by Haley Stuart
“I was the one forced to murder children. Fucking children! Because their fathers were too stupid to play it safe and follow my father’s orders. You wanna complain and paint me the bad guy because you were forced into this marriage? Well, guess what, baby, so was I. And imagine my shock, my guilt, my rage, when I find out that I have to marry the girl whose mother I shot in cold blood right in front of her! Imagine when I have to look at you every day and look at that small scar on the side of your temple from me! From beating you almost to death! Because if I didn’t, guess who would have come after me and my family? Your father!”
Luca is full-blown shouting now. But my eyes are wide and in shock. He has just admitted to being the reason for my mother’s death.
“W-what?” My voice comes out in a broken whisper. All the anger immediately dissipates from Luca’s face, and shock appears as he realizes what he has just said.
“Oh god, Elise …” He trails off and stares at me. He takes a step toward the bed, and I immediately fall of and scramble away.
We both sit there staring at each other in silence. I slowly reach up with a shaky hand and brush the indentation on my temple. All these years I’ve believed it is a birth mark. Some strange scar I can never explain. But it is from Luca?
I stand and immediately take off out of the room, running anywhere. And for once, I don’t have Luca chasing me. I run to the guard that always takes me off the estate and immediately ask him to take me away from here.
I turn to look out of the window at the estate and see Luca standing on the porch, watching me leave. He doesn’t even make a move to stop me.
* * * * *
“Here you go, ma’am. Enjoy your meal!” The cashier hands me my food with the brightest smile I have ever seen. I wonder if her homelife is happy. I give her a small smile and take the tray, walking to the table where my driver sits.
“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I just covered the basics. Cheeseburger and fries.” I push the food toward him.
“Thank you, Mrs. Pasquin—”
“Elise. Please just call me Elise.”
He eyes me, confused, before finishing his sentence. “Elise … I don’t eat on the job, though.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course you don’t.” I take the spoon off my tray and dip it into the soup.
Luca has shown me two sides of himself today. He has killed my mother on my father’s orders, but he has shown me how part of him resents doing the things he does. That is, until he grew to like them, I guess.
“Are you all right, Elise?” I look up to see my driver looking at me with concern. I feel a wetness on my face and realize I am crying. I hastily wipe my eyes.
“Uh, yeah, I’m sorry.”
We are all messed up. This whole thing we call life. And I have been foolish enough to think that I can somehow be excluded from it. All I want is a man to love me at least if I am going to be forced into marriage. My whole life has been a plan. All of it is schemed and mapped out by my father. A mad, power-hungry bastard.
I think back to Matteo’s words. Luca has been protecting me, but his other actions say otherwise. He has been driven to insanity by his father. It is not like he has a choice in becoming who he is. He is raised that way, and he has to keep it that way because he is the leader. It is just that he grows to love it.
I take a deep breath. Am I really selfish? It is not only Luca who has said it, but Matteo too. I have been raised away from everything. My head is pounding from all the stress.
“Elise … uh, Mr. Pasquino is requesting we return home.” He looks at me with worry. I can understand why. If he refuses Luca’s orders, he’ll be in trouble.
I take a deep breath and move to throw my soup away. The last thing I want to do is face Luca. Especially after this revelation. But I don’t want this poor man to get maimed because of me.
We step out into the car, and night is already falling. We are driving in silence when, suddenly, a car pulls out in front of us, slamming on their brakes.
“What the fuck!” my driver shouts. He swerves around as another car pulls up close to the bumper, slamming into it.
“Shit!” he shouts and tries to swerve out, but the cars have us blocked. There is another car coming toward us to block us in, but the driver slams on his brakes and swerves right, allowing us to break free.
“Shit, someone’s after us!” He immediately presses something in the car and begins talking into his earpiece.
“This is Violli. We’re being hit pretty hard. Whoever is after us wants us alive! We’re in the downtown district, heading south toward the interstate—ah!”
Bullets fly across the windshield, and I give out a small cry of panic. The windows are luckily bulletproof.
“Yes, she’s safe for now!” he shouts.
Suddenly the car is jerked hard to the right, and I am sent flying into the door. The driver reaches into his pocket and fishes out his phone, handing it to me.
“Dial *864. Hurry!” He jerks the car again, causing an array of horns to erupt around us. I dial quickly and hold it to my ear as it rings.
“What?”
I gasp. “Luca?”
“Elise? What the hell are yo—”
I shout, unable to listen to him any further as a car rams us from behind, “Someone’s following us! They keep hitting the car—”
The car swerves again, and my stomach lurches as we become airborne. It feels as if everything were in slow motion as the car flips over several times before landing, finally coming to a halt upside down. The seat belt is crushing my chest painfully. I can feel a burning pain on my forehead, and my arms are hurting.
“Elise! Elise! What’s happening?” Luca’s voice is shouting at me from the phone that is now on the roof.
I grunt in pain and can feel the warm trickle of blood. The darkness envelops us as I hear shouting coming toward the car. I can’t make out a word of what is being said. All I know is that I am happy when I finally pass out.
