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No, that was a foolish thought. I was incapable of such a feat, especially when I’d never picked a pocket. It would be too much of a risk, but I wasn’t sure if I had another choice. Could I do it?
The door opened after a long time of considering, and when a dainty woman came down the stairs, I paused, looking her over suspiciously. It made no sense why they would send a petite woman like her, especially one with a perpetually downcast gaze and a weak demeanor. I hated to think about how she’d become such a woman. Had she been someone else before they’d captured and broken her? Had she been resilient and bold? Had she been a survivor? I hated considering what I’d need to do to this woman to escape when I knew she’d been in my shoes at one point.
“I’m here to wash you and take your photos,” she said meekly.
“Fuck off,” I spat at her.
She flinched at my tone but didn’t back down. “I don’t want to do this either, but there’s no choice. I have to have your photos taken. The better you look, the more likely you’ll go to a man who won’t hurt you as badly. I have to do this.”
I turned over her words and saw them for the mercy they were. She wanted me to go to a good home because she cared about me surviving this shitshow of a world, and I hated that my only option of escape came from using her. Maybe I could take her with me…
“Help me get out, and I’ll help you,” I begged her, pulling on my shackles and standing. “We can both do this, and I’ll protect you. I know someone who can protect both of us.”
Her eyes darkened. “Nobody gets out. I’ve seen people die because they were ignorant enough to try, and I won’t be one of them. So, hold still while I get the dirt washed off your skin and make you look halfway presentable.”
“I’m not letting you do this,” I told her. “You’re not going to list me for sale on some black-market site. I told Virgil I wouldn’t make it easy, and I meant every word of it.”
“Then you want to die,” she said, reaching into a bucket of water and grabbing a sponge. She was going to wash me as if I were a car. It sickened me, and I took a step away from her. She ground her teeth, finally gaining something of a backbone. “If I can’t get this done, I’ll suffer the consequences just like you. Please, work with me.”
My heart broke. She had to be in a position just like mine. I couldn’t see any other way, so I straightened my shoulders. I would get out of here, and if I saw a way to use her, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. But I couldn’t make her suffer for my insolence. It wasn’t fair for either of us. Maybe if I found a way out, I’d make my way back to her and show her that escape didn’t mean death. “Fine,” I told her.
Relief flashed in her eyes, and she stepped forward with the sponge. She gently wiped my face, and I saw blood and dirt on the sponge as she pulled it away and strode back toward the bucket, rinsing it and coming back again. I wondered how I looked in this woman’s eyes. Was I just another of the women taken from the streets, or did she know my story? Did my story even matter when they planned on treating me just like any other person who was kidnapped and sold?
She eyed my arms and clicked her tongue. “I’m going to take off the shackles to clean under them. You have them too tight to work around,” she said. I held my breath, doing everything in my power not to look too excited. Still, she somehow saw the anticipation dripping from me as I watched her reach into her dress pocket and pull out a key. She strode toward me and gave a look of warning. “If you try anything, they willkillyou. I’ve seen it happen and don’t want it to happen again, okay? Do you understand?”
I looked to the floor, allowing my frown to deepen. I didn’t dare to look into her eyes, knowing that I’d somehow give away my lingering ideas of how to get out. I nodded solemnly. “I understand,” I told her.
She made quick work of taking off the chains and the wrist cuffs, and the moment the second one slid free, I struck. I didn’t allow myself to think as I shot forward and slammed a fist into her face, turning her and covering her mouth to keep all sounds silent. I thought back on what Frankie had taught me and wrapped my arm around her neck, careful to release her the second she went limp.
I had to move fast. I knew that when she woke, I’d be out of time, but…I took an extra second to lock the chains around her and toss the keys out of reach. If she were knocked out and chained, nobody would suspect her of helping me intentionally, and hopefully she wouldn’t suffer consequences. Hopefully. We’d have to come back for her. I’d make sure of it.
