by Kasey Krane
I felt an emptiness inside me as I listened to Aldo speaking. Nothing mattered anymore.
“You could have achieved great things if you worked with me. If you proved yourself to me. I gave you an opportunity to not meet the same fate your father did.”
I cursed him under my breath. I cursed him repeatedly, if any of that was ever true and powerful. I wanted him to die for what he did to my family and Libby. For how he’d completely broken me.
“But instead of proving yourself to me, instead of making something of yourself, you decided to do something stupid. You realize what you’ve cost me? I had one of them here. In my hands. And you let him go!” Aldo lunged at me, pointing one long finger at my face, bringing it right up close to my eyes. I thought he’d poke my eyeball right out, but still, I didn’t flinch.
I just glared back at him, daring him to touch me again. Slap me. It wouldn’t matter. I’d take it. It was what I owed the universe for Libby’s life.
“And now it’s all going to end for you. Nobody can save you. Do you think any of the Dohertys care about what happens to you? Your lover boy, Tristian, you think he’s coming for you? You saved one of their kids and what will they do for you in return? Forget about you because you mean nothing to them.”
Aldo was probably right. When Tristian returned to the apartment and saw I was gone, he’d probably be relieved. Maybe he’d write it off as me running away because I was a Baron spy and had used him all along.
Either way, the Dohertys had enough of their own shit to deal with rather than come looking for me and putting themselves in even more danger.
“Nobody is coming to save you, Elsie, my darling. Do you understand that? They won’t find you here. They aren’t going to save you. If they knew where I was hiding, if you’d been able to give them my location—they’d’ve already been here,” he continued.
Aldo was right about that too. When the Dohertys had questioned me at their house, they had tried to gauge where Aldo’s hideout was. I’dtried my best to give them a location, but my sense of direction was completely lost because I wasn’t a local. I had no idea where I was being held. And I hadn’t been able to help them even though I wanted to.
One more failure.
I sat still while Aldo paced in front of me. It was like he was thinking to himself more than he spoke to me now. Maybe he just wanted some quiet time away from his men.
The room filled with his cigar smoke, choking me. It’d become hard for me to breathe properly with the gag covering half my nose. I knew I wasn’t going to last long. I was exhausted to the core. Hungry and spent.
“Anyway, the reason why I’m here is not to lecture you. I’m sure you’ve figured all of this out already,” he turned to me again with a friendly smile. “I’m here to remind you that you still have work to do. You have to finish what you started for me.”
“Fuck you!” I shouted, only coming out as a muffled groan through the gag. It made Aldo chuckle. I was just a form of entertainment to him now.
Then he drew himself closer to me, close enough that I smelled the cigar smoke on his breath.
“You’re going to die either way, darling. There isn’t any other option for you. But you can choose whether to make that end peaceful or painful for yourself. If you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll make sure you’ll beg for your end by the time we are done with you. And if you give me what I need, it’ll be over before you know it. You decide,” he said, stepping away.
It was an impossible choice but an obvious one.
Twenty-Two
Tristian
It was midnight now and we had looked for Elsie for over six hours, with no luck.
Nolan made all the calls to keep our usual informants on their toes. But nobody had seen or heard anything. Nobody knew where Elsie was.
My best guess was Aldo had taken her back to their original location. Wherever he and his men were hiding like pussies—I had to admit, it was a good one.
We had tried to uncover his hiding location for several months now and we had no clue. Aldo had clearly taken measures to keep his location a secret and he had every intention of keeping it that way.
Like every other time we’d tried to find him in the recent past, we kept hitting roadblocks.
Nolan suggested getting drinks, but I didn’t want any.
I felt it in my bones—they’d taken Elsie. She hadn’t simply run away. Maybe she had left the apartment of her own accord, but Aldo would’ve found her by now. I wished I’d done more to keep her safe.
“Come on, man, let’s get a few beers. We both need to catch a break. There’s nothing more we can do for now,” Nolan insisted.
He didn’t know the feeling because he’d never been in love with a chick who brought him to his knees.
The only thing I cared about right now was seeing Elsie again. To have her safe and in one piece in my arms. I would’ve done anything to have that. Killed anyone, if that’s what it took.
Nolan thumped my back with his hands, encouraging me to walk into a bar we walked past.
“You need to think clearly,” he said.
I figured he deserved a break, even if I didn’t. And he was right, unless a tip came through, there wasn’t anything we could do. We had looked in every possible hiding location and by now, we’d run out of ideas. Elsie could’ve been anywhere in New York. In fact, they might’ve already taken her out of the state and we’d be none-the-wiser.
So we walked into the bar together. I didn’t notice the people or the music. The only thing I focused on was getting a few drinks in my system and then getting back out there on the streets. As of now, I didn’t have a plan, but I’d spend the rest of my days looking for Elsie if I had to.
I blamed myself for letting her get away. For putting her in that vulnerable position.
