Daring Hearts: Fearless Fourteen Boxed Set

by Box Set

  The two men from the docks took four steps, grabbed hold of her, and yanked her inside. The heavy door slammed shut behind them. She cried out in pain, her shoulder not wanting to be yanked at all. “Be careful! My shoulder!”

  They only took about five steps and stopped before knocking lightly on the door. Two short, quick raps and three loud ones. The door swung open, smoke swirled out of the room, and Kate coughed. “Look what the cat dragged in,” one of the two said as they threw her into room past the man holding the door open. She stumbled and fell onto her hands and knees. Her shoulder gave her another jolt of pain. She pulled herself back up to standing. She was surrounded by gaming tables like could be found in a casino. Three feet away, Duran sat in a chair facing three men, one of whom was Vinny. She didn’t know who the others were. In the background, she could hear the whip of large mixing bowls churning dough. The sharp smell of yeast tickled her nose.

  The man who’d held the door open pulled a chair over and set it about a foot from Duran’s, facing the same three men. He pulled Kate by the upper arm, luckily not the injured one, and sat her down hard on the chair. She turned to Duran. “I’m sorry Duran, I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to—”

  The guy slapped her across the face. “Don’t speak unless spoken to.” Her cheek stung, and her jaw throbbed. That’s when she noticed Duran’s eye was swollen and his cheek cut. He did not look her way. Her eyebrows scrunched together.

  This was it. She was going to die alone. No one would stand for her. No one would come to help her. Her parents wouldn’t even be sad that she’d died. Her birth mom would never know she’d sought her. Vinny would be happy that she was punished for not listening to him. Jace was already dead. Ellie’s family would have one less thing to worry about, and they’d be able to put all their efforts into making it onto a TV show. Her family had enough brothers and sisters that she wouldn’t be missed by them. She had no one to turn to but herself, and all she had going for her was her desire to see the right thing happen.

  One of the three seated men spoke. He had longish, bright white, wavy hair. His dark skin and eyes contrasted sharply with his white button-up shirt and double breasted blue jacket. His jeans tapered slightly near his dark brown leather loafers. “Did you break into this establishment tonight?”

  “I did.” She looked them straight on so that they would know she was telling the truth.

  “How did you do it?”

  She looked at Duran and sighed. “I stole Duran’s keycard while we were at the carnival.” Another slap came at her. Her teeth vibrated with the hit.

  They looked at Duran, and one of the guards kicked his foot. Duran flinched.

  “Are you telling me he didn’t know you took his wallet and stole the card?” The three men laughed, even Vincenzo. Kate wasn’t sure what to make of that. Why were they laughing?

  “I told him I was thirsty while he was busy so that he wouldn’t know I took it.”

  “So you wanted to steal from us?”

  She shook her head. “No. No. I—I—” Her head swam. She didn’t know what to say, what excuse to give.

  “Where’s your family?”

  “Nowhere.”

  “You have no family?”

  “I do, but I don’t know who they are.” Had Vinny not told them anything?

  The man with white hair laughed again. “You’re lost?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Galtem, show her where she is.”

  Another slap came. Her head ached. She didn’t know what they wanted to hear, but she remembered Duran’s story and thought she’d mimic it.

  “I think my parents are dead. I needed a place to stay.”

  “So why did you run?”

  “I found a spot to sleep, but before I could get comfortable, I heard voices. I was so scared I’d be caught and get into trouble that I tried to leave. That’s when I ran into them.” She indicated the two big goons. “I freaked and went for the window. It was stupid. I should have stayed and fessed up.”

  “You put us in a very awkward position. You see, we don’t put up with people stealing from our family. And we don’t put up with family members who enable thieves.”

  The man next to Duran punched him in the jaw. His head flew to the side, then swung down to his chest. A groan escaped his lips. Blood trickled down his chin.

  “Please don’t hurt him. He didn’t know.” Her lip quivered uncontrollably. “Hit me. Kill me if you have to, just leave him alone. He had nothing to do with it.”

  Vincenzo spoke up now, “But he did. He let a girl hypnotize him. He let a girl make him stupid.” His eyes said what his mouth wouldn’t. I told you to never come back. You are just like your mother.

  “I didn’t take anything.”

  “You took the keycard. You took his honor. You spent several hours in our shop sleeping. You caused us to fire many bullets at you. Bullets cost money, you know. And the manpower. All that manpower. And now, we had to stop our game and deal with this. We had to send our friends home without a good evening together.”

  Kate looked around, an illegal betting playground. The mafia was famous for places like this.

  “How do you propose paying the family back for all of that?”

  “I can get you the money with interest.”

  The man talking laughed. “Of course there’d be interest. But how do you propose to do that?”

  “I was on a TV show, and they paid me a lot of money.”

  He nodded. “That’s a good start, but it won’t cover the damage you’ve done to our reputation. It takes a lot to cover that. You two agree?” He looked at the man on his left, who was youngish, in his thirties maybe, with a stylish button down opened to the third button, several thin, gold chains hanging around his neck, and then at Vincenzo.

  They both nodded.