* * * * *
I jump up in bed, gasping aloud as I finally awake. The movement causes pain to spasm throughout my body. I cry out in pain and fall back on the surprisingly soft bed. I have to constantly blink to force my vision to focus. The room I am in is small. The floor has carpet, though, and there are no windows. It is surprisingly clean. I immediately check my body for permanent damage, such as broken bones, but there are none. I sigh in relief and slump back in the bed.
There are cuts and bruises on my body, and I can feel the thick gauze on my forehead from what, I must assume, is a nasty cut. I can’t check because there are no mirrors in here.
The door to the room sounds, and in comes a woman with blond hair. She is carrying a tray with steaming food on it, and bags are draped over her arms. She sets the bags down and drags the mini table over to the side of my bed, setting the food down. She smiles at me.
“I see you’re awake.”
I study her with clear confusion. Last thing I remember, the car is upside down and there are not-so-friendly people after us. My stomach loudly growls, and she gives a soft chuckle.
“Someone’s hungry.” She gestures to the plate of food. It is chicken and rice. And it looks delicious.
I don’t touch it, though. I don’t know if it is poisoned. The woman seems to sense my hesitation and gives an irritated sigh. She grabs my spoon and shovels food into her mouth to prove it isn’t poisoned. As soon as she sets the spoon down, I grab it and dig in. I have no idea how long I’ve been passed out, but it is definitely long enough for my stomach to grow empty.
She reaches for the bags and begins pulling things out.
“We got you some soap and clothes and a toothbrush. Oh, and a brush, some magazines, and some lady products when it’s that time of the month.” She smiles so big at me, as if I weren’t a hostage.
“Why am I here?” I ask.
She stops shuffling with the groceries and looks at me, her smile faltering. Her eyes quickly glance to the corner and back to me.
“Look, you don’t need to know why. You just need to know you’re not leaving anytime soon, okay? So don’t waste your breath asking questions, sweetie. And save your strength.” She snatches my plate from me even though I am not finished eating. She then turns back to me. “You’re gonna need it.”
She then walks out of the room, slamming the door. My heart drops as I hear the lock of the door on the other side.
I stare at my hands for a moment. Suddenly, I remember the way she has glanced at the corner behind my head. I slowly look over my shoulder, and sure enough, there is a camera there overlooking the entire room. I have no idea what is happening. What is about to develop. But I do know the familiar feeling brewing deep within me. It is one that I have grown accustomed to since marrying Luca.
Fear.
Chapter 33
Elise
I am jolted awake by the sound of the door unlocking. I don’t know how long I have been in here. There are no windows, and there are no clocks. I try to keep up with time by the number of meals they bring me, but from my count, if they bring me three meals a day, I have probably been in here almost a week. A whole week, and no one has come and said anything to me. The pretty blonde comes in and holds conversations with me, but I refuse to respond. And when I ask her why I am here, she just ignores me.
I sit up in the bed and look toward the door to see a man walking in. I have no idea who he is. He is dressed in a nice suit, with dark hair and blue eyes. He has a folder in his hands that has “Pasquino” printed on it. He has a carton with two cups of coffee in it, I am assuming. He takes a seat at the table in the room, placing both objects on the table. He opens the file, flipping through it, still not speaking.
He finally looks up at me and grabs a coffee out of the carton and pushes it across the table toward me.
I stay seated in the bed, not daring to move as I eye him suspiciously. He looks to be about the same age as Luca. Except his face is softer. He must smile a lot.
“Sorry for the delay. I was actually out of the country, finishing up a case, when I got a call that we had Luca Pasquino’s wife in custody.” His eyes shift to the untouched cup of coffee.
“Not thirsty?” His voice is light and carefree.
I still don’t answer him. He only shrugs. Just by this small confrontation, I can tell he is not in the Mafia. The fact that he hasn’t slapped me from ignoring him when he is talking to me tells me sure enough. He shrugs at my silence and opens the file.
“Elise Trovoli, now Pasquino since your marriage into the Pasquino family. Twenty years old next month. No occupation, no driver’s record, hell, not even a license. No school record, no credit cards, nothing. I can see why Luca kept you under the radar. You are a pretty thing, aren’t you?” He looks up, giving me a light smile, but I am still trying to understand his comment.
“Kept me under the radar?”
He looks around, as if trying to come up with the right words to explain.
“Kept you away from the government eye. Quite honestly, we didn’t know you existed until the incident with your half-brother. Your whole statement was scratched from the record.” He places the file on the table, and I can see articles and pictures of Luca.
I look up at him, still confused.
“Before we get into the logistics of things, I want to first apologize for the way things went in your car. We thought you were your husband.” He gives me an embarrassed smile.
I still stare at him. What the hell is going on?
“My name is Agent Jeffries. I work in the top secret division of the US government. That’s really all I can give you right about now. If I tell you anything else about us, well, I may have to kill you.” He laughs, as if it were funny, but immediately stops when he sees I am not laughing. I guess he doesn’t understand that kind of thing isn’t funny to someone like me.
