by A. C. Bextor
Vinnie. He’s the darkness.
Vinnie Bartone’s malevolence seethes as he stalks toward us in the same confident stride I only recognize from my worst nightmares. Grabbing Deck and moving him behind me, I wait for Vinnie to arrive. Once he does, the sound of his voice scores that place within me I buried long ago.
“Cherry, honey, is that really you?” In a façade of friendship, Vinnie leans down toward me and kisses my cheek while reaching behind my neck and pulling my hair violently; his tall, lanky frame hides my body’s painful reaction.
In order to not scare my son, I don’t wince but can’t help the tears as they make their way down my cheek. My worst nightmare is standing in front of me, living and breathing in this moment.
With my hands still behind my back, I gently squeeze Deck’s shoulders at their sides. He’s shivering, and his body’s reaction to this unexpected horror is causing me to start to shake, as well.
Touching my cheek with one hand and running his palm the length of my neck with the other, Vinnie demands answers while I’m trying to portray a calm that I, in no way, feel. “Where has my Cherry been hiding?” Bending to my ear to hide his tone from our son, he hisses, “I’ve been waiting a long fuckin’ time for you to show your face around here again.”
Briefly finding inner strength, knowing I’ve got to protect Decklan, I answer with a question, even though I already know the answer. “What do you want?”
Stepping back, he moves me out of the way to get a clear look at his son. His face gentles as he bends his tall frame so he can look at Deck eye-to-eye, and then he speaks to him. “Hi, Decklan. Do you know who I am?”
Decklan nods; somehow, he knows his father. Bile burns its way up to my throat.
“Tell me how you know me.” It’s a demand. In response, Decklan grabs my thigh and harshly tugs me closer to him with a grip no five-year-old should ever muster.
Stuttering and looking into my leg to avoid eye contact, Decklan responds. “You… you… take pictures.”
My heart sinks, my hands sweat, my head gets light, and finally a mother’s protective instinct takes over.
Leaning down, I pick Decklan up in my arms and let him grab my neck for his own sense of safety. “Are you insane, Vinnie? You’re scaring him.”
Vinnie leans toward us again, running his hand up and down Decklan’s back. To outsiders, he’s a doting friend or father. The people that pass us on the street don’t know the monster that walks among them.
“I’m not answering your asinine question, Cherry. However, this card I’m about to give you has my contact information on it.” Handing me the card, he continues, “There’s a couple of ways this will happen. You either call me yourself, we meet and negotiate, or… I bring you to me. Do you remember how much easier it was when you and I played nicely together?”
Vinnie doesn’t play nice. Two sides of Vinnie exist, but neither can be described as nice. It’s arrogant monster or evil incarnate and although they sound the same, they’re not; not even close. “You’re a monstrous human being.”
“Even so, you’re going to do what I tell you to do.” Removing his sunglasses, his dark eyes meet mine, and I know he’s pulling out the biggest round of ammunition he’s been hiding. “Tell me, how’s your boyfriend? Ace? Isn’t that his name?”
Grabbing the card quickly to avoid falling to pieces in front of him at the mention of Ace, I turn around and walk away, barely holding myself together.
From behind me, I hear him laugh then say, “You’ll call me, Cherry.”
On the walk home, my arms are exhausted from the weight of carrying Decklan. Fear that someone will come out of the shadows and snatch him from me keeps my burning legs moving forward with quick steps. Although my body is exhausted, I’m still able to contemplate cold-blooded murder. The memories of being trapped with Vinnie flood back to me with violence. Although I’ve calmed slightly, I’m still unable to keep it together completely.
After getting back to the house, I hand my son to Dad who stands at the door, waiting to greet us. As I make my way to the bathroom, I hear my dad call for me, asking if I’m okay. I’m not, and I keep moving until I’m able to escape for a few minutes alone.