  “I think maybe, just maybe your life and Duran’s life might pay that debt.” Immediately, the large man next to Kate put a knife up to her throat and the man next to Duran did the same. Kate screamed.

  Her dad put his hand on the white-haired man’s arm. “She does have skills. She could possibly be a good earner.”

  “She’s a girl. We don’t use girls to earn.” That was true. In the videos she’d watched, they’d barely even mentioned women. There was one she’d seen at a club who informed on someone, but that was it.

  “Maybe there’s a first for everything. Look at her. She has a pretty face. A good body. She could be a club girl and earn her way through information. She tricked Duran.”

  Kate held back a sob. Her life was over, one way or another.

  The man nodded. “I’m starting to see that.” The way he looked at her made her flinch.

  “And Duran. He’s loyal. My best worker. He’s smart and he’ll be a good earner after college. He won’t make the same mistake again. Will you Duran?”

  “No. Never,” he mumbled.

  “We brought you into this family, no questions asked, and you let us down like this?” The man with the three gold chains said. “I don’t know.”

  “I won’t make the same mistake. I won’t.” He spoke with a clear voice this time.

  The main guy sighed. “With the right clothes and makeup,” he nodded, “I think you’re right, Vinny. She could get anything out of anyone. We could train her to do other stuff, too. What do you think?” He looked to the other two men and then Kate.

  Kate didn’t speak and the big guy slugged her in the gut. A gasp sprang from her mouth, and she couldn’t breathe. “Did you understand the terms of keeping your life, girl?”

  “I-I- think so,” she sputtered.

  “You will work for the family, night and day, non-stop until you pay us back.”

  “And how long will that be?” She scrounged for air.

  “Well, we’ll be taking care of you and training you as we go, which puts you further in debt. It’s your life in death or your life in living. Which will it be?”

  Kate stared at her dad. How could
he be doing this? She turned to Duran. She really had no choice. She had to do this for Duran. “I’ll do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “I’ll work for you.”

  White-haired guy nodded, and the big guy moved the knife away. “Take her to my car.”

  Vinny put his hand on the main guy’s arm again. “I was hoping to put her to use in the store first. Lunetta could train her part time, and I’ll train her also. I’m short a worker since Gino was taken. She’s obviously as green as a meadow. I’ll toughen her up for you.”

  Gino. That was the guy Andre Marconi had mentioned needed to be taken care of. They’d killed him.

  He nodded. “I like it. She’s yours for now.”

  The three men stood, and two left with most of the guards either in front of them or behind them. Only four remained, and Vinny instructed them to take Duran to the showers to get him cleaned up so he could get to work. Two guards carried his weakened body out.

  He dismissed the other two men then turned to Kate. “I told you to stay away. You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” He ran his hands through his thick gray hair. He sighed a deep sigh. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

  Her stomach knotted, and she decided not to say anything. She knew he’d saved her. He had been sneaky about it, but he’d done it. She knew it, but he didn’t know she knew. She tucked that fact away to a far corner of her mind.

  “Can I go home?” She clutched at her aching stomach.

  “You are home. You will serve the Bellini family day in and day out from now on.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you have lost every ounce of freedom you ever had. The family will check on your progress, and you must not fail to show said progress.”

  “But I’m here with friends. They’ll worry about me.”

  “Yes, they will. They’ll probably even put missing signs with your picture up. They’ll probably go to the news, to the papers, but none of it will change the fact that you are dead to them. You must understand that. Your life before tonight is gone. You can never return.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Someone will find me. All I have to do is go tell a cop what happened.”

  “We own the cops. You do that and one of two things will happen. You will either be killed or Salvatorio Bellini will find your family and kill them.”

  “Salvatorio?”

  “The head of our family. The boss. He had the white hair.”

  Her jaw dropped. He paced. “This is no joke. Consider yourself a life-long slave. You might have fared better with a death sentence.” He shook his head. “Come with me. And behave. I can have you killed as easily as he could.”

  She followed him to another room that she hadn’t been in. It was a bunk room across the hall from the gaming room. “This is where you’ll sleep. I’ll bring you some clothes later. Tomorrow morning you start your training.”

  24

  Finding herself alone, she immediately searched for her phone, but it was gone. When had they taken it? She had no clue. She thought she’d never be able to fall asleep, but the truth was, she was totally exhausted, both emotionally and physically. She’d been scared spit less more in the past day than in her whole life combined. It only took about five minutes for her to be out.

  She woke to a knock on the door and the door opening. Vinny stood there with a bag of clothes and supplies. “I’ll take you to the showers so you can get ready for the day.”

  She followed him out, rubbing sleep from her eyes and feeling the ache of a bruised face and gut. They passed the workers, and he indicated she should go into the room to the left. He held the bag out for her to take. She did. The hot water pounded her back and shoulders. Her shoulder ached. Missing the ice and heat had really slowed its healing. She had to get out of there, and she’d have to take Duran with her. If she left on her own, they’d punish him and maybe her dad, too. Did she care about her dad enough to worry about that? Duran’s bruised and bloody face came to mind. Had she even helped him? Well, he wasn’t executed last night. That was something.

