Chapter 35 #2
She giggles like a schoolgirl, turning in his arms to grin up into his face. “That’s right. And you taught me how to survive.” They make out like two rabid fish trying to suck each other’s faces off.
“We started off with small scams. A little check fraud and credit card fraud.” She turns back to me, wiping her mouth. “Then we graduated to bigger fish, identity theft, and online investment scams, all the way to investment frauds. Hell, we’re even in the art world now, right Ezra?”
He chuckles. “Hell yeah. Bankman’s stolen artwork has made us almost ten million dollars.”
That explains a lot. Ezra isn’t Bankman. He’s just an unknown artist with mediocre talent. He’s a scammer.
She turns back to me. “But none of that tops the type of money my baby brother has.” She kneels down in front of me. “And you’re going to help me get all of it.”
“I won’t help you do shit.”
She stares at me for a moment. “You don’t have a choice. Get her up.” She stands up, and Ezra comes over to me. He grabs me by the arm, hauling me to my feet, causing me to cry out.
“Shut up,” he snarls down in my face.
I can’t walk on my broken leg, and the moment I try, I fall to the ground.
With my hands behind my back, I have nothing to brace myself with and hit the filthy ground with my shoulder first. I hear the crack and then feel the sharp pain.
Something is definitely broken. I cry out at the searing ache.
“This part has to go smoothly,” Marissa sings. “Benjie, get on the computer and make sure he’s on his way and by himself.”
Benjamin goes over to an old warn down shelf and grabs a laptop down.
Ezra lifts me up on his shoulder and carries me over to the large hole in the floor.
He sits me down beside the opening. Looking over the edge, I can see this opening leads down to the murky lake water below. Ezra grabs my arms and undoes my binds.
“I asked Marissa if I could keep you,” he whispers so close to my ear that his hot breath makes me cringe. “Maybe if you don’t cause any trouble, she’ll let me.”
Like I would ever want to be with this sick psycho. Ezra lifts my arms up over my head. My shoulder screams in pain. I bite down on my lip as to not cry out.
After retying my arms, he places a giant hook onto the rope holding my hands together.
A whirring sound hums to life behind me, and slowly I’m lifted into the air.
The moment my feet leave the ground, I cry out.
The only thing that holds me up are the ties around my wrist. My entire body weight is tugging at my hands and arms.
The whirring continues, and I go further up into the air. So far up that if I fell from this height, I’d be seriously hurt or dead. However, I start to move and that’s when I realize the ground won’t break my fall. They plan to drop me into the lake.
“Please,” I plead. “Don’t do this.”
Marissa winks at me. “What happens to you is solely up to your husband. We’re going to test how much he loves you.” She sneers. “Ezra, make sure the boat is ready. This should go fast.”
As I’m suspended in the air, dangling over freezing cold water, I think of my husband and my baby.
I think about everything that has led up to this moment.
All the decisions I’ve made that have brought me here.
Even knowing this would be my outcome, I still wouldn’t change meeting and falling in love with Niccolo Basille.
Nico
“Move out the fucking way,” I shout to the slow car in front of me.
I’ve run every light and gone well over the speed limit to make sure I’m not even a second late.
The thought of them hurting Tiffany has me damn near psychotic. I would play my sister’s game. But the moment I made sure Tiffany was safe, I was putting a bullet in that bitch.
The car stereo rings. I touch the hands-free option. Before I can speak, his voice comes through the phone.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mason is not happy. I knew when Ghost called him and told him what I had to do, he wouldn’t be.
“She has Tiffany, Mase.”
“You are heading to your own funeral. You know that.”
I knew that whatever my sister wanted with me would not be good. I could very well be running headfirst into my death, but what did he expect?
“That’s the risk I have to take.”
“Give me time, Nic. Let me think.”
“She doesn’t have fucking time,” I raise my voice, but take calming breaths to gain control. “They’re going to kill her. And if I have to lie dead beside her, I will. She’s my world.”
The line is silent. I know Mason is going through every scenario he can. I know for a fact he’s trying to come up with something that will save the day. That’s Mason. It’s who he’s always been. However, this time, there is no getting around it. There is no time for backup plans.
“Buy my team some time. That’s all I’m asking. Buy me some got damn time.”
