***
“Rose!”
Water splashed against my face and I woke up to Bobby’s wide eyes.
“What the fuck!” I yelled wiping the water off of my face.
“You were screaming in your sleep. I had to wake you up somehow,” Bobby explained.
“Yeah, you can shake me next time, or call my name.”
“Yeah, tried that already,” Bobby sighed.
“Then try harder next time,” I spat.
Bobby frowned, “What’s going on with you?”
“Umm, you threw some fucking water on me while I was sleeping,” I frowned over at Bobby, but then sighed. He knew that wasn’t the problem, “Alex’s fight is tonight.”
Bobby scratched his head, “You’re training him right?”
“Yeah?”
“And what do you think?”
“I think he’ll be just fine, but I still don’t want him going in there.”
“I know, but this is another opportunity to search for those kids. You never know. Roberto could really be hiding them in there and not saying anything.”
I clenched my teeth and groaned loudly. At the moment, I didn’t really care where they were. Alex was going to have to fight someone tonight, and if he didn’t win, he would be punished. If he did win, he would be seriously injuring someone else. I didn’t want either of those things to happen. I didn’t want him going in there.
“We have been working on this operation for a while now. I’m tired of living in this dump, so you need to hurry up and finish the job.”
“I’m doing the best that I can,” I said.
“Well, you need to do better.”
“How about you do some looking around then?”
“I have, but you’re the closest anyone has ever gotten, so you have to find them,” Bobby said with a straight face.
“Close? I haven’t gotten anywhere!”
“Rose, just get the fuck up and go do your job. Shouldn’t your ride, Mark, be here in a minute? Shit! I’m starting to actually feel like I’m arguing with my sister!” Bobby stormed out of the room.
I groaned again and got out of the bed. It was time to get ready.
***
When I got to the mansion, it was dead silent. The only people I saw going about were Ronald and Marie. They were doing their usual thing which was Ronald reading the newspaper, and Marie cleaning invisible dust.
“Where is everyone?” I asked Marie.
Marie looked back at me. She was paler than ever.
“Oh, well, Alex is in his room resting, and Mr. And Mrs. Bellerose are in their room,” Marie answered.
Ronald chuckled to himself as he read the newspaper, and it made me want to slap him in the back of the head.
“Well, is everything alright?”
“Everything’s…normal dear. Nothing different.” Marie answered. She was acting weird, but I didn’t say anything about it. I just shrugged it off and went to go and check on Alex. On my way up the stairs though, I could hear Roberto yelling from his bedroom. The door was cracked, but I still couldn’t clearly hear what he was yelling about. In any other situation where they were arguing I wouldn’t care, but when I didn’t hear Lorena yell back my muscles tensed. Was she crying? Did he hit her? Was she knocked out? Or worse…
“Why do you have to do this!? I sighed with relief when I heard Lorena yell back. She was alive. “Why does he have to go out there?”
“He’s my property Lorena, I can do whatever I please with that boy, and I’m going to make him a fighter!”
“And then what? You have enough money! What do you need him for? All you want to do is be like you father, but you can’t. Your father always won his fights, and his children never died. Not like –“
Slap!
“I have had enough!” Roberto roared. “We aren’t having this discussion! That boy is mine, and so are you, and you will not speak to me this way!”
Lorena was silent, and I wasn’t sure if she was knocked out now. I couldn’t control myself. I guess I blanked out for a moment, because Alex had come out of the room and snatched my gun out of my hand.
My whole body shook as I stared through the crack of the door. I could only see Lorena’s legs, and they weren’t moving, but I was relieved to hear her cries. She was okay for now.
“Give that back,” I said, turning to Alex.
His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily. He had never seen this side of me before, and it scared him.
“Alex,” I said through clenched teeth.
Alex shook his head. “You’ll regret shooting him,” he whispered.
I looked back through the crack of the door and saw Roberto trying to hug Lorena after slapping her. I hated him, and I wanted to kill him, but once again this wasn’t the right time.
I sighed and stepped into Alex’s room, “I won’t shoot him, but give me back my gun before you shoot yourself.” I put my hand out and he cautiously handed me back the gun. I checked the safety and then tucked it back into my waistband.
Alex stepped back and sat down on his bed, and I went to sit down next to him.
I took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, trying to calm myself down.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked.
“I’m fine,” I looked down at him, “and how are you?”
Alex shook his head. He didn’t try to put up his tough act, “Scared.”
“Well,” I rested my hand on his knee, “you’re going to have to stop being scared when it’s fight time. That fear won’t do anything but hold you back, and that other kid won’t hold any punches.” I gave him a serious look. Alex was going to have to go into this fight, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. I was going to do as Bobby said and double check for those damn kids.
***
The drive out to the fights was a quiet one. Alex held my hand tightly the entire time, and it actually started to go numb. Roberto was on the other side of Alex looking through his phone again, and Ronald rode in the front while reading the newspaper.
Mark was the only one in the car that didn’t seem to be so tense, but he knew not to say anything. I wondered why Mark decided to work for Roberto. I mean, I knew it was good pay, but Mark wasn’t a bad guy. He was young, happy, and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, so why on earth would he work for this man? On top of that he was risking his neck every single day just driving for Roberto.
