by Anna Widzisz
“Stop it!” Inéz yelled, stepping in front of the boys, trying to hide them behind her thin body. It was a futile gesture.
“What a brave little girl you are,” joked Noah.
He walked up to her and saw the fear in her eyes. There was no doubt about her feelings. She was even worse at hiding them than Lynette. However, she was more scared of what he would do to her best friends, so she stood her ground. It impressed Noah a lot.
“If Lynette has a phone on her, I can track her down,” said Isaac, slowly getting up from the floor.
Inéz glanced his way. “You don’t have to do it,” she said.
”That’s where you’re wrong. He has to.” Just as Noah had said that, leaving no room for arguing, Francisco appeared by their side. “You’re all going with me,” he ordered, sharply glaring at Francisco and pointed towards the exit.
§ § §
They were sitting in Isaac’s house, waiting impatiently for him to give out Lynette’s location. Noah was pacing the living room, checking his phone every few minutes. He was hoping for the girl to return his calls and explain her absence. No matter how bad of an excuse it would be.
Drew was on the couch next to the twins, not knowing what he could do at this moment, besides praying for the girl’s safety. He had a bad feeling about it and was beating himself over the fact that he hadn’t stopped her and talked to her the way he should have.
The doors were pushed open and Jason walked into the room. He was angry and it was escalating as his eyes clashed with Ryder’s. He didn’t have to say anything to know that he was blaming the boy for this situation. And as much as Drew didn’t want to, he had to agree with the man. Without a word, he went up to Noah and they left the living room to discuss something.
“What the hell is going on, Drew?” asked Inéz in barely a whisper.
“Yeah, what is it all about? Lynette is marrying him? She hasn’t come back home for the night?” added Isaac looking up from the laptop.
“The fact that you have been seeing her against our advice, you can skip,” murmured Francisco.
Drew had no doubts that Francisco was here just because he was loyal to his friends. Lynette wasn’t his problem and he could care less about her. He wouldn’t leave any of them, though. Especially his sister; no matter how many times they fought. He would give up his life for the girl.
“I can’t tell you anything,” he admitted, knowing that if he did, he wouldn’t survive long enough to find out what had happened to Lynette.
“Alright, I believe it won’t be a long stretch if I say that the rumors about the mafia were in a huge part true, will it?”
Despite everything, Francisco wasn’t stupid and could add two plus two to reach four. From the beginning, he’d thought of Lynette as dangerous, which he emphasized with a triumphant look towards Drew.
“Is it true?” asked Inéz, once again not sure how she was supposed to take his silence.
“Can you stop with the interrogation? We have a girl to find,” growled Jason appearing in the living room.
“I’m not going to help the mafia,” said Francisco, getting up from the couch.
Before he could do anything, he was stopped by Noah who, without any problem, pulled his hand to his back, blocking any future move the Spanish could attempt.
As on accord, Drew rose up to help. He pushed Falcone, taking him by surprise and making him step back, trying to keep his balance. He let go of Díez but quickly grabbed the gun, about to pull it out. Carnovale stopped him.
“We have no time for this child’s play. I don’t know if you noticed, but you have no chance against the two of us. No one says ’no’ to us if they have any sense of self-preservation. We only need a computer guy and you wouldn’t be able to leave him here, in our hands. Don’t count on our good hearts just because Sco knows you. We have no hearts to begin with.”
“Are you really in the mafia?” asked Inéz quietly, still too shocked to believe it.
Noah laughed at the teenagers’ ignorance. They seemed so innocent without any knowledge of the real world. As if they were in some kind of bubble that protected them from knowing anything that went beyond their sheltered lives. However, he didn’t answer the question. It could be considered a violation of omertà.
“You're criminals and I'm supposed to help you find your reward, comforter, or whatever Lynette is for you?” Isaac exclaimed, throwing his laptop onto the sofa.
He didn’t have the slightest intention of doing anything for them. He knew all too well how unwise his move was, but he acted under the influence of anger and adrenaline. At that exact moment, Jason pulled out a gun and aimed it at Inéz, pulling her to him. Her body crashed into his.
“Another word and I'll make a comforter out of your girl,” he growled. “Do not test my patience, because believe me, I’m not the one to treat women preferentially under any circumstances. Noah neither. So everything that happens to her will be on your hands if I hear one more refusal.”
“Since now you know what we can do, computer guy, it’s time to get to work. I guarantee that if you don’t track down Lynette, you will be going to a funeral every week. And this beautiful brunette’s will be the first one. Don't make me do this all of that. In spite of what appearances might suggest, I’m quite lazy.”
Nobody dared to speak. Isaac, seeing Francisco's imploring gaze, immediately went to work. Inéz sobbed softly, which apparently annoyed Jason, because he decided to let her go, noticing that they’d finally started taking them seriously. Frankly, Drew hadn’t known what they were capable of, despite knowing their profession. Only after witnessing this situation did he understand why Lynette didn’t want him to interfere. If this was a daily basis kind of thing, he preferred not to know anything more than he already did.
