“Rober-”
Roberto raised his hand, and I moved to stop him, but he stopped himself when he saw Lorena flinch. “Go!” he boomed.
Lorena backed away, but didn’t turn around to head upstairs.
Roberto walked away then yelled, “Sarah!”
I followed behind Roberto, but not before looking at Lorena one last time. What did he mean by ‘get him ready’? Lorena obviously knew what he meant, but couldn’t tell me anything. She was going to let me see for myself.
I followed Roberto into the basement and my muscles tensed when I saw Alex chained up to the cuffs that hung from the ceiling. All of his clothes except his underwear were removed, revealing every scar he’s ever received.
Alex didn’t look up at me, but I knew that he knew that I was here, because I saw him sigh with relief. Well, only a little relief.
“What- what are you going to do?” I asked.
Roberto walked to the table behind Alex and picked up a long black cord. My stomach turned so badly that I threw up in my mouth a little, and I started to feel dizzy. Another panic attack was coming at the wrong time, once again.
“It’s not what I’m going to do,” Roberto said. He walked over to me and held the cord out for me to grab it. “It’s what you’re going to do.”
Chapter 25
“You’re not good for anything,” Arnold yelled angrily.
I didn’t bother apologizing, I didn’t bother begging, and I definitely didn’t bother crying. Nothing I said or did was going to make him put that cord down. All I could do was wait for him to start, and then wait for him to finish.
I stared at the stone wall and held my tears back, but my throat burned badly. I wanted to scream for my mother and father, but they wouldn’t have heard me, and if they did, it was from above the clouds.
I could feel a tear coming, but I did my best to keep it from falling. I wouldn’t let it fall, because at this point, I wasn’t weak anymore. I couldn’t be weak anymore. I could barely feel...
“I…I can’t,” I said, looking down at the skinny black cord. “I can’t do that.”
“I’m not asking you,” Roberto said Matter-of-factly. He pushed the cord to my chest and I grabbed it. “You trained him, so you discipline him.”
My heart raced, and my hands shook. The room suddenly started to feel extremely hot and I could feel sweat sliding down the side of my face.
“Roberto...I can’t...” I said. Alex slowly lifted his head and stared at me with those dark eyes again. He was telling me to do it, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do to him what was done to me. “I…I…”
“You never learn!” I could hear Arnold yell. He always yelled when he was punishing me. Some things he said never even made sense, and it was as if he was yelling at someone else. It took a while to put the pieces together, but eventually I realized that he was fighting his demons through beating me. He was yelling at someone else, he was punishing someone else, but through me.
“Sarah,” Roberto’s accented voice snapped me back into reality, “wrap that cord around your hand, and hit him with it.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t know what to do. I thought about pulling my gun out, but Ronald had already beat me to it. He knew that I was close to Alex, and that I would shoot my way out of this situation if I could.
“Now!” Roberto yelled.
I didn’t try to hide my tears from him. I was frozen, and I couldn’t move. The room was closing in on me. It didn’t help that Arnold’s voice was amplified in my head, and my mind kept taking me back to when I was a child. I tried to fight the thoughts away so that I could think of a way to avoid this, but I couldn’t. Arnold just kept forcing his way back in.
“It’s okay,” Alex said in a shaky voice.
I looked up at him with teary eyes.
“Listen to the boy,” Roberto said flaring his nose. “You’re testing my patience Sarah.”
“I’m sorry,” I cried, “but I c-can’t.”
“Sarah-”
“Arnold I can’t! I can’t do it!” I threw the cord down on the ground. “I’m not like you! I can’t be like you, and you won’t make me! You can’t force me to do anything anymore!” I wiped the tears from my eyes, confused if it was Arnold or Roberto that I was yelling at.
“Sarah,” A soft voice called. It was so sweet that it brought me back, and this time I would stay in reality.
“Lorena, I thought I said go to the bedroom?” Roberto asked. He was breathing heavily with wide eyes, shocked from my reaction.
“Sarah... she can’t handle things like this. She’s been through a lot in her life,” Lorena said as softly as she could.
Roberto turned to me with an almost concerned look on his face. “Take her out of here. I’ll take care of Alex myself,” he said calmly.
Lorena slipped her hand in mine and I looked down at it. I knew that Roberto saw the connection as well, but at the moment I didn’t care.
“Come with me?” Lorena asked.
I looked into her fearful blue eyes and wished that they would look happy. I prayed that I could see her happy again one day. After nodding, Lorena led me back upstairs, and closed the door. We had only made it to the entrance hall when I heard Alex yelp in pain.
My mind set back into cop mode, and naturally I snatched my hand from Lorena and whipped my gun out.
“I’m going to kill him,” I growled.
“Rose, no,” Lorena said. She grabbed my shoulder, but I was too driven by anger to let her hold me back. “Rose, don’t.”
“He’s going to die Lorena,” I said as I reached for the door handle. I was then slammed into the door by none other than Lorena, and accidentally dropped the gun.
“We need him alive,” Lorena said in my ear.
I bit my lower lip, but couldn’t keep from crying. Hard.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I cried.
