by Rowena
Three armed men in gas masks enter the room.
They march straight to Bella and grab her by the arms, dragging her out of the room.
I try to get up, pushing myself off of the floor, reaching out a hand for her, then everything turns black.
Something cold and wet hits me in the face.
My eyes fly open and I’m blinded by bright lights and spluttering as ice water runs down my face and across my chest.
I try to stand but barely rise before I’m pulled back down.
My hands are bound behind me.
I look around, blinking to clear my eyes.
“Bella!” I scream.
I twist side to side, trying to free myself.
Slowly, awareness of my surroundings filters through my panic.
Ice cold water hits me in the face again and I’m left spluttering and mostly blind.
“Damn it!” I scream.
“Donnie, Donnie, Donnie,” Emilio says.
Blinking once more, trying to clear the water from my eyes, I lock onto the sound of his voice until I can see Emilio clearly.
I realize I’m in a cage and bound to a chair.
Outside the cage is Emilio with two hulking brutes standing behind him.
Beside him are Bella and Maxwell.
They, for their part, look miserable.
Bella’s eyes are puffy and bloodshot and there’s a nasty bruise on her left cheek.
Max is pale and his head is hanging low.
He shudders off and on and doesn’t look up.
“What’s going on?” I ask, stopping my struggles.
I can’t hide the surprise on my face seeing the two of them. How did my plan go so wrong?
I want to kill Emilio more than ever.
I know he hit her. That bruise is from him and I’m going to make him pay for it.
“You’re a fool, Donnie. A poor, damned fool. It’s over. I’ve won,” Emilio says.
“It’s not over yet.”
“Oh, but it is,” he says with a grin.
“How? How’d you figure it out?”
Emilio puts an arm around Max and smiles even bigger.
“You shouldn’t have gone against me, Donnie,” he says. “Isn’t that right, Maxwell?”
Max cringes at his touch and shakes his head side to side.
“Max… ” I begin.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he mutters.
“Oh, and I want to thank you for caring for my daughter. It seems you’ve done a very nice job of it,” Emilio says.
I lock eyes with Bella. Did she betray me too?
Someone might as well stab me in my heart. It hurts so bad I can barely breathe.
My head is pounding, my vision keeps blurring, and my chest is constricting tighter and tighter.
“I hate you,” Bella says softly.
Emilio slaps her across the face faster than I can see his hand move. She’s rocked back by the force of the blow as tears stream down her face. She holds a hand to her cheek where he slapped her.
“Shut up,” he says, his voice soft. “I’ve given you everything. You do what I tell you, you hear me?”
She glares at him in silence, and my rage swells.
“Yeah, do what he wants, you sneaky bitch,” I growl. “You betrayed me, didn’t you? You got my people killed.”
Bella’s eyes widen and she shakes her head side to side while Emilio laughs.
“Of course, she did, Donnie. You’ve never understood that blood is thicker than water. Blood trumps all—if your blood is strong, not weak and indecisive like your father.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I growl again, straining against the ropes holding me to the chair.
The hemp cuts into my wrists and I can feel blood flowing, making them slick. I strain and feel it give a little so I increase the pressure.
“Your father said the same thing many times before I finally let him die.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” I grumble as I work the ropes.
“Now, now. No name calling,” he says. “The more you do that, the longer it will take me to decide to let you die. And you will regret every moment as you pray for death.”
“Come in here and say that to my face,” I say as the ropes give a little more.
“That’s the difference between you and me, Donnie. I don’t have to do my own work. I have men who will do anything for me. My men don’t betray me so easily, not like yours,” he says motioning toward Max and Bella.
Max shifts his weight, looking around the room and avoiding me.
Bella’s eyes widen, and I can see the horror on her face as she shakes her head side to side with tears streaming down her cheeks.
We stare at each other, and she begs me with that look not to believe her father.
Her mouth moves, and despite the pain and situation, the memory of her lips fills my thoughts. It gives me strength, and I use it as I strain against the ropes that bind me.
“That’s not the only difference, Emilio,” I say, speaking softly.
“What is that you say?” he says, moving closer to the cage.
My wrists slide out of the ropes but I keep my hands held behind the chair.
I hang my head down and watch the blood dripping from my mouth to my pants.
A little closer, you son-of-a-bitch. A little closer is all I need.
Flexing the muscles of my legs, I force the blood through them, trying to make sure they’re ready.
Everything feels sluggish and unresponsive. Side effects of the gas.
“You and I, we’re nothing alike,” I whisper.
In my peripheral vision, I see him next to the cage, his head resting on it.
“Can you hear what this stronzo is saying?” he asks, looking over his shoulder.
I leap.
The muscles of my legs are weak, and as I land on my feet, they waver.
I almost fall, but I’m close enough.
I grab his head, and my falling weight slams him against the bars. It cracks his head with a satisfying thud and blood flows.
