by Naomi West
“Yes.”
“Recalculating.”
The city police had no idea how easy it was to avoid them. And then they wondered why they had such a hard time taking down the crime families that ran the place. They couldn’t pose a threat to our operations even if they wanted to.
After about fifteen minutes or so, I arrived at an abandoned looking hotel. The land had been deemed condemned, but that was just an act of protection so no one would come snooping around in our shit. The last thing the Valeri crime family needed was some civilian walking in on something he shouldn’t see. Even so, we would still get the occasional stupid teenager trying to break in, but we had a guy who dealt with such situations. Suffice to say, things were pretty tight around here.
I eased my car into the underground garage and found my parking space waiting for me as it always did. Members of the family were well aware of rank and respect. No one acted out of line, or there would be hell to pay. And that sort of rebellion was usually taken care of during the teenage years. A few good beatings and no one thought twice about wanting to speak out of turn.
As always, the elevator was slow as hell. We had all the goddamn money in the world, and yet, no one thought to invest it in fixing up the janky elevators. One of these days, someone was going to turn into a pancake at the bottom of the shaft, and I would be there to say, “I told you so.”
It finally arrived. Liam was waiting inside. He was one of our youngest members, but the kid was an absolute monster. It was a waste having him on elevator duty, but just like the rest of us, he had to pay his dues.
He nodded as I stepped inside. With a groan, the elevator carried us to the main floor. I straightened out my suit a bit and raked my fingers through my hair.
Ding!
Just like the auction house, this place was thick with smoke. Most of my comrades had cigarettes and cigars hanging from their lips. I joined the ranks and lit myself another cigar. As I took my first puff, I spotted the man I was looking for.
Yuri. The capo of the family. He had the entire bar to himself, as expected. No one bothered the boss unless they had some serious business to address.
Yuri held a drink in his hand. He kept swirling it around the glass and staring at the amber-colored liquid with a pensive look on his face. I wondered what was on his mind and whether he would tolerate my interruption. He was a bit of a loose cannon. One second, he might be your best friend, then another, he has a gun pointed at your temple.
But don’t get me wrong; Yuri was sharp and perceptive. He wasn’t crazy like some of the other capos out there. Everything he did for the Valeri family was well calculated and served some ulterior purpose. Nothing went undetected as far as Yuri was concerned.
Which is why I relied on the man as the sort of intel for almost everything I did. I guess you could consider him my GPS for navigating the crime world and he had never steered me down the wrong path—not even once. There had been times when I harbored my doubts, but in the end, I always wound up right on track.
“Ah, you’re back, Andrei.” He took a swig of his drink and placed it on the countertop where it was promptly refilled. “How was the auction?”
I relayed my information to the boss, leaving no detail untold. Well, except for the curvy beauty that had caught my eye. Yuri didn’t need to know about her—not yet anyway. I hadn’t even made up my mind about what I was going to do about her.
Is she really worth the risk of saving?
“Lorenzo wasn’t there, but the place was swamped with his men.”
“Did any of them recognize you?”
“I kept my head down. And if they did, no one made it known.”
Yuri nodded. “Any information on the other organizations?”
“Nothing unusual. Everyone seems caught up in their typical routines.”
“Good, good,” Yuri ordered another drink and handed it my way. I took it as an invitation to sit down. “And what about the purchases?”
“One of Lorenzo’s goons bought another girl—a pretty one.”
I reprimanded myself for letting that last bit slip. I tried to salvage the situation by turning my attention towards my drink, but it was obvious that Yuri had taken notice. The guy had the sharpest ears in town. There was nothing you could mumble under your breath that he wouldn’t understand.
I expected him to make a comment about the girl and my attraction to her, but he never did. He simply studied me for a moment before folding his hands across his knee.
“Well, we both know that Lorenzo Brocato owns a handful of cheesy strip clubs in the city and around it.”
“Yes, but those are his legit businesses. As shady as they might be, nothing illegal happens in those joints,” I pointed out. Every illegal operation needed a legal one to launder money, or else all our fat stacks were pretty damn useless. “So, why has he recently taken to buying girls? He must have somewhere else that he takes them to.”
“Or his strip clubs are no longer profitable as regular fronts.”
I mulled over his suggestion, and in many ways, it made sense. The Brocato family was quickly falling off its throne, and with Lorenzo pissing people off left and right, it would serve as no surprise if he was losing business. After all, he wasn’t the friendliest guy around. I mean, none of us really were, but Lorenzo? He was downright scum, and that was saying a lot coming from a mafia member. I was not proud of the things that I had done, but at least I wasn’t a downright asshole either.
“So, you think that he is taking some risks by bringing in trafficked girls for cheap?”
“It’s a thought,” Yuri answered. “It is certainly not something I would put past the man. Even as far as mafia lords go, the guy has no sense of morals.”
I finished off my drink, hoping that it would help slow down my raging thoughts. There were a million and one explanations for this Brocato trend.
“I don’t know. Right now, all we’re doing is taking shots in the dark. But I reckon I can find out,” I offered, knowing that my capo would appreciate the initiative.