Nolan ordered a couple of rounds of beer and we sat at the bar. He noticed I wasn’t speaking much.
“You all right?” he asked.
“I just want to find her and then I’ll be fine.”
He nodded, like he understood—but I doubted he did.
“I didn’t realize you actually care about her,” he said.
This wasn’t a conversation I ever had thought I’d have with anybody. Least of all, with my baby brother.
“She wasn’t the girl I expected to see,” I said.
Nolan asked me about Christie and if I’d gone to see her. I told him I had. I decided to be honest with him about everything that’d happened today.
“What were you expecting?”
“A pretty blonde girl who blushes when I look at her, I guess. I don’t know.”
“Well, she’s obviously grown up!”
“But there’s no trace of the chick I fell for eleven years ago. It was all a lie. She told me they trained her on what to say and how to behave with me, what to wear, how to do her hair. Every fuckin’ thing.”
I emptied the beer down my throat, waiting for Nolan to say something.
“Sounds to me like a very well executed plan.”
“Yeah I fell for it. I was an easy target.”
“Yeah you were, because you were a kid. It could’ve happened to any of us, they just happened to choose you out of everyone else in the family. And it’s not something they could do to you now as an adult.”
“I have allowed Christie to dominate everything in my life. I knew it wasn’t real love. I knew at the back of my head I was just being a naive kid. But I compared everyone to her. Every chick was compared to Christie, and I’d never trust anyone.”
“Until you met Elsie.”
“I didn’t want to trust her.”
“But now you do.” Nolan smiled.
I knew I did, even if I didn’t admit it out loud. The thought of Elsie being kidnapped by Aldo made me angry.
“I think she gave up on me,” I said.
“What are you talking about?”
“She repeatedly tried to get through to me. Right from when we first met. I was hot a
nd cold with her. I guess I made her feel like I had no reason to trust her. That I’d never trust her no matter how hard she tried.”
“You guys haven’t known each other very long.”
“But given the circumstances, every hour feels like a year. We’ve been living together, and I know she’s lived in fear of Aldo. More importantly, she’ll be scarred for a lifetime because of what she witnessed. Her parents getting shot.”
“That must’ve been rough. Everyone else seemed to like her and trust her.”
“But they’re not willing to help me find her now.”
“They’ll come around eventually. You know how the Dohertys are. They start off by trusting nobody. Her sudden disappearance just makes them assume she’s running away from us.”
I said nothing to that. I was still fuming over the way Killian, my dad and the others reacted.
“She saved Davey, for fuck’s sake. Our nephew. We don’t know what Aldo would’ve done if Davey spent any more time as his prisoner. The least we can do for Elsie now is save her life,” I said.
“I know that,” Nolan replied, nodding his head.
I believed my brother genuinely wanted to help me find Elsie, but there wasn’t anything either of us could do at this point.
We sat there, drinking and stewing in the silences between us. Thankfully, Nolan gave me the space I needed while I fumed with anger and frustration. I had many regrets at this point. There were so many things I wished I’d done differently.
I never should’ve left Elsie today. Not when I knew she felt especially vulnerable.
I shouldn’t have prioritized Christie and I vowed I’d never do it again. If I could find Elsie now, I’d never let her go.
I checked my phone every few minutes, hoping there’d be some message or a phone call from somebody. With any leads.
If Aldo got his hands on her today, he wasn’t going to make it easy to find her. He’d make her pay for all the ways in which she betrayed him. I hated the thought of that.
When Killian and Colin showed up at the bar, I knew they’d texted with Nolan. How else would they’ve found us at this random spot?
“What do you guys want?” I growled at them.
I wasn’t going to forgive them easily for not being enthusiastic about finding Elsie.
“We wanted to check in on you, see if you’ve made any progress,” Colin said. Killian still looked like his usual broody self.
“Do you actually give a shit?” I snapped.
Colin glanced at Killian, and I sensed the two of them had talked.
“We went to see Brendan. Specifically, we went to see his kid. Davey. We wanted to know if he’d give us any insight on Elsie,” Killian replied.
I shifted in my chair. It had piqued my interest now. Why hadn’t I thought of talking to the kid? Elsie had spent a significant amount of time with him. He had trusted her.
“He only has good things to say about her. He said how kind and caring she was. That he felt safe with her,” Colin continued.
I clenched my jaws tightly, picturing Elsie right there. With her dark straight hair flowing around her shoulders, her big beautiful smile. Her body shuddering in my arms. I wanted to hold her again. I didn’t want her to be hurt again.
“We want to help you find her. She deserves to be kept safe for how she helped the family. Davey wants that too,” Killian added.
My mind whirred with ideas. The more I thought about it, the more confident I was we’d missed something crucial.
“We need to speak to Davey,” I said.
“Are you even listening to us? We spoke to him this evening. He confirmed what we thought of Elsie,” Colin said.
“Not about Elsie. We need to speak to him about Aldo. Maybe he knows more than we realize. He’s just a kid, he doesn’t know what’s important information that he should be sharing with us. We need to ask him the right questions,” I replied.