Closing the door, locking it the moment I hear the click, I race to the toilet and let all my fear escape me. Vinnie’s been watching Decklan. My worst fear for him is coming to fruition: my son is in danger. I can’t take him with me back to California - that’s kidnapping - and my parents wouldn’t let him go if I tried to take him with their blessing.
My only choice is to give in and meet with Vinnie, face to face, parent to parent, mortal to monster.
A knock comes to the door. It’s Dad. “Raegan? You all right in there?”
Faking a calm, I answer, “Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t feeling good earlier. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m good, Dad.”
Flushing the contents then pulling the phone from my pocket with one hand, I find the card he gave me with the other. With shaky hands, I make contact with the resident of Hell, the devil himself.
04:23 p.m. When and where?
Pacing the bathroom, I wait. I don’t have to wait long; there’s no doubt he expected my contact.
Unknown 04:25 p.m. My driver will pick you up at your father’s house at 10. Do I need to remind you of what happens when you fuck with me? No games, Cherry.
Again, my body expels what little is left in my stomach. He doesn’t have to remind me of anything. I relive it often and in graphic detail.
04:29 p.m. No. Will be ready.
Unknown 04:31 p.m. Good girl. I’ve missed you. Welcome home.
ALTHOUGH I’VE BEEN staying at my parents this visit, I have offered a sad excuse regarding my illness for the reasons I’m leaving. Now I’m left sitting on the curb and thinking about Decklan and Ace while waiting for Vinnie’s driver.
My life was coming together. Finally, I’m clean and I have Ace. Finally, I’m getting to know Decklan. I have friends in California. Sarah and Bean have become my family. Vinnie, just as he did before all those years ago, is threatening to take it all away. I have no power.
Once the black town car pulls up, the driver opens his door and steps out. He’s tall, bald, and twice the size of Vinnie. If I study him long enough, I may recognize him as the man who would once “supervise” the rougher clients I serviced as a teenager while working for Vinnie before he got me pregnant. I don’t want to stare at him long as he, alone, is enough to rattle me.
When he opens the town car’s back door, the familiar cologne ignites my senses. Turning around, I take a brief look at my parents’ house, silently begging for my dad to see what’s happening, but all the same praying for their ignorance to keep him safe.
“Cherry.”
I sit barely two feet away from the man who ruined my young life. I don’t answer his greeting, if ever there was such a declaration from him.
Whispering gently, he continues to goad me. “Cherry, look at me.”
Tears of terror are streaming down my face, and my breath is ragged as I attempt to maintain composure. It’s useless. I’m defenseless against him. Turning my head, I’m met with the punch I didn’t see but had expected. My vision turns black and red as I grab my cheek and try to regroup.
“That’s for taking my son.” Pulling my hair, I feel the blood drip from my face, caused by the cut he’s put below my eye. “This is for leaving me to live without you.” Vinnie’s tongue assaults my mouth, exploring in vain. It’s an acquainted invasion and one I can’t fight.
Ripping his hands from my hair while pushing me forward, my face hits the passenger front seat headrest with force. My nose and cheek are bleeding in equal measure, and I’ve only been in his presence for two minutes.
The car starts and as it does, my thoughts of Ace disappear. I’m back with Vinnie, and I fear this is my life once again.
“Make yourself comfortable. We’ve got a lot to discuss.�
�
Moving from the door of his office at his nightclub, I look around. Expensive. Everything in here far exceeds any amount of money I could come up with to buy him away from Decklan and me for good.
As Vinnie sits at his desk, he runs his long fingers over a sharp-bladed letter opener. He’s eyeing the edge, a frequented scare tactic he’s used in the past to keep me in my place. It’s effective. I’m frozen to the chair and can no longer feel my legs.
Looking up, his eyes dart to mine, and he starts. “Where have you been?”
I don’t answer. No matter what response I offer, the explanation won’t be enough.
Slamming the metal letter opener on his desk, he repeats the question, this time offering additional malice in his tone. “Where the fuck have you been? I know my son never left, but where did his mother run off to?”
