AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was struggling with this the most. I was trying to figure out which Armando was the real one. Knowing that he had done this, I don’t know if I could move forward. The man I had come to rely on for emotional support could torture someone. I knew it shouldn’t matter that he tortured or killed someone, but there was a difference to me. Anyone could kill someone.
I could kill someone. That wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities, especially if my child’s life depended upon it. However, not everyone could torture someone. Not everyone could listen to someone screaming in pain and begging for mercy and keep going. It didn’t seem like it bothered Armando; that spoke volumes of the type of man he was.
“It’s not nothing to him. I know he comes across as cold-hearted, a merciless killer, but it bothers him. It didn’t happen overnight; it’s from a childhood of abuse. And I know you could argue that he could have left and didn’t need to stay after eighteen, but you need to realize that he couldn’t leave. There is no leaving this world alive, especially for the future heir. His father was horrific to him. When his mother was killed, his father started to groom him. He’s had to see people get tortured from a very young age. His father had his own guys lightly torturing him from his thirteenth birthday and it got worse the older he got.”
I felt a knot within my stomach starting to form. I knew from what little Armando had said about growing up that things were rough for him. I didn’t expect for it to be as rough as this. Your parents are supposed to protect you. They are supposed to love you and be there to make sure you don’t get hurt. They aren’t supposed to be the ones to cause you pain. They aren’t supposed to be the ones you fear, and it sounded like that was precisely what Armando’s father had been.
“His own father actually had him tortured?” I asked softly.
“He did. He called it light torture because nothing was done to him that couldn’t heal. But your mind doesn’t know the difference when you are a child or a young teenager. He used to be a really sweet kid. He was always taking photos and he loved to read. He had an eye for business; he was always coming up with new businesses to open. When he told me he wanted to take the organization legit, I wasn’t surprised. He’s always wanted to be away from this life, and I was happy to help him take the organization legitimately. That is still the plan once Dominic is taken care of. The man you see, the man who has taken care of you, is who Mando is. At his core, that’s the man he is.”
I could see that, but it was hard to see anything but what he had done to my father. “What he did to my father, though.”
“I know that is a huge pill to swallow. He cares about you. I think it shocked and scared him how much he cares for you. After everything with Alexis, he saw your father as a potential Dominic to you. Someone who has caused you pain and put you in the position to be killed. Put you and your baby at risk. I think it triggered his trauma with Alexis and he snapped. I’m not justifying his actions at all. You are entitled to feel however you wish to feel about it. I just don’t think he did it because he wanted to. I think he felt like the best way to give you justice was to kill your father that way.”
Part of me could understand that, but it was still hard to accept. Like Gabriele said, it was a massive pill to swallow, and it was not going down easily - that was for sure. It was going to take time. I needed time to sort out my feelings because I had feelings for Armando. I swore I wouldn’t allow myself to feel anything for him, and yet here I was, feeling. I hated that I had allowed what I felt for him to grow into something more. It was not a good place for me to be, and I didn’t know what to feel about it.
“I don’t know. I need time. I’ll behave and do what needs to be done to ensure Dominic is killed. But I have to get out of here as soon as possible. I need proper medical care.”
That was my biggest fear. I’ve had zero tests so far. Anything could be wrong with the baby and I wouldn’t know until it was too late. I had to get in to see a real doctor and it needed to be ASAP.
“We know you do. We’re doing our best to get you out of here within the next sixty days. I know it will be frustrating for you. I know you probably figure we could shoot him in the head and call it a day, but it’s not that simple.”
“Armando explained why you have to be careful with killing Dominic. That it could blow back to you and everyone back in New York. I understand it, but that doesn’t change that it is frustrating.”
I wish it didn’t have to be handled like this. I wish Armando could have just shot Dominic in the head, and it would be over and done with. The uncertainty of all of this only made my stress levels rise, which wasn’t good for the baby. I hated waiting around and letting other people act in my freedom. I wanted to help. I wanted to take matters into my own hands but couldn’t.
I had to wait around for some man to swoop in and save me, like I was some damsel in distress. But this wasn’t a romance movie. At any given second, something could go wrong and me and my baby could be killed. As much as I was going to hate it, I would have to keep biding my time and waiting for Armando to make his move so I could escape.
“I know I can’t fully understand what you are going through. I’ve never been in your position and obviously I never will be, but I do know what it feels like to have to wait for your life to start and I am very sorry that you have to endure this,” he said with deep sincerity to his voice.
“I’ll endure whatever I have to if, in the end, I get to have my baby.” And that’s really what it came down to. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do if it meant I could have my baby and be a mom. It was everything to me. “Armando said he could get me new identification after all this was over. Is that really possible?” I wanted to believe him, but it was hard because that meant hope, and I wasn’t ready to truly start hoping yet.
“It is and he can make it happen. We have a lot of connections from the organization. He can get false IDs, even passports that can pass inspection so you can fly. He’ll get you all set up with everything you need, including a home and enough money so you won’t have to worry about working again.”
“I have no interest in his money.”
I wasn’t about to take any money from him. It would be tempting, obviously, but I wanted to work. I wanted to support myself and show my child the value of hard work. I had no idea what I would be doing, but I wasn’t going to sit around and let someone else pay my way.
“Ya, he’s going to be giving you some regardless. He’s not going to have you out on your own with a soon-to-be baby and no money. That’s going to be something to make peace with. If it helps, you could look at it like compensation for the trauma you have endured,” he said with a slight shrug.
Like there was any amount of money that would make what they have done right. I knew this wasn’t Armando’s and Gabriele’s fault that I was in this position. That landed firmly on my father’s and Dominic’s plate. Still, being kidnapped and trapped here was always going to be something I carried with me, and no amount of money was going to make it right. The only thing that would be my freedom; all I could do was hope it came sooner rather than later.
Chapter twenty-two
Armando
I pulled into the compound, and my stomach instantly twisted into tight knots. I hated being here. It was one of the housing compounds the organization uses to keep the women within the sex trafficking ring. I hated being here. Dom’s organization had five compounds just like this one. All of them held multiple rundown houses one step above a shack.
The women would be housed and kept in them when not working in one of the private clubs. None of the women within Dom’s trafficking ring worked the streets because he prided himself on being high-end, meaning that all women had to look good. It wasn’t that simple, though, because he also made sure they were all addicted to heroin, so the turnaround was rather high. If they weren’t overdosing by accident or on purpose, they were killed because they no longer fit Dom’s standards.
Every six months, the women would be transported to a new compound so the women didn’t get too comfortable with each other. There had been problems in the past with them banding together to try and escape. If they were all shuffled around and put in a new place, they wouldn’t be able to escape, and it would take time for them to create new connections with each other. New girls would be filtered into the different compounds when they came up.
I hated being here. I hated seeing the look in the women’s eyes as they had a hood placed over their head and loaded up into moving vans. There were only two looks: either terrified of what could happen to them or they were dead. I didn’t know what look was worse.
If they were scared, I felt like an asshole for bringing that fear into them, but it meant they felt something. With the dead look, they had completely shut themselves off from all emotions and the world. They were defeated and had accepted their fate. In a lot of ways, that was worse.
I pulled my truck up and parked it along one of the box trucks. I pushed down my emotions. I couldn’t let any of the other guys see me upset, and I couldn’t let the women see it. If they thought I had an issue with what was being done to them, they would try and get me on their side, much like Natalie. Unlike Natalie, they would be horribly punished and only wish they were dead. With Natalie, we were alone as there was no one there to watch our interactions. The best way to keep these women safe was for them to believe I was just like every other asshole here.