  She dressed in the fine clothes Vinny had brought her, which was weird considering she’d be working in a bagel shop. She thought of all the Bellinis and Marconis she’d seen, they always dressed up, no t-shirts, ever. So, perhaps it wasn’t so weird. The pants were a little long, but the wedges he’d brought her lifted them from the ground. She was going to have some achy calves at the end of the day. She fixed her hair into a fashionable low ponytail and used the makeup he’d provided to try to hide her bruised and puffy face. What were her parents going to think when she didn’t return with the Lamberts? They would find out she didn’t go to Mexico. What would the Lamberts tell them? The faces of her wild and crazy brothers and predictable sisters flashed through her mind. She locked them up in a distant corner of her mind. She couldn’t think about them. Not now, maybe not ever. It hurt too much. She grabbed up her ruined clothes and put them into one of the three bags that had held her new clothes and supplies.

  When she tried to open the door, she found it locked. She knocked with a light hand. Immediately the door opened. Vinny stood there. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.” She held up the bags. “Where do you want me to put these?”

  “You can put them back in your room.”

  That was her room as in permanent room? No way. Had they put Duran in a room like that, too? She looked around for him.

  “Looking for Duran?” Vinny started back to her room.

  How had he known? “I’m worried about him.” She followed Vincenzo.

  He shook his head and sighed, turning his head toward her for a tiny moment. “You can give it a rest. The deception is over. There’s nothing more you can gain by pretending to be interested in him.”

  She stopped. He didn’t. She scowled, placing her hands on her hips. She could tell he was talking but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. He turned in an abrupt movement. She continued to scowl and now his face soured. “What are you doing?”

  She charged forward then, “Look. I do care about Duran. I meant to borrow the card and return it to him before he came back to work.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Please!”

  “It’s true.” She lowered her voice as they passed the people working. “I only wanted to find information about my birth mom and then get the heck out.” She wanted to shout in his face that she had had to do it because he had lied to her, but she would save that card for another day. “I was going to sneak back out as Duran arrived at two-thirty to give him his key. You have no idea how terrible it is to live like I do.” She cringed at the thought of her parents’ deception.

  She watched his face carefully to see if any hint of remorse crossed it, but he turned away before she could get a good read. She was only feet from him now, and he opened the door to what she now realized was her cell. “It’s about to get a lot worse.”

  She walked into her cell and put her bags on her bed. “You’re going to learn how to run the front of the shop today.” Vinny’s voice was flat. “Don’t get too comfortable. We’re going to have to transition you into an earner as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he will use you for things you thought only happened in the movies.”

  She wondered who he was. She glanced over at the clock. It was one o’clock already. “You let me sleep in?” A twinge of hope glided through her. He was showing her tiny kindnesses. Maybe he wasn’t lost after all. She followed him toward the front of the store.

  “I figured you’d be worthless without it. Lunetta will be showing you the ropes. I want you to shadow her for the first hour. Don’t touch anything or speak to anyone. Watch and learn. Second hour, you can start filling orders. Third hour she’ll teach you the register. She’ll set you loose for the last hour and shadow you, answering any questions you might have. Let’s see if there’s more than just air between those ears of yours.”

  She smirked. “4.0 student right here.” She used both her thumbs to
point to herself.

  “Grades mean nothing here. Only hard work means anything.”

  “And if I don’t?” Kate put her hands on her hips.

  “Then I’ll hand you over to Salvatorio or even better, Marcel. Then you’ll really wish you were dead. He reached around her, pulled an apron down from a hook behind her and gave it to her. Would he really do that? She wasn’t sure, yet. She put the apron on. He walked away.

  Lunetta smiled a bright smile and said, “Don’t you pay him any mind. I’m sure you’ll have no problem, and if you don’t need the full hour of shadowing and you’re bored out of your mind, tell me. You can start filling orders early. You’re really lucky Vinny wanted you.”

  She didn’t feel lucky. “Thanks, I’m kind of a fast learner.” She’d have to bide her time until she could escape. She could do anything for a short amount of time.

  “Good. Then we’ll get along just fine. We only have a few rushes in the afternoon. Be glad you weren’t here in the morning. We’re slammed in the mornings.”

  Abrie would freak out if she knew the daughter she’d preened to become a huge success in life would be working as a servant in a bagel shop. A manic chuckle bubbled up inside her. It didn’t seem real. If this was going to be her life, she would rather die. Seriously, though, what was keeping her here? A supposed threat to her family, her dad, and Duran? Maybe nothing would happen to them. The Bellini’s didn’t know who she really was after all. She’d find a way out today. At the most she’d have to stay until next week when she could make a quick get away with the Lamberts. Marconis and Bellinis didn’t exist in Texas. She’d be safe there.

  She thought of Ellie and her family. Were they worried out of their minds or did they chalk up her absence as another night needing some space? She’d left a note about her plans. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the street and sidewalks outside. She thought for sure the Lamberts would show up sooner or later. In a short half an hour Kate was filling orders and in another fifteen, she was taking orders, working the register like she’d worked there several weeks. It was mindless work. When a rush came, she stepped back and let Lunetta take over.