Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Susanna
Ascream leaves my mouth before I even realize it. “What is that?”
Luca slowly picks it up, motioning for Nina to stay back. His worry for her is palpable. That’s love… something I’ve never had. “It’s a hand,” he states the obvious.
“No shit,” I mutter.
Luca shoots me an annoyed look that makes me flush. “I’m not sure who’s it is but whoever sent it was kind enough to not burn off the fingertips. We can identify who this is.”
Alek sighs heavily. “Are we sure this isn’t a message from Gabriel?”
“He’s been gone for the past two years.”
“I know. But there’s a good chance he’s coming back. We should be on high alert. Take Nina back home. Get the hand tested. I’ll make sure I never let Katya out of my sight. We won’t let Gabriel get to our wives. I promise.”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Nina asks, sounding more scared than I’ve heard from her in a long time. Our world has been safe for the past two years and we’ve all taken it for granted.
“It could be,” Luca says. “I’ll look into it. But I’ll make sure you’re safe.” He cups her face and gives her a soft smile. I avert my eyes. It’s such an intimate gesture that I feel like I’m not allowed to look at it.
“Sorry about your party,” Katya says to me, offering me a reassuring smile. After how cold I’ve been to her since we first met, it’s a wonder how nice she is to me.
“This is more important,” I say. Judging from everyone’s expressions, I surprised them.
“What? I’m not that self-absorbed to complain about a hand ruining my party.
I know this is more important than… me.” It takes everything inside me to say that.
“Go. We can celebrate another day. Besides, the caterer messed up the meal anyway.”
They all leave the house, making the space feel cold and empty. Mom turns to me, resting her hand on my arm.
“I’m proud of you, Susanna,” she says. “For not throwing a fit that your party was ruined.”
I pull away from her. “I know I was a terrible person when I was younger.” She gives me a pointed look and I sigh. “Fine. I may be a terrible person still. But I want to know who sent that hand too. They sent it to our house. Not Luca’s or Alek’s. That has to mean something.”
She furrows her brow. “You’re right. That is concerning. But most likely, it was a message sent to Alek or Luca.”
“Who don’t live here. So whoever sent it to our house knew they’d be here. Unless… unless that hand was for you or me.”
“We don’t know that. Let’s leave all of that to Alek and Luca. Ok? Now, we should at least have a bite of your birthday cake.”
My mind flashes back to the hand and I shudder. “Cake is the last thing I want right now.”
I’m too scared about the hand to be worried about my party being ruined. Something in my gut is telling me that I should be very, very worried.
It’s the middle of the night when I wake up.
My window is open, the curtain fluttering in the cool breeze.
I’m a hot sleeper, so the coolness feels nice.
Normally, I don’t wake up in the middle of the night.
Nina always was jealous how I could sleep through anything whereas she would wake up to every little sound, frightening her.
The darkness makes things appear in my room that rationally, I know are not there but I can’t help the spike of fear in my chest. I sit up, looking around my room before my heart rake calms down and I lower myself back onto the bed.
It’s just the sleep coming out of my head, I tell myself. It’s nothing. No reason to be afraid.
It’s just that stupid hand affecting me otherwise, I’d be fine. I would have had my birthday party. I wouldn’t be scared right now.
Whoever sent it can fuck off for ruining my big day. They’ll get what’s coming to them from Alek and Luca. I know it.
The moment I lay back down and close my eyes, I feel something hard clamp down on my mouth. A hand.
I jerk awake and try to scream but the hand muffles my cries. A face comes out of the darkness and meets my eyes. A face I recognize.
Gabriel. The man who kidnapped my sister two years ago. Who almost killed her. Who almost killed Luca.
He’s standing over me right now, his hand over my mouth, and a darkness in his eyes that sends a shiver down my entire body. We’ve never spoken. If he hadn’t done what he did to Nina, I wouldn’t have even remembered him.
But here he is now… in my room. Why is he in my room?
“If you scream,” he says in a low voice that would normally be handsome but right now is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard, “I will not hesitate to kill you. Understood?”
I nod. I may be a brat sometimes but I’m not stupid. I don’t want to die.
Slowly, Gabriel removes his hand from my mouth and steps back. “There. Good.”
“What do you want?” I whisper. I’ve never been one for whispering. Instead, I’ve aways boldly gone wherever I wanted. Right now, that’s all different.
“I want you.”
His words are so simple yet they punch me in the gut. I scramble upright but Gabriel gives me a look that tells me not to try anything. “Me? Why do you want me? I’m nothing.”
