Chapter 2 – Present Day #2
“We can run,” I murmur into her ear as I lean over. “We can get in the back of his SUV and hide on the floor. It’s big enough. Even if he finds us, I’m sure he’ll just toss us somewhere.”
Probably.
But I don’t tell her that.
When I pull back, her eyes bug out.
Elsie, no, she mouths.
“Are you insane?” She looks around as the words fall just below a whisper. “He would find out and send us back and they would hurt us worse than ever.”
“Listen to me,” I say, staring at her with conviction, hoping she sees the certainty on my face. “It’s either this or we die here. We have to try. The window is big enough to get out from.”
My body breaks out in a shiver.
“This is our one shot.” I squeeze her hand in mine. “Please, Kayla! I won’t go without you.”
She shakes her head, her eyes swimming with tears that line the rims of her lower lashes. “I…I can’t.”
“Where the hell is Faro? He told me he was gonna be here,” the stranger’s voice fires with an undertone of disdain. “We have business to discuss.”
“Not here, man,” Vito casually tells him. “I know nothin’ about nothin’.”
“We have to go now! Kayla, please!” I beg, my heart pounding in my throat, the adrenaline causing my entire body to buzz.
“You have to go without me.” Her bottom lip is swallowed up into her mouth. “You’re our only chance. You have to be the one to save us. Get us all help,” she pants, her chest vibrating with every breath. “You know I’m not brave enough.”
Her gaze swims with regret.
“You have to do this alone,” she says in a tearful voice, wiping the back of her hand under her eyes.
“I’m gonna wait here until he returns.” The man sounds angrier by the second, and my pulse jumps every single time I hear his voice booming.
“Whatever, man,” Vito says carelessly on a snicker. “But you can’t stay at the house, so not sure what to tell you.”
“Why not?” The question comes out hard, stamped with a tinge of irritation.
Giuseppe chuckles. “It ain’t that kind of house.”
There are a few seconds of complete silence, and I’m almost afraid he’s leaving, taking my chance of escape with him. I can’t wait another moment.
“Call Faro and you tell him I’m waiting.”
“Sure, yeah, whatev—”
“Fuuuuck!” Vito roars with a groan.
Then comes a loud bang, like something knocked into a wall.
“St-stop, man. I’m b-b-bleeding!”
Something else slams, and we both jump, my arms skittering with a fresh coat of goose bumps. Vito pitifully moans.
“S-s-stop! Please, I’m s-s-sorry,” he cries.
“Shit,” Giuseppe gasps. “You broke his fucking nose!”
“Next time…” The stranger’s tone lowers with a deep-chested growl. “I’ll kill you for speaking to me like that.”
“Yo, man, no disrespect.” Giuseppe sounds scared, and it makes me damn happy to taste his fear.
They’re always comfortable making us fear them. Torturing us. Treating us like whores. But whoever this man is…well, he has them fearing him now.
“‘Yo, man’? Is that how your mother taught you to speak? Hmm?”
A chill glides up my arms from the callousness of his voice. And the next thing we hear is Giuseppe’s scream ripping through the house, sounding worse than Vito’s.
“My fucking teeth!”
“The name is Michael Marino. You learn it the next time you address me.”
Oh my God…
My stomach drops, rolling like the waves of the ocean I miss. I know that name. I’ve heard the rumors. This man…he’s just as dangerous as them, maybe even more. I’ve heard about the Messina crime family from when the Bianchis talked about them, not knowing I was listening.
They say Michael is really the one in charge, and soon he’ll take over for his father. They say they’re all extremely wealthy. Untouchable. The wealthiest family in the city.
They say no one can get close to him, and no one wants to. He kills without mercy, and he does it well. But right now, he’s my one chance of escaping. A woman like me doesn’t have many other options, and Michael Marino is my only hope.
Men aren’t to be trusted, not in our life.
But if he can lead me out of this hell, if I can go and find help like Kayla said, then it’s worth it.
Maybe I’ll find the opportunity to roll out of the car while he’s on the road.
By the time he realizes what happened, I’ll be running while hoping like hell he doesn’t decide to catch me.
“I’ll be back for you.” I grab Kayla’s other hand. “I’ll find help and I’ll get you out. You hear me?”
A burn registers behind my eyes, building like a storm, clouding over me. I grab her and hold her close.
“I can’t leave you,” I softly cry as she does too.
“You have to.” She pushes away to look at me before opening the window as quietly as possible.
There’s no one here. The girls are all upstairs. The men are occupied. They never look at the cameras. They assume we’re too scared to try anything.
“I love you, Kayla.”
“I…” She chokes on the rest of the words, her chin quivering. “I love you too. I won’t tell them anything. No matter what they do to me.” She quickly swipes the tears away.
“I’m sorry.” I rub under my eyes, hating this.
I can’t seem to make myself move. She needs me, and I need her. We have no one else, and now we won’t have each other.
“Go!” she whispers.
I nod with a tremor, swallowing against the pain stabbing at my chest, and with a final look at my friend, I slip out the window, not knowing if I’ll ever see her again.