by Sasha Leone
The blinding circle cuts through the trees and slips down the facades of buildings that surround us. Sirens follow closely behind it. Trouble is closing in all around us. I look down at the melting steel, it’s working too slow—but there is already enough room for me to slip my hands under.
“I don’t have time for this,” I grumble, grabbing a towel and throwing it over the section of the flames where the small opening has appeared. I wrap my hands in another towel and bend down.
“What are you doing, Angel!?” Catalina cries as I approach the flames.
“Getting us out of here.”
The towels hardly help protect me from the raging fire, but I manage to get my fingers under the melting metal anyways. Fiery pain engulfs my hands as I pull upwards with all my might.
At first, it doesn’t budge, then, slowly, it starts to shake free from its reams. The heat that scorches my skin is almost unbearable, but I’m not letting us get caught, not again. This time, I’m not running from the fire, I’m using it.
The manhole cover finally comes off in a burst, and I’m flung backwards from the effort. Catalina immediately pulls the burning rag from around my hands and covers my charred fingers in a fresh one. The coolness offers little relief, but the pain is worth it. We have a way out of here now.
“Let’s go,” I say, climbing back onto my feet. Catalina is immediately by my side, her tiny arms wrap around my waist like she’s trying to help me walk, but I’m too heavy. Instead, I have to help her.
Just as Juan smothers what’s left of our parking lot fire, the helicopter that’s been hovering above pulls up, taking the searchlight with it. Through the newfound silence, we hear a more disturbing sound.
The police sirens are so close that they might as well be on top of us... and they’re accompanied by a booming voice shouting orders through a megaphone.
“We have you surrounded! Return the hostage immediately or we will open fire!” And with that, the helicopter returns, closer than ever now. It’s blinding spotlight approaches us at the speed of light as its rotors encase us in a veritable hurricane. Wind whips up Cat’s hair and tugs at her dress. Before I can formulate our next plan of action, I feel a strong hand on my collar.
Juan pulls me towards the hole we just opened up and tries to force me down it. “Go!” he orders.
I sneer back at him. “Not without you two!”
Catalina scrambles up to me, as leaves and dust swirl all around us. Her hands reach for mine and I lunge for her, but Juan quickly steps between us. “No. You have to go alone.”
My immediate reaction is to clench my fists and cock back my arm. “What the hell has gotten into you!?” I shout through all the noise. “I’m not leaving without Catalina!”
“You have to,” he pleads. His tone is loud but calm, with an undercurrent of desperation to it.
Catalina steps around him and I grab her by the wrist. Her bandages are ripped off in the strong wind and I’m laid witness to her wounded arms.
There’s no way I’m letting her go back to that monster...
“You have thirty seconds!” the megaphone somehow reaches my ears through all the other noise.
I pull my girl in close and move for the escape hatch.
Juan changes up his tactics. He knows there’s no convincing me, so he speaks directly to the girl on my arm. “Catalina, you can’t go. If you’re not here, they’ll go looking for you, and there’s no covering up this mess, not for long. They’ll find the hatch and then they’ll find you. It won’t take them long; they have too many men...”
“I can’t go back,” Catalina cries through the chaos. She digs deeper into my side and I hold her a tight as I can. Without giving her the time to reconsider, I start pushing her down towards the ladder inside the opening.
“If you lead them down there, they will find Oscar.” There’s a restraint in Juan’s voice, but something about it knocks Cat off of her feet. Her foot slips on the first rung of the ladder and I have to grab her wrist and yank her back onto the surface to keep her from falling to her death.
Suddenly, Cat’s whole demeanor changes.
“Who the fuck is Oscar!?” I demand, completely confused by the exchange.
Juan doesn’t answer, but his eyes dart towards Cat—there’s a pleading desperation in his gaze that I don’t understand.
“Angel, you have to go,” Cat’s voice cuts through my soul like a knife. Suddenly, the pain of my singed hands isn’t hidden by adrenaline anymore, and an anguished tingle comes rushing back over my skin. I wince and try to pull Cat closer to me, but, this time, she resists.
“What the hell are you talking about!!? All of this was for you!”
“Ten seconds!” the megaphone blares. The helicopter’s spotlight passes dangerously close to us.
Cat trembles beneath me. she doesn’t dare look me in the eyes. “You have to go, please.”
“I’m not leaving you. Never again.” I bend down and take her fragile hands between my wounded fingers. Her tender touch eases my physical pain, but my heart hurts so bad I might as well be drowning. “I’d rather die with you right here and now than leave you again.”
“I can’t die here,” Cat whispers.
“You’d rather go back to my brother?”
Cat flinches at the thought, but a hard look of sorrowful determination quickly glazes over her features. Her head drops as she responds. “Things have changed, Angel.”
“What does that mean?”
“FIVE SECONDS!”
“It’s not just the two of us against the world anymore.”
“I don’t care about anyone else,” I tell her. My heart beats through my chest; I can’t move.
“You should...”
I shake my head. “No one else matters.”
“THREE, TWO...”
