37. Maricela
The danger of life or death usually scares most people. I’ve heard that many freeze in place, unable to react.
I always knew how I would respond. Whether it’s running away, hiding, or attacking the one who comes for me, the only time I didn’t do anything was that night. I couldn’t. This time will not be the same.
The darkness surrounding me and the gentle breathing on both sides tell me several things. I’m with Lila and Raven, who are both still unconscious, and we must get out of here.
Raven seemed to know the enemies that stood before us. And despite my raging headache, I manage to think clearly. She knew they weren’t there for any good purpose, and she tried to fight.
That means the gas they sprayed us with wasn’t deadly, and they likely have a plan for holding us.
Think Maricela. Think. They were all blond and all tall. The guy who spoke had a foreign accent. Irish. They must be the Irish.
My headache won’t let me think, and the change in breathing beside me tells me that either Raven or Lila is about to wake up. I can’t let them scream. Otherwise, our chances of getting out of this will be much lower.
“Where—”
“Don’t shout,” I warn Lila before she can get another out. “Trust me, and don’t shout. They kidnapped us. Do you remember that?”
It took me a while to understand what happened. And the first thing many victims do is scream. That’s the last thing they should do.
“Where are we?” she whispers. Good.
“I don’t know. Do you remember we were kidnapped?”
“I think we’re tied down,” she says, voicing what I already figured out.
“Yes. Our hands are tied to an iron post. I was able to feel it. The bond is strong,” I explain quietly. “We have to wait for Raven to wake up and think of something.”
“It’s the mafia. We’re going to die.” She says it calmly as if she’s accepted our fate as fact.
I can’t give up. I have things to live for. Two little people are waiting for me. Killian.
“If they wanted us to die, they would have already killed us.”
I know that’s true. The mafia doesn’t mess with people they don’t want alive, but they don’t want a simple death for us. They want the suffering, the suffering of our dear ones. And I know what they’ll do.
When I was little, I saw it enough times and heard the work of the man who called himself my father. I’ve seen it on the streets, and I’ve seen it abroad. More than that, I’ve experienced it with my flesh.
Murdering someone is too easy. Such people are not engaged in simple murder. They are involved in breaking souls. The question is whether my soul can handle what they have prepared for me.
Lila moans. “I’m not part of the mafia, not officially. My father is a clean businessman. At least, that’s what everyone thinks. But I’ve been Killian’s fiancée since I was eight years old. I’ve seen and heard enough things. We’re going to die.” Lila sounds so cold as if whatever happens to her doesn’t interest her, as if she’s already given up.
“Listen to me and listen to me well, Lila. You are not a helpless bitch who surrenders to killers. They will not murder us so quickly. They’ll want to abuse us first. They’ll make us scream, and they will do to us what Franco did to me.”
His name on my lips is like poison, but I spit it out in defiance. For the first time since it happened I’ve uttered his name, and of course, I do it when in a life-or-death situation.
“We’re in big trouble,” Raven says in a small voice full of fear.
“Rav. I need you to take a breath and not shout. They’ll want to harm us, and if they sense even a little of our fear, they’ll use it. As long as they think we’re still out of it, we have time to think. Now, your family must have prepared you for such situations.”
Lila’s quiet laughter makes me want to kick any man in their strong families who think women shouldn’t know how to defend themselves, especially families who deal with shit like this.
“Well, you’re both going to listen to me. I’m from the streets. Let me run this.”
“I never thought I would be happy to be around someone who knows what poverty and real danger are. I should have listened more in Maverick’s classes,” Lila teases, and I chuckle in return. I can’t help it.
An intense and blinding light penetrates the room. It makes it hard for me to see the face of the man who came in, but I’m sure it’s a man from the smell of sweat dripping from him and his intense breathing.
“So, the mafia princesses have awakened. Who will I break first?” I hope Raven and Lila listen to me and follow my lead.
“It depends,” I say in a bored voice.
“Depends on what?”
“In the disease you want to catch. The blonde and I have HIV. We gave it to each other. And the redhead has chlamydia.”
“Dirty whores. We’ll have to break you some other way. I can’t believe your men haven’t been keeping you healthy.”
I can’t believe that worked. While I am confident in handling his physical violence, I am uncertain if I can endure another instance of rape. The only hands that can touch me belong to my broken man. To the king of the mafia. To the owner of my heart. Killian Fierro.
“They’re dirty whores,” the man whose face I still can’t see well shouts and closes the door behind him.
From what I could tell, the door is made of heavy steel, and the squeak of its hinges was loud. Getting out of here without being heard is going to be difficult, especially if they beat us first.
“How did you think of that?” Raven asks in a small voice.
I feel the tremor of her body next to me. Luckily, the darkness didn’t let anyone see the frightened expression that is likely painted on my gentle friend’s face.
“Street girl, remember? I know how they think. Thugs like him only love a few things: blood, sex, and power. Rape would give them everything. Now he’ll also have to worry about not getting dirty with our blood, and that will make everything they plan to do to us more difficult to handle without tainting themselves.”
I learned these things the hard way. My experience may have been terrible, and Franco may have scarred my soul and body, but in the last four years, I have seen far worse things than those that have happened to me. Such men claim that they’re not afraid of death, but when the moment comes when they know they’re going to die, they usually beg to be saved for fear of standing trial before their maker. Most of these people strangely believe in God even when they do everything against him.
“Do you think they’ll find us?” Lila asks after what seems like an eternity, but in reality, the silence was probably no more than five minutes at most.
“I’m sure they’ll try. It’ll take them a while to realize we’re gone, but I’m pretty sure we were out for a while, so who knows how much time has already passed? They must have taken care of Raven’s bodyguards, and I’m not sure about mine. Did you have bodyguards, Lila?”
“Only my nameless bodyguard, as far as I know. I’m not important enough to my dad. He sees me as a tool and probably thought Killian would put bodyguards on me. Which he did, of course. But I told Bob to take the day off when I got to the office.” She groans again.
“My only bodyguard is a lover I fucked because I was bored, but he wasn’t always protective of me. I think he thought we were more friends with benefits.”
I nod, even knowing she can’t really see me in this darkness. “All we have left is to trust our men,” I say and pray that they’ll notice we disappeared soon enough.