I offer partial truth. “Ohio.”
Laughing with evil present, he asks, “Ohio? People really run toward Ohio, Cherry?”
I answer, attempting to avoid further violent interrogation. “Yes.”
“Peril.”
My stomach sinks again. He knows about the Lights of Peril MC, where once I was able to find refuge from this life.
“Yes.”
Giving me further information, his words shock me. “They didn’t protect you.”
Cautiously, I try to defend the life I left behind. “I didn’t ask them for protection.”
“It seems you should have, maybe? I had heard, all vicious rumor of course, that you were abused under their care. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
His smile penetrates as he says the words that will indisputably chain me to him. “Welcome home, Cherry.”
“Vinnie…”
Standing, he drops the letter opener; its bounce echoes off the wood and the sound penetrates the small room. He makes his way to my side of the desk and looking down, he stands above me.
Wiping the tears and blood that have dried to my face, he shakes his head with disgust. “So much older now. You’ve changed. You’re no longer the beautiful young girl I had. Life without me has beaten you. If Warren Cash and Greyson Meyer were alive right now, I’d kill them myself for touching what’s mine.”
His possession knows no bounds; he’s insane. I dare ask, “What happens now?”
“You’re mine. That’s what happens now.”
“I won’t survive this again.” I say the statement to myself, he just happens to hear it.
He’s assured in his decision to keep me. “You will and you’ll do it for Decklan. I’m offering you a life with him, Cherry.”
“What?”
“Your life, for his. Your life with him hangs in my hands, does it not?”
“Vinnie, I don’t understand.”
“You never were a smart girl, pretty, but not smart. Let me explain.” Motioning to the guard that stands at the door, he offers me a drink. “Get us some water, will you, Dominic?” He looks down at me again, smirking with evil, and continues his request. “Also, some ice. Her face looks as though someone has struck her.”
I’m about to be sick, and Vinnie must sense this. Quickly, I fold my body in half and Vinnie throws the trashcan at me before I erupt all over his perfectly-shaded office carpet.
Once I finish, he takes the trashcan from my hands and sets it on the floor near my feet. “You’re going back to California. You’re going back there to say goodbye.” Sitting on the edge of his desk in front of me, his feet crossed at the ankles, he continues to tell me my life’s new plan.
Floating his hand through the air as if what he’s explaining is boring and insignificant, he tells me, “Tell Ace you’ve decided to stay with Decklan. Tell your parents you and I reconciled and you’re moving in with me.”
God, no. He’s got me.
“What if they don’t believe me?”
Leaning down, bracing his hands at my sides, I lean away from him as much as I can until my back hits the chair. His venom pours onto me with every word. He shakes the chair with his power, rattling my heartbeat with it. Through his clenched jaw, his words spew with anger and resentment. “Make them believe you, Cherry. I’m giving you a chance to spend the rest of your life with your son.”
“What will you do… to me?”
Standing again, looking down, he smiles. “You’re too old. I’ve no use for you the way I did before. Your body is scarred and damaged; no man would pay for you. You’ll stay here, with me. You’ll work the club, serving drinks and tending to the bar. It’s the lowest position I have, making it perfect for you.”
Tears once again fill my eyes. I can’t will them not to fall. Their flow is steady and unforgiving in the face of his evil.
“You’ll do this, Cherry. If you fail, I’ve got Decklan and you’ll never see him again.” Leaning down to me, his lips find my neck and to avoid cringing at the touch, I grasp the side of the chair with each hand.
Whispering in a seductive tone, the tone I fell for seven years ago, he makes a promise, “I’ll make you comfortable. You’ll live with me, no expectations, but Cherry, you’re mine. No other man touches you.”
I don’t respond; there wasn’t a question asked. I sit as he walks away from me toward his office door. Then I hear the voices behind me deciding what happens to my life next. “Search her. Give me any personal belongings she has on her, then load her up. Enough to leave her coherent but relaxed. She’s a fucking basket case, and it’s aggravating me to watch her squirm. She likes blow, so start there.”
