“What are you going to do with him?” I asked.
“I’ll let him live. He’ll just be missing a finger or two to remind him that stealing is wrong.”
“Oh…”
Roberto smiled at me, “Do you know why I called you here to see this?”
I shook my head.
“To show you that anyone can end up in that chair. I can tell that you’re a smart woman, so I don’t see you sitting there, but I just really wanted you to see what happens to people that cross me. Especially to my own men. If there’s anything I can’t stand the most is disloyalty,” he stared at me for a moment, almost as if he were looking for some kind of reaction that would give me away, but I didn’t give him one.
“You don’t have to worry about me being disloyal,” I said as sincerely as I could.
“Good, you can go upstairs now. Do you remember where the guest room is?”
“Yes,” I nodded. I looked over at the half dead man one more time, then walked up the stairs as fast as I could and went straight to the guest room on the second floor.
Right down the hall from my room was where Lorena was sleeping. I wanted so badly to go and lay with her, but it wasn’t just her bed that I would be climbing into. It was Roberto’s as well.
Chapter 17
“No, No!” I cried. For the first time in a long time I had cried.
“You have to learn,” Arnold grunted as he pulled me by my arm towards the silver cage.
“I did!” I tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong. “Don’t put me in there! Arnold don’t!”
The sound of the cage creaking open made me fight harder, but it didn’t get me anywhere or anything but a hard slap across my face.
“Arnold please!” He yanked me over and then pushed me into the cage. When I tried to run out, he just kicked me back in and I slammed against the other side. I could hear the cage door close and then a key lock...
I jumped out of my sleep to be blinded by the sunlight that shined in on me. “What the hell?” I laid back and covered my eyes with my arm.
“You still have nightmares about him huh?” I heard Lorena say. I didn’t even notice her sitting right next to my head. She ran her fingers through my curls. “I thought they stopped?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “They did, sort of,” I sat up and wiped my tired eyes, “but not completely, and ever since I came to New York I started having them more frequently.”
Lorena stood up, “Well, hopefully when this is all over the nightmares will stop,” she said. She walked over to the door and turned around, “Roberto sent me to come wake you. I guess you two have business to attend to.”
I stared over at her, knowing that she wanted to stay with me, but couldn’t. “Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome. Your clothes are in the bathroom, there’s also a new tooth brush and tooth paste in there for you,” she nodded towards the bathroom that was to my right.
“Okay,” I said, looking towards the bathroom. I figured that it was the perfect place to text Bobby and let him know that I was okay.
“You should go and get ready. Roberto’s been waiting for you,” Lorena said softly.
I had forgotten that she was standing there.
“Right,” I said. I got out of the bed and made my way over to the bathroom. There was a black button up shirt with a pair of black pants, and shoes waiting on the toilet for me.
I didn’t even bother to wash up and rushed to get dressed in my new clothes, then I brushed my teeth.
On my way out of the bathroom, I noticed just how rough my ponytail looked in the mirror after sleeping on it and quickly let my hair loose, wet it, dried it, and then let my curls hang over my shoulders.
When I looked in the mirror again, I sighed. I figured Roberto was going to take me to see a few of the children today, and as much as I wanted to find the rest of them, I didn’t think that I was ready to face them. I would literally be looking at my past selves.
I pulled out my phone and shook my head when I realized that it was the phone that Roberto had given me. When I left the apartment this morning I must have forgotten Bobby’s phone from being in such a rush. I thought about calling him from this phone, but something told me that would be a bad idea. Roberto had me using this mobile for a reason, and it wasn’t given to me out of generosity.
I put the phone away and left out of the bathroom, and then I made my way down to the entrance hall where Ronald was waiting for me.
“Ready to go?” Ronald asked.
“Yeah. Where’s Roberto?”
“The car,” Ronald answered. He opened the front door and followed out behind me.
When I looked up I saw that Mark was sitting in the driver’s seat of a shiny black truck with the front windows down.
“Well, good morning,” Mark flashed a bright smile.
“Hey, Mark,” Ronald said, opening the passenger seat door for himself.
“Good morning, Mark,” I said, sliding into the back seat next to Roberto.
Roberto glanced at me, and then went back to looking in his phone. “Ronald, Sarah,” he greeted. He didn’t seem to be in the best mood, so I didn’t bother to ask any questions about where we were going.
Mark started the car and pulled off. On our way around the fountain I spotted Lorena stepping into the pool by the side of the house.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Roberto asked.
When I turned to him, I met right with his dark eyes. I could have sworn that he was trying to read me, but I wasn’t someone that could be easily read.
“She is,” I said with a slight smile. For a moment I didn’t see him as a dangerous criminal. He was just the man that stole my girl, and I could feel the jealousy in me rising.
Roberto smiled back as if he were challenging me, then went back to looking through his phone. “That’s why I made her my wife,” he said.
I clenched my teeth and sat back. When I looked up I met with marks eyes, and they were screaming ‘don’t do it.’ I turned my eyes from him and looked out of the window for the rest of the ride.
I was just dozing off when the truck came to a stop. We had pulled up into the driveway of an old home, similar to the suburbs back in Ohio.
