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Then a light blares to life!
I close my eyes but it’s not enough. White flares break through my eyelids and it magnifies the throbbing wound in my head. I grunt in pain.
As it subsides, I hear Marco laughing.
He walks into the room being used to hold me and his shadow blocks some of the blinding light. I glance up at him with one eye, my breath even tighter and more labored. He’s squatting over me and grinning, “Should’ve left the door locked, Sophie.”
I grit my teeth but don’t say anything. I hate him so much. I hate him with every ounce of my body. So much so that the sense of betrayal lights a fire of anger within me. I groan at him through the gag. He has me tied up and at his mercy for some reason I don’t knowwhy.
He chuckles as he picks me and the chair up with one hand. The force of him setting me down sends a new wave of pain ricocheting into my head. I strain against the ropes and grunt as I try to get at him. It burns my flesh.
“You know it’s been an absolute pleasure ruining your life these last months.” He’s still grinning that stupid smile of his like he’s a dog with two dicks. His hands are in his pockets and he’s cool. “Really, it’s been great. Easier than I suspected.” He strolls back to the door and says something to the men waiting outside, they close the doors and it’s just us now in this metal cube. I recognize it now as a shipping container. “Of course, you weren’t meant to be in the picture, but it’s funny how fate works out isn’t it?” He laughs and comes towards me, taking the gag from my mouth and letting it sit around my chin.
I rip my head away from him. I still don’t understand what is going on. The whole thing is crazy. How the hell has he done this? Why? But they’re all pointless questions, all that matters is he’s betrayed us.
Us?...
I suddenly remember Luca leaving for the warehouse. What happened there? Was that another trap, or wasIthe trap? Marco trapped him by getting me? My wrists are sweaty as I pull at the bonds. I strain against the rope and Marco grins, thinking it’s for him. But it’s for Luca. It’s for the man I—I shake the image of Luca and I together from my head. There’s worse problems right now.
Like the man right in front of me. Marco. The anger begins to dissipate slowly, the sense of betrayal simmers and I can breathe properly. I need to figure out my next step here. “Aren’t you meant to be Luca’s best friend?” I ask.
Marco laughs. “You and Luca are destined for each other.” His face darkens. “You’re both blind and stupid. Deaf to everyone around you and completely oblivious to the real world. Although,” he pauses and grins. It’s pure evil. “You did guess that someone was turning you against one another, so bravo.” His eyes grow angry and he advances on me. “You’re both so self involved in your own wants and beliefs, that you don’t even see how you treat other people. Yes, I was Luca’s best friend for a long time. But like I said before, Luca’s greed has always been control. And well, it’s kind of mine too. See I grew up with nothing, as I told you, but do you know what it's like to have nothing and then be saved by someone like him? To have to feel grateful all the time? To have to feel indebted? Your entire life?”
“But you guys share so much?” I say. The shock is still struggling to move through my thick head and let me process it. Maybe it’s the fact that my head is ringing in pain?
“And yet not enough,” he says. “Luca is gifted with so many opportunities and all he does is push his stupid fucking design label. Like I get it, it was a good idea to move drugs and launder money. But that’s it. Other than that, he complains over his father not giving him the recognition he deserves … And what about everyone else?” Marco waves his hand away in anger. “And to think, I almost buried my past to live in his shadow!”
The shock too begins to subside, and now the ropes are hurting me. I’ve been stripped to my underwear and the rope is burning my skin with each movement I make in the chair. Marco notices my discomfort.
“I must thank you for telling me of your pregnancy too, I tied them extra tight,” he says. Then laughs and it echoes around the small container.
“I still don’t understand—”
“And you won’t!” he screams, suddenly enraged and red faced. “People like you can never understand people like me. You are both selfish brats who have everything and complain constantly! You know nothing of work.” He paces back and forth, finally stopping in front of me. “But hard work gives rewards. Hard work makes you successful, where you are just entitled. Both of your father’s understood that, I assume that’s why they tied youtogether.There’s no other way to impress the lesson upon you without forcing it down your throat, even if both of you don’t get it.”
I swallow and try to wiggle my hands currently tied up behind me. My body tiring and searing with rope burns is beginning to freak me out. I need to keep him occupied and somehow think of a way to escape. I need the light … “You don’t know my father,” I say. “He’s not like you.”
“Of course he isn’t like me,” he says, turning around and heading to the door. He pauses with his hand pressed against the door. “But he would respect me for what I’ve done.”
“No he wouldn’t,” I say. I just need to keep him occupied, I believe. The light will give me a way out. I just need—
“Michael respected me,” Marco whispers.
I stop trying to escape. I freeze and my skin begins to crawl at the way he’s just spoken. My flesh prickles and the chair is the only thing holding me up.
“He respected me all my life.” Marco turns around, walking toward me with eyes dark and evil. “He respected me even as I killed him. Although he couldn’t say it, I’d cut his tongue out.”
I shudder, and the question is pulled from me before I can stop myself. “But I heard the voice message. I heard him calling Luca …”
Marco’s grin leaves me writhing in discomfort. “You think he only died then? I had all that funaftergiving him his one chance to say goodbye to his son. He begged for it after I’d shot him.” Marco stops, squatting in front of me. “Even then he wasted it. He didn’t tell his son how he felt about him, he didn’t say anything meaningful. Respectful. He just wasted it trying to tell Luca aboutme.”
Marco grips my legs with cold hands and I scream.
“But he respected me as I killed him because I was doinghard work. Don’t you see Sophie? I was being greedy. But I was doing what needed to be done.”
I try to push away from him. I’m shaking again. All thoughts of escaping flee my body. I feel weak in the two strong hands of Marco.
“And when Luca finally loses, and he sees what hard work really is, he’ll respect me too.”
