by Kasey Krane
But then he put the food down on the desk in front of me and picked up the sandwich and took a big bite out of it.
I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep myself from screaming. I wanted to lash out at him, rip his eyeballs out with my nails. I hated him so much. I’d never wished death on anybody before, but I wished it on him. For everything he’d done.
“How much longer do you need?” he asked as a conversation starter.
“I don’t know. This stuff is complicated. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up,” I replied truthfully.
Aldo took another bite and then drank some of the juice. We both knew how hungry I was, and watching him eat and drink torturous. And that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted me to see just how much power he exerted on me.
“This your plan?” he continued. “To extend this task for as long as possible because you think that’s going to keep you alive? You don’t think I can be done with you at any point and replace you with any accountant I pick up off the streets.”
“I don’t care if I live or die anymore,” I hissed.
Aldo nodded, washing down another bite of the sandwich with the juice.
“I’m glad to hear you say that, darling. I don’t feel so bad about what I’m going to do to you.”
I finally made peace with the idea of my death. Aldo was going to murder me and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. My end was inevitable, just like my father’s and mother’s had been.
But I wasn’t going to help him. I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do. He could kill me, torture me…whatever he wanted to do, but he’d have to find someone else to do his dirty work for him.
Twenty-Four
Tristian
Killian, Colin, Nolan and I landed up at Brendan’s place in the middle of the night. I knew it wouldn’t go down well with him now that he had a family. I had firsthand experience of how protective he was of his son and I didn’t blame him.
However, I needed his cooperation on this one.
Brendan opened the door, surprised to see us, but he welcomed us in.
“You boys hungry?” Rosalie called out from the kitchen.
It looked like they’d just cleaned up their meal for the night, and it left me with a painful pang in the middle of my chest. It reminded me of how Elsie and I had shared a meal not too long ago.
How adorably greedily she’d wolfed down that pizza. I wanted to lick the tomato sauce off her lips. It was the only thing I’d thought about as I watched her eat.
“Not here to eat,” I said.
Brendan looked suspiciously at me; maybe he had already figured out what this was about. Nobody in the world knew me as well as he did. We had grown up together. He was the one I was closest to in the family.
So I turned to him.
“I need to speak to Davey.”
Rosalie came up behind him while Brendan’s eyes grew dark and narrow.
“Davey is asleep. It’s past fuckin’ midnight. Why do you need to speak to him?” he growled.
“I want to try and figure out if he can give us any clues on where he was held.”
Brendan banged a fist on the kitchen table. It was a sudden outburst and startled Rosalie, but I wasn’t surprised by it.
“You need to keep my son out of whatever shitshow you have going on with that chick, Tristian. You were just supposed to watch her, make sure she wasn’t spying on us for the Barons. Do you have any absolute proof she isn’t an informant?” Brendan’s face grew hot and red as he spoke. He grew angrier and angrier by the second.
“This is a shitshow because she’s missing and I know she’s been captured by them again. She is not an informant. She needs our help before it’s too late. I don’t need to explain to you what Aldo is capable of doing to her to pay for rescuing Davey.”
Brendan’s shoulders heaved with anger.
“I’m not letting Davey relive his experience with Aldo Baron. I’m not putting my son through it. Not even for the sake of your new fuckbuddy.”
I stepped up to him, my fists clenched and ready for a fight. Brendan didn’t back off, but Rosalie stepped in.
She grabbed Brendan’s arm, forcing him to turn to look at her.
“Davey can handle it. We need to do our part to return the favor. She saved our son’s life. It’s the least we can do. The least Davey can do.”
Brendan’s face tightened with anger but I had a feeling he wouldn’t contest her. Rosalie turned to me next.
“I can wake him up and you can try talking to him, but I don’t know how much help he’ll be. He’s only three,” she said.
“He’ll be more helpful than any of my other informants have been,” I replied.
She nodded, throwing Brendan a look before she went away to go fetch my nephew.
Davey took some time to fully wake up. His mother had to make him a large mug of hot cocoa and offer him a few cookies before he was awake and excited enough to talk to us.
If he was intimidated by seeing all these people around him, he didn’t show it. For a three year old, he was pretty gutsy, had to hand it to him. Even though we were all family, he didn’t actually know any of us because he hadn’t even known Brendan was his dad.
Now, Brendan pulled him into his lap and Davey sat in front of me, nibbling on a cookie in one hand and clutching a teddy bear with the other.
I wasn’t exactly an expert at talking to kids either, so neither of us knew what we were doing.
“Hi Davey, sorry for waking you up, but I hoped you’d be able to help me,” I began.
Davey looked at his mother who nodded at him, so he smiled at me.
“You remember Elsie? The nice lady who helped you get away from those bad men?”
Davey nodded.
“She needs your help now. Do you think you’d be able to help us?”
He nodded again. So far so good, but maybe Rosalie was right and Davey didn’t actually know anything that’d be useful to us. But I still had to try.