He screams, his voice high-pitched and terrified.
I grin through the pain.
“We’re nothing alike, you filthy asshole,” I growl, scrabbling to keep a hold on him.
The two goons with him rush in, pulling clubs from inside their suit jackets.
Blows rain down on me through the cage, but the angles and the bars keep any of them from being enough to make me let go.
I have one hand twined in Emilio’s hair and my other, slick with blood, clasps desperately, trying to get a grip on his throat.
I’m going to choke the life out of this asswipe right here and right now. I’m going to end this.
Fuck, I can’t get a grip.
One of the clubs clips my head and my vision spins.
My legs give out and I’m sliding down, pulling Emilio with me.
Giving up on his throat, I raise my right arm and try to protect my head.
A club strikes with a sickening crack and my arm goes numb from the shoulder down. It falls, useless, no longer responding.
The goons continue raining blows down and screams ring out. They cut through the pain and confusion that fills my mind, and I realize it’s Bella screaming.
I see her grab the arm of the man who is swinging the club down at me.
She pulls back on it but loses her grip.
Her other hand swings around and her nails rake across his face, leaving long furrows down his cheek.
He roars, turning toward her, and the club swings.
“NO!” I scream, rage filling me and I know the only way to save her is to give up.
I let Emilio go.
He scrabbles backward, putting space between the cage and himself.
The other man keeps striking me with the club so I move back to get away.
Bella lies on the ground crying, looking across the floor at me.
Her mouth moves and I read her lips.
I’m sor
ry, she says.
I shake my head and grin what has to be a bloody mess.
“You son-of-a-bitch,” Emilio blusters, climbing to his feet. “I’m going to destroy everything you love. Everyone you ever cared about is going to die in front of you before I let you die! I already killed your precious Francesca, and now I’ll find every other person and they’ll die horribly. Do you hear me? I’m going to kill them all! I’ll kill your fucking grade school teachers!”
He rants but his words fall off of me like water off a duck’s back. He won’t kill the one that matters.
In moments of trial, when we’re at the darkest points in our lives, things take on a clarity—a purity of vision that no man can achieve in life without having lost everything.
Right now, right here, I know the one thing that matters more to me than anything else. She’s climbing to her feet and weaving, looking at me with tears streaming down her face.
Emilio continues screaming until he runs out of breath or words; I don’t care which. I don’t care what he does at all.
I’ll find a way to get him back, and I’ll set her free even if it kills me. Which it might. But I’m not out of cards yet.
As I realize the truth and see with new eyes, peace fills me.
I climb to my feet then set the chair back on its feet.
I sit down and cross my arms, looking at Emilio.
He glares at me and I know right then I’ve won. He can’t do anything to me now that will matter.
“Fine,” I say calmly, leaning back in the chair.
Emilio stares while rage plays across his face.
I smile at him, though it hurts.
“Well, enough,” Emilio says. “I’ll deal with you in time.”
He grabs Bella’s hand and roughly jerks her closer to him then walks to the door, dragging her along behind.
She looks over her shoulder at me with tears still streaming down her face.
I shake my head.
I’ll figure a way out.
The door slams behind the two of them and I’m left alone with Maxwell.
14
Isabella
“You can’t do this!” I scream as my father drags me down the hall.
He grips my wrist with bruising force and pulls me along behind fast enough that I have to extend my stride to keep up.
We pass by armed guards who look straight ahead, ignoring everything. They’re paid well enough to know when to mind their own business, which is any time the boss is doing anything.
My father doesn’t answer my complaints.
When we reach the door to the living room, he throws it open then shoves me in. He walks in behind me then slams it shut.
Three men turn as we enter.
Two of them I don’t know, but one of them is Alex—the man I patched up and nursed back to health. Donnie’s man. Does this mean the other two are as well?
Alex’s eyes widen and his lips purse when he sees me then he looks down at the floor.
Anger strikes and I’m raging, unable to stop my mouth, even though I know I should.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” I scream at Alex. “After all he did, all I did for you!”
I move toward him, fully intending to hit him, punch him, do something, anything to express my outrage.
I make it two steps when my father grabs my arm and jerks me around to face him.
His free hand slaps me across the face and my head rocks to the side.
Glaring at him through my hair, my rage turns to cold hate.
I have to find a way to help Donnie. I’m smarter than this. Anger will get me nowhere.
“I apologize for my daughter,” Father says. “She forgets her place, heh?”
“It’s fine,” one of the men I don’t know says.
Alex stares at the floor, avoiding me.
That’s fine. This is far from over, no matter what they think.
The door opens and Paulie walks in, closing it behind him. He walks over to my father and whispers something in his ear. Father nods then Paulie looks at me with a smug look.
“So, gentlemen,” Father says and the three men turn their eyes to him. “It is complete. The Soriano family is under my control. Your parts have been completed admirably.”
