Chapter 65
KC
Istartle awake when I hear two male voices talking. My head is pounding and my whole body is stiff and aching. I try to blink my eyelids open a few times, but they don’t want to open. I go to wipe my eyelids and can’t. It feels like hard plastic is holding my wrists together behind me.
“What the—?” I grunt, shaking my head, as I try to free my hands.
“Oh, look who’s finally awake—sleeping beauty. Let’s go get the Collector. We need to let him know they’ve already been scanned. No tracers.” The man’s voice sounds like he’s been a smoker all of his life.
I hear a door open behind me, and heavy footsteps are walking away from me.
What the fuck happened? I try to think back to the last thing I remember…
Ajani, Sarah, and I were at Darla’s. I’m finally able to lift my eyelids and look around the darkened room.
Ajani is next to me, on my right side, sitting in a chair.
Her hands are zip-tied behind the back of the chair, and her head is hanging down.
“Ajani,” I whisper. “Hey, wake up.” I scoot my foot over to nudge hers, but we’re too far apart. She doesn’t make a sound or move. Is she alive? I squint my eyes, zoning in on her upper back, to make sure it’s rising and falling. It is. Thank fuck, she’s breathing.
I look around the room. We’re surrounded by cement walls, and a drain is in the floor, located between our chairs. How the hell did we end up here? I continue to try and break the zip tie that’s binding my wrists together, when I hear heavy, quickened foot steps.
The door creaks, and I can hear someone walk in before closing the door. After that, all I can hear is our breathing mixed together. “What do you want with us?” I yell.
He tsks. “Your little friend here doesn’t matter. It’s you, Kailey Caine. That’s who he’s wanted all this time.”
That voice… the tone… It’s different from the man’s who was in here before, but like a fuzzy memory that I recognize but can’t pinpoint. “Let us go. We won’t tell anyone,” I whimper.
“Now, why would I do that after I went through all this trouble to collect you?”
The familiar mystery man slowly walks into my periphery, stopping a few feet in front of me.
His hands are clasped in front of him, and his face slowly lifts up to meet me.
His bald head is shiny; he has pale skin and no eyebrows, and he towers over me at at least six foot two.
When I look into his eyes, I notice they’re grey and devoid of any emotion.
“You don’t recognize me yet, do you?”
“I don’t know who you are. You’ve got the wrong woman.” My words are rushed as I try to hold back my tears of fear.
“Yes, you do. Think.” The man’s finger taps the side of my forehead.
I start to shake my head, my control breaking. “You’re lying! We’ve never met before. I don’t know what you want from me!” I scream at him, looking him directly in his eyes.
He laughs, his palm going to his chest. “Oh, Kailey. Always one for the dramatics.”
He squats down and whispers into my ear. “Beth.”
My breathing halts, and my vision blurs before focusing again. “No. It can’t be.”
“Say my name,” he demands.
“Joey,” I quietly sob.
“You just couldn’t live your life without teasing men, could you, SparkleySkittle?”
“What are you talking about?” My bottom lip starts to quiver, while my heart races.
Joey’s steps are slow as he walks around my chair.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.
After the night of my initiation, of course.
Looks like fate has brought us full circle, Kailey.
What are the odds… that the guy I had to prove my loyalty to is the same guy you ended up teasing—Lorenzo Russo.
The one who sent me to collect you, ultimately sealing your fate. ”
Initiation? Lorenzo Russo? Collecting me? What is this fucking bastard talking about?
“I can see the confusion written all over your face, Kailey. Let me tell you a story. My story.”
Joey walks behind me and drags a chair back with him, the legs scraping across the cement.
“You know, I truly did care for your sister. Hell, I think I might’ve even loved her. But the people I wanted—no, needed to get involved with wanted me to prove my loyalty.”
What? “No…” A solitary tear trails down my cheek.
“Kill someone I love, and they’d welcome me into their world, with no more questions asked, knowing they’d always have something on me.” Joey sucks on his bottom lip. “And boy, did I crave the power they could give me. Could I give up Beth for it? It was an easy decision.”
“I knew it wasn’t an accident. I knew you fucking killed her.”
He shrugs. “I did.” There’s no sympathy or regret in his words. Joey leans back into the chair and crosses his arms. “I laced her pill and put it on her tongue, knowing it would take her breath away. Literally.”
I can’t breathe. My vision becomes tunneled, and I know that I’m about to pass out. Joey slaps me, and the sting on my cheek doesn’t fade. “None of that. I can’t have you over here trying to pass out on me. I’m not done with story time.”
“Why Beth? You could have picked anyone. Why didn’t you?” I throw my head back.
“No. They knew she was mine. So they watched. And waited. Then afterwards, early in the morning, their enforcer invited me into the Russo Mafia family, with wide open arms, and more drugs than I could’ve ever imagined.
Eventually, I worked my way up their ladder.
” He looks over my shoulder at something behind me.
“Come here, doll.” He extends his hand. Sarah comes into view and slowly walks over, standing to the side of Joey, waiting for her next set of instructions. He taps his upper thigh, and she lowers herself onto his lap.
“Oh, god, no.” Stomach bile threatens to break free from my throat.
“What do you think, Kailey? I turned her into my own version of Beth. Don’t you like it?
” Joey grabs her long, bleach blonde hair, exposing her neck.
His lips go to kiss her dimple piercing.
“Fuck, how I loved this on Beth.” He looks at me and just stares for a moment.