“Do you remember the night when you got away from that place? The place they kept you?”
“I remember,” he replied in a sweet voice.
Brendan brushed his hair lovingly, and I knew he was nervous. He so badly wanted to protect his son from those bad memories. I didn’t want to hurt Davey either, but right now I was desperate.
“Is there anything you remember about the building?” I asked.
I specifically asked him things we hadn’t questioned Elsie on already. We hadn’t focused on trying to extract information on their location so far. We didn’t think it’d actually lead to anything, or that Elsie and Davey remembered.
But what if Aldo hadn’t moved from that place? What if Davey remembered more than we thought he did?
Davey shrugged now, looking around the room.
“It was dark,” he replied.
“Okay, yeah, it was dark. I’m sure it was difficult for you to see anything clearly, but do you remember anything at all? The color of the walls? The color of the door? Were there fields around? Or a road?” I spoke too fast, feeling desperate to arrive at some answers. It had only been a few minutes and I was already losing hope with this.
What was I thinking?
Davey was just a kid.
“There were cows. I saw cows, Mommy,” Davey said excitedly, turning to his mother who smiled and nodded at him.
“That’s very good, honey,” she said.
“Cows? You saw cows? Like at a farm?”
“Yeah, like Old Mac Donald’s farm!” he exclaimed, giggling.
Honestly, I felt like giggling too. This was the biggest lead we’d received so far.
Aldo was hiding out on a farm.
“What else did you see when you and Elsie ran away?” I continued.
There was complete silence in the room because everyone was focused on Davey and me. Even Brendan had shut up by now and didn’t have any objections to the conversation.
Davey shrugged again, drank some of his cocoa and s
nuggled into his father’s chest.
“There was a river. Elsie told me it was a river. I thought it was a sea,” he said with a smile.
“Okay, that’s good, keep going, kid,” I said.
“Then we went into a jungle. I asked Elsie if there would be tigers in there but she said no. There weren’t any tigers. I didn’t see any.”
Rosalie and Brendan smiled at that.
“Did you see any signs?” I asked.
“He can’t read properly, he’s not quite there yet,” Rosalie interrupted.
I regretted not asking Elsie all these questions already. She would’ve had a much better idea than Davey did, but it was too late now.
“But Mommy, I saw a sign for a bird.”
“A bird?” I asked. My interest piqued.
“In the jungle. There was a sign for a bird. Elsie said it was because we might see the bird and that the birds had to be protected.”
“It’s the eagle sanctuary spot,” I mumbled.
“What?” Nolan asked because he hadn’t heard what I’d said.
“I think I know where Aldo’s hiding. At least the general area of it.”
Rosalie pulled Davey into her arms and hugged him tightly in celebration. Brendan looked at me and I nodded.
“Thanks. This is going to help me. Us. Hopefully, Aldo is still hiding out on some farm in that area. I’ll find them if they’re there,” I said.
Brendan came up to me and stuck his hand out.
“I wasn't trying to undermine the importance of finding this girl, Tristian,” he said.
“I get it. You want to protect Davey. Your family. They’re the most important things to you.”
“You get it now?” Brendan asked, studying me closely. “You like this girl?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. There wasn’t any point hiding it from him. “And right now, we need to have a family meeting so we can plan out how to get her back. Because I am getting her back. I’m not letting Aldo hurt her.”
Twenty-Five
Elsie
Once the men had decided I’d worked long enough for the day, they opened the door and came in to get me.
They pulled me off the chair by both my arms, and once again, they dragged me down the corridors of the building, back to the room I’d live in. Rot in.
I would have killed one of them for a shower. If I could. But there wasn’t any hope for that.
When we reached the room, one of them stood guard outside while the other one escorted me back in. Just the sight of the chair in the middle of the floor sent shivers down my spine.
Would they tie me up for the rest of the night? Would I have to sleep in that position? Or would they just wait until I passed out from exhaustion and starvation?
The guy forced me down on the chair while my eyes filled with tears.
“Please, just let the gag stay off. I promise I won’t make a squeak. I just want to be able to breathe,” I begged him, meeting his drowsy looking sunken eyes.
He didn’t say anything as he tied up my ankles and wrists in the usual way. Making sure I wouldn’t escape. Where did they think I’d go?
“Please?” I begged him in a huskier voice when he brought his face close to mine. The man met my eyes and clenched his jaws. The gag in his hand was stuffed into the pocket of his pants.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“If you make a sound, even if you breathe loudly, I’ll come back in here and the gag goes on.”
I nodded.
“And what do I get in return for this favor?” he growled, his face still close to mine. His hot breath fell on my face, and my stomach churned with disgust. I knew what he expected of me.
“Now that you got your pretty little mouth open, you’re free to do as you please. Maybe you should put it to some use.”
He straightened up. I heard his belt being undone. I spat at him before he moved away.
My spittle flew and landed straight on his jaw and he growled and stumbled backwards. The impact of me spitting on him had a similar effect as a punch. It made me smile.