Suddenly, Catalina’s hung head snaps up and her eyes greet mine in an explosion of regret and sadness and pure determination. “Leave!” she orders through a trembling voice.
“Why!?” I boom back, hardly able to believe that this is happening again. Flashbacks of our last encounter at my burning compound threaten to cripple me, but I can’t give in. I won’t.
“... Because our child needs you.”
“GO. GO. GO!” The crackling voice coming from the nearby megaphone is the last thing I hear before my world goes silent.
Blood rushes to my ears as Juan’s hands push me into the escape hatch. I don’t resist, my mind is too occupied to think of anything other than what Catalina just told me.
A child? Our child? What is she talking about!?
My hands instinctively grab the rungs of the escape hatch and Juan practically kicks me down the ladder. When I’m far enough down, he rushes to pull the manhole cover back over the exposed opening.
Catalina and I share one last desperate look before I’m shrouded in darkness.
9
Catalina
“What the hell are you idiots doing!?” Juan yells at the approaching officers as he discreetly kicks our towels over the half-melted manhole cover.
Without Angel by my side to protect me, a tidal wave of fear crashes against my heart. I lay on the cement beside Juan’s feet as he steps forward with an authoritative demeanor.
Someone seems to recognize him... and then me. “Mr. Arias!?”
“What!?” Juan roars back, full of indignation.
“... You have the girl?”
“Of course I do!” Juan yells. He sounds like a principle scolding a class of disobedient children. “I was trying to get her as far away from danger as possible. Why the hell did you idiots follow me and not the assholes who tried to take her!?”
Whoever Juan’s talking to hesitates to answer. “We... We... We thought you took her...”
Juan rips his jacket off and throws it on the ground in a show of indignation. “I obviously took her, to safety! That was my job. Your job was to catch those responsible for making her unsafe in the first place! Fuck, you guys are so inc
ompetent. Dante is going to hear about this...”
“No, no, sir! We’re sorry! We had information that one of the hijackers came this way. They must have been mistaken! We still have search teams in other places!” The crackle of a radio undercuts the chaotic scene. My heavy mind starts to falter and I can’t quite make out what’s said next, but whatever it is causes the helicopter to finally fly away.
The sudden absence of its roar drenches the world in silence. Police lights flash but don’t make any sound. Juan yells, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. Below my feet, I know Angel is safe, if wounded—but at what cost?
As far as Dante’s men know, there’s been two recent kidnapping attempts against me. I’m going to be locked up so tight from now on that seeing my baby boy again is going to be impossible.
... But nothing is stopping Angel from meeting his son.
I wonder if he’ll figure it out on his own. Was I clear? I can hardly remember what I said before Juan pulled the manhole cover shut and separated us once again.
What will Angel’s reaction be?
Even without any clarification, Angel seemed stunned at my confession. What will he think of me? What will he think of Oscar?
For some reason, a stream of relief swirls around inside of my exhausted brain as Juan leads me into the back of a cop car.
No one seems to suspect Juan of being in on all of this. I may not have any freedom, but he will still be free to roam around, to meet with Angel, to introduce him to Oscar.
My son is finally going to meet his father.
... And I won’t be around to witness the momentous occasion.
Another milestone missed.
The whirlpool of relief in my brain remains for the sole fact that I know Angel will be able to protect Oscar, but an insurmountable sadness also devastates my heart at the thought of them finally meeting without me being there to cherish the memory.
I’ve already missed so much of my baby boy’s life, and I don’t see any light on the horizon. Even with Angel returned, things are as dark and hopeless as ever... But at least Oscar will have family to keep him company... and that’s worth something.
This is no gilded cage, this is just a cage. A steel-barred, cement floored, no-windowed, constant-surveillance cage.
Fluorescent lights flicker constantly overhead. My bed is a cot no bigger than I am. The sheets are itchy and the toilet is two feet away from where I rest my head at night.
For my own protection, the police have thrown me into one of their common jail cells. The precinct was surrounded with security when I arrived, and I was tossed inside like some common criminal.
Juan didn’t have any time alone with me to explain, but from the looks he was given me, he had no say in the matter. Word about my attempted abduction must have gotten back to Dante pretty quickly, because these are clearly his orders; they are dripped in his cruelty.
Without a window or clock, I can’t quite tell how long I’ve been locked in here. It somehow feels both like an eternity and a blink of the eye. They don’t ever turn those harsh fluorescent lights off. Have I slept yet? Or do I just close my eyes and daydream?
Guards come and go in regular intervals. I’m never out of someone’s sight for long. It’s so oppressive that I worry my brain might snap. The best I can do to avoid a complete meltdown is to close my eyes and concentrate on the dull ache of my injuries. It’s the only distraction provided to me in a place like this. I swim in the quiet fire of each of my cuts; in the tender pounding of each bruise... even in the lingering tingle of Angel’s big finger.
He was rough with me, like nothing has changed—what has he been doing for the past two years to think that nothing could have changed? Even without Oscar, I’ve been the unwilling prisoner of his evil brother for all this time, does he not think that counts for anything?
A door just out of my sight rattles open and the men standing guard outside of my cage straighten up. I lift my heavy head, expecting to see a change of security—instead, I’m greeted by something much worse.