I wiped my watering eyes. “The kids are here?” I asked.
“Yes. Come, I want you to meet them,” Roberto said.
Roberto, Ronald, and I all got out of the truck and made our way to the side door.
“So, whose house is this?” I asked as we walked in.
“Mine,” Ronald answered. We made a left and went down the stairs to the basement. “I brought them here after we found them. They’ll be taken back later on.”
“Taken back where?” I asked as I looked around. There were no children in this basement.
“I’ll show you soon enough,” Roberto answered. “Go and get them, Ronald.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ronald said. He walked further into the basement where I could barely see, then he moved a mat and pulled up a wooden door. “Come on out.”
I squinted my eyes to see the first child that would be coming out, but because it was so dark I still couldn’t clearly see the child. The only light we had was the one coming from the steps, which wasn’t even close to lighting up even half of the basement.
Roberto put one hand in his pocket. “When you come out, come over here, and be quick about it,” he said.
I heard the first kid walk over to us and I saw that she was just a little African American girl around the age of nine. She looked up at me with a vacant expression, and then over to Roberto who was now smoking a cigar.
“Hurry up, and don’t be slow because you know you’re in trouble now,” Roberto said before he blew out a cloud of smoke.
Two little boys with red hair stood on each side of the girl. When I looked from one to the other, I realized that they were twins. Another little boy ran up, and finally the last one emerged from the darkness.
The little boy with dark brow
n eyes, short brown hair, and tiny brown freckles stared directly at me. It was as if he didn’t even notice Roberto standing right next to me.
I frowned, wondering why the pale boy was staring so hard. It was actually kind of scary that a child so young could have such a dark look on his face. He reminded me a lot of myself when I was with Arnold. I just couldn’t get myself to feel anything after all of the abuse back then.
I turned to Roberto, who had handed Ronald his cigar and blew out his last puff of smoke. Ronald just stepped back and began smoking the cigar.
“Alex, it’s not polite to stare,” Roberto said.
Alex slowly broke his attention from me and faced Roberto.
Roberto sighed, “Children, this is Sarah. You’ll be seeing her with me every now and then.”
They all gave me blank stares.
“Now,” Roberto grinned, “whose bright idea was it to go with one of my men without my permission? I know that at least one of you had to convince the rest of you to go along with that horrible plan to get away.”
When no one answered Roberto began to laugh, “Look, you will all be punished, believe me, but I want to know who your ring leader is. I’ll give you to three before I just pick one of you, and the person that I choose will be disciplined accordingly.”
The four children looked nervously from one another. Alex just held the same expression and continued to eye Roberto.
“One,” No answer. “Two,” still no answer. “Three.” Roberto reached out for the girl and yanked her by the front of her shirt. I wanted to tear his fingers from off of her, but I couldn’t do anything rash. Not yet at least.
“Rober-”
“It was me,” Alex blurted.
Roberto frowned, and then he pushed the little girl to the ground and snapped his attention to Alex, who showed no fear.
“I told them that guy could help set us free sir,” Alex explained as he took a step forward.
Roberto slapped Alex so hard that he fell to the ground, and instead of looking back up to Roberto, he brought his eyes back to me.
Roberto was about to lash out on Alex again when I had stopped him, “Roberto, wait!”
Roberto stopped himself and sighed, then he turned to look at me, “I guess it’s because you’re new. Alex here needs to be taught a lesson.”
Alex looked from me, and then back to Roberto.
“Well, is there...maybe...he just-”
Roberto raised an eyebrow, “I guess I won’t be doing this in front of you just yet. I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”
I sighed with relief, but what he said next made my heart race again.
“Alex and Christian, you two will be fighting each other. The rest of you are to squat against the wall. If you stop, stretch, or fall, you’ll be losing your meals for the next two days.”
My eyes widened. The little girl frowned at me before walking over to the wall with the boys and squatting against it. It seemed as if I had just made things worse for them.
Alex got to his feet and faced the little light skinned boy, Christian. He didn’t ready himself like Christian did. As a matter of fact, he looked more nonchalant than anything.
“Your friends will be squatting on that wall until the fight is over, and you know that I don’t consider it to be over until one of you are unable to fight anymore,” Roberto said. He stepped back next to me. “Whenever you’re ready.”
My head began to spin, and I felt like I was choking on air. This took me back to when I first started fighting. Back to Fike and Cleo. The way that these two boys went at it reminded me of myself, and how I had to fight for my chance at freedom. At least I thought that I was going to be set free.
It was the first time that I had met Arnold, and the first time that I saw someone killed. He had just shot them both in front of me...
Alex was now on top of Christian punching him over and over. I hated the sound of his fists connecting with Christian’s face, and it was starting to make me feel sick.
“Are you alright Sarah?” Roberto asked.
I felt tears welling up as I watched this emotionless boy beat another until his eyes rolled back into his head. Images of Cleo and Fike’s dead bodies kept coming to mind, and I couldn’t get rid of them.
“Sarah?”
I jumped and stepped back. “I need some air,” I said.
