Chapter 24 #2
The other woman replied, “They’ve been trying to find some secret stash that some old dude apparently hid before he died.
” That statement drew my gaze, and I tried to remain unaffected as they gossiped about what they overheard around the house.
“One of the guards said this guy was some big money man and he stopped trusting banks or something crazy like that, so he took all his money and buried it. Then,” she leaned closer to the blonde woman as she postured, “he died, and no one knows where the cash is.”
That was ridiculous, but whatever they wanted to say was fine by me.
I did feel sorry for Kelly’s sons, even if Sergey Junior was a blowhard little bastard.
No child deserved to be spoken to the way she did or beaten until they screamed for help.
And they certainly shouldn’t have been living and growing up in a mafia-run whorehouse.
The women kept speaking as I zoned out, running the numbers through my head one full time.
Four sets, sixteen numbers each. I did it out of habit, and sometimes, I thought it was the only thing keeping me sane.
It’s a tangible link to something outside of this house, and it was something to keep my mind sharp.
It wasn’t something I did all day, but it happened at least three to four times a day, usually when I was bored and needed to let my mind wander.
A loud noise from across the room stopped the women’s conversation and drew me out of the numerical rhythm.
I turned to see the one person I dreaded approaching me, and from the look on his face, he was about to make my life awful.
Turning back in my chair, I caught the gaze of the blonde, and she mouthed ‘sorry’ before standing up with the other woman and leaving the room.
“Hello, my little whore. Did you miss me?” he asked as he stepped behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.
When I didn’t answer, like I never did, he squeezed until I yelped from the pain, and he chuckled behind me.
He never got a word from me, not a plea to stop, not the word no, nothing.
I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me break, and I would take Sergey’s secrets to the grave, all to make sure they don’t get shit.
Giovanni stepped around from behind and propped his hip onto the table next to me. Looking up at him, I waited for whatever fresh and new hell he wanted to unleash on me, but Kelly walked in before he explained his presence.
“I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” She stepped to him and actually gave Giovanni her hand. The stupid fucker kissed the back like she was the Don of the family, and I fought to not roll my eyes. “Do you have what I requested?”
He reached into the pocket of his suit coat and pulled out an envelope. Handing it to her, Giovanni watched as she opened it and pulled out a piece of paper. She smiled before pushing it back inside, then she turned her attention to me.
“I’ve got some good news for you, Regan. Since you refuse to tell me what I want to know, what I’m entitled to as Sergey’s wife and the head of the family, I’ve decided I’m tired of trying.”
First, she wasn’t his wife, and second, she wasn’t the head of the family, and lastly, what the hell did that mean?
She saw the confusion on my face, and when she laughed, allowing the veil of her false smile to drop and revealing the evil cunt she truly was, I knew this was going from bad to worse.
“Giovanni and I came to an agreement, and from now on, you’re his problem.
” I shook my head, and she laughed even louder.
Patting me on the cheek, she said one final thing that stripped another layer of my sanity away.
“He said he’ll get the information from you one way or another, and personally, I hope he makes you suffer for keeping my dear husband from me before he died. ”
She was deluded, but she was a type of crazy I knew. There was little she did, besides this bullshit, that I was shocked by. Without another word, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving me with Giovanni.
He tilted his head and his green eyes shone brightly as he barked, “Stand.”
I knew not doing what he demanded would result in longer ‘sessions’ with him.
But now that he owned me, I feared I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive.
Standing in front of him, he stepped closer and lifted my chin so I was looking up at him.
Defiance coursed through me, but this wasn’t the time to challenge him.
I would wait for an opening and make my move, or I’d finally leave this plane of existence and be free of all the pain and misery.
Gripping onto my upper arm, he forced me out of the dining room and through the front door of the house I’d been trapped inside for months. The sun was bright, and I tried to shield my eyes with my free hand as he pulled me down the stairs and into a waiting vehicle.
That was the last morning I didn’t wake up in pain, wishing he would end it once and for all.
For three months, I suffered at his hands, and by a freak chance, someone captured me on a phone camera that was equipped with Callahan software.
Another two days later, I was awakened by someone kicking in the door, and when I was lifted into James’s arms, I trusted his whispered promise that I would be okay.
But Giovanni had slipped past his reckoning. I made a promise the day Devlin and James rescued me that when it came time for that demented bastard to die, I was going to do it myself.
Just so I would know, without a doubt, that the monster from my nightmare was finally gone.