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I was reading to Bianca, something we did every day. I hadn’t been afforded much for her, but she had a collection of ten books now, scraps that had been found here and there and a couple I had convinced Jonas to have his men get for Bianca on one of his good days. She couldn’t just do nothing.
My hand was running mindlessly through her silky blonde hair, as I watched the fibers pull through my fingers. I jumped as the door burst open to reveal Jonas, sweating bullets and in a panic as I had never seen him before. He wasn’t exactly a coward. In fact, he was the total opposite. More reckless, If something had him running scared, then I was scared too. “You need to come with me right now. Do not ask any questions. Grab the child, and follow me,” he ordered again, panting in his shaky state. I somehow knew not to ask questions, to not put up a fight, so I just followed his instructions.
I grabbed Bianca, scooping her up into my arms, and followed him as he led us to the stairwell of the building We followed him through a heavy metal door which shut with a loud clang once we cleared the frame. Some of Jonas’ men were running down the stairs ahead of us. I could see that they were afraid of something, or someone. Had one of Jonas’ schemes finally caught up with him? It would figure that one day he would piss off the wrong guy. I always thought that would happen. If only it had happened sooner, I could have escaped this place and his grasp earlier.
I ran as fast as I could after him, Bianca clutched tightly around my neck and waist. It was getting hard to hold her, and I felt relief as we came to the bottom of the stairwell where everyone stopped. It was like they were waiting for an order form Jonas. Then, as he took his gun out of his pocket and began muttering, I started to worry. I kept staring at his gun; I’d been in situations with Jonas where he’d pulled his gun on me before but not with Bianca near. Not in the same room. Not in the same room with all of his men. They all had guns. Why did he need to have his drawn?
Jonas turned his dark eyes on me, staring right at me. I knew there was a reason for my eerie feeling, and that look was it. Bianca’s hand was squeezing mine tightly, and I thought about all those times I had wished for death since being taken by Jonas. He had killed my entire family and taken me away from all I knew when I was only sixteen. He had wasted no time raping me and making me his broken toy. It had been a lot to take. I didn’t have a purpose, and as I didn’t get saved or let go, I felt like my life was over. But this was the first time since I had met Jonas, looking at his red face and cold, dark eyes, that I really thought my death might be close. If it was just me I would beg him for it; I would beg him to release that bullet between my eyes finally and put me out of my life of misery. But it’s not. I have her. I never thought I would be a mother. Truth be told I never thought I had what it took. Now I look back at the younger version of me, the one who couldn’t be a mother – or didn’t think she would be a mother and I shake my head. I want to tell her that when you have a child, your entire life changes, it’s not just about you – it’s about your child and you will do everything and anything to protect them, even if that means being cut, burned, hit, and raped.
He began pacing back and forth at the bottom of that stairwell like a caged animal. He was indecisive at the moment, but I didn’t know what would win out. Bianca kept tugging at my shirt, but I didn’t dare look away from Jonas. I wasn’t going to miss whatever move he decided to make next. My instincts came over me. I would watch and assess, doing whatever I could to make sure both Bianca and I were safe in whatever this situation was. His gaze was terrifying in a way he had never been before. I was afraid of being tortured, of being raped when I got here, but I had never been utterly frightened this way before.
One of his men tugged at his sleeve. “You need to make your decision and go. I am getting the cars ready. The estimate is 20 men he is bringing with him. Many cars. He will obliterate us,” the man whispered into Jonas’ ear. Who was coming with so many men? Was someone finally coming for me? I never imagined Jonas would be so good at keeping a secret with all the messes he made previously. Maybe for the last eight years, just maybe, he had. If we were going to make it out of there, I had to be strong and protect Bianca. It was the only shot we had. This was the first opening I had seen since I had been taken.
Jonas stared at me, harder than he had before. It was like he had a laser focused right on me. I saw something click; a decision had been made. “Bianca, I need you to come to your father, p
lease,” he said in the calmest voice I had heard him use in this eight years I had been his sick little doll. What the hell was he thinking, calling Bianca to him like that? He had never had any interest in her before, and though she was four, she was very bright. She had obviously picked up on his hatred and disinterest in her. I could feel her cling to my arm tighter, instead of following his order.
I had to be dreaming. I had half a mind to pinch myself really hard so that I would wake up in that dingy room where I had spent the last four years with Bianca and chalk it all up to a stressful nightmare. But it was all too real. I understood at that moment what Jonas wanted. He was never going to kill her, even if he wanted to so badly. She was another link to the Vasile blood line. She was a child he could use in just the same way he had wanted to use me. She was a pawn in his game of chess.