“That’s precisely why I want you. I want Luca to suffer. But I can’t go after his wife again. She’s too well guarded. That leaves you.”
“But Luca doesn’t care for me. In fact, it’s the opposite. He can’t stand me. You’d be better off kidnapping someone else.”
He chuckles. It’s a low dark sound that sends a heavy weight over me.
“There is no one else. Luca doesn’t have much family or many friends.
But you’re the sister of his wife. That will have to do.
So, you’re going to come with me. We’re going to walk out of your house without any problems. Because if you put up a fight, I’ll kill your mother.
Cut off her hand like I did the hitman Luca sent after me. ”
“So, the hand was you,” I say, my lips numb. “How did you know to send it here?”
“Because I looked into you. Simple as that. It was a warning that I was coming and yet…” He makes a show of looking around the room. “You don’t have any guards around your house. Nothing and no one to care for you. Luca must think you’re not in a position to be taken. Well… he’s wrong about that.”
“No one cares for me. You’re making a mistake. You don’t want me. No one will even miss me.”
“You think low of yourself.”
In fact, it’s the opposite. I think too highly of myself sometimes. But I have to tell Gabriel something to make him not kidnap me… and do worse to me.
“You don’t want me,” I say. “Trust me.”
He leans back over me, putting our faces nose to nose.
Gabriel would be handsome if he wasn’t so terrifying.
It’s a shame. “I do want you, Susanna. There’s no one else to take so you will have to do.
Now, get out of bed, don’t scream, and leave with me.
Your mom will be all right then. I don’t need to kill her if I don’t have to but I will if you or she gets in my way. ”
The utter coldness in his voice shocks me to my core. I’ve never heard someone so devoid of emotion like this.
Slowly, I nod. “Ok.”
“Good.”
The urge to run and scream is strong within me but I tamp it down. My mom and I may not always get along but she’s still my mom and I don’t want to be responsible for her death.
Gabriel holds onto my arm as he leads me out of my room. His other hand holds a knife. A clear signal that he will hurt me if I don’t comply.
I glance at my mom’s bedroom door where she’s sleeping peacefully, not knowing her daughter is being kidnapped. Will she assume I ran away when she finds me gone in the morning? Will she even care that I’m gone? Surely she will… right?
I know I can be difficult but I’ve tried to change over the years. But maybe I haven’t changed enough.
Gabriel takes me out to a car in the driveway and makes me get in the back. He places a blindfold over my eyes and a rag in my mouth. I try to spit it out but before I can do it, he ties the rag around the back of my head, locking it in place.
I can’t see Gabriel but I can sense him as he gets in the front seat and starts the car. Then he takes me away from my home. From my mom. From my safety.
And I’m not sure I’ll ever get it back.
Gabriel eventually stops the car but he doesn’t take my blindfold or gag off. I try to whimper but he snaps at me to be quiet. His hand clamps on my arm as he takes me out of the car and into a room of sorts. I can tell since it’s a lot warmer in here than it was just a moment ago.
Before I even know what’s happening, Gabriel throws me over his shoulder. I try screaming but the gag muffles me too much. And chances are, Gabriel has taken me somewhere that no one can hear me.
His footsteps clang on something as he walks forward and then I sense that we’re going down, down, down. Into the depths of hell perhaps?
Then he drops me onto something soft. A mattress. Even though it cushions my fall, it still takes all the air out of me, making me gasp.
That’s when Gabriel finally takes my blindfold and gag off. “There. I don’t need to quiet you anymore. No one will be able to hear you.”
Looking around, I see that I’m in a basement.
A cold, dingy cement basement. There’s a tiny window high above on one of the walls but I’ll never be able to look out of it.
I may be on the slightly taller side for a woman but even I can’t reach it.
There’s nothing else in the room except for the mattress I’m on and a bucket.
Nothing I can use as a weapon. Nothing I can stand on to reach the window – not that I would be able to fit through it anyway.
“What is this place?” I whisper.
“Your new home. Get used to it. You’re going to be here for a while.”
“How long is a while?”
“Until I don’t need you anymore.”
I go still. My lips can barely move but I have to ask this next question. “Do you mean… until you kill me?”
“Yes.” He doesn’t sugarcoat it at all. “I need you for right now, Susanna. I’m trying to make a mark. Let Luca know I’m back. Let him know that I’m a threat. Maybe then he’ll play ball with me. But for now, I need you alive. When that changes, well… I’ll be nice and make it quick for you.”
With those ominous words, he leaves the basement and I’m left all alone in my terror.