“Look, miss, bottom line is, we have been trying to bust your husband for years now. But men like him are smart. Too smart. They do things that make it impossible to catch them. Your husband is a threat to us and everyone else, and I think you know what I’m talking about. All I need from you is a statement, and we can have probable cause to search his properties. Maybe even some of the clubs he owns. There are whole halves of the city that are indebted to him because they pay for protection but refuse to give statements for fear of their lives. Do you know how many lives and people can be liberated from him? He is the biggest crime boss in the United States, probably has just as much power, if not more, than the president. He controls so many interconnected networks, and if we can just take him down, then we will have made the largest bust in the history of the United States.” He sits back in his seat, smiling at me.
I can only stare at him.
“A statement?” I laugh bitterly aloud. “Luca is not one to be messed with, sir. And for good reason. He would probably kill me if I did something like that.”
Agent Jeffries stares at me.
“Quite honestly, I’m surprised he isn’t here now. He implanted a fucking tracking device in me.”
This catches the agent’s attention. He leans back in his chair and pulls a baggie out of his pocket.
“You mean this?” He sets down what is left of my tracker chip on the table. “We had it taken out and destroyed before you even left the car. You probably didn’t notice it because the pain blended with your injuries from the wreck.”
I can only stare at the chip.
“I really support you guys in this, I really do, but I don’t think you understand what you are asking of me. I can’t turn against my husband, and not for the reasons you think. I have my own life and my brother’s life to think about. I’m sorry, Agent, but you’re not getting anything out of me.”
He sits back in his chair, frowning. The room is silent for a moment.
“Look, I know you’re scared, but if we can just get this from you, we can offer you protection. You’re the only option we have. No one else is willing to testify. And your words will definitely get us the court order we need. Once we arrest your husband, we can hide you in protective services.”
I continue to shake my head.
“Look, Agent, I told you no. There is no place safe for me if I betray my husband. People won’t testify for good reason. They’d be signing a death warrant! You people have rats that work for him already in these top secret divisions. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to find another way to bust him.”
His face turns from friendly to angry.
“I see. Then I guess there is nothing we can do for you here.” He stands to leave, and upon the door’s opening, two men step into the room, grabbing me roughly and dragging me out of the room.
* * * * *
It is completely silent as I ride in the car with a bag over my face. All I can see is the small light streaming in from the little holes. It smells stale. My body rocks as we hit another bump. I have no idea how long we’ve been driving for. All I know is that it has been a while. Wherever we are going must be somewhere hostile. They zip-tie my hands behind my back uncomfortably tightly. My muscles are beginning to ache. I can feel the burning of my wounds coming back. The nice, top secret government facility has given me pain medicine. But since I am not helping them, I guess they think it is fair to leave me without them. And damn if my hip doesn’t hurt where they take the GPS out.
The car suddenly stops, and I am being jerked out of my seat. They are pulling me so fast I don’t have the time or strength to catch my footing. For some reason, I have not shed a tear up to this point. I guess I have Luca to thank for that. If these guys are anything like him, I just may be prepared for whatever they have in store for me.
I can hear the sound of doors opening, and I am hit with cold air. There are people shouting around me. The tops of my feet are stinging from being rubbed raw by the men dragging me across the concrete. I am sat in a seat, and the bag is jerked off my head.
There is a woman in front of me. She is a little on the bigger
side and is shouting at the men behind me in Russian. They obviously don’t know that I speak Russian. It is something I’ve picked up in the years of being neglected by my father. I also speak French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Latin, which I barely know, because it is a dead language. So finding lessons on it is hard.
“You bring me this thirty minutes before the auction starts? I don’t think so. She can wait until next week.”
“We don’t have that long. She wasn’t taken from some nobody’s home. She’s the wife of Luca Pasquino. He could be hot on our trail. We need to get rid of her as soon as possible.”
I keep my eyes trained down so they don’t catch that I can understand them.
“Pasquino? Why the fuck would you bring her here? He finds out she’s at this place, we’re all as good as dead!”
“No, we’ll be fine. The agency gave her to us. They wiped the trail and are leading him on a chase. By the time he finds out what’s really going on, she’ll be too far gone for him to bother us.”
The lady contemplates for a moment before responding. “Fine. Leave us.”
The man nods and exits the room. The woman looks at me. She stalks toward me and reaches out to touch my hair, and I immediately slap her hand out of my face.
“Ohh, you’re feisty, aren’t you, sweetie,” she says to me in English. “We’ll fix that soon enough.” She roughly jerks my left hand, snatching it tightly as she jerks my wedding ring off. “Can’t have this where you’re going.” She sneers at me and walks away, inspecting the ring. It probably costs more than she will see in her lifetime.
Twenty minutes later, I am sitting in a room, with dark-red lingerie on and an open robe that reveals more than I like it to. The woman that scrubs my skin raw and waxes my entire body has a hard time getting it done. She has giant welts across her skin from my nails to prove it. This is pure madness at its best. For once, I actually wish Luca will come and save me. I don’t want to be auctioned off like some piece of meat.