Twenty-Three
Elsie
I shouldn’t have wasted my time daydreaming about Tristian. What was the point? Aldo would never let me go.
But I couldn’t help myself. It was love at first sight, and in a way, I was glad I met him.
I remembered it clearly, the moment he first came into my line of vision.
His brother, Brendan, and Davey’s mom came charging into the abandoned farmhouse where I was hiding out with Davey in the dark. We heard their voices and Davey went running out towards them.
They shone their flashlights around and it was only after I was sure it was safe to come out that I stepped into the halo of their lights.
I didn’t see Tristian at first. He was at the back, behind Brendan and the woman who were both hugging and kissing Davey. It was an emotional moment. A union between parents and a little child who never deserved what had happened to him.
At that moment, I was glad Davey was reunited with his parents who’d keep him safe. Nothing else mattered as much, not even my safety. My parents’ death had changed something in me. I didn’t care what happened to me, as long as Davey made it out of there, safe.
I had tears in my eyes as I watched them, and then I saw Tristian. He stepped away from the others and came towards me. His silhouette was lit up in the flashlights and my first reaction to his physical presence was fear. He was very tall. Very muscular. The kind of man who’d crush me between his thumbs if he wanted to.
Then my vision adjusted and I saw his face.
He was the most handsome man I ever laid eyes on. Chiseled features, a light stubble and very bright green eyes. Just like Davey’s. There was no mistaking they were related.
“Are you okay?” he’d asked me.
I nearly fell into his arms with relief. I couldn’t believe we’d made it out alive to the other side. That Aldo’s men hadn’t apprehended us already. I nodded vigorously at him, quaking at the idea of being touched by him.
I’d never wanted a man as desperately as I wanted him.
The striking clash between his intimidating physical appearance with the softness in his voice, the look of concern on his face—fired up something in my loins I didn’t realize could be awoken so quickly.
I was surprised by my own reaction to him.
“They’ll kill me if they find me,” I whispered to him.
Tristian watched me closely, his eyes narrowing on me. He had tried to figure me out at exactly that moment.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” he’d said.
And he stuck to his promise.
This was all my fault.
I’d been given very little to eat, very little to drink—since I was captured by the Barons and imprisoned in this windowless room. I was aware of the armed men outside the door because I heard their muffled voices through the walls. Aldo wasn’t taking any chances this time. The last time, he’d been too lenient with me and I managed to run away.
I spent most of my time now thinking about Tristian and how foolish I’d been for running away from him.
I couldn’t even remember why I did it.
Why did I leave his apartment? That was the one place I would’ve been safe. Aldo wouldn’t have been able to touch me. Libby would still be alive.
Was my ego so much more important than my life?
Just because he’d rejected me, I put my life in danger?
I should’ve known from the beginning that Tristian Doherty and I would never have a future together. Our worlds would never meet. Maybe I wasn’t even his type.
He took me because I was available for the taking.
The things I felt for him when we had sex—it had to have all been one sided. It wasn’t real.
When the door of the room burst open and two men marched in, I barely had any energy left in me to react to their presence. They came straight at me and started untying the chords that bound me to the chair. They left the gag in my mouth so I couldn’t ask them what was happening.
Not that they’d tell me.
They held me tight, dragging me out o
f the room and through the building until they deposited me in another room.
This was an office with cabinets and files. Another room I was familiar with because I had worked here before.
I knew why I was brought here.
The men forced me to sit down behind a desk and finally took my gag off.
I gasped for fresh air, sucking in lungfuls of it and trying to get my breathing back to normal. I was sure I would’ve passed out pretty soon if they hadn’t removed it now.
“You will continue your work,” one of the men growled at me.
“You know what to do,” the other one said.
I looked up at them with my lips pursed tightly together. My hands were shaking. I wanted to spit at their faces. I wanted to refuse to do their bidding, but I knew it’d be foolish.
The best thing I could do was keep quiet and do as I was told. Or at least create the impression I was obedient.
They left me in the room and locked the door behind them. I heard their voices outside so I knew they hadn’t gone far.
It was probably Aldo’s orders to never leave me alone. Not for a second. Until he didn’t have any use for me anymore.
I didn’t know how long I’d been left alone in that room before Aldo finally showed up.
The stuff I worked on was complicated. They wanted me to create a financial plan for laundering money, without leaving any paper trail. Nothing that’d pin back to Aldo and his family.
Without the proper nutrition I needed, or the rest my body craved—I felt exhausted and completely spent. I wasn’t even able to think straight or come up with creative ideas, or even to keep my eyes open. It proved to be a much harder task than I’d initially thought.
So when Aldo showed up at the door with a sandwich on a plate and a juice box, I was actually relieved to see him. I stared at him hungrily. I couldn’t keep the desperation off my face.
He smiled, and for a moment I almost believed he was happy to see me.