What he didn’t know was that investigating this would give me the opportunity to check on “chocolate eyes”. I wasn’t necessarily going to swoop in and save her from the clutches of evil, but hey, I might give it some thought. “And maybe, if we’re lucky, I can cut a deal for our last stash of guns we’re trying to unload.”
Yuri looked over to where the guns were stored. No one knew that they were hidden behind the wall's, save for a select few. Even though we were a family business, it was easy to let greed get in the way.
“Shouldn’t be too difficult, considering it isn’t a huge number of weapons,” I added. “For the right price, they’ll fly off the shelves, figuratively speaking.”
Then, after all those guns were gone, we would leave this life behind and start up a legit business. No more hiding in the shadows or walking through the underworld. We’d simply sell guns to law-abiding citizens looking to practice their second amendment. And we were all itching for it too, me most of all.
Call me a simple guy, but all I wanted in life was a banging wife and a nice house with a porch where I can spend my evenings enjoying a drink. Might not seem like much, but when you were in the mafia, it seemed like the furthest thing from your grasp. Now, all I had to do was ditch this last pile of illegals, and I would be that much closer.
“Lorenzo would be a good bet,” Yuri agreed. “Scrubbed serial numbers seem to be what he’s looking for.”
“No doubt about it.”
“Then, you have yourself an assignment. Approach Lorenzo to discuss the deal. You might want to take—”
“No. I’ll handle this one personally.”
16
I had no idea how long I’d laid there, crippled by the pain, but it felt like a really long time. In fact, I think I maybe even dozed off for a bit because the next thing I knew, the sun was starting to poke over the horizon. It colored the sea in a bright shade of orange. I would have thought it marvelously b
eautiful if it wasn’t for the fact that I had become a sex slave overnight.
Seriously, this has to be a nightmare. Does this sort of thing really happen?
Of course it did. Reports of missing girls were all over the news—I had just failed to notice them because it didn’t concern me. And no one ever thought that bad things were going to happen to them until those bad things actually did happen, at which point, they were already royally fucked.
And I was definitely royally fucked.
I got up, but my legs felt like they were nothing more than pasta noodles. I fell back and screamed as the lingering ache of my ass flared into a spike of pure agony. What had that guy done to my ass? Had he seriously broken something? The pain made it had to breathe.
Before I could attempt to stand a second time, the door flew open and there stood Donny—the guy who had bought me in the auction and driven me all the way to this infernal place. Somehow, he looked even bigger than he had before. And maybe it was the light of day, but he seemed a lot more intimidating.
He hulked over and grabbed me firmly by the arm. His beefy fingers felt like steel bands being fused with my skin. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” I dared to ask.
“Shut up.” His fingers tightened, and for fear he might snap my arm in half, I followed him without another word.
I tried to remember our route, but the warehouse was so damned confusing that I gave up almost as soon as we left Lorenzo’s office. Truth be told: I was in a bit of a haze like someone had drugged me or something. Or maybe it was all this goddamn smoke clouding up the place. I coughed and had to stop because it felt like my ribs were going to shatter in my chest.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Donny asked when he saw me panting against the wall.
“It’s hard to breathe in this place,” I answered in a wheeze. “Haven’t you guys ever heard of ventilation or secondhand smoke? All your ‘merchandise’ is probably festering with lung cancer.”
I didn’t think that Donny appreciated my snarky tone very much. I was as sure as sin that it would get me in trouble, but he just continued to drag me down the hall as if my asphyxiation episode hadn’t even happened.
He pushed open a door, and we were suddenly outside. The morning air was icy, and it nipped against my bare skin.
Will I ever get to wear clothes again, or is this my life now? Perpetually naked?
The dirt path was full of jagged rocks that made it incredibly difficult for me to cross. I kept staggering and limping, but did I get any sympathy from the brute that accompanied me? Absolutely not.
We arrived at a small section of the warehouse that was separated from all the rest. It looked even more rundown than the main building. Nearly all of the windows were boarded up and those that weren’t sported broken window panes. The brick exterior was falling apart, and there were even sections of it that had crumbled into gigantic chasms.
What is this place? I thought as Donny shoved me forward.
We rounded the building and came across a door tucked into the corner. It looked like it had once been painted a vibrant red color, but most of that paint had chipped away. The metal was all dented, and one of the three hinges had gone missing.
What the fuck happened to this door? Was there some kind of riot or something?
I couldn’t fathom how a door could get so banged up. Then again, nothing about this place was normal. If someone told me it had been rammed by a rabid elephant, I would’ve probably believed them.
Donny stepped forward and knocked in a very particular sort of way.
Silence.
A second later, the door swung back, but there was no one to greet us—only darkness.
“Come on, get a move on.” Donny swatted my ass to motivate me. I jumped off the ground and held my hands to my cheeks in response.
“Alright, alright,” I said, hoping he would leave my beaten and battered ass the hell alone.
