Chapter 8 | Nick
Nick
The weeks after Bianca’s accident moved quickly, and as we headed into December, I hoped Alexis and I would be able to leave the safehouse before Christmas. Michael was making progress in eliminating Victor’s loyalists, although John Armetta remained a thorn in our side.
He’d reported some anonymous violations at one of Michael’s Queens nightclubs, causing some headaches with the city.
John had also left threatening messages for some of Bianca’s doctors, creating the need for Michael to find other physicians to visit the home.
Not an easy task for a gangster in the middle of a bloody turf war, but he was adept at navigating the circumstances.
I’d managed to keep my hands off Alexis, but with each passing day, it was harder to control my attraction toward her.
Not sleeping together had actually forced me to get to know her, and although I’d thought her a spoiled brat in the beginning, I now understood her much better.
I admired her ability to truly be herself in a world that hadn’t accepted her, and saw much of myself in her—although she had a playful nature that I didn’t possess.
I’d always been quite stoic, and her gentle ribbing of me was one of the favorite parts of my day.
She was always jibing me about being so serious, or forgetting to put on a shirt when I worked out in the murder-basement as she jokingly called it.
Half the time, I left the shirt off just to get her to tease me.
Every time she chastised me, her bright smile made something click deep in my chest, and I strove to find more opportunities to see her smile.
And just when I’d settled into the thought that we were safe and possibly ready to return home, our worlds crashed in a blinding reminder that no one in the mafia was truly ever safe.
I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of the lock on the kitchen door being blown to bits. Sitting up, I immediately tossed off the covers, grabbed my gun and ran to Alexis’s room. Shutting the door, I locked it, knowing we only had moments to plan.
“Someone’s inside the house,” I said as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Put on some pants and shoes. You’ll need them to run.”
She followed my command, and I thanked the lord that she trusted me enough to know not to argue. She slipped on her clothes and sneakers as hard knocks pounded on her bedroom door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” a deep voice called from outside.
“It’s John,” she said, panic in her voice.
A gunshot sounded as the lock to her bedroom door was shattered.
“Crawl out the window,” I said. “I’ll hold them off.”
A booted foot kicked the door open, and I shot the first man who appeared. He crumpled to the ground as I saw Alexis open the window and begin to crawl outside. John Armetta entered the room, a snarl on his face as he inched toward me, gun held high while two men flanked him.
“You Carusos keep shooting my men,” he snarled, nudging the dead body with the toe of his boot.
I knew I was fucked. If I shot him, his two goons would shoot me dead. But if I waited, they’d catch Alexis. Glancing over, I noticed her disappear through the window.
“She’s outside!” John called. “Go catch her. Alive.”
“No!” I said, my finger tightening on the trigger. “Take me and torture me all you want, but you leave Alexis alone.”
Recognition flared in John’s eyes. “Ah, I see. Who knew the Carusos wanted to fuck the Rossi women so badly? Was she good? I always liked Alexis’s cute little ass in those tight shorts she wore in the summer...”
I fired a warning shot into the wall. “We’re all going to end up dead if we start shooting each other, and that’s going to get us nowhere. Let’s put down the guns and talk like civilized men.”
“But I’m not civilized, am I?” John asked, with a dismissive shrug. “I’m a monster. That’s what Michael tells everyone.”
“You traffic young girls! There’s enough money to be made in our business. You know the human trafficking can end today if you allow it.”
His thin lips formed a humorless smile. “Women are made to please us, are they not? And making money from pretty girls who satisfy rich men pleases me.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“I’m also smarter than you, I’m afraid. There never was anything in that big head of yours.” He tapped his temple. “If there were, you’d know I had another man outside this whole time.”
My heart shot to my knees as a man walked down the hallway, his hand over Alexis’s mouth as she struggled in his arms.
“Want me to knock her out, boss?”
“I’d love to kill her, but they’re both more valuable alive...for now. You two know the plan. Update me when you get to the cabin.”
“Fuck this,” I muttered, realizing that taking action would be better than getting kidnapped.
Aiming my gun, I shot at John’s neck. Unfortunately, he turned slightly the second I released the bullet, causing me to miss as his two goons fired their own shots.
Pain ripped through my arm as a bullet grazed me, and I lunged forward, determined to save Alexis.
My head exploded with pain as something blunt struck me near the temple. I uttered Alexis’s name, terrified I’d failed her as everything suddenly went dark...
I awoke with a gasp, tugging my hands against the restraints that held them together behind my back.