Lorena let me go and turned me around to look into her eyes. For the first time I could see a positive glisten in them, almost as if she believed that I actually could do this.
“You can, and you will,” Lorena rested her hand on my cheek. “You have to get us out of here. You have to save all those children.”
“And what about Alex?” I closed my eyes.
“Look at me,” Lorena said, cupping my face, “he’s strong,” her voice shook, “just like you were. I remember how strong you were Rose...he can handle it.” She rested her head on my forehead. I could feel her hands shaking on my face, and knew that she was trying to be strong for me.
Without hesitation, I lifted her chin, just like I saw Roberto do before, and kissed her. She jerked away, but after a few seconds of trying to read me, she came back in hard. She pushed me back against the door and slid her tongue into my mouth, and then I returned mine into hers. Our kissing drowned out any sound from downstairs, and it washed away any jitters from my flashbacks. Right now the only person that existed was Lorena.
Lorena wrapped her fingers around the back of my neck and dug her nails into it. I shivered, but that only made me get more aggressive. I grabbed her by her waist and spun around so that her back was against the door, and then I squeezed both sides of her stomach as tight as I could. When she moaned into my mouth, I tried to squeeze tighter. She liked it, just like how I enjoyed feeling her sharp nails pierce my skin. The pain that she was inflicting on me gave me the release that I needed.
“I love you,” I said before biting her lower lip, and then smothering her in kisses again. She didn’t have to say it back, and I didn’t give her the chance. I ran my hands up her body until I slid my fingers into her hair and grabbed as much as I could. I pulled just a little so that I could kiss her down her neck and then bite onto her shoulder. She gasped and gently held the back of my head.
I would have bitten her harder, but I didn’t want to leave any marks for Roberto to see, so I stopped.
“I love you too,” Lorena said.
I looked into her sea colored eyes and a
dmired them like I had once before, then I kissed her again.
“This is still the wrong time and place,” I whispered.
“I agree,” I heard Marie say.
I jerked away from Lorena, “Marie.”
Marie sighed, “Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me, but I think they are done down there.” Marie looked at the door, “Mrs. Bellerose, you should go to your room now.”
Lorena nodded, “Right.” she pushed herself off of the door and looked at me one last time before heading back to her room.
I looked over to Marie, who just nodded and went back to what she was doing. When I turned back to the basement door, I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. Alex is a strong kid, and I had to believe that he could take the pain for now. Roberto will get what he deserved, and I will be the one giving it to him.
***
I sat at the bottom of the steps and waited for Alex to come into the room so that I could tuck him into bed. It was the least that I could do since I couldn’t even manage to stop the punishment.
Ronald walked to the front door and gave me a wave before he left. It didn’t really look like he wanted to make eye contact with me and rushed out of the house. After my outburst, he probably thought I was crazy or something, but I just shrugged it off.
I gasped when I saw Alex walk into the room. He had his clothes back on and was walking as if nothing had just happened. I could see in his eyes that he was exhausted, but his body gave off different signals. He looked as if he had just come back from a battle and won, but saw some fucked up shit in the process.
Alex stopped in front of me and frowned, but it wasn’t the kind of frown that told me he was upset with me.
“Excuse me,” Alex’s soft voice cracked, and it broke my heart.
I stood up and moved out of his way.
“I’ll come tuck you in before you leave,” I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. He nodded and continued up the stairs.
I turned around to see Roberto leaning against the wall looking at me. I just stared back at him and didn’t say anything. I didn’t think that he was angry with me, but his calmed expression wasn’t telling me much.
“Are you alright?” Roberto asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I nodded.
Roberto stood from against the wall and folded his arms as he slowly walked towards me. “You kind of surprised me back there,” he chuckled.
“Oh, s-”
Roberto raised his hand. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” he said. “I shouldn’t have told you to do that,” he sighed. “I am the owner, so I’m the one that has to discipline him. I was just so upset about what happened...” he shook his head. “Just know that I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it would make you react the way that you did.”
I just stared at him. My blood boiled, and I wanted nothing more than to beat his ass.
“You must be tired,” Roberto said. “If you would like, you may stay here for the night.”
I shook my head, “Tomorrow you leave for France right?”
“Yes?”
“Then I’ll need to go back home and pack some clothes. You wanted me to stay here while you were gone right?”
“Yes,” Roberto nodded. “I’ll have Mark pull around the front.”
“Thanks,” I looked back up the stairs.
“You can go and tuck the boy in,” Roberto gave a slight smile. It was weird seeing him be nice for once.
Without a word I turned around and ran up the stairs to Alex’s room. He was already in the bed and under the covers.
“Alex?” I whispered.
Alex turned his head, and even in the dark I could see that same frown. It was the one you gave when you were on the verge of tears.
I cracked the door behind me and only took a step towards him when he jumped out of the bed and ran into my arms. I got down on one knee to level with him, and a few seconds later I heard soft sobs escape his lips and I hugged him tight.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in his ear.
“I thought you were mad at me,” Alex cried. He was doing his best to be quiet. “I didn’t like seeing you that way.”