“Yes, sir.”
I won’t survive this. I will not survive this.
THE ROOM IS dark. I’m shivering. The bed feels as though spikes are piercing my back. The only way I’m able to recognize it’s a mattress is the pillow under my head and the small comfort it offers when I attempt to lean up. I have no idea the time, so I search for a clock, finding nothing.
“Welcome back.”
The voice is menacing, and when I look toward its direction, I see Vinnie and someone else standing in the corner as if in quiet conference. Their suits portray a certain type of dignity that neither possesses, and their Italian accents ooze money and power.
Once I recognize the man staring at me, smiling as he stands next to Vinnie, my panic kicks in and I start choking on my own saliva as it forms rapidly in my mouth. The malevolent man before me is Marcus Gallo, Vinnie’s uncle, and the head of his family of criminals that specialize in drugs, prostitution, sex trafficking, and murder.
Businesses avoid him, laying low as to not dirty themselves with his product that he pushes on them to sell. Innocent families plead for him not to destroy them by recruiting their husbands and sons to his life of crime. Women scatter far and wide to avoid being captured and raped by his men, then eventually sold for profit to others who offer the same sinister violence and disregard.
Vinnie Bartone pales in comparison to the threat of Marcus Gallo. I’ve just met him one time, when I was very young, but the humiliation of his presence has yet to fade. He was training Vinnie how to hunt at the time, and I was target practice.
“She already looks used and tired, Vincent. What have you done to her?” He sighs through his words as he walks toward me.
The night I met Marcus, I was young, innocent, and thought Vinnie was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. That night, I had snuck out of my parents’ house. Vinnie had picked me up outside, but it was his uncle who was waiting for me in the backseat.
I knew the moment I opened the door it was too late to turn back; my life as I knew it was over. I was raw and not ready as he ripped my clothes and brutally tore through my innocence. The smell of his breath, his panting in my ear, and the pawing of my body left me struggling to survive a living death.
That ride to Vinnie’s condo was merely the beginning of the loss that was my innocence. After that was stolen, he had Vinnie train me, teaching me how to sell my body for profit. The higher the bidders, the sicker and more twisted their appetites became.
My parents were oblivious; my father overworked, my mother resenting what she thought was normal teenage adolescent behavior. Both Vinnie and Marcus threatened, in detail, to kill them both if I so much as breathed a word as to what was happening around me.
Vinnie met my father in public once. It was a set-up, a tactic exacted to keep me quiet, scaring me into submission. He shook my dad’s hand as I stood beside him, shaking and scared at a high school football game. When my father introduced himself, he told my dad what a beautiful daughter he had and how life’s full of twisted and sick people. He explained to my dad that it’s only smart to be on the lookout for these men at all times. I was young and truly believed there was no other way to help them, so I stayed quiet until Vinnie’s greed and possessive nature took hold, the night he got me pregnant with Decklan.
My parents’ reaction to my pregnancy was absolute insult and devastation. The thought of their teenage, troubled daughter having sex with random men was blasphemy. This was their version of what happened and they never asked for mine. Even if they would’ve, I don’t know that I would’ve offered the truth. At the time, it was easier for them to believe I was a whore versus explaining my weak truth.
My opportunity to change the course of my future detoured in one week. I dropped out of high school and moved in with Vinnie when I was sixteen, swearing to my parents that he was the love of my life and would take care of me.
My dad tried to talk me out of leaving, but my mother, God, it was as if my leaving came as a relief to her. She no longer had to explain my existence. I was there one day and gone the next.
After giving birth, and life started going back to what it was before, I left. Leaving Decklan with my parents that day was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Now, I’m being made to make the decision to leave Ace. The exact same scenario is playing out before me, but now I have more to lose. My life and Decklan’s are precariously hanging in the balance.
“She’s fine, Uncle, I assure you. She’s just been welcomed home and soon she’ll be back for good.”