Darkness surrounded me and I realized someone had tied a cloth bag over my head.
The seat beneath me felt like it was gliding, and I understood I was probably in the back seat of a car.
My ankles were bound as tight as my wrist, and my arm burned with pain.
“You’ve been shot so I wouldn’t move,” a deep voice said from the front seat. “We can sedate you like we did Alexis, but then you wouldn’t feel the pain, and what’s the fun in that?”
His chuckle mingled with another man’s in the front seat, and I craned my body, trying to feel if Alexis was near me.
“She’s next to you, but she’s out cold,” the man said. “John said you two are to remain alive for now, so calm the fuck down, Nick. Struggling is only going to rip that bullet graze in your arm open wider. We’ve got another two hours to go.”
I took several deep, calming breaths, knowing I’d need my wits if I was going to get us out of this. Cursing my ineptitude to keep us safe, I vowed to save Alexis.
Eventually the highway turned to gravel, and the car began to vibrate above the bumpy road as we drove. After an eternity, the car came to a stop and the men exited. Cold air rushed against my bare arms and legs as I was roughly pulled from the back seat.
I hadn’t had time to throw on any clothes since I’d run straight to Alexis’s room, and the gravel was hard and freezing on my bare feet.
I only wore a pair of black underwear and noticed the outside temperature was colder than it had been at the safehouse.
The sound of a key being inserted into a lock filtered through my ears before I was pushed forward onto a hardwood floor.
“Man, this place is a dump, huh?” one of the men said.
“Yeah. John said they bought it off some hunter’s kid whose dad left it to him. Perfect for torturing traitors in the middle of the woods. No one comes around here anymore, and it’s been vacant since John tortured that guy who Victor thought informed on him two years ago.”
The other man groaned, and I heard the slight creaking of the couch. “Heavy little thing, isn’t she? She’s got more weight on her than Bianca.”
I struggled to keep my heartbeat from raging as I realized they’d set Alexis down. Praying she was unharmed, I cleared my throat.
“Where are we?”
A fist grabbed my arm, yanking me toward a chair. After being forced to sit, my bound hands rested behind my back as they zip tied each ankle to one of the chair legs.
“We’re in bum fuck Upstate New York, Nick, and no one’s coming for you. Michael couldn’t find this place if he tried. So, settle in while we do our best to extract some info from your pretty little girlfriend.”
“If you harm one hair on her head, I’ll murder you,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Eh, tough to be scared of a guy in his underwear tied to a chair, but whatever you say, man.”
The room fell silent before he asked his counterpart, “When do you think she’ll wake up?”
“We shot her up good, so she’ll probably be out for a few more hours. John said there was some non-perishable food in the cabinets. Beans, Spaghetti-Os, shit like that.”
“How long are we going to be here?”
“Until we get the names of Victor’s Eastern European contacts from Alexis, or until she gives us the location of the flash drive she hid. We need to work quickly because the radio said there’s a fucking blizzard rolling in. She’ll crack with a little pain. All women do.”
I clenched my jaw, proud that Alexis was stronger than these two idiots put together.
She was tough as nails, and I had faith that she would endure.
But I also was determined to get us out of this mess, so I sat quietly, fidgeting slightly with the zip ties that bound my wrists to see if I could find any give.
“I haven’t slept in almost twenty-four hours. I think I’m going to take a quick nap while she’s still passed out. Can’t get any info out of her like that anyway.”
“I’ll build a fire and then I’m going to get some rest too. The sleeping area’s upstairs. John said there’s a bed and a couch up there. I’ll take the couch.”
I heard the sounds of someone moving about the room.
Eventually, I heard both men head upstairs and breathed a sigh of relief that I was alone.
Alone was where I could think. Alone was where I thrived.
My brain worked best that way, which was something Michael had realized after my parents died.
He understood that being alone wasn’t painful for me; it was where I found solace.
And now, in the thick quiet, I was going to figure out how to save us.
I scooted my chair on the floor, thrilled when it didn’t result in any scraping noises.
The previous owner must’ve put furniture pads on the chairs, which was an extreme stroke of luck.
That would allow me to move across the wooden floor unheard and possibly find a way to extract myself.
The graze wound on my arm hurt like hell, but I pushed the pain out of my mind, resolved to address it later.
I closed my eyes, lifting my chin toward the area where I’d heard the men set Alexis down. Breathing deeply, I extended all my energy toward her, hoping to calm her as she slept.
I’ve got you, princess, I said silently in my head. I won’t let them hurt you.
And then, I got to work figuring out how to free myself.