I sighed. He wasn’t crying because he was beaten, he was crying because he saw me so upset. Alex felt as if it was his fault that I broke down the way that I did, and it wasn’t.
“No, I could never be mad at you,” I said as I rubbed his back. “I’m actually proud of you.”
Alex pulled away and looked down at me, “Proud?”
I reached up and rested my hand on his face, “You’re so much stronger than I was. You didn’t let them turn you into a monster, so yes, I’m proud of you.”
Alex wiped his eyes and then gave me another hug. “I...I love you Sarah. Please, don’t ever leave,” he said.
My eyes filled with tears, but this time they didn’t fall, “I love you too little man.” I pulled away and stood up, “Go get in bed.”
“Okay,” Alex sniffled. He turned around and went back to his bed.
“Let’s see if I can remember how to do this,” I chuckled. “Haven’t been tucked in since my mother...” I walked over to him and pulled the cover up to his chin, then I did the best that I could at tucking it under him. “All set.”
“Goodnight Sarah,” Alex whispered.
“Good night Alex,” I kissed him on his forehead and then turned to leave.
Roberto was leaving tomorrow, and I had to get ready for it.
***
Once I got into the apartment I found Bobby laying against the wall sleeping with his laptop in his lap. I quietly shut the door and slid off my shoes, and then I tiptoed my way over to him and crouched down to shut his laptop.
I reached out to close it, but stopped when I noticed a familiar face on the screen. It was of a tall man with wild black hair and light grey eyes. Next to him was a woman with blond hair and brown eyes, and a little girl around the age of seven with blond hair and grey eyes.
Bobby looked happy standing there with his family, and a hell of a lot better than he does now. It made me wonder if this may have just been his twin or something, because the grumpy guy asleep next to me couldn’t possibly be the same man in this picture.
“What are you doing?” Bobby moaned. He shifted against the wall and then turned to me with tired eyes.
“Oh,” I shut his laptop and sat it on the floor next to him, “I was just...you looked...” I sighed and stood up. “Nothing. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you,” Bobby said. He leaned his head back against the wall and fell asleep.
“Yeah.”
I walked back to my room and undressed down to my sports bra and boy shorts before I got into bed. Once I was in I picked up my cell phone hoping to see a message from Cameron, but there was nothing. I felt bad about the way we left things and really wanted us to be friends. I couldn’t say that there wasn’t a part of my heart that he still held, because there was. The feeling I got from Lorena was just a lot stronger than what I felt for Cameron, and it couldn’t be helped. I hope that he could forgive me one day.
The phone rang and I jumped. It was Abigale that was calling. I really wasn’t in the mood to be yelled at, but I couldn’t ignore the phone call either. Mad or not, I still missed talking to my best friend.
I answered, “Hello?”
“Hey, Rose?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Oh, umm nothing really. I was just calling to check in.”
I smiled. She felt bad about the way that she was acting. Abigale always had to apologize after an argument.
“How are you?” Abigale asked.
“I’ve been better,” I sighed.
“Oh, well, I just want to say sorry about earlier.”
“It’s okay,” I chuckled.
“...Did you know that’s why I was calling?”
“Yeah, I figured once I heard your voice,” I laughed.
Abigale laughed too, “Shut up. But, how are things going? Are y
ou getting any closer?”
“Truthfully? No. I’m always occupied with something, and when I think about hitting up his office I second guess myself. Roberto is...like Arnold.”
“Oh. You can’t be scared of him Rose.”
“I know,” I sighed. “He’s leaving tomorrow morning, so I’ll kind of have the house to myself. He’s going to have some guy named Bruce help me look after things.”
“Bruce? Like club Bruce?”
“Yeah? Why, what’s up?”
“Be careful with that man. We do our best to steer clear of him. From what I’ve been told he’s very dangerous, and has a temper.”
“Thanks Abs. I’ll watch out for him.”
“You better, and if you ever need me then just give me a call.”
“I will.”
“Alright, I’ll let you get some sleep.”
“Alright, good night.”
“Good night.”
We hung up and I sat the phone down next to my bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for me. Roberto was leaving, which left his office unguarded.
Chapter 26
When I got up the next morning I explained everything to Bobby, and he looked like the most excited person in the world. He went on and on about getting into Bellerose’s office and finding the children’s names and location. Then he started talking about being safe, watching my back, keeping my gun on me, and fighting through Bruce if I had to. He also mentioned that Bruce was a dangerous man and that I had to avoid fighting him as much as possible. I was just about the only person that hadn’t seen or met Bruce, so I didn’t feel as afraid as I guess I was supposed to be. I’ll still keep everyone’s warnings in mind though.
***
Once I got to the mansion I noticed that there were a few of Roberto’s men standing around either smoking or talking. I figured that they were all here because Roberto was leaving, and I hoped that they weren’t planning on sticking around after he left. That would only make my job harder.
I ignored their stares and walked straight to Roberto’s office, but he wasn’t there. I just saw a few bags sitting by the door.
Caged 2 (Caged Series) Page 17