When we arrived at the warehouse, it was full of cars just like the last time. My heart raced as we pulled up to the door, and I wished that I could calm down. I felt as if I was the one that was about to step into the arena.
Everyone but Mark stepped out of the car and walked into the building. It was as lively as I remembered, with a fight already going on. Roberto was pretty much greeted by anyone that saw him, and then their eyes would widen at the sight of Alex who was still holding my hand. He was shaking.
“Let’s head to the back,” Roberto said.
I nodded, and we followed Roberto through the crowd and to the back halls where the next fighters got ready. Once we were in the room, Roberto closed the door and pulled out some hand wraps.
Chapter 24
Alex was the second to last fight of the night. We had spent some time warming up and getting him ready by jump roping and practicing a few combos. Roberto just watched the entire time as if he were observing us.
“I’m starting to wonder if he’s my fighter, or yours?” Roberto chuckled.
Alex looked over to Roberto, and then back to me. We both jumped when there was a knock on the door.
The door opened and Ronald popped his head in, “Alex will be up in a little.”
I nodded.
“That’s great! I’ve been waiting for this moment!” Roberto pushed himself off of the wall and waved for Ronald to go away, then he got on one knee in front of Alex. “You ready kid?”
Alex looked up to me and I nodded, and then he nodded, “Yes, Sir.”
“Goo
d, so you’re going to go out there and win me a fight right?”
“Yes, Sir,” Alex nodded again.
“Losing isn’t an option,” Roberto got serious again. “You do understand that right?”
“Yes, Sir,” This time Alex’s fearful eyes filled with darkness, and he went back to giving his vacant expression.
“Great,” Roberto ruffled Alex’s hair and stood tall, then he smiled over at me, “I’m excited to see how he does.”
I gave a slight smile, “Me too.” I crouched down in front of Alex and held his hands, they were still shaking. “Remember what I said at the house?”
Alex nodded, “Fear won’t do anything but hold me back.”
“Right, so stop shaking,” I squeezed his hands in mine until the shaking died down, “and don’t hold back any punches, because your opponent won’t.”
“I won’t,” Alex nodded. He was breathing heavily, but did his best to control it.
There was another knock on the door.
“It’s time!” Ronald yelled.
I stood up and looked over to Roberto who was slightly smiling, “Let’s go.” He walked passed us and opened the door, then we followed behind him.
Roberto motioned for Alex to walk next to him as they neared the narrow walkway full of money hungry people. I stayed in the back with Ronald.
We finally made it to the walkway, but the only person that was supposed to walk down was Alex.
“You go ahead and win this fight for me, Alex,” Roberto said. He gave Alex a light shove and sent him down the walkway.
I started walking off when Roberto stopped me, “What? Don’t want to watch?”
I sighed, “It’s still a bit hard for me to watch these things. I just wanted to make sure that he was ready.”
“Well, Alright. I’ll call you if I need you,” Roberto said. “I have Ronald to watch my back for the moment.”
I nodded, “Thanks.”
I headed through the crowd and looked back to make sure that Roberto could no longer see me. It was time to take another look for the kids.
As I made my way through the crowd, I could see Alex in the arena getting ready to fight. The boy he was going against was just his size, but something told me that he was going to be very hard to beat. It was just something about the look on his face. Maybe he thought that if he won, he would get to go home after this.
“Sarah,” I felt a tight grip on my arm and I almost threw my elbow back when I saw that it was Abigale.
“Abigale, what are you doing here? This place is too dangerous for you to be roaming around.”
“I’m doing my job,” Abigale said. She looked tired. Her hair had grown a little passed her ears, she had bags under her eyes, and she looked paler than usual. “What the hell have you been doing?”
My eyes widened, and I had to remind myself that this was my partner and best friend.
“I’ve been trying not to get killed,” I answered.
Abigale ran her fingers through her hair, which is what she usually did to try and calm herself down.
“Have you found anything?” She whispered.
I shook my head, “I’m not even close. I’m doing my best Abigale. Look, this isn’t the place or time for this. You and I can’t talk here.” I knew that no one could hear us over all of the cheering, but we still couldn’t be seen together.
“Fine. You need to hurry up and end this Sarah,” Abigale shook her head and walked away.
I took a deep breath and went back to what I was doing. The crowd cheered wildly when the fight started, and I turned to see Alex fighting like a kid in a boxing match. He was circling his opponent, staying on his toes, and kept his arms up the entire time. I actually smiled, maybe he would do just fine.
I turned away and pushed my way through the crowd. I needed to get to the back rooms where I knew the kids might have been locked up. I remembered there being another section off somewhere that I didn’t really care for in the past. It was just a bunch of extra rooms that weren’t used. Or at least that’s what I thought.
I finally broke free of the crowd and walked down a long dim hallway full of closed doors that I was sure were locked. When I twisted the knob of one of the doors I sighed in frustration. They were locked. I wanted to just kick the door in like I’ve done in many other cases, but I was afraid that someone would notice me. This area wasn’t necessarily blocked off, it just wasn’t used.