“I have a signal,” Isaac called, putting the laptop on the table in front of him so that everyone could see what was on it.
“She’s in Lakewood? Why would she be there?”
“I have a warehouse there. Lynette went with me once,” Jason said, hiding his weapon back under his jacket. “Okay, come on. We're going to get her,” he added to the twenty-year-old, heading for the exit.
“I want to go with you,” Drew said, stopping the men from leaving the house.
“Fuck no,” murmured Carnovale.
Noah, however, was wondering whether or not to accept the boy's request. Not because he respected his feelings towards Lynette, but to kill him if it turned out that something had happened to the girl. He wasn’t convinced that the girl had gone such a distance from the city alone.
“I have a better idea,” he finally said and walked up to Inéz. He grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder. “If something happened to Lynette, your friend will suffer for it. The same if any of you call for help or report it.”
As if on cue, the three of them stood up, wanting to stop Falcone. However, all it took was Jason offering them a glimpse of his weapon for them to stop after half a step. They retreated under the threats of Francisco who was cursing out the two, saying that if something happened to his sister, he would know who to look for. But neither Jason nor Noah made too much of his words. After all, they were Made Men and nothing really scared them anymore. They were able to do much more damage than a seventeen-year-old ever could.
CHAPTER 28
“Why do you call Lynette Sco?” Inéz asked, extremely curious.
She was well aware of how unpleasant and frightening the situation was, but she’d always been able to use fear as the catalyst for igniting her inner strength. It motivated her rather than made her feel small. And now was as good a time as ever to find answers to all of the questions that had been bothering her.
“Stop talking,” growled Jason, irritated.
He hated when someone spoke out of turn, and if it had been another person with whom he was doing business, they would probably be a dozen or so meters underground already. His intolerance towards teens was remarkably high. The only person he
liked was Lynette. Though, even she could irritate him without much difficulty.
Being outside the city center, he sped up even more, not caring about anything else than finding Lynette. To make sure she was safe and healthy. And then yell at her for not coming to him if something was happening. He wasn’t stupid. If Lynette had gone to the warehouse where all the training equipment could be found, it was because she’d needed to tire herself. Something had become too much for her to handle. It was her escape.
“Will anyone tell me anything, for God's sake?” Inéz whined, hitting the back of Noah’s seat, which she regretted almost immediately. It was a toddler kind of move. She could see how close to exploding Jason was and could only imagine that Falcone wasn’t faring any better.
Surprising both of them, Noah asked, “What do you want to know?”
“Don’t tell her anything. She already knows too much and should be dead,” Carnovale threatened, but the man only waved him off, as if it made no difference whether the girl knew or not.
He was fairly certain that Lynette had already told Ryder everything, breaking omertà. Besides, the rumors spread around the school could only be counted as false for so long. Inéz wasn't stupid to still believe them being lies.
“I will answer three questions. Just do not ask anything concerning Jason and choose wisely.”
“Why?”
“Is that your first question?” He raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl in the side mirror. A smirk crept onto his lips.
“No, no, no. That is not my question,” she hurried. There was a moment of silence, during which Díez wondered what she would like to know. “Actually, yes. That is my first question. Why do you want to tell me anything?”
“I was hoping you would be a little more creative and intelligent as the student body president." Pause. "I allowed you to ask because your courage today at school intrigued me. You stood up to me just to help your friends, despite the fact that you're obviously terrified of me. Even Jason will admit that it's something rarely found, even in Made Men. Fear forces people to run away or paralyzes them. But with you, it makes you talk like you do now, or defend others because you already know the worst-case scenario that could happen.”
“Why are you getting married to Lynette? How did this happen?”
“My father works with hers. They stated that it was the best idea to connect our families so as to consolidate the business that they have started to create together. Arranged relationships are normal in our circles.”
“Nobody has ever confirmed that there is mafia in Seattle.”
“That wasn’t a question,” said Noah, looking for something on the phone.
“There was a reason why Sco didn’t say anything about all the rumors going around the school. She couldn’t. She knows that if she reacted to them, it was bound to end badly. People would look for mafia activity everywhere. It is true that most places belong to the Selvaggio family, but no unauthorized person needs to know about it,” Jason spoke up unexpectedly.
They still hadn’t confirmed their activities. They wouldn’t do it because they would be breaking omertà. But the girl could read between the lines. She didn’t need a direct confession from them.
In less than an hour, they have arrived. The warehouse was there and, as before, there was no car or suspicious activity near it.
“Stay in the car,” Noah ordered, drawing out his weapon.
He wasn’t entirely convinced that the total silence and lack of people meant an unnecessary trip. Typically, this is how the most dangerous actions in the life of the mafia began. Hardly any gangster did anything to attract attention. Everything happens quietly, behind the curtain and away from the public eye.