Dante stands before my enclosure, an incessant anger melting his thin features as his cruel eyes stare daggers into my weary soul. I don’t need his abuse right now; I never have, but I could always take it before. This time, though, my mind is almost as broken as my body. I can’t let him rile me up.
“I hear you’ve been trying to get away from me?” he accuses, coldly.
The climate in my cell isn’t exactly tropical, but it gets a whole lot colder under Dante’s gaze.
I don’t answer. Instead, I look down at the grey floor and inhale deep breaths. My mind tries to latch onto images of Oscar, and even Angel, in an attempt to distract myself from the monster who has me trapped.
Dante doesn’t appear to appreciate my silence. “I’m talking to you,” he hisses, stepping up to the bars of my cage.
“... I didn’t try to escape,” I whisper. “Someone tried to take me.”
“Who!?”
The cuts and bruises on my arms are exposed, but I know that Dante couldn’t care less about my injuries. I’m only a pawn to him, and a pawn is just as useful when it’s whole as it is when it’s cracked. Dante wants to know who cracked me for cold, sterile reasons. A chill skates down my spine as I realize I’m about to be interrogated.
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.”
“I don’t!” The fire comes out of nowhere. Suddenly, I have enough strength to look the monster in his eyes. Dante seems just as surprised as I am. He takes a step back before regaining his composure and wrapping his spindly fingers back around the bars of my cage.
Why doesn’t he come in here and talk to me face to face? Is he scared?
“Tell me what you saw,” his words might as well be lashes, but I take them without flinching.
“When?”
“When you were taken.”
“I was almost taken twice,” I sneer. “Thanks to you.”
The accusation in my voice seems to take Dante by surprise again. He glares at me through the metal bars and tightens his grip around them. “Those responsible have been dealt with.”
My heart drops. He couldn’t mean Juan, could he?
“Now, tell me who took you.”
“I told you, I don’t know,” I whisper, trying to regain my composure. Dante can smell weakness, and if he senses even for a second that I may feel sorry for those he’s punished, then he’ll know that I know more than I’m letting on.
“What did they look like?”
“Like you.” I’m just riffing, but I instantly know that those words are a mistake, if only because they’ll remind Dante that Angel exists and is still a threat. There’s only one person in this world who looks anything like Dante, and it’s his much better-looking older brother.
A vision of Angel flickers behind my eyelids as I blink through the harsh fluorescent lights that encase me. The memory of his strong warmth gives me the little boost of strength I need right now. Add to that the anger of his still unexplained two-year absence and I’m suddenly ready to go toe to toe with Dante again.
Dante may be cruel and merciless, but he’s also a weak, twisted version of his older brother. If Angel was mad at me, then maybe I’d be smart enough to be scared, but Dante? Now that I know Angel is in town and working with Juan, it can only be a matter of time before he rescues me for real.
... At least, that’s what I tell myself to keep from crumbling.
“There’s only one person in this world who looks like me...” Dante teases, a cruel grin coming over his gaunt features.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I spit back.
Dante’s demeanour changes in an instant. He slams an open palm against my cage and grunts like a primal beast, sticking his nose between the rattling bars like they’re the only thing keeping him from running in and ripping me apart. “Watch your mouth, whore,” he hisses.
For a split-second, I sneer back, not nearly as afraid as I probably should be, but then I think
better of it. There is still so much that can happen to me before I’m rescued—if I’m rescued. I need to be smarter, otherwise I risk leaving Oscar motherless...
But with any luck, he’ll at least grow up with a father.
That thought imbues me with a new spirit. Hope isn’t completely lost, at least not for my baby boy, not yet.
“... We’re getting married in three days.” Dante’s words are like a slap to the face. His reptilian eyes slither down to my ring finger. For a second, I panic, remembering his threats, but when I look down and see that it’s still there, the panic only gives way to dread. I’m still living in this nightmare; I’m still under Dante’s icy grip; I’m still trapped... for now.
“You can spend the night here... for safety,” Dante’s nose twitches with cruelty, but his gaze doesn’t wander far from my finger. I wonder if Angel took notice of the familiar engagement ring? “Tomorrow, you will be taken to a secure location and prepared for our wedding.”
My heart sinks, and suddenly, for some strange reason, I’m reminded of our first encounter.
Maybe it’s the fear or the dread or the helplessness that brings me back to that moment, I don’t know, but the memory of Dante’s initial explosion into my life rushes at me like a wild beast.
So many things have changed since that night he cornered me in the ballroom at Angel’s old compound, but in this moment, something sticks out.
Back then, Dante had seemed to want me for more... ‘physical’ reasons. I can still remember the slimy lust in his alligator eyes and the frigid reach of his scaly fingernails. Now, though, there doesn’t seem to be any physical desire for me in him.
It’s a relief, don’t get me wrong. My first two months alone with this monster were spent in constant fear that he’d force me into his bed... but he never did. Something changed in him when he got me, and now, when he looks my way, it’s more as though he’s looking at an object, and not the kind of object he’s dying to stick his dick in.
