Chapter 27
“ I think you gave her too much.”
“I gave her what you put in the fucking syringe. How much was it?”
“Enough to knock her out for an hour or two, but she’s still asleep.”
Two male voices argue from somewhere behind me.
“She’s not sleeping.” The third voice is right in front of me. “She’s pretending.”
Slowly, I peek through one eye. Just enough to get some sense of my surroundings, but the man belonging to the third voice lines himself up right in my view.
“There she is.” He gives two hard pats to my cheek.
The headache I’ve been trying to fight off since my senses came back to me, blows up. Throbbing pulses behind my eyes and my temples. I’d try to rub it away, except my hands are bound behind me.
“Handcuffs,” he says when I keep tugging.
I blink a few times, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness of my surroundings while I look around. I’m in a narrow room. The walls are metal, and plywood planks make up the flooring.
It’s not a room at all. It’s a container.
“Who are you?” I keep my focus on the man standing in front of me.
The other two are off to his left, behind him, watching to see what he does. So obviously, he’s the leader. The other two are just his muscle.
Though on closer inspection, there’s a strong resemblance between the three of them.
They all have thick, black hair brushed off from their faces showing off their chiseled faces, high cheekbones, and sharp jawlines.
They have the clearest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
If they weren’t in the middle of kidnapping me, I might call them handsome.
The man in front of me has a much stronger jawline then the other two.
Maybe because he’s older? There’s a sprinkling of gray at his temples.
While the other two are dressed in button-down shirts and jeans, he’s dressed in a pair of black slacks and a light gray button-down, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and a thin black tie around his neck.
“I guess you’re the strong, silent type.” I say after nothing happens, and he’s still staring at me .
I lean to the right, putting the younger two in my sight. “How about you guys? Wanna share your names?”
Obviously, whatever drug they gave me has destroyed the very last of my braincells, because taunting my captors probably isn’t a great idea.
But since I have no other ideas, and my hands are not only handcuffed behind the chair I’m sitting in, but my ankles are bound to its legs, sparring with them verbally is the only thing I have.
“Enzo Canteni.” The older one kicks my chair, dragging my attention back to him.
“That’s your name?” I ask.
His eyes darken. “No. Don’t play stupid.”
I laugh. “You’ve pumped who knows what drug into me, and probably too much by the sounds of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over there. I barely know my own name right now. So, if you’re asking me a question, you’re going to have to be more direct.”
“Enzo. Your boyfriend killed him.”
“Boyfriend?” I laugh again. “He’s really not going to like it that you called him that. I mean, he’s already going to be really pissed because you have me all tied up like this—he’s a little possessive. He likes to be the only one who ties me up.”
I need to find out what they gave me, because holy hell it’s taken away all reason.
“How much did you put in that syringe?” He tilts his head to the side.
“Fuck, Mario. I don’t remember now.” The youngest of the two rubs the back of his neck. He looks like a little boy who forgot to do his chores. “Not enough to hurt her, I don’t think.”
“You don’t think?” Now the other two are elbowing each other in some sort of sibling fight.
“Your little brothers aren’t much help, are they?” I smile because it will piss him off.
And it does. His jaw tightens even more, and he spins around, barking at the other two. Not in English or Russian. It’s Italian.
Well, fuck.
“Did Marco tell you to come get me? Because I’ve told him a million times, I did not speak to the police about him. I would never. I will never. So, he really needs to let it go.”
My head feels heavy and it’s taking more energy to keep myself upright than before.
“Marco?” He spins back to me. “Marco DeAngelo?”
“So, it wasn’t him?” Great, I’m causing another international incident, and this time it wasn’t even my fault.
“Why does Marco want you?”
“Who said he did?” Good backtracking. Maybe a little gaslighting will work.
“You did. Just now. You said he thinks you talked to the cops. Did you?” He lifts his chin, like he’s more curious now than angry.
“No. I didn’t. But if Marco didn’t send you, then why am I here?”
He tilts his head, inspecting me. Then, as though the single synapse in his brain finally fires, his eyes light up.
“You’re Nico’s chick.” He snaps his fingers with a smile .
“Nico who?”
Mario turns to his brothers. “This is going to work out fine.”
“What’s going to work out? Hello? We were having a conversation over here. I’m sure it’s hard, big people conversations and all—” My words get cut off by the back of his hand ricocheting off my face.
The throbbing behind my eyes morphs into a stabbing sensation, which works well with the stars dancing in my vision.
“Think Marco will take her as a payment?” One of the Tweedles says from behind Mario.
“You owe Marco DeAngelo money?” I huff a laugh. “I’m not worth anything to him.”
“You’re a woman. If you’re still breathing, you’ll do fine in one of his pleasure houses.” Mario’s lips twitch. “Maybe he’d give me a cut of what you bring in. You’re short, kinda cute, I’m sure he’d find lots of daddy types who’ll want to fuck a little girl like you.”
Nausea rolls through me.
“After your boyfriend killed Enzo, he took something that belongs to us. I want it back.” He pulls out a cell phone and aims it at me.
