Chapter 35
“You’re going to be the most amazing mama. But you have to wake up, Ellie. You can’t stay here.”
I can hear Leo, but I can’t see him. I don’t agree with him, though. I can stay here. I’m warm, and for some reason, I feel safe and happy. I know a baby is coming soon, and I was stressed earlier…but whatever was stressing me out feels far away.
“You can’t let yourself stay asleep, Sis. If you sleep too long, you won’t wake up.”
Nah, I’m cozy. There’s no reason to wake up.
“It’s gonna be shitty when you wake up, I’m not gonna lie to you. But you have to be strong, Ellie. I know you’ve been trying to keep everyone together since I’ve been gone. And you’ve been doing a great job. But you have to be strong for just a little longer. Wake up, Ellie.”
Cold water startles me out of my dream, and I’m confronted with reality instead of the cozy dream I was enjoying.
I’m freezing, not warm. I know I’m not safe.
I’m not comfortable, wearing a scrap of a scratchy nightgown and strung up, standing on my tiptoes to try to relieve pressure on my shoulders.
And Leo…The sob I can’t stop from escaping catches the attention of my captors.
“Ah, look who’s awake. We didn’t expect you to pass out on us so soon, Elia. You’re not exactly malnourished, are you?”
Laughter echoes, and I squint to try to see exactly how many people are here, watching me squirm. I really need to pee, and it’s not going to be long before I can’t help myself and they have something else to laugh at.
Focus, Ellie. Papa didn’t train you for hostage situations for nothing. Figure out who they are and think of ways to manipulate them.
This time, as I gaze to the corner of the room where the voices are congregated, someone flips on a harsh light. It burns, but it allows me to see that…
“Dominico?”
Fucking Dominico de la Rosa, the one and only.
I told Papa I hadn’t appreciated it when he blindsided me by inviting him to Nikki and Gabri’s game, and that of all the things I was willing to do for this family, marrying myself to this asshole was where I drew the line.
He apologized and said he understood, then stalked off mumbling about how he’d have to find another way…
Clearly, he didn’t find another way, and now I’m here, just as much a captive of Dominico as I would be if I married him.
“Nice to see you too, Elia. Or should I say, Mrs. Taranova. That’s who you’ve been in bed with lately, at least. Even though you haven’t made it official.
Not based on the records we’ve found, although I wouldn’t put it past the slimy Santoris to somehow manage to forge documents and keep them out of the public record. ”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I would appreciate being allowed to sit. I’m sure my father would also appreciate hearing that I was treated well when he asks me how my time at the de la Rosa compound went.”
The dark laugh I receive in response tells me that whatever’s upset Dominico, he’s not interested in letting me off easy. Or ending this anytime soon. If he isn’t concerned for how Papa will react to how I’m being treated…that doesn’t bode well for me at all.
“I don’t really give a fuck about anything your father thinks. I should have known when he started shopping you around for marriage that he was getting desperate to cover something up. He comes to my father, after all these years, suggesting that you and I get to know each other? Suspicious.”
He’s pacing and chainsmoking cigarettes, looking more manic by the second.
Dealing with a calculated hostage situation is one thing.
If he’s snatched me for revenge without a plan, the chances of this ending well go way down.
That’s Hostage 101. But I can’t let that happen, not to my little nugget. I never even got to tell Teddy.
Okay, Ellie. What did we learn about negotiation when we hold no cards? Try to figure out why they’re mad, and offer anything you can to appease them.
“I promise, I don’t think he meant any offense. I certainly didn’t—”
“No, no.” There’s no more laughter in his voice now, just wrath. “No offense taken, and actually, we’ve already managed to take the offending party out.”
A sob from the dark corner pulls my attention as Dominico laughs again. Fuck, he’s crazy. You can’t negotiate with crazy. Or predict their next move.
“How rude of me, I just realized the two of you have never met. Valencia, come here.”
The wraith that emerges from the corner seems to be in even worse shape than I am.
She’s a scrap of a girl, emaciated and with bags under her eyes that remind me of how I look in the throes of my worst bouts of nausea.
Gorgeous, with pale hair and eyes, but I’ve never seen anyone look so sad.
She’s hugging herself and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else but here.
Maybe another one of their hostages…but why isn’t she chained?
“Elia Santori, meet the pride of our family. This is my little sister, Valencia de la Rosa.”
I see the resemblance now that he’s introduced her, but I don’t understand why she’s miserable. Dominico’s pacing has picked up, though, and I sense that he’s about to tell me. And that he’s rapidly losing his grip on the sanity he still has. Shit.
“I’m surprised that the two of you never crossed paths, but like I said, Santoris are slippery.
You should have learned that a long time ago, Val.
Maybe we could have avoided all this shit.
See, Ellie,” he spits my name like it’s a curse.
“Your darling brother, your baby Leo, the cherubino of your family, was defiling my baby sister! For years!” He’s screaming in my face now, spittle flying, and before I can process what he’s saying, his sister speaks up.