I couldn’t even make that promise to him. If push came to shove, I was going to do whatever to took to get Tiffany out of there safely. Even if it’s the last thing I do.
“I’ll do my best.”
The line goes dead, and I end the call. It was hard enough to make Ghost stay behind. The moment I told him what was going on, he was ready to ride out with me. But this was something I had to do alone. This was something I needed to handle.
Pressing the steering wheel to make a call, I look for one number. The moment it rings once, the line is answered.
“Niccolo, what’s wrong?” Ms. Rose asks immediately. I guess she could sense it in the air.
“Put my son on the phone.”
She’s silent for a second, but the rustling through the speaker tells me what I need to know.
“He’s here.” Her voice comes through over my son's heavy breathing.
A smile graces my face as I listen to him pant. “Hey, my man.”
“Dadaddadadda.”
I fight the burn in the back of my throat. My eyes water as tears threaten to fall.
“I want you to know that I love you, kid. More than anything in this world. You and your mother are the two most important people in my life.”
I have to swallow to fight down the emotion.
“It always bothered me I never got to talk to my father before he died. I want you to know that no matter what happens, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“And I’m not worried about what will happen to you, because you have the best fucking village around you.
Your uncles will make sure you grow into a smart, strong man.
Your godfather will teach you how to handle yourself, and Ms. Rose and your papa will teach you the love and kindness you need to be a great husband and father someday. ”
To think I may not be alive to see my son grow up into a man breaks something in me I never thought I could feel.
When I saw Tiffany at that club, I never would have thought that I could have all this. I wanted it, don’t get me wrong, but wanting something and actually having it are two completely different things.
Clearing my throat, I finish my conversation with Noah. “You won’t remember this when you’re older, but I hope you will understand how much I love you.”
Ms. Rose comes back over the phone. “What do you need from me?” she asks with determination in her voice.
“Take care of my son and, if all goes well, my wife.”
She’s silent for a second. “Bring her back to me, Niccolo.”
“With everything in me,” I say before disconnecting the call.
I pull up to Weberman’s dock. Back in the 90s, this was a bustling fishing village.
You could come out here and get your fresh seafood.
There were vendors with the catch of the day filets waiting for your purchase.
Boats would surround this dock, with fisherman bringing their haul ashore.
And at the end of the dock was Weberman’s processing mill.
Overfishing and some quality issues caused the place to shut down in the mid 2000s leaving this old processing mill behind. Climbing out of my suburban, I make my way over to the pier. There is nothing but the call of seagulls and the sound of the lake hitting the shores and sides of the pier.
A tall man in dark jeans and a clear drug problem steps out the doors of the old mill, a large gun aimed at my head.
“Toss your weapon to the ground,” he shouts.
I don’t hesitate, going into my back and taking a gun out of my holster. I hold the handle up and then toss the weapon to the side.
He walks up to me; the gun still aimed at my head. He uses one hand to pat my right side and then down to my leg. I stiffen for a second.
When he steps back, he tosses his head to the side, indicating for me to walk. I follow his direction, heading toward the mill.
The moment I step inside, I scan the area. I spot that bitch Ezra leaning against a large metal drum. He has a gun down at his side. Marissa is standing in front of a large opening. Other than those two, I don’t see anyone else. Not even Tiffany.
Whimpering from above draws my attention upward, and the moment I do, pure rage rushes through me.
“What the fuck?” I take a step forward but stop when the barrel of a gun hits the back of my head.
“Not so fast, little brother,” Marissa sneers. “I’d hate for your unchecked anger issues to cause you to lose your wife.”
I glance up at Tiffany once again. Her face is bruised and there’s a cut on her forehead. Her hair is matted and wet from blood. A rip in her pants leg shows me her leg is badly broken. My heart is racing, and the buzz underneath my skin has me blinking multiple times trying to clear my thoughts.
“What do you want?” I ask, defeat heavy in my voice.
Marissa chuckles, and the other two quickly join her.
“Damn, brother, you’re giving up so easily. The great Saint is bowing out.”
“He’s not so powerful when you take his men from him.” Ezra spits on the ground in front of him.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get that I didn’t blow his worthless brains out at that restaurant.
“I promised my guys here a nice show and all I get is ‘what do you want’?” Again, Marissa chuckles.
“The big bad Saint ain’t so tough,” the dipshit behind me sneers.