Chapter Nineteen
Bethany POV
“Now that’s a sight,” a man’s voice echoed.
Frozen in place, I remained scrunched in a ball on a cold concrete floor with a blindfold on. I didn’t remember how I got here. One minute I was pushed into a van and the next I woke up alone in a dark room with sunlight coming from a small tiny window at the top of the wall so out of reach.
Plenty of times Emilio coached me on what to do if I found myself in a situation while alone, but all of that left my brain the moment this man’s cold voice hit my ears. I wouldn’t even know how to get out of here.
“Being shy now?” He asked as his voice seemed to get closer.
Panic overwhelmed me as I felt his presence get closer. He knelt down close to my body.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on hurting you.” His breath grazed my back giving me goosebumps. “Congratulations are in order. How does it feel having two husbands? Maybe we should fly to Spain and get hitched. I hear third times a charm.”
“What do you want?” My body began trembling with fear.
“Your brother would be a good start. Are you willing to help me?”
“If you think I’d betray my brother, you might as well kill me right now.”
Mockingly he laughed, “Not yet. Although, Emilio’s cooperation will determine if you live. I’m a fair man. To make it equal, your cooperation will determine if he lives.”
I could feel the sweat popping out of my pores, and my body began to shake in fear. “What makes you think I won’t scream right at the top of my lungs?”
“What makes you think I won’t cut out your tongue?” The man’s words ran a chill through me. “Don’t test me, I don’t play nice.”
My face became wet as tears poured out my eyelids and slid down against my skin. “There’s nothing I can do to help you.”
“Not true. I know you hold some valuable information I can use.” His finger tangles into my hair as he pets me. “Tell me about Alfie.”
If I wasn’t visibly shaking before, I was now. “What about Alfie? He’s just some kid my brother pulled off the streets.”
“See … I would believe that. Just one thing … he looks a lot like his father.”
Stay strong Bethany, don’t break. “He doesn’t even know who his father is, what makes you think I do?”
My head snapped back, he held a tight grip of my hair in his fist. “I got away with putting burn marks on Aria Cassariano, imagine what I will get away with doing to you with no one to come save you. They wouldn’t even know where to look for your body.”
He let go of me and I whimpered as I held my knees up to my chest. “My brother and his family were killed. I watched them be buried.”
“I’m going to come back tomorrow,” he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “If you have the same answer, I’m going to cut off that finger of yours with the ring and make you swallow it.”
“Who are you?” I breathed as the vomit erupted up my esophagus but managed to hold it down.
“We know one another better than you think.”
Terrified, I barely got the words out, “What?”
Placing his mouth beside my ear, he so politely stated, “I’ve been around you. Inside you. Watching you.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. My mouth went dry, and I suddenly became nauseous.
Inside of me? Suddenly a piece of cloth was shoved into my mouth almost making me choke on it.
The man left and I was left alone. I spit out what was shoved in my mouth into my hand.
I see they are a pair of panties. Examining them further, I realized they were mine by the initials BC in rhinestones.
I was drawing a blank until it hit me causing me to crawl on my knees to an empty bucket and proceed to vomit.
I’ve been around you and inside you. His words made me cringe.
The man was the same person I engaged with for the first time at the sex party all those years ago with my old boyfriend. I never saw the man’s face that night.
As though it wasn’t enough that his voice disrupted my mind, and his touch crawled under my skin, the thought of how I used to fantasize about his touch caused such a vile feeling within me. He was everywhere undetected, and now it made me question how long he had been watching us all.