’t to be harmed in any way, I had to take my time,” he says with a sneer. My mind starts to race at all the implications of what he just said and from when we first met to the last time we did. Just then a thought occurs to me.
“The first time we met, the shooting—” I start but cut myself off. That’s too far-fetched of an idea, isn’t it?
“Was all me. I set it up and that was fun by the way,” he says smirking. “Nothing says we should be friends like saving a girl from a bullet, you know?”
“What the hell?! I could have died!” I shout at him.
“Don’t be dramatic. They had orders not to actually shoot you,” he tells me.
“And every time I called you and you were there for me? I thought you were my friend! Was it all a lie?”
“I had to get close to you somehow, didn’t I?” I’m so fucking stupid!
“Did you kill Martin?” I ask, as that sick thought trickles in as well.
“Absolutely,” he says with a predatory smile.
“Why? He didn’t even fucking do anything to you!” I snap at him. Then another possible revelation slams into me.
“I had to send you a message. You had to know that someone was after you and what better way to do that?”
“Did you kill my father? Or did whoever you’re working for have him killed?”
“No idea. I wasn’t around when that happened but maybe my boss knows,” he tells me and I feel choked up as emotions clog my throat.
Justhow long have these people been watching me? Us? Just how long have they been planning this? And for what? I have absolutely no clue and I don’t know how far back it goes.
Wasit Mason’s dad? OrEmilia? Or was it both of them? Neither of them? And what if it’s someone else entirely? Fuck! I’m giving myself a headache just thinking about this shit.
“Oh, I’m going to have so much fun with you,” he tells me, watching me intently with nothing but malice in his eyes.
“Get fucked asshole!” I yell at him.
“I won’t be the one getting fucked, but you will be soon,” he smirks before turning and walking away, leaving me there with shock and confusion and scared fucking shitless of what he means. I just know he’s going to hurt me and there’s not a thing I can do about it.
Fuckinghell! I hope somebody finds me soon because I know for sure now that I’m going to be in for a rough time. I just hope I make it out of this sane and alive…