“Is everything alright?”
“I just-I just need some air.” I turned around and ran up the stairs, then out of the side door. Even outside I kept seeing Cleo’s and Fike’s dead bodies. “Stop,” I said to myself. I needed to get my emotions under control so that I could perform this operation effectively. I didn’t have time for panic attacks.
“Sarah,” Roberto rested his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t even hear him come out. “Are you alright? It this too much for you?” he asked.
I frowned over at Roberto. Why was he being so nice? He actually looked concerned, and confused my feelings about him for a second.
“This was a little too soon for you. You’re shaking,” Roberto sighed. “Go back to the truck, I’ll be there shortly.”
I nodded while catching my breath. Roberto went back into the house and I went to the truck. Ten minutes later I saw Alex exit the side door with Roberto following behind him.
Chapter 18
I shifted uncomfortably next to Alex. Roberto was on the other side of him explaining the rules of his household, and what he would be doing while he lived with him. At first it sounded harsh. The training's and punishments sounded brutal, but then he brought up Lorena, and how she would be like a mother to him.
When I lived with Arnold I had forgotten what it felt like to feel a mother’s love. All I had was Arnold, and he never showed me anything but anger. Sometimes he would be proud of me, but most of the time there was nothing but disappointment. I found myself working harder just so that I could get his approval. There were no more thoughts of freedom, just of making him proud of me.
“Sarah here will also be looking after you,” I heard Roberto say.
I turned to see Roberto smiling at me, then I looked down at Alex and gave a slight smile, but I doubt that made him feel any better about his situation. I sighed, turned back to the window, and was quiet the rest of the ride.
When we arrived to the mansion I followed Ronald inside with Roberto and Alex right behind me. I didn’t know what to do once we got inside, so I just stood there and waited for orders. Ronald just walked away.
Alex stopped and stood next to me. We both just stared at Roberto wondering what was going to happen next.
Roberto looked over at us and chuckled, “Come on, I want you to meet Lorena. She’ll be happy to see you.” He started walking in the direction of the art room.
I and Alex just looked at each other, then I raised an eyebrow.
“Well, he wasn’t talking to me,” I said.
Alex sighed, then followed behind Roberto. We both made our way over to the art room where Lorena was busy painting on the walls. She had taken down the pictures and was now finger painting over the flowers.
The three of us stood there and watched as she dipped her hands in a can of blue paint and smeared it over a red rose. I couldn’t help but feel offended on account that I thought that she painted the roses because of me.
Roberto cleared his throat and walked inside. Lorena had jumped and turned to look directly at me, then her eyes averted over to her husband, who had placed a soft kiss on her lips, “Hey, honey.”
“Hey,” Lorena said with a slight smile. “What’s going on?”
Roberto moved out of the way for her to see little Alex standing next to me. I could tell that she was far from happy to see the child, yet she still smiled.
“And who is this?” Lorena asked.
“This is Alexander, but he likes to be called Alex,” Roberto answered. “He’ll be living with us from now on.”
Lorena gave a tight smile, but it softened as she approached the tense boy. “Hi,”
she said, squatting down to his level, “I’m Lorena.”
Alex clenched his teeth, looked to Roberto, and then back to Lorena, “I’m Alex.”
“Well,” Lorena said with a sigh, “it’s very nice to meet you Alex.” She ran her fingers across his short brown hair, giving it a blue tint, then stared into his eyes for a moment. She knew why he was there, she knew what he was about to endure, and she felt bad for him. I could see in her eyes that she was upset, and I’m pretty sure that he could too.
Lorena stood up straight, “So, how about we get you a nice bath, and I’ll show you around afterwards?”
Alex gave a nod, and then looked over to Roberto for approval.
“It’s alright Alex,” Roberto said while looking at the time on his watch. “I actually need to go and get some work done. Sarah, look after them?”
I nodded, “Sure.”
“Great,” Roberto walked up to Lorena and kissed her on her cheek, then left the room.
Lorena and I just looked at each other for a moment, and then back down to Alex. I had no idea how to act around the kid, but Lorena clearly had experience.
“Come on,” Lorena said. She waved for us to follow her to the kitchen where Ronald was reading the newspaper at the table, and one of the maids were doing the dishes. “Marie?”
The pale white haired woman looked back and asked, “Oh, Mrs. Bellerose. What do you need me for?”
“Nothing really. Can you just run a warm bath for Alex here and wash his clothes?”
“Oh, sure. Anything,” the old woman responded happily.
“Thank you,” Lorena looked down to Alex, “just follow Mrs. Marie. She’ll get you all set.
Alex nodded, and then followed Marie out of the kitchen.
Lorena held her breath for a moment, then went to wash her hands and stormed out to the back yard through the side doors. I followed after her.
“Lorena,” I called after her.
Lorena stopped right before she reached the garden and covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders raised and dropped with each deep breath she took.
I stood behind Lorena and rested my hand on her shoulder. I wanted to do more, but we were out in the open again. Maybe if we had made it into the large garden I could console her the way that I wanted to.
Caged 2 (Caged Series) Page 12