“He loved me, Dominico! He was the love of my life! There was no reason for you to do what you did. We would have gotten married, and our families could have had peace. Instead, you had to lose control—”
“I lost control? I found him on top of you, unmarried, balls deep, and you think my reaction was me losing control? I should have tortured him for years for disrespecting our family like that. You’re lucky his death was quick. It’s more than he deserved.”
“What about what I deserved?” Now Valencia is the one screaming in her brother’s face, and the men in the corner have noticed the tension rising in the room. I have no idea if they’ve ever shared sibling love like what I have…had…with Leo, but there’s no hint of love lost as they argue.
“You deserved worse than what you got too! A slap on the wrist and no public events for six months, for whoring yourself!”
“I wasn’t a whore, you asshole! We were together for years.” Her fight seems to have left her, and she slumps against the far wall of the room. “Years, hermano. It was love. It was forever love, and you robbed me of any chance of happiness.”
“Happiness? You think any of us deserve happiness? No. You’ll be married off to some old, fat fuck who—”
Whatever else Dominico wanted to say is lost amid the chaos. A door is kicked in on the wall opposite where Valencia is huddled on the floor, and acrid smoke billows in behind a group of men decked out in SWAT gear. Please let it be…
“Disperdetevi. Elia è la priorità assoluta, sempre.”
Oh, thank God. Gabri’s booming voice, commanding and without any hint of distress, is music to my ears.
Gunfire erupts as the de la Rosa men recover from the shock of being ambushed, and it seems like it’s an eternity before silence reigns again.
I’m still dangling, numb from the cold, and likely in shock.
As someone about Nikki’s size moves to cut me down, Dominico’s raspy voice calls out from where he’s lying behind the body of one of his men.
“You don’t get to take your sister home with you, Santoris. Your family defiled my sister. You’re lucky I’m just killing yours.”
All I feel is the cold as the shot rings out, louder than any I’ve ever heard.
Nikki is in the wrong position to block me, but as I brace for the bullet in the second I have to think, a giant jumps in front of me before crumpling to the ground.
I wait to feel warmer, not expecting death to still be so cold.
I had hoped to see Leo, somewhere, and maybe Nonno…
but I’m still here, strung up in this hell, as chaos erupts.
Gabri has pulled his helmet off and is in a standoff with Valencia, and Nikki is at my feet, calling for guards to carry Teddy to the hospital.
Teddy?
Oh my God. OhmyGodohmyGod. Teddy jumped in front of me and took the last bullet Dominico de la Rosa ever fired. He’s not moving, just like Leo wasn’t moving, and it isn’t long before our men are carrying him back out the door and toward the hospital.
“Hey. Hey, Ellie. You’re okay. We’re here. Everyone’s okay.” Nikki murmurs soothing words as he frees me from my bonds, my muscles screaming in protest as they experience freedom for the first time in hours. I collapse into him, and he goes to the floor with me.
The room is in sharp focus, and everything else is easier to stomach right now than the reality of my own situation. I shake, feeling complete panic grip me, wondering why Nikki would lie and say everyone was okay. Teddy was obviously not okay…
“You have to breathe, Elia. For you and the baby. Tell me five things you can see.”
My sob must get the message across because Nikki squeezes me even tighter. “Okay, I know. You don’t have to say it out loud. Just think about it. Five things you can see.”
The chains that held me. Dominico de la Rosa’s lifeless body.
A gruesome, sickly stain of Teddy’s blood on the cement floor.
Gabri, gun under Valencia de la Rosa’s chin, staring at her with hatred and cruelty that I’ve never seen in his eyes.
Valencia staring defiantly up at Gabri with just as much revulsion and pain.
As if she wishes he would shoot her to end her misery.
“That’s my girl. You’re the toughest of us all, Ellie. Now four things you can touch.”
The rough fabric of Nikki’s tactical gear. The freezing floor. I bring one hand to my lower stomach to feel the safe space where my nugget still grows, and the other to my chest where my own heart still beats.
“Yep, you’re still here. Good job. Three you can hear.”
Nikki’s rumbling voice. The clatter of activity as our men wander about, ensuring all the de la Rosas have been neutralized. Gabri growling at Valencia.
“You. You’re the reason my brother is dead. Not sure what he saw in such a scrawny thing.”
Valencia looks tired now more than anything.
“Either let me go or shoot me. But don’t stand here and defile your brother’s legacy by pretending to understand anything about love, or what he and I shared.
You’re nothing but a bloodthirsty bully, and I can’t believe you share the same DNA as Leo.
” She spits at his feet, then puts her chin back on top of his gun.
After a beat, he steps back. “Get the fuck out of here. Don’t ever let me see you again, or you’ll be with your precious Leo.”
“Alright, almost there. You’re doing such a good job breathing, Ellie. Now, two things you can smell.”
Blood. Mint from Nikki’s gum.
“Good. Now, what’s one thing you can taste?”
It isn’t one thing. It’s a million. Smoke. Gunpowder. Nonna’s ragu. Blood. Steak on my first date with Teddy. Bile. Salt in the air on the beach.
“We’re ready, let’s get her to the hospital. Mama and Papa are already on their way.”
Gabri’s gruff voice is the last thing I hear before I faint, but I still taste one more thing.
Teddy’s lips the last time I kissed him.