“You fuckin’ bitch!” he growled, slapping me hard across the face. Almost as hard as Aldo had before.
Needless to say, he pulled the gag out of his pocket. I would be denied the privilege of being able to breathe properly tonight.
But I didn’t care.
It was a small price to pay for what he wanted me to do for him. I would’ve rather died first.
Aldo would eventually figure it out. He’d know I messed with the numbers and that’s why the IRS was coming after him. My only hope was that it’d be too late for him to do anything about it by then.
I’d spent the past several hours trying to work out a way that would fuck him over. I knew I was going to die. There was no way I was being allowed to live, and it’d be my last fuck you to Aldo for everything he’d put me through. For what he did to my family and the Dohertys.
He wanted me to secure his money, and I had done the opposite.
While I sat gagged and tied to the chair in the middle of the room, with nothing but the stale cold air in here to keep me company, I thought about my dad.
I’d thought about my mom recently too. She had always loved him. I had always considered them to have a happy and supportive marriage. They told each other everything, respected and encouraged each other. I considered myself lucky for having parents and a family that made me feel so secure.
I never got the chance to find out how much Mom actually knew. We didn’t exactly get an opportunity to talk about it. Aldo had killed her before she even got a chance to say goodbye.
But it seemed to me like she wasn’t surprised when Aldo showed up. She wasn’t even upset or mad at my dad for the kind of evil he’d brought into our home.
Dad actually looked more surprised than she did. It was almost like he had never imagined the possibility that Aldo would involve his family in their business dealings. It was hard for me to believe my father might’ve been that naive. Where did he think that relationship was going to lead him?
How could he have trusted this man and gotten involved with the mafia?
I still couldn’t believe it.
My life had taken such an unexpected turn.
I tried to imagine what my father would say to me now if he knew what happened to me.
He would’ve told me to do whatever it took to save my life. To work as hard as Aldo wanted me to. To be courteous and polite and fight to stay alive. That was what he would have done. That was what he had probably done since he got involved with Aldo.
And a fat lot of luck that brought him!
I wasn’t going to kiss Aldo’s ass. I couldn’t pretend, even if I wanted to. My hatred for him was pretty apparent.
And then I thought about Tristian and how I’d never see him again. I hoped he would have a fulfilling life. I hoped his family would remain as close as I witnessed them to be.
I had never imagined I’d be this calm about impending doom.
I must’ve dozed off at some point because I woke up with a start when the door to the room opened and Aldo stepped in again.
I had no idea what time it was. Because there weren;t any windows in the room; I had no concept of light or day or night.
Aldo had a cigar burning between his fingers in one hand and carried another sandwich on a paper plate in the other. I didn’t expect anything from him. I figured he’d come to taunt me with this other sandwich, but this time, he came over and took off my gag.
“I made you this sandwich myself, would you like to try it?” he asked, a smile curling his lips.
I expected it to be poisoned. Something was fishy. There was no way he’d made me a sandwich himself and brought it over for me to enjoy. Aldo had better things to do.
But by now I hadn’t eaten in what felt like over twenty-four hours, and the thought of biting into a sandwich made my stomach tighten with hunger. He must’ve noticed the greed in my eyes because he came closer, holding the sandwich out tow
ards my mouth.
“Tell me what you think. I’ve used English mustard instead of the French kind.”
I took a small bite. My mouth watered as I chewed. It tasted like the best thing I had ever had, but obviously, given the circumstances—anything would’ve tasted amazing.
“My mother used to make the best sandwiches in the world,” Aldo said, holding it out for me again.
I took a second bite, I couldn’t help myself. Despite knowing there was a good chance it was going to kill me.
“It’s a shame your mother had to die. Well, she didn’t have to die,” he continued.
“Then why did you kill her?”
“Because she was there, and I didn’t see the point of keeping her alive. I knew what I’d do with you—you were of some use to me. Keeping her alive would’ve meant spending time and resources on keeping her as a prisoner. As you can see, I’m not running my usual operations at the moment.”
When he brought the sandwich to me again, I turned my head. Two bites of it was all I needed. I could survive another twenty-four hours on those two bites if I had to.
Aldo shrugged and proceeded to wolf down the rest of the sandwich.
So he hadn’t poisoned it after all…
“But don’t blame me, darling. This is all your daddy’s fault. If he paid up in time, kept up his end of the bargain, none of this would’ve happened.”
I needed him to step just a little closer and I’d spit on him too. He had it coming. It was my only line of defense. But before I’d done anything, I heard a gunshot.
It sounded like it came from somewhere outside the building.
I snapped my head around to look at Aldo because I was sure he had heard it too.
And he did.
He suddenly looked very afraid.
Twenty-Six
Tristian
Once I spoke to Davey, I had a general idea of where Aldo and his men were possibly hiding. It wasn’t a location I was very familiar with, but I was able to narrow it down.