My eyes adjusted to the gloom, and it became aware to me that this place appeared to be a tiny dormitory. It was absolutely filthy, and that was just based on what I could see because the place wasn’t very well lit.
“You’ll sleep here,” Donny said as we entered a small room.
It was outfitted with two sets of bunk beds but, as far as I could tell, there were only two other girls in the room. They didn’t even bother to look up or move for that matter. If was as if Donny and I did not exist.
“Top bunk,” he pointed. “Lucky you.”
Yeah, lucky me. Because this is just like getting a five-star room at the Four Seasons.
He pointed at the other two doors that I hadn’t noticed when I initially walked into the room. I was much more concerned with the fact that the place looked like a goddamn jail cell. It really was an internment camp, and it was just a matter of time before they threw us in a gas chamber. All I had to do was piss off the wrong guy—and that guy was Lorenzo Brocato.
“The one on the left is the bathroom, and the one on the right is the workroom.”
“Bathroom and workroom… right.” My voice trembled, even though I had tried to keep it level.
“Right…”
“The other girls will show you what’s what.”
He left the room, letting the door slam behind his enormous bulk.
Great, now what?
17
I looked around. One of the girls was facing the wall. Clearly, she was trying to ignore me by giving me the cold shoulder—literally. It was fucking freezing in the tiny little room, and while the two girls had something to wear, I was still buck naked. I shivered and hugged myself for warmth, but it did a whole lot of nothing.
Typically, I was pretty extroverted. I had no qualms with striking up conversations with complete strangers, but this was totally different. In the blink of an eye, I had become a sex slave, and these girls were my coworkers. Casual conversation didn’t seem entirely appropriate. So, what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just stand there all day. I would turn into an icicle within the hour.
My mind swirled. It was too much. All of it.
Overcome with emotion, I fell onto one of the empty beds. It wasn’t mine—since Donny had made it clear that I was meant to sleep on the top bunk, but I didn’t have the strength to climb the rickety-looking ladder. Plus, I hardly knew whether it would support my weight or not. The last thing I wanted to do was make a complete fool of myself in front of these women. They were the only people who hadn’t explicitly hurt me, and I wanted to keep it that way.
I choked back a sob in the hopes of keeping my emotions at bay, but they flooded to the forefront. I buried my head in the grimy pillow to keep the noise down. I drenched the yellowed fabric with my tears. I thought that I hadn’t any more tears to cry, but I was quickly being proved wrong.
My body shook like a leaf, and my head throbbed with the onset of a headache. I felt like such a baby for letting my emotions get the best of me, but how was I supposed to react?
Someone had bought me at an auction, and now I was a fucking sex slave. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this shit?
I remembered the dented door to this place. There was no way I was tearing that thing down. And with all the boarded up windows, that wasn’t an option either. I was stuck in this shit hole.
Will I die here? Forgotten about after all my holes have been used past their limit?
The thought made me want to hurl. There had to be something I could do… Helplessness washed over me.
Maybe the cops will find you. Your friends must have noticed you missing by now. Surely, they’re on the case.
I tried to convince myself that there was a smidge of hope in my future, but who was I kidding? This place was heavily guarded with men built like fucking tanks, and all of them were packing. The cops probably knew this place existed, but they were smart enough not to get involved in a battle they were sure to lose.
So, where did that leave me? Up the creek without a paddle. My eyes burned,
and my head felt like it was being cracked open by a jackhammer.
You can keep crying and feeling sorry for yourself, or you can toughen up, buttercup, came that voice at the back of my head.
It had a point. I would accomplish nothing if I just laid here and cried my eyes out. I had to calm down and approach this with a clear state of mind, or I was as good as dead.
Slowly, I sat up and wiped away my tears with the back of my arm. I was sure that I looked like a total mess, but that hardly mattered. I was still alive. Perhaps I was in a bit of pain, but it could be much, much worse. With all the threats that had been dished in my direction, I was surprised to still have all of my appendages.
I turned my head and looked out the boarded up window. There wasn’t much to look through, but I could just about make out the well of the sea and the twinkle of the surface. The sun was much higher—not quite over the horizon, but it was certainly getting there. What time was it exactly?
Suddenly, the second girl pushed herself off the wall and walked over. She sat down on the edge of the bed.
“My name is Martina. And that’s Alice.” She gestured at the girl who was still staring at the wall.
“Cora,” I answered. “My name is Cora.”
“Well, welcome to your new home,” Martina said with an air of sarcasm. She stretched out her arms. “Home, sweet home.”
It sickened me to know that I was stuck here for the foreseeable future. This room was something straight out of a horror movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “workroom” turned out to be some torture dungeon designed to satisfy the needs of sick bastards.
“I have to ask…” I started, but my voice was so hoarse that I wasn’t able to continue.
“Hold that thought.” Martina got up and opened the bathroom door.
All I saw was a small glimpse at the room. The walls were a strange brown color, and I didn’t think they were originally that way. Something leaked from the ceiling and into a bucket. Then came the smell. It churned my stomach. I had to force down the urge to vomit as it permeated my nostrils.