“When you let it slip that night at the hospital, that your friend, Sarah, had seen what happened at the party between Beth and me, well, I made it my mission to own her. Got her addicted to drugs, and let her be used. Made her so reliant on me that she couldn’t ever leave. Now she helps.”
“Why did you take us? What the fuck did we do?” I look over at Ajani, who’s still passed out.
Joey claps his hands. “Okay, now to the good part of the story. My boss is a broker of sorts, and he deals in a very specific kind of merchandise. And he has become quite fond of you.”
I wrinkle my nose. “That’s not possible. I don’t even know who your boss is.”
“You see, he uses this app…” Joey waves his hand around the room. “What’s it called again?" He looks to Sarah.
Her voice is soft, barely above a whisper. “TEASE.”
Joey snaps his fingers. “Yes! That’s it! That’s the one. Teeease.”
I’m going to be sick. What have I done? I look over at Ajani again, and she still hasn’t woken up yet.
“Normally, Russo doesn’t need me to retrieve the women for him.
But every attempt he tried with you, you shut him down.
Most women fall for it, leap at the chance to have his attention and money.
Always eager to meet up. Then, when they arrive at the spot he picked, they’re taken, and then sold to the highest bidder.
TEASE has been one of the easiest ways for us to conduct our business…
until you.” His hand reaches out to stroke my cheek, the same one he had slapped just moments ago.
“For him… Incognito… you became a challenge. He had his people trying to ping your phone, find your location, and uncover all the details of your life. Until one post… one photo that gave away a detail about your identity. It would seem minor to anyone who didn’t know you.
But I recognized it right away. Your sunflower tattoo.
” His grip goes to my throat, tightening.
“It was a reflection in a mirror. You see, even with the mask, and your false location setting, you weren’t quite careful enough. ”
Oh my god, no. We’re going to die.
“The head of the Russo family had officially claimed you. Wanted you for himself, to be used—his doll.”
Joey releases his hold on me. “Then, the family came to Chicago for business. Russo sent me a picture of his newest obsession on TEASE. Told me he was having the hardest time getting her to take the bait for an in-person meet. I recognized that sunflower tattoo in the mirror immediately. I mean, how could I forget it? My tongue had tasted one that looked almost exactly like yours.”
“You make me sick.” I spit at him, but he dodges it.
“But then, while I was at a fight, watching my little brother from afar, you happened to be there too. It was fate.” He pushes Sarah off of his lap with a slap on her ass, then he stands.
“At first, I thought about keeping you a secret. I knew it was only a matter of time before you and Jared were tangled back up again… But once I saw you dance during a business meeting at The Lavender Room, there was no way I could stop. Kailey, you were officially my mission, and there was no turning back.”
Joey walks around, stopping behind me, and his palms rest on my bare shoulders.
“King tried. When he found out Russo wanted you for himself, he wasn’t ready to give you up.
So, he told me he would find a doppelg?nger, make her get a sunflower tattoo to match yours, then hand her off to Russo. Everybody wins.”
His nose trails my tattoo, making my stomach churn. “He found one, too, and I couldn’t believe it. But when King came back home from that ‘work trip,’ he realized what I’d already known. You weren’t ever really his. He’d already lost you to my brother.”
Joey’s hand grabs my chin and forces me to look up at him. “Then, King threw you to the wolves, like you were nothing to him anymore. You weren’t worth the hassle. Not enough to piss off his daddy’s best customer—Russo.”
Tears continue to freefall down my cheeks as I slowly shake my head. My voice is a whisper when I look at Joey. “It was you? The skittles, the sunflowers, the mask?”
“Yes. I like to scare the dolls before I take them.” He grins wickedly. “I also fried your battery, but who’s counting?”
I rip my chin from his hold. “Fuck. You. Jared will never forgive you!!!”
“Like I give a shit! That dipshit hasn’t spoken to me since the night I took Beth away from you.”
Ajani’s maniacal laughter surprises me and catches me off guard. My head whips in her direction. How much had she heard?
“You’re a real dumb fucking cunt,” Ajani spits out, eyes staring daggers at him.
“What’d you just say, bitch?” Joey storms over to her chair and grabs her hair, yanking her head back, but instead, pulls off the wig she’d been wearing as part of her disguise. His face falls when he realizes who the woman is beneath the wig.
My friend's smile is scary, wide and conniving. “You’ve really fucked up now, Collector.” Ajani’s tone is bold.
Joey looks from her face to the wig in his hand, dropping it to the cement floor and taking multiple steps backwards. “Who have you brought to me, Sarah?!” Joey yells in her face.
“I… I brought another pretty woman for you to sell, sir. I was able to get two for you this time.” Sarah averts her gaze and starts to back away from him, until her back is against the wall.
Joey punches her in the gut. Sarah grunts in pain and doubles over. He grabs her hair and drags her across the floor to where Ajani is sitting, putting them face to face. “You brought me DiPatri’s goddaughter! The DiPatri family! God damn it, woman! She’s an untouchable!”
Joey shoves her to the ground and kicks her in the stomach. “You dumb fucking bitch. Get up!”
Sarah cries, holding her abdomen, and curls into the fetal position. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know.”
Joey lifts Sarah up by her elbow, phone in his hand as they both walk out of the room, slamming the door behind them.
“Get rid of the friend, quickly. No one can know!” He’s talking to someone on the other side of the door.
“Ajani, I’m so sorry. I fucked up.” I try to hold back my tears. “We’re gonna die.”