As soon as they saw the teenager's tentative nod, the men left the vehicle, moving slowly and cautiously toward the warehouse. They scanned their surroundings as if they suspected that someone was watching them. However, the suspicion could not be ruled out due to the forest stretching nearby. From behind the trees, it was hard to distinguish whether anyone was hiding there. They could have a dozen guns pointed at their heads and be oblivious about it. Still, their only option was to push forward. Which they did, cautiously, but as quickly as they could.
Having reached the building, they separated, wanting to get around it from both sides, to ensure that nobody was waiting to ambush them on either side. They quickly surrounded the warehouse, noticing that the lock was broken, but the door was blocked with a crowbar. They pulled out the metal stick as quietly as possible, then Jason pointed out that he was taking the right side, and Noah should go left.
The moment they opened the door, there was no place for silence anymore. The men had to act promptly. They came in at the same moment, but before they could look around, Carnovale was attacked. The weapon was immediately wrenched from his hand, as someone hit him with a piece of wood. Falcone was ready to fire a killing shot when he saw that it was Lynette who had apparently mistaken them for somebody else.
“Lynette, it’s us!” he called out, lowering his hands. But before the girl could recognize them, she had already struck an elbow in Jason’s chest and kicked him in the leg. However, he was too built up to be seriously affected by her efforts. The hits were not enough to make him go down.
The moment she heard Noah's voice, she stopped the attack, looking at the men. The light was dim inside, making it hard to see. But she knew that voice all too well.
“You have strong hits, I must admit,” Jason grunted, trying to catch his breath. Lynette snuggled into his chest, bursting into loud sobs.
“I was so terrified. I thought they’d come back for me. Although at first I was convinced that they’d left me here for certain death to claim me.”
“You're safe now,” he whispered in her ear, signaling Noah to turn on the light.
Lamps lit all over the room, revealing a completely empty warehouse. All the weapons were gone. The table lay broken in the middle, one of the chairs was crooked, and at its feet, there were cut ropes.
“Sco, what happened here?”
Lynette slowly looked up, showing her face, which in the stronger light revealed a lot of bruises, cuts and a busted lip. Her wrists were red with blood, having obviously been restrained with the ropes that laid on the ground. She was wearing just a shirt and her panties. However, that was not the worst. Her thighs were covered with numerous deep cuts made with a knife. They’d been made to scar, disfigure her. Suffice it to say, she looked completely exhausted.
“Noah, go to the car and take the first aid kit from the boot,” said Carnovale, at which the twenty-year-old took his eyes off his beaten-up fiancée with great difficulty, and left the warehouse without complaint. He wasn’t one to take orders. But right then that didn’t matter anymore.
Jason grabbed the girl, lifting her up, just to gently lower her onto the pile of small mattresses that were near the wall. He brushed the hair back from Selvaggio's face, trying to examine how deep and serious the wounds were.
“These cuts were made with a knife and will need stitches. The rest is not as bad as it looks,” she said, wanting to calm down the growing anger in Jason. He looked as if he wanted to burn the whole warehouse to the ground without thinking twice.
Inéz ran into the warehouse, stopping mortified at the sight of Lynette. Her shock, however, didn’t last long, because a second later she ran up to her and hugged her tightly, causing the girl to hiss in pain. Some bones were broken for sure. At least a few ribs.
“What are you doing here?” asked Lynette, but she looked at the men for the answer more than towards the girl. They only shrugged, not wanting to fill her in for the moment on what it had taken for them to find her.
Noah pulled out gauze and hydrogen peroxide from the first aid kit, telling the teenager that he would clean up her wounds. As he was doing this, the girl began telling them everything that had occurred. There was no point in keeping anything for herself. Not when the mysterious messages were no longer her only proble
m. She explained to them how she’d started to receive text messages from an unknown number, what they were saying and in the particular moments they’d appeared. She presented the situation from the basement, which had taken place just before finding Rosalia's body, as well as the character in the mask that had appeared twice.
“Why didn’t you mention anything before Lynette? Look at you, for fuck’s sake!” Jason yelled.
“I thought that I would find out who’s been texting me on my own. I even went to Isaac with this, but he couldn’t figure it out. Besides, I thought it was just stupid people at school having fun in the beginning. But then they became scarier and way too accurate for what was happening with me at the moment.”
“And how did you get here after the festival? Someone dragged you here?” Noah asked.
“After I left Drew, I boarded the subway with the intention of going to Jason’s. I was alone until suddenly, at the last moment a man got in. He was wearing this terrifying mask again. He chased me around the subway until I managed to get out. I ran to the exit and onto the street. I couldn’t see anybody anymore so after some time I stopped, but then someone covered my mouth and dragged me behind the buildings before I could do anything else. There was one person and I think it was a woman, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that both the man and the woman had hoods and masks on. I lost consciousness and woke up here. There were no more weapons. Except for the knuckle duster and a knife, which lay on the table. I tried to escape because they hadn’t tied me up yet, but I ended up being pushed to this table. Later they forced me to the chair. They pulled off my pants, so I was afraid of what they wanted to do, but they didn’t touch me. At least not that way. The man carved at my skin with the knife and the woman hit me with the duster so viciously that I could swear she genuinely hated me.”