Did he plan to take Bianca and kill me? The thought left a sour feeling in my stomach. I was not so afraid of death, but I was afraid of what would happen to my precious daughter if I left her alone in the world with no one but Jonas to care for her. Even if someone was coming for me, no one would know Bianca existed. Jonas had clearly told no one. She would be lost until Jonas decided she was old enough to make arrangements for her; arrangements that would put him or someone else he trusted in power over the clans.
Jonas would surely draw up a marriage contract just the way my father had done for me. Only, I knew my father had done it for my security as well as the security of the stability of the mafia clans. I could remember the family of the man I was supposed to marry. I remembered meeting the man when I was very young. They were not abusive people. They were people my father trusted to care for the clans and for me.
If Jonas set up such an arrangement for Bianca, it would have nothing to do with her. It would be for his own personal gain. She would be another pawn in the game he was playing in order to gain more power in the organized crime world. Over my damn dead body would I let my daughter, the most important person in the world to me, become a chess piece for Jonas to play. Even then, I would find a way to come back and haunt his every waking nightmare until he let Bianca go.
Raising his voice this time, Jonas attempted to get Bianca to comply once more. “Bianca, I said come here!” His voice scared her, and Bianca turned her back to him with a loud wail and tugged at my shirt again, looking up at me with her tearful eyes. She wanted me to tell her it was all going to be alright, that she didn’t have to do what Jonas told her to.
I wanted more than anything to tell her it was going to be okay, but I couldn’t lie to her. I had no clue if everything was going to be okay.
I ran my fingers through her hair and tried to remain strong as I turned her body towards me, she was hugging onto me as tightly as she could. If anyone came near me, they’d have to tear my arms away from my little girl. Jonas’ man came back in with another desperate plea that they needed to leave now before it was too late. I hoped the delay would mean he would just take us both with him and save my punishment for later. In another venue, with his gun put away, I knew I could save us both from the ultimate harm.
“Get out of the way,” Jonas ordered. His nostrils flaring and spit showering my direction. I wasn’t going to budge. He wasn’t getting his grubby hands on her unless he got through me first. Regardless of my past weaknesses with him and my lack of a weapon, I would fight to the death to keep Bianca away from him.
“I will not let you use Bianca the way you have used me. You’ll have to rip her from my arms!” I snapped, my feet planted firmly at the bottom of the stairwell.
Jonas took a deep breath in what I had hoped was a sign of him giving in for now. His gun lowered with the sigh, and I dared to relax. That was when he picked it back up lightning fast, aimed, and shot. I felt the pinch of the bullet landing on my left side and the blood that instantly began to run down my shirt. I fell helplessly to the floor as my breathing was restricted. Bianca let go of me as I fell back to the floor, she knelt down next to me, tugging at my shirt, crying. I couldn’t be sure what he had hit, but I expected it had affected my lung or diaphragm in some way. My body was rendered useless by that one shot. It wasn’t a kill shot. It was something he had done on purpose; allowing it to take time as I bled out all over the white floor.
Bianca was crying endlessly; she knew I had been hurt. A panicked, “Momma!” rang from her lips over and over as I struggled to catch a good breath and find a way to get through this. I grabbed her hand, trying to use my other arm to support myself up but it was no use – I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Grab Bianca!” Jonas’ order to his men sounded far away.
“Get her in the car!” he barked.
I watched in horror as my sight faded, my breathing labored further, while my daughter was torn away from me by these disgusting criminals. She put up a fight, but a four-year old’s kicks were not going to harm such large men. They ignored it, and she disappeared to the other side of the door that led out of that stairwell. I felt the tears pouring out of the corners of my eyes, wanting my daughter, wanting to know that I was going to be okay, that she was going to be okay. I couldn’t know that though, and with her being in Jonas’ care I knew that she wouldn’t be.
“You made me do that, Mariana. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you left me no choice.” Jonas’ voice sounded like a serpent, and I wanted to wretch, or perhaps that was the pain in my side. He came up close to me, squatting over my bleeding body.
“You know, for a Vasile, you have always seemed so weak and mediocre, and you aren’t even that beautiful. You look nothing like your mother did. Maybe I should have kept her for my pleasures instead.” He spat on my face, but I couldn’t reach up to wipe it away. I didn’t have the strength.
His words were hurtful, though I never expected him to like me. I was a tool. I knew that, but he wasn’t usually one for sharing those feelings. He truly expected me to die right there on the bottom step. I probably would.
“In a strange way, I’ll miss you Mariana.” He said that in an almost whisper.
With my last bit of strength, I gritted my teeth through the blood and the pain, panting at him angrily. “I will find you, and I will kill you, Jonas Masterson. Nothing can keep me away from my daughter. Just wait and see.” His sickening laughter had echoed throughout the stairwell before he went for the door. I didn’t see whether he walked out or not. My vision went black, and there was just nothing.
Chapter 5
Ion