I walked down the hall and tried to open up every door, but they all turned out to be locked. I had gotten to the point where I knocked on one of the doors, but of course there was no answer.
“Fucking great,” I sighed.
I turned around and leaned on one of the doors while looking up at the ceiling. I had no idea where to find those damn kids, but I had an idea of where to start. That would be extremely dangerous though. If I got caught going through Roberto’s office, that would give me away, and I had no idea what he did to cops if he tortured his own men. I didn’t even want to know.
The crowd boomed, and I jumped. I hoped that they were all cheering so loudly because Alex had just won the fight. I turned to see the crowd laughing and cheering, and I had to see what was happening. I prayed that Alex was alright, because if he wasn’t then he was either dead, or badly injured.
As I walked towards the arena, I found myself feeling like a worried mother. I had formed a relationship with Alex, and yes, I did love him, so my heart throbbed painfully with all of the negative thoughts running through my mind.
I pushed through the crowd and didn’t care who I bumped or who’s drink I spilled, and made my way to the front. Alex was still standing with his hands up, while the other boy was down, and I could almost cry. Alex was winning. He had a few scratches on his arms and chest, but he still looked fine. Alex looked perfectly fine.
“Finish him off!” Someone yelled. “End the fight boy!”
Alex looked down at the boy and didn’t move. He looked as if he was confused about what to do next. His opponent was on all fours crying, and he looked as if he was done for the night, but the audience didn’t think so. They wanted to see the poor boy being knocked out.
When I looked back up at Alex I saw that he was staring directly at me. It was as if he were waiting for me to give him the okay, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell him to beat another child senseless. I couldn’t tell him to be something he’s not. Alex wasn’t a monster.
“Hit him!” Another person yelled.
Alex was still waiting for me. I actually started to break into a nervous sweat, because I didn’t know what to do. He was stuck, and I couldn’t help him.
Alex waited for a few more seconds, then gave a slight smile, as if he understood what I was thinking.He dropped his hands. That made the cheers turn into boo’s quickly, and it almost made me laugh.
I nodded to Alex in approval. He wasn’t going to be what Roberto and all these other disgusting people wanted him to be. The only problem about that, was that there were repercussions for such actions.
***
Slap!!
“What were you thinking Alex? Embarrassing me that way?” Roberto asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Alex didn’t seem to be fazed by Roberto’s slap and just looked up at him with dark eyes, “That I had already won.”
Roberto frowned, and then took a deep breath, “We’ll talk more about this when we get home. You’re in a lot of trouble Alex.”
Alex didn’t say anything. I almost thought that he was going to just shrug it off, but he probably figured that that wasn’t very wise and remained still.
Roberto walked out of the room with Ronald following. Alex just looked over to me, and then turned to leave. He knew that he would be punished for not finishing off his opponent the moment that he dropped his arms, but he didn’t really seem to care. It was as if he had already seen worse, or felt immense pain before. I hoped that whatever Roberto had planned, Alex was able to handle it. So far I hoped for a lot of things.
> When we got into the car it was silent.
Roberto had gone back to looking through his phone, Ronald read the newspaper, Alex looked ahead, and Mark drove without saying a word. It seemed as if I was the only one worried about what was going to happen when we got back.
The punishments I endured as a child were excruciating. They rarely broke through my skin, but they were ongoing and felt as it they lasted for hours. Some really did, and I was left sweating, shaking, and in a lot of pain. I never could understand what I did that was so wrong to deserve such abuse, and I still never found out. Arnold was just a lonely sick man, with sick ways.
Alex slipped his hand into mine. We were getting closer to the mansion and it would be time to face the worst. I looked over to Roberto and tightened my grip on Alex’s hand when I met his evil brown eyes. It was the look in them that sent chills down my spine, and I started to feel weak again. I hated the feeling, but I couldn’t help it.
Alex squeezed back and I jumped. Then I just turned to look out of the window again. Alex was so much stronger than I was, and because of it, he would be tortured, and possibly be killed...no. I wouldn’t let that happen. If I had to, I would pull this gun out of my waistband and shoot Roberto with it.
When we got back to the mansion, we got out of the truck and walked inside. Lorena was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps, and I was happy to see that she didn’t have a glass of wine in her hand.
“Lore-”
“Alex,” Lorena rushed passed Roberto and greeted Alex with a tight hug, and then she kissed him on the forehead.
Roberto turned around with a blank expression, but I could tell he was getting angry by his heavy breathing, “Ronald, take Alex to the basement and get him ready.”
Ronald nodded and pulled Alex by his arm towards the basement.
“Wait-what?” Lorena whipped around. “Roberto, what do you mean? Why does he have to go down there?”
“Alex needs to learn discipline,” Roberto snapped.
“I don’t understand. Didn’t he win? You texted me that he-” Lorena looked panicked, and honestly I felt so myself.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you Lorena,” Roberto took a deep breath. “Go back to the bedroom, and don’t come out until I say so.”
Caged 2 (Caged Series) Page 16