I stormed up the basement stairs, thinking only of escape. But as I reached the door, I realized I had to do something else. I couldn’t let Bella stay here, and I had no idea where they kept her. I was familiar with this place and could find her. I just had to look. I’d give myself two minutes to storm the home, and if I didn’t find her, I’d go straight to Frankie and tell him where we were. I wouldn’t put this place behind me until she was out safely, too.
I pushed through the door and looked around, finding the house empty. Voices came from the office upstairs—the man who took me from the bar, and someone I didn’t recognize. I avoided them, going toward the kitchen and the rooms off it first. I didn’t think they’d keep her in any of them, but I had to check the safest places first and pray I wouldn’t need to risk the most dangerous ones.
Parts of the kitchen I hadn’t completed were finished now, and I wondered if Adam had come back and done them without me or if Virgil had hired someone else. Given what I was currently facing, it was a stupid thought, but I couldn’t help but wonder as I exhausted the last safe option and internally groaned. I had to check upstairs. I couldn’t let Bella stay here any longer.
I marched toward the staircase furthest from the office and began walking up it, noticing that it too had been finished and decorated. My eyes lingered on the photos that lined the staircase. They all looked so innocent—Virgil and his late wife. He and his parents. He and who I assumed to be his son in a graduation cap. The features of the man looked familiar, and I wanted to vomit as I made the connection. The man who had taken me from the club was Virgil’sson.He was younger in the photo, but he had the same eyes. The same slightly crooked nose and player’s smile.
I continued upward quickly, not pausing to look at any photos too long. Not until the last one. Virgil stood, holding a woman to his side and smiling broadly as she held her diploma. I squinted at the name on it and audibly gasped.Bella Lucchese, the diploma read. There, in that photo, was Bella. She leaned into Virgil in a way that reminded me of how I leaned into my brother when we took photos. Virgil looked almost paternal. It couldn’t be possible that Bella was related to him, but the pieces began falling into place one by one. She’d never said a bad word about the Luccheses, even in our conversations about them. She’d been there when I’d been taken, but I hadn’t seen anyone grab her. When I mentioned her to Virgil, he only laughed and changed the subject. And when Virgil had been talking about her, he hadn’t said he planned to take her. He’d only said that he’duseBella.
It felt impossible to believe, but I had to acknowledge that it was the truth. Bella was the one they’d used to get information. She’d been the one poised to strike the Bonanno brothers down, and the realization felt impossible. I had to tell them. Carlo and his brothers had to know that Bella wasn’t loyal before she made her move. I prayed that she hadn’t already struck. I couldn’t be too late.
Quick footfall at the top of the stairwell drew my attention, and my eyes widened as I saw my kidnapper rushing toward me with narrowed, hateful eyes and an aura around him that told me I wouldn’t make it out of this house if he caught me. I turned and began leaping down the stairs two at a time, going fast enough that I could barely keep on my feet. “Stop!” he shouted, far closer than I’d expected. I tried to move faster, but a weight shoved at my back, and combined with the rapid movement of my feet, I lunged forward the last three steps, slamming my head into the final step and rolling the rest of the way. Disorientation consumed me as I tried to stand. I couldn’t force my limbs to do as I asked, even as the man stood over me and kicked me squarely in the stomach. I gasped, curling into myself.
“I let you get out alive last time. Don’t think I’ll offer that same courtesy a second time,” he said, kicking me again.
I coughed from this blow and wiped my mouth, relieved I didn’t find blood.
“How did you do it, huh?” he asked, crouching over my body and flicking a piece of hair from my face. It reminded me of a kind gesture I’d experienced dozens of times with Carlo, but this was anything but generous and caring. This man wanted control over me, and it was another way of showing it.
“Fuck you,” I spat.
He laughed deeply, amusement oozing from it. “Don’t you remember who I am? I gave you that scar on your face last time. I’m not afraid to give you more. Hundreds more. I can make your body a canvas of blood and cuts, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
I shook my head, trying to scoot away as he flung a leg over me and straddled me. He pulled a pocket knife from his pants and flicked it open in one motion.
“And once you’re nothing more than a bloody piece of meat, I’ll kill you. I don’t need you, and my father doesn’t need you, either. Nobody is worth the shit you continue putting us through.”
