AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’d really run from your sister Sunny?” he asks, clicking a few times on his phone. “And here I thought you were finally a good little girl. Why don’t I give you a reminder of what you’d be leaving behind?”
My throat closes up when he holds the phone in front of my face, showcasing a live video feed of my sister sitting up in her hospital bed. She’s slimmed down a little. There's no more swelling on her face. Life lives in her vibrant eyes. I’d rejoice in seeing her, but I see the fear wrinkling her forehead.
“Sunny,” I gasp, bringing my hands to my lips.
“Journey,” she responds with tears flowing down her cheeks. “Do whatever he says, J. Please, don’t…” she halts her words, staring off to the side at someone not visible to the camera.
“There’s a reason I’ve held your sickly sister for so long and not out of the kindness of my heart to get her healthy. I couldn’t give a fuck less about the two of you,” he growls. “But you showed me your weakness when you stabbed my second-in-command. She is your bargaining chip. Now, tell me where the fucking money is hidden.” His fingers quickly dart out like a fucking viper, wrapping around my neck and squeezing as he maneuvers me off the stairs and further into the backstage area where the darkness swallows us and the sounds of the audience dissipate. We’re sinking into a hellish abyss behind the stage where no one can get to us—or me.
I gasp for air, watching the screen he forces in front of my face.
Several men with guns enter my sister’s hospital room and point them directly at her with no remorse. Black ski masks hide their identities, sending shivers down my spine. She hiccups, watching them closely, unable to do a damn thing about the situation.
No. It’s all on me. I’m her saving grace. The one person who can remove those men from her room and bring her back to safety.
“No,” I croak out, clawing at his arm with all my might until he slightly loosens his grip.
“Tell me where the fucking money is. Tell me, or they blow your sister’s brains out in front of your eyes, and then I’ll do the same to you, you useless fucking bitch. That’s my goddamn money. Not yours!” he shouts in my face, getting covered up by the crowd outside. “Give me what you owe me!”
As white dots appear in front of my eyes, the world slowly dims the harder he squeezes.
“Okay,” I barely choke out in a strained voice.
No amount of money is worth my sister’s life. He can have it all if he gives her back to me.
Only then does he loosen his grip, backing me up against the wall.
“Tell me now, Little Snake,” he hisses directly in my face.
“It’s under Josie Wells, in a Swedish bank account,” I cough out, desperate to bring oxygen back into my lungs. “Please don’t hurt her. She’s been through enough.” I shake my head with tears rolling down my cheeks from the lack of air.
“What a good girl,” he says, roughly tapping my cheek. “I knew I could count on you again.” He brings the phone up so he’s in front of it and nods to the people through the screen. “Tell Shadow, she’s all his. He can have his fun now. Our trade has begun.”
“No!” I shout, trying to grab the phone from him, but his fist connects with my cheek, knocking me back a step into the wall.
Pain splinters through my flesh as fresh blood drips through a small cut on my face from the impact. My fingers instinctively find the wound and press against it. A shooting sensation that burns makes me hiss, and I recoil, staring at my bloodied fingers. My darkness whispers in the back of my mind, taking all the anguish away from me. My mind clears on the one thing I need to do.
Murder Gabriel Viotto.
Sunny’s screams come through the phone loud and shrill, shattering my fucking soul into two. My self-preservation leaves the fucking room and doesn’t wave goodbye. I don’t even care what happens to me right now. Burn me. Shove me in a cage. Leave me for dead. As long as she’s okay. After everything she’s been through, she deserves a better life than this. Or everything I’ve done has been in vain.
“What have you done?” I hiss through clenched teeth, balling my fingers into fists. If I could just get a straight shot, I could knock him off his feet and stomp his skull in with my six-inch heels.
“Have I ever kept my word, Little Snake? You’ve shown me who meant something to you over and over again. But don’t worry, you’ll be reunited with her in the pits of Shadow’s hell. You two were my bargaining chip.” He grins. “He’s got unfinished business with the both of you, and he’s got something that belongs to me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rage consumes every inch of me the more he spews more and more bullshit.
“The money was always mine, Little Snake. Your stupid bitch of a mother signed it over to me as payment for your crimes. What else was I supposed to do with you?”
“You could have just killed me!” I shout again, my voice slowly rising with each word I say, until I’m basically in hysterics. “Instead you tortured me and stole my sister!”
“Money, Little Snake. I needed you alive to claim what’s mine. And what better way to do that than to marry you off to my own flesh and blood.”
“Something I didn’t know,” I hiss with venom.
“Of course not. You’d have run away. Even after all the hours of training I gave you. You’re a runner, Journey,” he says flippantly. “But you can’t outrun your destiny now. No one can. You’ve married my son earlier than expected. I thought I was going to have to demand you do it. But now? We don’t even need a wedding. Or him.” He chuckles to himself. “This went better than I thought. But of course, I didn’t count on my son actually being obsessed with you. Throw in his mindless buddies. It couldn’t have worked out better if I had tried.”
My chest heaves with every gloating word he says, talking down to me like I’m a piece of trash. He raised me to be like this. He raised me to never show my emotions or gloat or to even have feelings. So, it’s time to return the favor.