A swipe of his finger and a bright flash blinds me, momentarily raining sparkles into my vision.
“Whatever he has that you think belongs to you, is his now.” I roll my shoulder; the strain is distracting. “Do me a favor and undo the cuffs? I mean, I’m not going anywhere, right? I assume you have that garage door thingy locked. ”
He stares at me, like he’s unsure what he should be doing.
“You’re not even scared.” Now he sounds disappointed.
“Yeah, weird, right?” I laugh. If I wasn’t so sure Rurik is on his way right now to save me from these idiots, maybe I would be.
“Oh.” A twisted grin tugs at the edges of his mouth. “You think he’s coming here? You think he’s going to save you? He’s not.”
He makes a show of walking over to the wall and banging on the metal.
“Nothing can be tracked in here. Even if we hadn’t left your cellphone behind, this is a dead zone.
You’re in a shipping container. In a shipping yard full of shipping containers.
The easiest way to save you is to hand over the iPad he stole. ”
“The iPad? This is all because of a stupid iPad?” It occurs to me, one of these assholes shot at Rurik. And they probably killed the guy he’d been going to meet.
He takes predatory steps toward me until he’s standing over me. I have to crane my neck back to look up at him, which only feeds into his inflated ego.
Placing his hands on my shoulders, he leans into me until whatever garlic monstrosity he ate for lunch is washing all over my face with his breath.
“For your sake, I hope he’s reasonable.”
“I have to ask. Before you kidnapped his fiancée, did you think to maybe ask him for the iPad back?”
His face blanks for a moment before he quickly puts back on his egotistical mask .
“Do you even know who he is?”
A twitch of his eye answers. He has no idea who he’s dealing with.
“I told you, we should have tried to buy it back,” one of the dynamic duo whines. “If you had just waited until he delivered it to dad before you lost your temper, this wouldn’t be happening!”
I’m not sure he’s really cut out for this business. If he keeps dropping all the family drama like this, none of them are going to last long.
“Do you know how much information is on that thing? He’s not going to hand it over without good reason,” Garlic Breath throws over his shoulder.
“We should have tried. Dammit, Mario, you didn’t tell us she was his fucking fiancé. She’s not just some girl he’s fucking.”
“This is better. After we get the iPad and dispose of Rurik, we’ll turn her over to Marco and wipe the debt clean with him. Maybe even make something off the deal.”
“That’s your plan?” I laugh. It’s not even remotely funny, but still, I can’t help myself.
“If Rurik doesn’t kill you, which is a universe-sized IF, Marco probably will.
All of this for a fucking iPad that you could probably just log into from your account and download the information, but instead you’re going to get yourselves killed. ”
Seriously, why make everything so complicated? Technology isn’t that hard to grasp.
Mario grabs my face, squeezing until my lips press so hard into my teeth the metallic taste of my own blood hits my tongue.
“You better hope he’s willing to cooperate. I have no fucking problems sending this container for shipment with a dead body inside.” When he lets me go, he jerks my face, twisting my neck.
“If you were smart, you’d just let me go now. Take me back blindfolded, I won’t know where we are. I don’t know who you are, not really. You might have some time to get out of town. Save yourself.” I’m being generous.
“You’re not going anywhere until we get that iPad.”
“Did you really not back up the information to the cloud?” It’s almost a serious question, but I can’t prevent my little smile.
He’s trying to hide it, but he’s practically seething. After long moments stretch by, he snaps at his brothers. “Get me another syringe.”
“You’re going to put me to sleep again?” It’s not the sleep so much that bothers me—that’s better than talking with these idiots—but the killer headache that’s coming my way when I wake up isn’t so attractive.
Mario grabs hold of the neckline of my blouse. “Not to sleep. Don’t worry, you’ll be awake for everything we’re going to do to you if you don’t shut your smug mouth up.”
Material tears, and buttons pop off, scattering to the floor as he rips open my shirt.
“You better hope your lover boy comes through.” He yanks down the cups of my bra, exposing my breasts.
Fear. Real, bloodcurdling fear floods my mind.
“Fuck.” He licks at his lips then reaches for his zipper.
When he pulls his cock out, it’s flaccid. A stubby, squishy looking thing he wraps his hand around and starts yanking on. His eyes fixate on my breasts as he continues to pump his lifeless dick.
“Having trouble there?” Whatever part of my brain controlling my mouth has been taken over by the drugs and the fear.
“Shut up.” He growls, yanking harder. Nothing’s happening though.
“Maybe you should try those little blue pills?” I barely get the snark out before the back of his hand lands across my face. Stars twinkle in my side vision.
“Here’s the shot,” One of the Tweedles says.
“He’s going to kill you,” I promise as I work my jaw open and closed.
He spits on his hand then wraps it around his dick again, tugging harder. A bubble of laughter bursts, and I can’t stop it. Once I get started, it consumes me. The more violent e jerks on his cock, the louder my laughter gets.
I’m jolted back from the force of a hit, and the sharp prick of a needle sinks into my arm.
“Fucking bitch.”