“What about Donnie?” one of them asks.
“He is captured and being seen to,” Father says.
The man who spoke nods.
Alex turns bright red, and if I didn’t know what a piece of shit he was, I’d swear a tear falls from his eye. Even if it did, I don’t care. He betrayed Donnie and can burn for all I care.
“Okay,” the same man says. “So we’re a go, then? This is done?”
“Yes. All of the Soriano men have been given an ultimatum. The capos have met their fates, the soldiers are in hiding or swearing allegiance. It’s over.”
“Good,” he says, holding his hand out.
Paulie steps forward and takes the hand for my father, who barely glances at it.
“You don’t talk to the Don anymore,” Paulie says. “You deal with me now.”
“Fine,” the man says and shakes Paulie’s hand. “Are we clear to go, then?”
“Yeah. Just make sure your payments are on time and the envelopes aren’t light. If they are, even once, we have a problem.”
“Understood.”
“Get your boys out of here,” Paulie says, gesturing to the door.
The two men and Alex file out.
I try to catch Alex’s eye as he walks past me but he pointedly looks in the opposite direction.
Whatever. I know where he stands.
Paulie follows the men out the door and slides it closed behind him, leaving me alone with my father.
Father walks over to the wet bar, pulls out a glass, drops two ice cubes in it, then pours whiskey. The ice tinkles on the crystal then pops as the warm, brown liquid covers it.
I focus on breathing, slow and steady. A clear head is the only way I’m going to get through this.
Father is crazy, insane, but he’s clever.
Right now, I need information, and then I’ll try to figure out a way to help Donnie.
Father turns and sits on one of the divans then motions that I should sit across from him on the other.
I take a seat on the edge, then wait.
He sips his drink, swirls it, then sips again.
We stare at each other in heavy silence.
He finishes the drink then holds it out as if expecting me to fill it for him.
I stare at the empty glass then at him.
Gritting my teeth, I stand and refill the glass.
If I had poison, I would gladly put it in. If I had any choice, I would throw it in his face.
But none of that gets me closer to saving Donnie, so I wait, I obey.
“Isabella, Isabella,” he says, shaking his head and sipping the whiskey.
“Yes?” I struggle to keep my voice level.
I brace for him to scream or hit me or something, but he smiles. He fucking smiles and holds his glass up, tipping it toward me like we’re toasting his victory together.
My stomach churns with acid and anger, like a volcano of hate waiting to explode. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to not leap the space between us and claw his eyes out.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he says.
“Do you?”
“Oh yes. Is he angry with me? Am I in trouble? Does he know I betrayed him?”
I stare at him in silence.
My thoughts are so far from those that they’re not even in the same city but I can’t let him know that.
“Oh.” I hang my head but keep my eyes on him through my hair.
“You needn’t worry; you played your role perfectly. I couldn’t have scripted it better.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, shocked.
“Your part—you played it perfectly,” he says, laughing.
“I didn’t play any part!” I yell, unable to control myself.
Balling my hands into fists, my nails dig into my flesh until I’m sure blood will be drawn.
“Yes, you did, my dear. You played it beautifully. You distracted the young Don. You think I failed to notice you grew up? Or that I wouldn’t use that to expand the power of our family?”
“You didn’t,” I say in disbelief.
“Too much of your mother in you,” he says, shaking his head. “Naive. In this world, you either take what you want or have it taken from you. You are a commodity, just like anything else. Your role was to distract him, keep him from looking too closely while my plans clicked into place. If not for you, he might have noticed the betrayals that were right under his nose.”
Maxwell.
Damn it, he’s right.
Nausea seizes my stomach and my knees feel weak.
My head spins and everything in the room seems like it’s wobbling. I lean back against the couch, wishing this all away.
It’s my fault. My fault Donnie’s in the basement waiting to be tortured then killed.
“You’re a monster,” I say. It comes out almost a growl.
“Maybe,” he replies with a grin. “I’m a monster who wins. What was his is mine now. I’m building a future for this family. I’m assuring that we win in the end.”
“I hate you,” I say.
He shrugs. “You’ve always been a disappointment to me. Weak, like your mother. My genes didn’t take well in you.”
“Lucky me,” I spit. “What are you going to do with him?”
“Who?”
“You know damned well who!” I scream.
He grins. “Your lover?”
I can’t admit that to him. I don’t want to be the one at fault.
If I hadn’t distracted Donnie, would this really have turned out differently?
“Are you going to kill Donnie?”
“In time.”
“His men will turn against you if you do.”
“None of that is your concern,” he says.
“Why not? Isn’t this all about our ‘family’?”
“You have a new role to play.”
“What?”
“You’re going to be the glue that binds the McLean family of Boston to ours,” he says, then he sips his drink, reaching for a cigar.
“What?”
“Callum McLean.”
